Books and cakes - 45

    For once our Cornflower Book Group book contained an obvious answer to the question of what to bake to go with it. At one point in Mark Dunn's Ella Minnow Pea (our post on the book is here) when the alphabetical restrictions are tripping up the good souls of Nollop and banishment from the island is a common fate, Agnes writes to Mittie as follows:

    " ... I bake my raisin-pecan cookies, darling Mittie, because there is little else I can do. What is happening here to you and me, to our families and friends - it frightens me so that I sometimes find myself standing for long periods of time in the middle of my kitchen - much like a statue - much like that infernal statue of Mr. Nollop - immobile, unable to do anything except return by cursed rote to the baking of my cookies. And this I do, often late into the night. ...When I bake I do not have to speak. When I bake, I do not have to make sense of anything except the ingredients summoned by memory that I have laid out in front of me... So eat them. Eat them all. I will bake more."

    I've made Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies using the Barefoot Contessa recipe - hence my oatmeal question yesterday. I got 32 out of the mixture and even then they are quite large, but my tester here describes them as "yummy, chewy and soft - just good", so thankyou, Mrs. Garten.

Comments

[Barbara MacLeod]

Takes me back....

May I say, in passing, that I have just pulled out your Christmas cake recipe of several years ago. I enjoy having a "visit" every time I work my way through a recipe that I obtained from some particular person over the years!

[Cornflower]

We have the fruit for our cake soaking at the moment.