The Smell of Success & Molasses Cookies

I've made my decision. I'm going to play it safe and run the half marathon at the Martian Marathon in April. (I began this train of thought in the posting titled "Irony & Lemon Blossoms".)

I've completed 2 full marathons and neither went very well. I followed my training plans religiously but when it came to the actual races, everything seemed to fall apart. I went out way too fast for both, but especially the first, and later bonked early and hard. The second was on a very warm day for a marathon and I didn't slow down to compensate. In the end I finished both races more than a half hour behind my goal. I'll admit I was dicouraged and a big part of me wants to try again to redeem myself.

There are a few considerations though:

• Time. More specifically, my lack of it and anyone that has trained for a marathon can attest to the fact that it takes a lot of time. Most of the Saturday long runs are hours long and it seems to eat up most of the day, not to mention the many days that I got out of bed at 4 am or earlier to run.
  


• Physiology. I'm a big guy. I'm 6'2" and at the top end of the healthy BMI. At the peak of marathon training my body gets really broken down from that much pounding. What's really weird is that my body starts to rebel and I gain some weight even though I'm running 35+ a week.
  


• Need to feel successful. While training for my second marathon, I discovered that the Martian Half Marathon fit perfectly into my training plan. I signed up and just viewed it as a fun workout. I had a soft goal in mind of 2 hours. I didn't want to kill myself and ruin the upcoming full marathon. I went out and felt good. I ended up finishing in 1:54 including a potty break. It felt really good to surpass my goal. (In fact, I finished so early that my family hadn't yet arrived to see me finish.)

I'm sure all you Tony Robbins types out there are saying, "Cameron, you shouldn't lower your goals to meet your ability. You should shoot for the moon..." Blah, blah, blah. I've already proven to myself that I can finish a marathon. For now I want to see how good I can do at a distance that better fits my current circumstance in life. So take that, Tony.

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I know some of you bravely endure my ramblings about running in order to get to the good stuff; dessert. These cookies are more spiced than many molasses cookies, something I really enjoy. They are perfect with a nice glass of ice cold milk.

Soft Molasses Cookies

¾ cup shortening
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
½ cup molasses
2 ½ cups flour
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp nutmeg

Cream together shortening and brown sugar. Stir in egg and molasses and mix well. Fold in dry ingredients and stir. Cover and chill until firm (1-2 hours). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough into small balls and roll in white sugar. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 9-10 minutes. Leave on sheet for minute to set.

Recipe by Jan Badovinac

Photo by sheenbean

Irony & Lemon Blossoms

In an uncommon moment of thought I realized that I often eat junk food while watching The Biggest Loser and work out while watching Man vs. Food. Kind of ironic.

So, while watching Man vs. Food last night I ran 4 miles on the treadmill. We've had a lot of company lately so my workouts have been very sporadic. I have my eyes on the Martian Marathon in early April. It's a fun local race that I've done the last couple of years. My only problem is deciding between a half marathon or a full.

After finishing my second marathon in May in near dead condition I vowed I'd stick to half marathons. I reasoned that I just have too much mass to run that far without doing damage.

However, the last few weeks I've started considering it again. I think it's generally the same phenomenon that happens to women after giving birth to a child. After seeing my wife give birth to our first child naturally I'll never understand how she brought herself to have another. It's like we get amnesia after doing something that is supremely unpleasant but ultimately good for us.

I'll let you know what I decide. I just hope I don't end up deciding to have another kid.

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I'm back on the treadmill because Detroit is awful... in the winter. Today's recipe is like eating a little bite of sunshine. Somehow I always end up eating 15 bites of sunshine before my wife manages to pull me away from the plate.


Lemon Blossoms

Ingredients
18 1/2-ounce package yellow cake mix
3 1/2-ounce package instant lemon pudding mix
4 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray miniature muffin tins with vegetable oil cooking spray. Combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs and oil and blend well with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour a small amount of batter, filling each muffin tin half way. Bake for 12 minutes. Turn out onto a tea towel.

