Fallen Souffle

I am taking over this blog for a minute to let all of Jen’s Interweb friends know that I love her very much. For those of you who do not know her beyond this blog, I will tell you she does more then cook amazing treats to keep me stuffed and you entertained.

I probably should tell her more often how much I appreciate everything she does and everything she is. She is the most caring and loving person I know and everyday I feel more lucky to be married to her (1 year 29 days).

I joke around a lot and give her a hard time, but it’s only because she is my best friend and I love her very much. I don’t think anyone could put up with someone as childish as me, let alone love me for it.

She means the world to me and I wanted other people who are part of her life, online and off to know.

I love you Jen!

*now back to your regularly scheduled programing*

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Oh how I love brunch. This special meal means sleeping in and eating enough food to cover two meals…and you can do it in your comfy PJ’s! What could be better! But for Easter we like to dress things up a bit and make things extra special, like taking the time to make a classic food from scratch. So for this month’s Weekend Cookbook Challenge #4
I have decided to show my baker’s muscles by whipping up some homemade bagels. And when I mean muscle I am not kidding. These heavenly treats are not hard at all to put together if you are familiar with bread making. The recipe calls for a simple sponge and dough technique but this dough is much stiffer than you are used to. I really had to put my weight behind it and even broke a bit of a sweat! Yes, I did everything by hand because I wasn’t sure if it would all fit in my mixer (this recipe makes 12 good sized bagels).

The beauty of this recipe is that you start it the night before and let it rise in the fridge so the next morning you just wake up, boil some water, preheat your oven and in 30 minutes you have fresh bagels unlike anything you have ever had before. This sure beats those overpriced bagel shops! (Because bagels are SO cheap to make!)

Ok, so I didn’t actually get this recipe from a cookbook, I got it from Floyd over at The Fresh Loaf , but he got it from a cookbook does that count? Floyd has great step by step instructions and I followed his method to a T and they worked out great. The only change is that I did not buy malt powder I just used honey. I topped mine with an array of toppings including dried onion, garlic, poppy seeds and kosher salt.

Well to be fair, here is a yummy recipe for flavored cream cheese, to round out the “Bagel Shop in Your Kitchen” feel.

Vegetable Cream Cheese
from Barefoot Contessa Family Style

16 ounces of softened cream cheese
2 T. minced scallions, white and green part
2 T. finely chopped carrot
2 T. finely chopped celery
2 T. finely chopped radishes (2 radishes)
2-3 pinches kosher salt
1 pinch fine black pepper

. Place all ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed until well blended.

* I think this would be great with some chopped red pepper in it too- yummy!

Happy Easter!

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