Time to put the SAD lamp on

[elwinfortuna]

I can definitely tell the weather's starting to turn; there's that hint of coolness in the air that starts in autumn. My house has windows that face southeast and northwest which means in the summer I get a lot of light coming in from the south in the morning, and this morning I'm noticing that while there's still a lot of light, there's not quite as much as there was.

Every year I always make a game out of trying not to put the heating on for as long as possible. We generally make it to about the beginning of November, but it's really hard to tell each year. I spent part of yesterday sorting out my winter clothes, in the hopes that having warmer things ready will help me delay the inevitable extra energy use. I have too many scarves & hats, so I culled a few store-bought ones that I don't care for as much, and took the opportunity to enjoy all over again the scarves & hats that have been knitted for me; there's just something so wonderful about seeing the work of someone's hands for you.

It really was quite a change, back in 2004, to move from Arizona to Texas to Scotland. Growing up, I can count on just one finger the amount of times I saw snow in Phoenix (and even then it was more like slushy rain), and I wore the same clothing in winter and summer, with maybe a light jacket on in the winter. When I first got here I was freezing in temperatures I wouldn't even feel now. In fact I get too hot far more easily than I get too cold, these days.

Another tell about the changing weather is that little Rey, hot water bottle of a ragdoll that she is, has been sneaking under the covers with me at night. She'll paw at me until I let her in, then curl up next to me and purr happily until we both fall asleep. Frequently, she'll come and settle between me and John, which must be just the warmest and most delightful place for a kitty to sleep. We'll know it's really getting cold when Socks sleeps on the bed too; he prefers to settle down nearer the foot of the bed, sometimes just behind my knees, sometimes on top of me.

Autumn always revives my interest in baking and lately I've been thinking about some of the baked goods I grew up with that aren't known very well in the UK, like shoofly pie, coffee cake (not cake with coffee, cake you have with coffee), crumb cake, molasses cookies (Pepparkakor as well as softer American-style cookies), and various breads: Anadama, which has cornmeal and molasses in it, Swedish Rye bread (so good, my favourite bread for toast), potato bread, and Amish milk bread (my recipe for Fëanor's Perfect Milk Rolls is basically this). I'm going to have to dig out some of my family recipes and fire up my KitchenAid in pure self-defense at this point.

Comments

[mrs_redboots]

I rather hate autumn, as it means winter is coming! On the other hand, I love the colours, and the seasonal produce. I'm no baker, but I do love the pumpkins and squashes that abound at this time of year - one year I had some lovely round squashes, so I scooped out the seeds, roasted the halves in the oven and then cooked an egg in the hollow = it was lovely.

[elwinfortuna]

That sounds delicious! I'm not a huge pumpkin fan, but I do love butternut squash and roasting them in the oven is the best way to cook them, for sure.

[spikedluv]

I have a love-hate relationship with fall because winter is right around the corner. We've been noticing how it stays dark longer in the morning, and gets dark earlier in the evening. It makes me sad to see.

We don't light the coal stove until later in the season, but I'm not above turning the furnace on for an hour these mornings to take the chill off.

Enjoy your knit hats and scarves!

[elwinfortuna]

Yeah, I'm the same, I like the season itself, I hate what comes after it though. Winter is a long exercise in "just get through it" -- February is always my worst month, I can generally hold out until my birthday passes at the end of January and then it's just sad times for a couple of months at least.

[lferion]

As someone still in AZ, though not the Phoenix area, I am watching the days shorten with gratitude, and I expect I'll be wearing my sleeveless things through most of October. I certainly hear you on the weather-shock! Enjoy the baking :-)

[elwinfortuna]

Ah, to wear sleeveless things other than at the very height of summer!

One of the big differences is actually how much the day shortens by. In Arizona, I recall the earliest it would get dark was maybe somewhere around 6-7 pm, whereas here the earliest it gets dark in the winter is 3 pm. There were days I would start work at 9 am and leave at 5 and never see the sun -- that was a worse shock than the weather, and probably is why I suffer from SAD so much now.

