Thursday, February 14, 2008

More Snow Means More Baking

I've lived in Montreal for close to twenty-five years, and I've never seen so much snow in one winter as I have this particular year. Experts are citing something called "Snow Fatigue" which is defined as that feeling you get when one storm ends and another begins and you arrive home from work, in the dark, and before you can even park your car in your own driveway and scurry inside, you have to shovel the driveway but you can't even make it to your own front door and you run out of places to toss the snow off your driveway and you JUST WANT TO PACK UP AND MOVE TO FLORIDA....I'm not kidding. The snow piles are at least 10 feet high in places. Even the "snow dumps" are full.

(I'd take a photo but my camera is broken. What's that you say? My birthday is next week? What a coincidence!)

I haven't actually been able to see out of my dining room window since Christmas. And poor Buddy has to do a dolphin move just to get to the backyard, then dip his Doggie Nether Bits into the snow to pee. That can't be comfortable. Fun to watch, mind you.

So, since it's due to snow again tomorrow, out comes my Inner Housewife.

Remember the best egg bread recipe? Well, here's how to dress it up.

Caramel Nut Bread

1 recipe Egg Bread dough (look at previous post: Unleashing My Inner Housewife)
1 cup walnuts
2/3 cup butterscotch pudding/pie mix
1/4 butter, melted
1/4 brown sugar

Caramel Topping

1/2 brown sugar
3 tbsp corn syrup
1/4 butter

Make dough according to your bread machine instructions, or mix in a mixmaster. Mix 1/4 cup melted butter and 1/4 cup brown sugar and set aside. Mix caramel topping and set aside. Grease a bundt pan. Lots of butter and Pam. (Have I mentioned how much I love having canned oil sharing my name?)

Put walnuts and the caramel topping in the pan.

Take balls of dough (doesn't have to be exact, but around the size of eggs) and roll them in the pudding mix. Place in the pan on top of the caramel. When they're all in, pour the 1/4c melted butter/1/4 c. brown sugar mixture on top.

Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes. Let sit for about five minutes then turn upside down on a plate, taking great care not to burn yourself. Do NOT daydream and lick the pan. Trust me.

Tuck in. Try not to tear into it like a jackal on the Serengeti.

Perfect for a weekend brunch. Or a snow day.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry you're trapped! Any chance of a little trip down to that Florida??

Trudy

A Novel Woman said...

Trudy,

From your lips to God's (or Doug's) ears.

P.

Trudy said...

Oh, just go ahead and book it. He can't stay mad in the sun!

Check out Deb's blog - she's made it to the final round in the Province newspapers writing-round-robin contest...again!

Trudy

Lynne Sears Williams said...

We have snow, too. And more snow to come. Yesterday, the poh-lice went on the radio and advised people get off the roads. We used to have a green car parked beside our garage, with 4 wheel-drive. Now we have a hill of snow, where a car might be hiding. *If* there's a way to drive if out of the snow, it will be used on Sunday, to get Jim to work because...it's going to *really* snow on Sunday. As opposed to the moderate snow to date.

Anonymous said...

Wow! That's a lot of snow. We are having a record year here in Wisconsin, as well, but I love it. No "snow fatigue" here. If it's going to be cold, I'd at least like something pretty to look at outside...

Yummy-sounding recipe; thanks!