A Labour of Love [Solo]
Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2023 11:17 pm
15 Searing, Year 123
[Closed - Solo]
It was an hour before dawn, and Hilana was taking advantage of the quiet to get started on her maa'moul cookies. These needed to be made in advance of when she wanted them, since the dough required time to rest. Her long hair was bound up in a bun so that it was well and truly out of the way for the day, and she could carry on with her work. Ingredients were stacked and set out. At least, what she needed for the first stage. Semolina flour, clarified butter, regular flour, mahleb, and salt. If all went well, she would have time to make the filling once she got the dough to resting, but Hilana would see how it went.
It would have been nice to be making these in her own kitchen in the Luxium, because she genuinely missed it. As fun and massive as the one at the Citadel was... it wasn't hers, not in any stretch of the word, for all that Hilana regularly occupied it and made use of it. But it did give her options and ideas about what she wanted to see in the next one. And while she hadn't ever planned on needing to upgrade her living space, since her snakes really didn't take up that much space, and neither did her three cats, extra people did. Lia would need room and a working space. Lykos would need a room, unless he bunked up with one of the sisters. Which could still happen, but it was important that he had his own room and space, too.
She pushed that to the back of her mind as she began to measure out the clarified butter in order to start that to melting in a pot on the stove. She knew she needed a big batch, since Raithen was due for a visit soon, and he would certainly like these sweet treats. With luck, it would be tomorrow night or in the next few days. She'd have to ask him when he next contacted her through the mirror to find out.
When it came to baking, there was a science to it. In cooking, there was more room to play around with the recipes, with the amounts, with the ratios. But baking... too much dry and not enough wet, and your end result would crumble away to nothing. Too much wet and not enough dry, and they would spread, you'd have no shape, and the taste would be off. And taste was king. But at the same time... when it came to baking, the magic was in the making.
With her book open in front of her on the stand, three cups of clarified butter went into a pot to melt. The temperature had to be just so - she didn't want to boil it or get it bubbling, just melted and not too hot, and then she could use it later. Into an enormous, deep metal mixing bowl that had seen a lot of use over its life, went six cups of semolina flour, three cups of regular flour, a tablespoon of mahleb, and three dashes of salt. The mahleb had a wonderful scent and flavour to it, and compared to the amount of flour in the big bowl, a tablespoon may not have seemed to be a whole lot. But a tablespoon of mahleb went a long way. Like mastic, mahleb came from a native tree, the mahaleb cherry, and the spice itself came from the inside of the pits. When the fruit was eaten or otherwise stripped away, the pit could be cracked open and the seed kernel was extracted. From there, it would be ground to powder, and the strong, bitter flavour, which tasted like a combination of almond and cherry, added a delightful taste to the final product. Used deftly, it was just enough. Too much, and it was a waste of a very difficult to get spice.
She took a whisk to the bowl, and started the stirring, humming to herself. While she worked the flours and salt and spice with the whisk, she also rotated the bowl with her other hand, moving it in the opposite direction. She paused in the motions to check on the butter in the pot, and turned it off and removed it from the heat, giving it a swirl to check it. That was proper, Hilana could tell, and she poured it into the mixing bowl before taking a flexible spatula and scraping the remainder of the butter from the pot. With the pot back on the stove, she could turn her attention to the dough in progress, beginning to mix it together. She stirred vigorously, having chosen the depth of the mixing bowl for that exact reason. She paused her progress from time to time to scrape down the sides of the bowl, making sure that nothing stuck or would be allowed to be mixed unevenly. For the cookies to taste right, they needed to be well-blended, because nothing was worse with desserts than having clumps of dry flour rather than a uniform dough.
Humming to herself, she cleaned off the mixing spoon before sticking her hands with her long fingers into the bowl, beginning to work the mixture between her palms as an extra measure of blending. Unlike some recipes, with the butter being melted already, her body heat would not compromise the integrity of the cookie dough. This was just yet another way to make sure the dough was well-mixed. Starting at the right side, Hilana rubbed a handful of dough between her palms, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, going by feel now. There was just enough moisture and texture that it held a pinch, and the Vastiana worked her way from the right side of the bowl to the left, doing her best to make sure she had worked over the whole of it, peering into the depths. Satisfied, she cleaned off her hands and applied a waxed cloth to the mouth of the mixing bowl, pressing it down to secure it to the rims. It could go in the cooler now, and she would get back to it the next day. For now, the dough needed to rest and get cold and relax.
