The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

30.6 - Diana K's task: Fall Baking
I am always sorry to see summer go but the cooler temperatures of fall also mean the start of fall baking: cookies for bake sales, pies and strudels to use the apples we picked, yummy breads, Thanksgiving pies, and the first treats for the coming holiday season.

This is a TWO book task. The page total of your two books must be at least 500 pages.

First, pick a baked good - that is an item where flour or a flour substitute are combined with other ingredients into a dough or batter and then baked in an oven to create an edible treat and find a recipe for it. Think of the items you would find in a bakery or at a bake sale. Examples include cakes, breads, cookies, pies, pastries and scones. It does NOT include roasted meats or casseroles. The recipe must be online so you can link it in your completed task post. If you're prefer, you can use a fall recipe I like to make: Pumpkin Chocolate Bread. [Text version of this recipe can be found in the Task Help Thread.]

Next, choose two different options from the list below and read a book that fits the requirements. You must use the same baked good for both options.

REQUIRED: State which options you chose and provide a link to your recipe or indicate you've used the recipe linked in the task when you post.

Optional: If you're feeling inspired and end up making your recipe, tell us how it turned out when you post!

Option A: Read a book which has an ingredient from your baked good in the title/subtitle. For example, the linked recipe includes flour, salt, butter, sugar, eggs, pumpkin, vanilla, and chocolate. Plurals and singulars are allowed but no other variations.

Option B: Read a book which has a verb from the recipe in the title/subtitle. Examples include stir, combine, beat, mix, chop. No variations.

Option C: Read a book that has a unit of measure from the recipe in the title/subtitle such as cup, teaspoon, ounce, pound. Plurals and singulars are allowed but no other variations.

Option D: Read a book whose number of pages includes the digits in the number of servings that your recipe says it makes. The order must be the same. For example, the linked recipe makes 12 servings so a book with 126 pages or 312 would both work.

Option E: Read a book that has a picture of your baked good on the cover.
Required: Include the cover when you post.

Pumpkin Chocolate Bread

Serves: 12

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2. Butter and flour a 9 x 5-inch nonstick loaf pan.

3. Combine the flour, baking powder and soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a mixing bowl, and stir together.

4. With an electric mixer, beat the butter in a large bowl until softened. Add the sugar and continue beating. Add the eggs and beat until well blended. Add the pumpkin, vanilla and the flour mixture, beating just until well blended.

5. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler on medium-high heat until totally melted, about 5 minutes. Or melt in a glass bowl in the microwave for about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, or until completely melted and smooth.

6. Spoon half of the batter into the loaf pan. Drop spoonfuls of half of the chocolate mixture on top of the batter and then swirl the chocolate into the batter with a wooden skewer. Repeat with the remaining batter and chocolate, making sure to swirl the chocolate into the pumpkin well.

7. Bake the loaf for about 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean in the center. Let the loaf cool at least 15 minutes, and then invert onto a wire rack. Serve sliced warm or at room temperature.

Approved Baked Good and Books

Cakes
Pies
Cookies
Pastries
Scones
Muffins
Cupcakes
Breads

Foods and books that don't work

Lasagna
Casseroles

This thread is now open!

Option D: If my recipe makes servings for 2 or another single digit number, then my page count only needs to have that digit in it? Or must I use a recipe that makes for larger groups?

Option C: My recipe calls for 4 slices of soft bread. Would slice work as a measurement?

My recipe https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/reci...

Makes 8 scones

option A The Affair of the Blood-Stained Egg Cosy 256 pages

Option D The Shack has 248 pages

will these work

Ha Ha. What fun!

Sounds like a delicious recipe, Diana! I am going to have to try it. :-)

Would you count lasagna as a baked good? Then ingredients are assembled and then must be baked in an oven...

Kristina Simon wrote: "Pumpkin Chocolate Bread

Serves: 12

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
..."

My grandmother called it "Pan del Norte" ... my mother added pecans and called it "Harvest Cake" ... it's a perennial favorite in my family!

If you double the recipe it fits perfectly in a tube pan or bundt pan.

I like to serve it warm with a dollop of freshly whipped cream.

