Runaway home...

Today, Katie ran away. It was an eye opening, heart breaking, gut wrenching moment but she somehow managed to get out of the house in the morning en route to her daily newspaper pick-up and just took off.

It's been years since she's done anything like that. The first time she ran was when she was a mere 4 month old puppy and she had her leash on and she bolted for the street. At the time I was still an apartment dweller and lived right off of a major busy road with constant FAST traffic speeding along. My heart sank as I watched her, running after her as she got closer and closer to that busy venue. Luckily, a neighbor was able to scoop her up and save me from sure sudden death from the massive coronary I was about to suffer if my little one had been injured in any way.

Back to today...

So Katie managed to make her way halfway down the block when my father, or rather Katie's grandfather managed to coax her into coming home. She returned.

I realize now that the truth is that we never know when or where our time will end with one another. We must value each day, each moment and treasure that time. It's like when I'm baking. If I maintain my attention on the project at hand, I will successfully complete the endeavor and accomplish something. If I do not follow through and keep directed, it will not work out and become something, a semblance of what I intended.

Today, be mindful, be aware, love those who deserve your full attention and count your blessings.

Each day, each moment...this is your life.

Firsts for the President's First Dog

Well it looks like the Obama family is in for a big surprise with the new member of their family. They have narrowed down their selection of breeds to two contenders: The Portuguese Waterdog and the Labradoodle. 

I've seen both dogs in shows before and in person at various events but I wonder what they were thinking in terms of a first dog. These are unusual choices for a firsttime dog owner. The hypoallergenic part is clear but the activity level of both dogs is pretty darned high and so if you have a dog that is going to be that energetic, you better be ready to have a whole team of dogsitters while you are off performing your presidential duties. Plus, having Sasha and Malia already getting accustomed to a new environment, new school, new friends, that's a lot of stimulus for kids. Well, good luck with that. 

I tend to agree and support shelter adoptions. One can get a dog at a shelter and the best sources to look at are local animal shelters and town or county shelters. Here's a few for Long Island, NY that you can check out:

http://longisland.about.com/cs/pets/a/pet_adoption.htm

I found this article to be very helpful. Our donations have gone to a few of these shelters including Little Shelter and NSALA. The staff are friendly and helpful in making your decisions and caring for your dog or cat. If you ever have any questions, many are long time pet owners who can advise on activities for your dog in the area and places to find toys, food or events. 

Responsible dog ownership classes on Long Island

There are some free classes on Long Island for dog owners only, it's a 'people only' event, but I hear there might be some goodie bags for the guests attending. 

Here's the link:

http://www.lidog.org/jan_meet_09.htm

Honeybark might very well be going in a whole new direction this year. The website will be under construction for a bit but everything is fully functional. Hoping to really push forward with some new ideas, treats and activities. 

We will be hosting a party in the Spring of 2009 so keep your eyes out for that event!

Share some love

I'm in the mood to share some love. My gift for all those baking dog lovers out there is our special cranberry treat recipe. 

My Cranbeary treats, so called because I do them in little teddy bear shapes (Adorable!) and the recipe is up for grabs because I think it's awesome for not only our health but for our dogs. These are cranberry dog biscuits that come out with a really cute purplish hue. They are very cute all by themselves and when they are decorated with royal icing buttons. It makes an extra special treat that stays really well in the freezer. Katie loves them straight from the freezer but they can also be thawed if your dog has gum issues or issues with cold. 

Cranbeary Biscuits 

This recipe was created by me, The Honeybark Bakery Baker

Makes about 4 dozen mini treats

3 1/2 cups Organic Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup  Pureed cranberries

1 tbsp Honey

1 tbsp Vegetable or Canola Oil

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 large Whole egg

*As needed water cold to room temp.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Line sheet pans with silpats for the oven.

Lightly spray cookie cutters with canola oil.

Sift dry ingredients into mixing bowl.

Using dough hook, combine dry ingredients with fruit puree, honey, oil, then egg last. 

Mix until evenly distributed and add water as needed until dough texture of moist clay. 

Do not add too much water because it will become too sticky to work with, but if this happens you can fix this by adding a tbsp of flour to the dough and mix until the water is absorbed.

Working on a silpat, roll dough out to 1/4" thickness and cut out shapes. 

Keep pieces at least 1/2 inch apart for even baking.

Bake for 30 minutes or until done. 

*Depending on humidity, the biscuits may need to be flipped and baked for another 10 minutes to be completely done. 

 

Cool on racks or on the trays.

Happy Holidays from Katie and all of us at The Honeybark Bakery!

Enjoy:))

Questions

I've been doing a lot of holiday baking lately. Cookies primarily. Actually, ONLY cookies. Treats and cookies. It's been a monotony of holiday proportions. Yep, I KNOW the bakery is really for treats anyhow and biscuits are cookies in disguise. But still...sometimes I long for cake when it's cold outside. Nobody ever buys birthday cake in the winter. I've NO idea why. It's just funny. Because I'm always baking cake in the Spring and Summer and Fall months and always baking cookies/biscuits/treats, whatever...in the Winter. Just an observation of sorts but I wonder what other barkeries do. 

