I know, I know, I promise two posts each week and then disappeare for a week.  And you know why?  Because I’ve been baking like a fiend.  A fiend I tell you.  Usually my goal is to have everything done by the second Monday after Thanksgiving.  However, this year, that second Monday will be my first day as Assistant Dean Wormer at a new university.  And, because I must have suffered a severe head trauma during the holiday baking planning …

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I plan out what I am going to wear for the week.   Major holidays, parties and home renovations get project notebooks complete with time lines, budgets and diagrams.  On the Myers-Briggs I am so far to the right of “J” that the indicator bar hits the end of the interval.  TD may, occasionally, under certain circumstances, refer to yours truly as Mussolini.
In addition to making myself sound like the most boring person in the universe, there is method to my …

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There aren’t many pictures for this post because I tested this recipe veeeeery early one morning before the sun was up.  And, as you’ve all had to painfully experience, the lighting in my kitchen is awful (that’s right, I’m blaming the environment, not the photographer).  I had a meeting.  It was a committee meeting.  The way to get committee people to do stuff is to trick them into it by providing tasty vittles, asking for volunteers and then reminding them …

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Here in Southern California, the marine layer has finally said audios until March, the tourists have gone home and college basketball is just starting.  Oh, and it’s holiday baking time.  The posts this month are all about logistics.  We’ve got a baking-round up, a post on how to plan-out the baking bonanza and another on packaging and wrapping.  Of course there will be a new recipe or two, but really, November is about getting it done while maintaining your sanity …

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…you black-out that apple cake you made.  Apples!  I’m talking about apples…what did you think I was talking about?  So frenzied and absorbing has my baking with apples been in the last few weeks that I actually forgot about this apple cake.

This is the last apple recipe.  I promise.
I have to admit, what first drew me to this recipe was the opportunity to shred things with my food processor.

The shredded apples get set aside for a bit in a colander.  …

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We know I have a baking weakness for shortbread and sables.  So, I couldn’t resist this recipe.  Shortbread and toasted coconut?  I’m in.  The smell of coconut toasting in the oven is a beautiful thing.  Along with the nuttiness you would expect come a heady, floral scent that makes me think of warm sand and salty breezes.

Simple dough, a hallmark of shortbread.

Two logs.  One for now, one still in the freezer for a later post.

Seriously good stuff!

Toasted Coconut Shortbread
adapted from …

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