[sauronnaise]

We generally make it to about the beginning of November, but it's really hard to tell each year.
November, wow! We heated for the first time last week, but only for a day (there was a day where it was 10°C and close to zero at night. I was good without heating (it was 18-19°C in the house), but mum complained it was cold.)

Growing up, I can count on just one finger the amount of times I saw snow in Phoenix (and even then it was more like slushy rain), and I wore the same clothing in winter and summer, with maybe a light jacket on in the winter.
You probably saw more rain in a week in Scotland than a decade in Arizona :b I used to talk to a Scot online, we celebrated rainless days. Is Phoenix dry or humid?

Molasse cookies are the only cookies I really like! You can find them in Québec (not sure for other Canadian provinces and territories, I'm assuming it's a thing there too).

and fire up my KitchenAid in pure self-defense at this point.
After reading your oneshot, all I can imagine is Fëanor self-combusting in frustration in his kitchen.

[elwinfortuna]

It does help that our house is pretty good about keeping us warm, and we are both larger people. I'm fairly comfortable in normal clothing down to about 16C, and then down to about 14C if I wrap up a bit, but once it hits 12C in the living room, that's heating time. In the winter of 2010-2011, it got so cold that out in the place where we keep our fridge (which isn't as insulated as the rest of the house, and therefore we keep it isolated and don't heat it), it was below freezing.

Phoenix is a dry heat! It gets really hot, in my recollection it was well above 120F at the height of the summer, but it's more bearable because it's dry. I always needed to have a strategy to keep myself cool, but it wasn't hard, and of course, I was used to it.

Molasses cookies are pretty well-known in the US, but not so much a thing in the UK. Molasses here is generally sold only in health food stores and isn't used much. A pity, molasses is full of iron and so good! My family has Swedish heritage, so I grew up making Pepparkakor, which are molasses-ginger cookies, often cut out into shapes, usually thin and crispy.

Fëanor cooking in fic is one of the delights of my heart! I love the mental image I got of him getting super frustrated at something not turning out right and just the tips of his fingers starting to smoke along with the burnt dish!

[sauronnaise]

12°C in the house is way too cold. It doesn't help that during winter, even if we keep the room temperature at 20°C (and 17°C at night), the cold creeps in. Walls, floor, furnitures, clothes... Such as joy. Temperature-wise, it's not the coldest of the country (it hardly ever goes under -30°C, and -25°C to -20°C during daytime do happen, but not weeks in a row. -10°C (+/-) is more like a typical winter day), but it's the stupid humidity that can't go on vacation. Same with wind. A fresh -15°C is really nice. Humid -15 can go sit on a giant, spiky cactus and be offered as a sacrifice to Satan. Science says humidity doesn't matter below zero, but my body (and many others') claim the opposite.

I remember that time at a previous workplace, the heating stopped working in the backstore (I worked as a salesperson). Exactly during a coldwave (-20°C and below). Let's say a frozen toilet seat does bite one's bottom.

Wouldn't one nosebleed during such dry heat? I can feel my skin and nose go like 'help'. 120°F is still ridiculously hot (I thought only that desert in Iran--forgot the name--could reach that temperature, and Australia, although with global warming, it might not be an exceptional temp anymore...).

I find raw molasses too sweet, but I like it well in cookies. Hope you converted your spouse to the dark side of the molasses :b

"Ammë! Quick! There's a fire in the kitchen! The maid is gone to fetch water!"
"No need. It's your father."
"Atya is on fire?!"
"No. Well, almost. He's trying to make a quinoa salad. Quinoa: 1 Fëanáro: 0"

[bluehairwriter]

KitchenAid is the best invention ever. Well. Less if one starts a lower-carb diet, but it is still helpful.

We have rain here too, on and off al day today and harder tonight, and we had record lows last week, at 6 C, which, not funny. But yesterday it was 26 C, so it is the time of year when you have to have all the closet at your disposal.

I also started to repair my duvets, but doing it by hand does take a long time. Still, nothing like a heavy woolen duvet to make you feel so cozy when it's cold.

Given the situation, I think everybody hopes for a very warm winter, but who can know?

[elwinfortuna]

Fingers crossed over here for a warm winter, for sure. I would very much like to not put the heating on for another couple of months at least.