So the real question is about baking soda and baking powder and what is the deal with cake flour that has it in there already? I guess this does not pertain to the treats themselves but to my cookies for people. I've been baking with bread flour, cake flour, whole wheat flour and AP flour and that cake flour with the baking powder and baking soda in it makes my cookies really round and perfectly shaped but it's a little bit odd how perfect they look. If you've ever seen Pleasantville, or The Stepford Wives, well, that's how perfect they are. I've never really seen such a perfect cookie. It bothered me. Not that I'm offended or appalled by perfection but these cookies were just way too perfect in an almost alien way. It made me a little turned off by it. Even though I used this really awesome stuff in them and expensive ingredients, I was excited to eat the cookie but when they came out of the oven, I kinda said, "Hunh." It made me raise an eyebrow and examine them. Like...I am not a machine and I use a scooper to make my cookies even sized but holy cow, these were exactly the same size, perfectly round and weirdly identical. It looked rather manufactured. I hate that. If you've seen my photos, of my cakes and treats, it's the very fact that they vary a little bit here and there and really look homemade and homebaked that makes me and I believe my customer base really just happy. It's the comfort of knowing that it's been made in a kind of homestyle way. Like a granny. 

Well, after eating one of those cookies, it was really really good and the recipe I will give credit to a famous pastry chef in NYC, that cookie rocks. I've shared this recipe with many bakers and it's available online. It is strictly for humans because of the chocolate content, but Katie still came sniffing around for one and managed to get me to give her a Nuts About Bananas treat. She's happy and on a snowy day like today, I am happy to be indoors and with nice warm cookies as well.

Happy baking makes for happy tummies. Did I say that? Really? You bet. 

Itty Bitty Blue Bears? 

Yes, the mini treats are getting all dressed up for Howloween. Oh it's a fun time all around. I love this time of year. Everybody gets into the spirit of dressing up and just having fun. Trick or treat or rather just treats? Got treat? Check out our new holiday festivities with the howliday iced treats. I decided to give in to the sweet side and just dress up the treats a little. Cute! I love it and now I'm thinking that maybe it may very well be a year round dress up. I mean, who doesn't like getting dressed up? The little bit of sugar makes the treats even better and I don't know anyone who wants anything less than something sweet and good. I may do different flavors using natural extracts in the icing but that takes experimentation...

Happy Howloween again!!

Hahaha...(evil scientist laugh)

Experimentation time with royal icing. So here I added the royal icing finishing to some of the treats for the Paws for Parkinson's Dogs Walk and my treats rejected the icing?! What?! Yes. Indeed, the icing came right off the treats. Fell off. Literally pushed off by the treat. It was almost like it was saying...blah! No sugar! Weird but true. I mean, I wanted it to look festive so without going too into it, I made up a batch of royal icing, colored it orange with a really nice gel food coloring and corneted away. But alas! Foiled again! The treats just pushed that icing right off some of the treats. Not all of them were able to fight the sugar touches so I was able to salvage some of them for the festivities. 

Cute pumpkin treats. But the thing that got me confused was the fact that I could not find my little pumpkin cutters and my mini treat cutters. Weird...I used them last year for a howloween party and then they were nowhere to be seen when I wanted to make some like now.

Why did the buttons stay on and the orange pumpkin stripes fell off? Not sure. I think it may have been the treats itself, perhaps not completely cooled before being iced. Oopsy. Well, we live and learn. Right? I'm looking into it. 

Octoberfest

It's October already? How time flies...well, we are ready. Or at least I'm ready to bake the fun little critters for the trick or treat or trick and treat situation that cometh upon us at the end of this glorious month. I love it. Pumpkin is so yummy in pie so yes, we are highlighting the pumpkin pies but they come in mini fun howl-o-ween shapes for your little dog or as little bites for big dogs. Just enough to make your dog enjoy a little sweetness. 

The mini treats are available in apple pie, pumpkin pie and of course, gingerbread is also great for the Fall season!

The pumpkin pie treats are being served at the upcoming Paws for Parkinson's event! Come and support the endeavors to manage and treat this condition. It's at the Marjorie Post park on Long Island.

http://liapda.org/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/PAWS_TWO_08.269212827.pdf

That's the link. It's a fun event and lots of goodies for your dog!

Being safe around the holiday, Halloween is a lot of fun for children and adults but the candy can be dangerous for your dog so watch out what's lying around in the grass or on the sidewalk that your dog might try to gobble up, like hard candy, chocolate is especially dangerous and any fruit that may have fallen on the wayside could pose a danger to your pet. Also, those cans of silly string or any plastic favors on the ground could be swallowed or a choking hazard. 

Keep Howl-o-ween fun and safe for your pet and just keep a careful eye out for what's lying around on the ground!

Happy Howl-iday everyone:))