Bea wrote: "Option D: If my recipe makes servings for 2 or another single digit number, then my page count only needs to have that digit in it? Or must I use a recipe that makes for larger groups?"

Bea wrote: "Option D: If my recipe makes servings for 2 or another single digit number, then my page count only needs to have that digit in it? Or must I use a recipe that makes for larger groups?"


If the recipe makes 2 servings and the number of pages in the book has the number 2 in it, you're good to go.

Bea wrote: "Option C: My recipe calls for 4 slices of soft bread. Would slice work as a measurement?"

Yes, in that case it is a measurement.

Marie (UK) wrote: "My recipe https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/reci...

Makes 8 scones

option A The Affair of the Blood-Stained Egg Cosy 256 pages

Option D [book:The Shack..."

Those work.

Book Concierge wrote: "Kristina Simon wrote: "Pumpkin Chocolate Bread

Serves: 12

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
..."

My grandmother called it "Pan del Norte" ... my mother added pecans and called..."

Sounds yummy, I'll have to give it a try.

For option 3: Option C: Read a book that has a unit of measure from the recipe in the title/subtitle such as cup, teaspoon, ounce, pound. Plurals and singulars are allowed but no other variations.

Quite a lot of recipes have tsp, dstsp, tbsp, etc. Presumably those could be extended out to the full version? Could you also just use "spoon"?

Also, my recipe calls for "1 large egg" - would "large" work?

Diana wrote: "Marie (UK) wrote: "My recipe https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/reci...

Makes 8 scones

option A The Affair of the Blood-Stained Egg Cosy 256 pages

Optio..."

thank you I volunteer for national trust in tea rooms and felt honour bound to use a NT recipe

If my recipe says, "6 to 8 servings," can I use either 6 or 8, or both? Or do I need to find another recipe?

Trish wrote: "For option 3: Option C: Read a book that has a unit of measure from the recipe in the title/subtitle such as cup, teaspoon, ounce, pound. Plurals and singulars are allowed but no other variations.
..."

Trish wrote: "For option 3: Option C: Read a book that has a unit of measure from the recipe in the title/subtitle such as cup, teaspoon, ounce, pound. Plurals and singulars are allowed but no other variations.
..."

Brooke wrote: "Sounds like a delicious recipe, Diana! I am going to have to try it. :-)

Would you count lasagna as a baked good? Then ingredients are assembled and then must be baked in an oven..."

Yes, abbreviations can be spelled out and used tsp becomes teaspoon, etc.

But no for using large as a unit of measure.

Brooke wrote: "Sounds like a delicious recipe, Diana! I am going to have to try it. :-)

Would you count lasagna as a baked good? Then ingredients are assembled and then must be baked in an oven..."

No, lasagna would not count. I was thinking of the sorts of things a baker would make. I will refine the definition and revise the task.

Sally wrote: "If my recipe says, "6 to 8 servings," can I use either 6 or 8, or both? Or do I need to find another recipe?"

You can use either.

Diana wrote: "Sally wrote: "If my recipe says, "6 to 8 servings," can I use either 6 or 8, or both? Or do I need to find another recipe?"

You can use either."

Thanks, Diana!

If my recipe calls for lemon zest and lemon juice, would the book The Lemon Table work, or does the word zest or juice need to be in the title.

Okay, would creme brulee work? It looks like it's made by combining ingredients and then baking them in an oven for 35-40 minutes?

And if so, the recipe calls for heavy cream, can the word "Cream" be used alone in the title (book is Cream of the Crop)

Thank you!

Diana wrote: "Yes, abbreviations can be spelled out and used tsp becomes teaspoon, etc.
But no for using large as a unit of measure. "

Thanks.

Another silly question, I'm afraid. For option B, does the verb need to be used as a verb in the title of the book? For example, my recipe has "heat" as a verb - but I have a couple of books on the TBR with "heat" as a noun in the title. Could I still use them?

Diana wrote: "No, lasagna would not count. I was thinking of the sorts of things a baker would make. I will refine the definition and revise the task......."

Thanks. I just wanted to clarify since you said a meat pie was okay. I will pick another one of my stack of recipes. :)

I just has to pop in here and say i absolutely love this task idea Diana!