I think my favourite kitchen appliances are my KitchenAid and my multi-cooker, which is great for low-carb diets. :D I tend to use it as a pressure cooker, and it makes amazing bone broth.

[bluehairwriter]

I have an old fashion, really large pressure cooker I use for the bone broth. Making once and freezing portions, because even like this it is a bit fiddly and time consuming.

[independence1776]

It's hard this year it getting dark in the evenings earlier. It's like all of a sudden a switch flipped. I don't like it, even though I'm otherwise enjoying the beginning of autumn.

Mmmm.... baking. I have a maple cookie recipe I tend to bake at this time of year.

[elwinfortuna]

Oooh, share the maple cookie recipe? I love maple-flavoured things; good maple syrup can be hard to find and expensive here but it's so worth it.

[independence1776]

I have two recipes! One uses maple syrup and isn't maplely enough for my taste (I like a rich maple flavor, not something lighter). My preferred recipe uses maple sugar. Give me a couple of hours; I need to locate and type 'em up.

ETA: Here they are! They're in imperial measurements.

1. Maple Leaves (recipe online here, to my surprise. Have to use the cache; it's paywalled.)

This calls for pecans, but I don't eat nuts, so I leave them out.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. butter (no substitutions)
1/3 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. packed light brown sugar
2 tbsp. pure maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 c. finely chopped pecans (optional)
Sanding sugar (optional)

Directions
Step 1: On waxed paper, mix flour and salt.
Step 2: In large bowl, with mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugars until just blended and creamy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Add syrup and vanilla; beat until mixed. Reduce speed to low; gradually beat in flour, then pecans, just until blended, scraping bowl.
Step 3: Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Flatten each piece into a disk and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 3 days. Let stand until pliable enough to roll.
Step 4: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Step 5: Between sheets of waxed paper, roll 1 disk of dough 1/4 in. thick. Remove top sheet of waxed paper. With 2- to 4-in. leaf-shaped cutters, cut dough into as many cookies as possible. Refrigerate trimmings. Place cookies, 1 inch apart, on prepared sheets.
Step 6: Bake cookies 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough and trimmings.
Step 7: When cookies are cool, brush with syrup to glaze, if desired. Sprinkle sanding sugar over syrup glaze, if desired. Let sugared cookies dry 1 hour.
Step 8: Store cookies (with waxed paper between layers if decorated) in airtight containers at room temperature up to 1 week, or in freezer up to 3 months.


2. Maple Sugar Cookies (my preferred recipe; it requires pure maple sugar, which can be difficult for me to find, so good luck)

Ingredients:
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup maple sugar
1/2 cup sugar (you can also use .75 cup maple and .25 regular)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder, set aside.
2. Beat butter and sugars together until blended. Add egg, salt, and vanilla.
3. Stir in flour mixture until just evenly incorperated; dough will be soft. (If too soft to handle, let stand 5-10 minutes until firmed up slightly.)
4. Divide dough in half; place each portion between waxed paper and roll out until 1/8". Stack portions (with paper) onto a baking sheet and chill for an hour in the fridge.
5. Preheat oven to 350F; grease baking sheets.
6. Work with one portion at a time, leaving the other in the fridge. Cut out with cookie cutters and space on pans about 1.5" apart.
7. Bake cookies in upper third of oven for 6-9 minutes or until slightly colored on top and faintly brown on the edges.
8. Place immediately onto cooling racks. If icing or decorating, ice or add crystal sugar now.
Cool baking sheets completely before reusing.

Stores up to ten days or freeze for a month.

[grundyscribbling]

Mmm...that baked goods paragraph at the end has made me hungry!

Someone in these parts just said "summer left like it owed someone money", and it feels accurate - the switch from summer warm to autumn cool was that sudden. (There's been a few warm days, but the nights are very much autumn.)

[elwinfortuna]

summer left like it owed someone money

So accurate! One week ago I had all my windows open and fans going, now they're all shut except for one (I keep the landing window open as long as possible for fresh air).

I need to dig out my family recipes and once I do I'll post some of them here. I know that my family recipe for shoofly pie, for one, isn't the same as any recipe for it I've seen elsewhere online.