Carmel Apples.

I promised you she would make them. 

We remember apple picking every fall. (Sharon is from Pensylvania, I'm a Michigander)

 The cider. The doughnuts. 

But most of all...the carmel apples. 

Sharon recently perfected her carmel sauce and she was so excited to use it to make carmel apples this fall. 

She let the carmel cook just a little longer to reduce the water content, and washed and dried organic apples. a skewer, appropriately placed and a dip in the slightly cooled carmel.

It really isn't fall until you've had one of these:

All wrapped up for your favorite ghoul:

and while your at it...why not stock up on some spider cupcakes.

or ghoulish merengue mummies...

or ghastly ghosts! 

mmmm...fall!

Fall is one of our favorite times of the year here at the bakery. Business has slowed, but not so quiet we're worried. It's more like, ahh...we can breathe. Create. Experiment. I read a lot about food and cooking and it's nice to be able to implement fun ideas when they come your way. This ciabatta is just that. When I read on writer Michael Ruhlman's excellent food blog about his Chipotle Corn Ciabatta, I couldn't wait to adapt this to our own ciabatta bread. I don't generally make the bread here at the bakery, Abbey and Sharon do the brunt of the bread baking during their early morning shifts. One bread I still get to do is the ciabatta on tuesdays. I have to make a plain version because we have such a following for it, but the last few weeks, I've been making a kalamata olive flavor also. Then I read Ruhlman's post. It sounded so good I had to try it out today. Oh, I made plain and k.olive loaves, too, by dividing my double batch of starter into thirds. I placed the very wet dough into bowls. Little slips of paper on the top of each cloth covered bowl reminded me of the timed intervals at which I had to 'turn' each batch. I was a veritable ciabatta factory, so fun! It came out beautiful and was a total hit. One thing I changed is, sadly, I had no corn...so I used cheddar cheese instead. Yeah.  

When I wasn't in bread-land I realized that it was time to make some scary treats. A little carrot cake jelly roll turned into creepy goblins and the ever popular 'Boo Brownies' made their first appearance of the season. Bite Me, indeed.

 

Coming soon...Sharon's carmel apples. You know you want one.

View from my house 10/9/10

The sun is setting long and slow on the volcanoes out my window at home. This was a spectacular fall day that reminds us how fantastic it is to live here. We are glad to have the weather lighten up as we celebrate the marriage of one of the three couples we had working for us this summer. We have always been a family affair here at Two Sisters, but never has it been more apparent than the fact that two of our former bakery lovelies had babies this year (go Corina and Melissa!) and we have gotten to witness the 'so perfect for each other' attraction of Brianna and Ryan and stood by as Chase and Hayley navigated the waters of new commitment. In that spirit, Beth and Shea share their wedding vows with us tomorrow at a beautiful spot on the beach. We wish them the best and can't wait to party like the rockstars we are. Til then, let's enjoy a parting shot from the my dinner table. I made berry pies for the rehearsal dinner and had one left over...which, as you can see, made my family really happy their mama is a baker. :)