I noticed that you did not answer message 25 with regard to the part of speech . So I'm going to ask it also. I have the word fold used as a verb in the recipe but I came across a book I'd like to read which has that word used as a noun in the title. Can I use it?

If one of my ingredients is lemon zest and/or lemon juice, would the book Vampires in the Lemon Grove count for Option A (with just "lemon" being the ingredient word)?

Trish wrote: "Diana wrote: "Yes, abbreviations can be spelled out and used tsp becomes teaspoon, etc.
But no for using large as a unit of measure. "

Thanks.

Another silly question, I'm afraid. For option B, d..."

Yes, as long as the verb in the recipe is intact, it doesn't have to be the same part of speech in the title.

Brooke wrote: "Diana wrote: "No, lasagna would not count. I was thinking of the sorts of things a baker would make. I will refine the definition and revise the task......."

Thanks. I just wanted to clarify since..."

Sorry, I was thinking of a meat pie in a pastry crust when I had included it in the examples.

Nicola wrote: "I just has to pop in here and say i absolutely love this task idea Diana!"

I'm so happy to hear that.

Jamie wrote: "Okay, would creme brulee work? It looks like it's made by combining ingredients and then baking them in an oven for 35-40 minutes?

And if so, the recipe calls for heavy cream, can the word "Cream"..."

At first I was thinking it would not, but looking through my copy of The Art & Soul of Baking, I see there is a whole chapter devoted to baked custards so, yes, it would work.

Also, cream is fine.

Andy wrote: "I noticed that you did not answer message 25 with regard to the part of speech . So I'm going to ask it also. I have the word fold used as a verb in the recipe but I came across a book I'd like to ..."

Yes, you can.

Brave wrote: "If one of my ingredients is lemon zest and/or lemon juice, would the book Vampires in the Lemon Grove count for Option A (with just "lemon" being the ingredient word)?"

Yes, it would.

Diana wrote: "Jamie wrote: "Okay, would creme brulee work? It looks like it's made by combining ingredients and then baking them in an oven for 35-40 minutes?

And if so, the recipe calls for heavy cream, can th..."

Thank you!

Recipe direction: Butter and flour a 9 x 5-inch nonstick loaf pan.

The words butter and "flour are used as verbs in this direction. So I'm thinking I could use Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef

Correct?

ahh, its killing me that I can't find one of my favorite recipes online! need to ask the mother what its "officially" called

Book Concierge wrote: "Recipe direction: Butter and flour a 9 x 5-inch nonstick loaf pan.

The words butter and "flour are used as verbs in this direction. So I'm thinking I could use [book:Blood, Bones, and Butter: The ..."

Yep, that works.

Diana wrote: "Andy wrote: "I noticed that you did not answer message 25 with regard to the part of speech . So I'm going to ask it also. I have the word fold used as a verb in the recipe but I came across a book..."

Thank you.

Just checking - for option 2 - melt

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.tast...

Melt works.

Diana wrote: "Brave wrote: "If one of my ingredients is lemon zest and/or lemon juice, would the book Vampires in the Lemon Grove count for Option A (with just "lemon" being the ingredient word)?..."

Thank you! Adoring this challenge, but suddenly very hungry... :)

Diana wrote: "Yes, as long as the verb in the recipe is intact, it doesn't have to be the same part of speech in the title. "

Perfect. Thank you.

Brave wrote: "Thank you! Adoring this challenge, but suddenly very hungry... :) "

Know exactly what you mean!

If it says it makes 5 dozen-- do I use 5--- or 5 X 12 = 60?

60

Thank you.

Could I check this works please?

Recipe is here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/fo...

I'd like to read Scoop for option B based on the instruction "Scoop into the cavity of the cake and smooth with the spatula."

And as the recipe serves 8-10, I'd like to read Along Came a Spider. The has 528 pages in my ebook edition, is this okay?

How cute! Yes, those both work.

Diana wrote: "How cute! Yes, those both work."

Sorry, I have to make a correction because I wasn't paying enough attention. You cannot use the ebook edition for the page length part of the task so unless the mass market paperback edition has an 8 in the number of pages, you'll need to choose a different book.