That, however, didn't mean that she was done today. She measured out a cup each of sugar and water into a copper pot on the stove, along with a small squeeze of lemon juice, and would let it go to a boil while she tidied up after herself and started on her breakfast and made tea. The pot was a big one, to allow the staff of the Citadel to enjoy it as a thanks for allowing her to use their kitchen for this. Once the pot was boiling, she turned the heat down to a simmer, and sat down with her own cup to take a minute to relax and plan the next steps. After about ten minutes, Hilana took the pot off of the heat and added the vanilla to it, stirring it well. It was called simple syrup for a reason, and it would need to cool completely before she could use it for the next step of the maa'moul tomorrow. With all of that done, she cleaned up her mess, wiping down the counters and set the dishes to soak. She would have started washing, but the servii were coming in, and took it over. With a couple pitas in hand, she would head out and get to work. She had a full day ahead of her, and she would be back in here the next morning.
Bright and early the next day, Hilana had taken the dough out of the cooler to let it come up to temperature and soften enough to work with. From her bag, she retrieved the basket of dried dates and a sharp knife. She had three cups of dates to process, and she seated herself at the table to start splitting them so that she had the pits to replant later. Each date that had its pit removed was cut into eighths and put into another bowl. She would chop them finer later once she had the pits removed before she combined them with the rest of with the rest of the ingredients. The Vastiana paused with the dates in order to add three tablespoons of sesame seeds to a small skillet on the stove top, setting it up over low heat in order to get them to toasting. A small pot of milk was added to the stovetop to get that warming - didn't want it too hot, but just warmed through. She measured the chopped dates in the cup, packing them down and putting them on the cutting board, stopping every so often to check on the seeds in the skillet before before continuing to prepare and measure. Once she had three cups in the mixing bowl, the sesame seeds were done and she took them off of the heat. The milk was up to temperature, and she moved it to a trivet on the counter.
[Part II]
[Closed - Solo]
It was an hour before dawn, and Hilana was taking advantage of the quiet to get started on her maa'moul cookies. These needed to be made in advance of when she wanted them, since the dough required time to rest. Her long hair was bound up in a bun so that it was well and truly out of the way for the day, and she could carry on with her work. Ingredients were stacked and set out. At least, what she needed for the first stage. Semolina flour, clarified butter, regular flour, mahleb, and salt. If all went well, she would have time to make the filling once she got the dough to resting, but Hilana would see how it went.
It would have been nice to be making these in her own kitchen in the Luxium, because she genuinely missed it. As fun and massive as the one at the Citadel was... it wasn't hers, not in any stretch of the word, for all that Hilana regularly occupied it and made use of it. But it did give her options and ideas about what she wanted to see in the next one. And while she hadn't ever planned on needing to upgrade her living space, since her snakes really didn't take up that much space, and neither did her three cats, extra people did. Lia would need room and a working space. Lykos would need a room, unless he bunked up with one of the sisters. Which could still happen, but it was important that he had his own room and space, too.
She pushed that to the back of her mind as she began to measure out the clarified butter in order to start that to melting in a pot on the stove. She knew she needed a big batch, since Raithen was due for a visit soon, and he would certainly like these sweet treats. With luck, it would be tomorrow night or in the next few days. She'd have to ask him when he next contacted her through the mirror to find out.
When it came to baking, there was a science to it. In cooking, there was more room to play around with the recipes, with the amounts, with the ratios. But baking... too much dry and not enough wet, and your end result would crumble away to nothing. Too much wet and not enough dry, and they would spread, you'd have no shape, and the taste would be off. And taste was king. But at the same time... when it came to baking, the magic was in the making.
