Sticky Bun Day!

 Happy Sticky Bun Day! I don’t know how official this designation is. It was listed on the “free” calendar that Terry got with his order of obscenely expensive beef sticks from Burgers’ Smokehouse.  In February, the holidays include the familiar Ground Hog Day, Valentines [sic] Day, Presidents Day, and Ash Wednesday as well as lesser events, such as the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras. Then there are several that the Burgers’ Smokehouse Research Department had to dig deep for: Homemade Soup Day (Feb. 4), Make a Friend Day (Feb. 11—is this so you have a date for Valentine’s Day?), Sticky Bun Day (Feb 21) and Toast Day (Feb. 25—mark your calendar!).

As far as I’m concerned, any excuse to make sticky buns is good enough. It worked out well when my Dad was alive, as he ate three right off the bat. We have more leftovers now. When I mentioned this to Terry, his response was, “And you think we’re going to throw them out?”

Caramel pecan rolls, a.k.a., sticky buns

They are best fresh from the oven, but a short time in the microwave can almost restore them to their previous glory. The real problem, of course, is “a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips.” I’ll work it off when gardening season starts, right?

The turkeys showed up again last week, but only four this time. Other than looking for bird seed that isn’t there, they spend a good deal of time under the deck. I wonder if they are looking for gravel for their gizzards.

Turkeys emerging from under the deck

When I first saw the turkey in the middle, I thought it was sitting in the snow. It turned out that it was standing in a drift, and it struggled to get out.

Seen from a different angle, the turkey in the middle is up to its belly in a drift

Later in the week, we had this unusual cloud formation. It looked like someone had stuck four huge fingers in the cloud and smeared it toward the horizon.

Odd cloud formation

What with Sticky Bun Day, I suspended my sourdough experiments for this week. I was moved to try Edith Wallace’s Cracker Torte. I mentioned a few posts ago that I was reading How America Eats by Clementine Paddleford. When I got to the Cracker Torte, I could not imagine what it would be like. Whipped egg whites, sugar, cracker crumbs, and chopped nuts. Would it be like a meringue or spongy? As luck would have it, I ended up with the requisite 3 egg whites when I used three yolks in knoephla (NEF-la) soup. I froze them until we were done eating the sourdough chocolate cake. The first thing I learned was that frozen and thawed egg whites will still whip. Whew! I whipped the egg whites by hand, thinking that it would be easy. I was surprised at how viscous they became when I gradually whipped in one cup of sugar.

Egg whites whipped with sugar is more viscous than you might think

I folded in cracker crumbs and chopped walnuts and baked it.

Cracker torte fresh from the oven

It didn’t look bad, although it fell quite a bit, as egg-white based cakes are wont to do. I topped it with whipped cream, covered it with foil, and chilled it overnight, just as Edith instructed.

The final product

Actually, it was pretty good. The outer crust was slightly chewy, giving way to the crunchy nuts within. The crackers seemed to only contributed salt to counteract the sweetness of all that sugar, although it wasn’t salty. And there you go.

It just started snowing again. Terry is so excited about shoveling snow again tomorrow. NOT!