More testing...

I know. It's mean to post testing photos, but I can't resist. Here is another biscotti recipe for Isa and Terry's cookie book, and a chocolate cinnamon babka (yes, vegan babka) for Peter Reinhart.

Vegan MoFo Day 23: Testing, testing

Last night was devoted to a first round with a french bread test recipe for Peter Reinhart's next project. I still have a lot of dough, so will be baking more (and working on improving my shaping) later in the week. (Report: So very good, and the best crust I've made in a home oven.)



I enjoy recipe testing for cookbook authors. I wind up trying recipes that I would not have picked out of the published book. I also learn new tricks and techniques. Thanks to all my cookbook- and cookzine-writing friends for the opportunity!

Vegan MoFo Day 15: Cookies and Wine

So, Terry is a genius. We made a biscotti test recipe for the cookie book that she and Isa are working on. I have to take some of these to work today before we eat them all.

We enjoyed the biscotti last night after dinner with a glass of muscadine wine. Muscadines are a thick-skinned grape that is native to the southeastern United States. They come in red/purple, and in a greenish/bronze variety called scuppernongs. My great aunt had muscadine vines in her back yard, and I ate many of them as a child. It is a different experience from eating other grapes, as the skin is too thick to eat, so you are only after the innards. It can get messy, but it is fun.

Aunt Cora was a strict Baptist so she only made jelly and juice from her muscadines. However, many other people in the South turn them into wine. The kind Bryophyte recently procured some local North Carolina muscadine wine for us. It's fresh, grapey, sweet, and best when chilled. If you like dessert wines, you will enjoy it.