With her book open in front of her on the stand, three cups of clarified butter went into a pot to melt. The temperature had to be just so - she didn't want to boil it or get it bubbling, just melted and not too hot, and then she could use it later. Into an enormous, deep metal mixing bowl that had seen a lot of use over its life, went six cups of semolina flour, three cups of regular flour, a tablespoon of mahleb, and three dashes of salt. The mahleb had a wonderful scent and flavour to it, and compared to the amount of flour in the big bowl, a tablespoon may not have seemed to be a whole lot. But a tablespoon of mahleb went a long way. Like mastic, mahleb came from a native tree, the mahaleb cherry, and the spice itself came from the inside of the pits. When the fruit was eaten or otherwise stripped away, the pit could be cracked open and the seed kernel was extracted. From there, it would be ground to powder, and the strong, bitter flavour, which tasted like a combination of almond and cherry, added a delightful taste to the final product. Used deftly, it was just enough. Too much, and it was a waste of a very difficult to get spice.
She took a whisk to the bowl, and started the stirring, humming to herself. While she worked the flours and salt and spice with the whisk, she also rotated the bowl with her other hand, moving it in the opposite direction. She paused in the motions to check on the butter in the pot, and turned it off and removed it from the heat, giving it a swirl to check it. That was proper, Hilana could tell, and she poured it into the mixing bowl before taking a flexible spatula and scraping the remainder of the butter from the pot. With the pot back on the stove, she could turn her attention to the dough in progress, beginning to mix it together. She stirred vigorously, having chosen the depth of the mixing bowl for that exact reason. She paused her progress from time to time to scrape down the sides of the bowl, making sure that nothing stuck or would be allowed to be mixed unevenly. For the cookies to taste right, they needed to be well-blended, because nothing was worse with desserts than having clumps of dry flour rather than a uniform dough.
Humming to herself, she cleaned off the mixing spoon before sticking her hands with her long fingers into the bowl, beginning to work the mixture between her palms as an extra measure of blending. Unlike some recipes, with the butter being melted already, her body heat would not compromise the integrity of the cookie dough. This was just yet another way to make sure the dough was well-mixed. Starting at the right side, Hilana rubbed a handful of dough between her palms, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, going by feel now. There was just enough moisture and texture that it held a pinch, and the Vastiana worked her way from the right side of the bowl to the left, doing her best to make sure she had worked over the whole of it, peering into the depths. Satisfied, she cleaned off her hands and applied a waxed cloth to the mouth of the mixing bowl, pressing it down to secure it to the rims. It could go in the cooler now, and she would get back to it the next day. For now, the dough needed to rest and get cold and relax.
That, however, didn't mean that she was done today. She measured out a cup each of sugar and water into a copper pot on the stove, along with a small squeeze of lemon juice, and would let it go to a boil while she tidied up after herself and started on her breakfast and made tea. The pot was a big one, to allow the staff of the Citadel to enjoy it as a thanks for allowing her to use their kitchen for this. Once the pot was boiling, she turned the heat down to a simmer, and sat down with her own cup to take a minute to relax and plan the next steps. After about ten minutes, Hilana took the pot off of the heat and added the vanilla to it, stirring it well. It was called simple syrup for a reason, and it would need to cool completely before she could use it for the next step of the maa'moul tomorrow. With all of that done, she cleaned up her mess, wiping down the counters and set the dishes to soak. She would have started washing, but the servii were coming in, and took it over. With a couple pitas in hand, she would head out and get to work. She had a full day ahead of her, and she would be back in here the next morning.
***
Bright and early the next day, Hilana had taken the dough out of the cooler to let it come up to temperature and soften enough to work with. From her bag, she retrieved the basket of dried dates and a sharp knife. She had three cups of dates to process, and she seated herself at the table to start splitting them so that she had the pits to replant later. Each date that had its pit removed was cut into eighths and put into another bowl. She would chop them finer later once she had the pits removed before she combined them with the rest of with the rest of the ingredients. The Vastiana paused with the dates in order to add three tablespoons of sesame seeds to a small skillet on the stove top, setting it up over low heat in order to get them to toasting. A small pot of milk was added to the stovetop to get that warming - didn't want it too hot, but just warmed through. She measured the chopped dates in the cup, packing them down and putting them on the cutting board, stopping every so often to check on the seeds in the skillet before before continuing to prepare and measure. Once she had three cups in the mixing bowl, the sesame seeds were done and she took them off of the heat. The milk was up to temperature, and she moved it to a trivet on the counter.
[Part II]