Glaze:
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 lemon, zested
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons water

To make the glaze, sift the sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, zest, oil, and 3 tablespoons water. Mix with a spoon until smooth.

With fingers, dip the cupcakes into the glaze while they're still warm, covering as much of the cake as possible, or spoon the glaze over the warm cupcakes, turning them to completely coat. Place on wire racks with waxed paper underneath to catch any drips. Let the glaze set thoroughly, about 1 hour, before storing in containers with tight-fitting lids.

From Paula Dean

Squishy Shoes and Candied Nuts

I had a lot of fun last night running with my wife and a couple of friends of ours. We did a local 8K to see the lighting of a community holiday lights display… while pushing 6 kids in 4 strollers… in near freezing temperatures… in the pouring rain.

By the time we were done we were all soaked to the bone. With every step came the squish, squish noise of saturated footwear. My fingers had turned into deathly pale raisins inside of the gloves. Surprisingly, there was very little complaining from the kids. I think a combination of hand warmers, glow sticks and the promise of post-race goodies kept them (slightly) above the meltdown threshold.

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As I tried to connect this with some sort of sugary concoction for purposes of this blog I started thinking about a couple of times in grad school when I sat through football games in absolutely miserable weather, in many cases long after the result of the game was no longer in question (because I refuse to be one of those pansies that leaves early).

I'm still trying to decide which I liked more, watching the game (even in the rain) or smelling the cinnamon almonds. Turns out they are super easy to make yourself, and much cheaper.


Candied Almonds

Ingredients

½ cup water
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg (optional)
¼ tsp ground ginger (optional)
2 cups whole roasted, but not salted, almonds (other types of nuts or cuts such sliced or slivered will work)

Directions

Combine the water, sugar, and spices in a saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil; add the almonds. Cook and stir the mixture until the liquid evaporates and leaves a syrup-like coating on the almonds. Pour the almonds onto a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Separate almonds using forks. Allow to cool about 15 minutes.

These are great for a snack by themselves or as a topping for ice cream or salads, especially when using sliced almonds. Spices can be omitted, or changed based upon your preferences. If I'm going to use them on salads I reduce the amount of spices by about half.

Toffee Scones

These scones have been a real hit every time that I have made them. Scones are a lot like cookies, but more fluffy in texture and normally less sweet. They are perfect with hot chocolate.

Toffee Scones

Makes 8 big scones or 16 little scones . Preheat oven to 400°.

Ingredients:
• 3 C. Flour
• 1/3 C. Sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
• 3/4 tsp. Salt
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 C. Chilled Butter in tablespoon-sized chunks
• 1 C. Chilled Sour Cream
• 1/2 C. Toffee Chips

Toppings
• Glaze (preferred): Mix 2 cups powdered sugar with ¼ cup milk (after baking)
• Sugar Crust: small amount of milk and sugar (before baking)

Combine all of the dry ingredients in a mixer or food processor and mix until combined. With the machine running, add the chunks of butter until mealy. Add all of the sour cream and mix but do not over mix. Remove from machine and place on floured surface. Knead in toffee chips using dustings flour to moderate the stickiness. Divide in two equal balls of dough make discs of each about 1 inch thick. Cut into 8 small wedges each for a total of 16 (or one big disc cut into 8 big pieces). If using Sugar Crust topping: brush the wedges with milk and sprinkle with sugar before baking - use plenty of sugar, it makes a wonderful crust on top.

Put foil on a cookie sheet and spray coat it, spread out the wedges (about 8 small ones to a cookie sheet). Bake until lightly golden on top about 12-15 minutes. If using glaze topping: Using a pastry brush, coat top and sides of scones. Repeat until desired amount of glaze is achieved (2 coats recommended). Let sit until glaze is dry.

TIP: These freeze really well. Follow the recipe up to the point where you would bake them and pop them in the freezer instead. After they are frozen put them in a freezer bag. When you are ready to bake them, put them in the oven frozen - increase the cooking time by a few minutes.

Adapted from Steever House Bed & Breakfast