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The family and I are celebrating the return of one of our favorite geeky shows tonight with fish fingers and custard! If you’re also a Doctor Who fan you know what’s up, if not you can get a little background here.

This is actually a surprise for the girls — they know I’ve been in the kitchen all morning baking but haven’t been allowed to come in and see what it is yet. And with that I have to admit that it’s not really fish fingers — we’re not that hardcore! These are actually shortbread cookies rolled in graham cracker crumbs, swiped from bakingdom.

We’re fairly new to the Doctor Who obsession — I want to say it’s only been a year or so — but it makes my little sci-fi heart happy, and fills a void left by Battlestar Galactica and Firefly and Star Trek: The Next Generation as a teen (it was not cool to be into sci-fi when I was a teenager so many hundreds of years ago, so it’s fun to get into it with the girls now, as evidenced by the TARDIS cake for the 14-year-old last November).

The custard (actually vanilla pudding) was also homemade because I’d already run out once to pick up forgotten graham crackers, and I couldn’t bring myself to run out again for a box of pudding. I put up with standing at the stove for what seemed like forever, but it was worth it. Homemade pudding is cool.

The fish fingers are delicious too, very light and crunchy. They’re really close to being too salty, though, so when I make them again I’ll go with just 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

If you’re a geek at heart and a fan of the Doctor, you can get the fish finger cookie recipe from bakingdom.com, and the homemade vanilla pudding recipe I used is below:

Homemade Vanilla Pudding
serves 6

3/4 c granulated sugar
3 Tb cornstarch
3 c cold milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 Tb butter
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a heavy medium saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch. Add milk and cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until bubbly. Lower heat and cook and stir for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat. Gradually stir 1 cup of the milk mixture into the beaten eggs.

Add the egg mixture to the saucepan with the rest of the milk mixture and bring almost to a bubble but do not boil. Reduce heat and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla extract.

Pour pudding into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least six hours before serving.

When I was grocery shopping last week I spotted a bag of Hershey’s Cinnamon Chips (this is not a sponsored post) in the baking aisle. I’m a bit wary of Hershey products anymore because their chocolate has gone way downhill over the years, but I figured there was no chocolate in these chips and it would be fun to try something new.

Yesterday I remembered that I had them in the freezer and decided it was time for some experimenting. They were as easy as any other chocolate chip cookie to make, and while I was actually short half a cup of the oatmeal, I think they actually turned out better than if I’d used the full amount the recipe calls for. I did add half a cup of mini chocolate chips, and next time I’m going to try them with some chopped walnuts.

They flattened out a bit more than they normally would have because of the missing oatmeal, and though I’m not usually a fan of flattened, crispy chocolate chip cookies, these are pretty great!

These are perfect for a fall treat, and the cinnamon will make your kitchen smell amazing.

Keep an eye on them in the oven for the first batch of two — they brown up quickly.

Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Cookies
adapted from Hershey’s

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 10 oz package Hershey Cinnamon Chips

Heat oven to 350° F.

Beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in bowl until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Combine flour, salt and baking soda; add to butter mixture, beating well. Stir in oats and cinnamon chips (batter will be stiff). Drop by heaping teaspoons unto ungreased or parchment-lined cookie sheet.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Makes about 4 dozen.

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie is bagels, and I get to host! That means you’ll find the recipe at the bottom of this post.

I’ve made bagels before and though I’ve always enjoyed it (it can be a bit of a process), they usually turned out kind of thin and wrinkly. These, however, turned out beautifully, and I got the ultimate seal of approval when the girls told me that they tasted better than Einstein’s bagels!

I did change a few minor things:

~ Instead of six cups of bread flour I used four cups of bread flour and two of whole wheat flour.

~ After the initial rise, I punched the dough down and put it in the fridge overnight (the recipe does say this is an option).

~ I only let the bagels boil for 30 seconds per side instead of the 90. In my experience, bagels that boil for too long get too chewy/tough.

~ For the first half-batch of five I sprinkled the tops with kosher salt and dried onion (the onion looks like it got a bit overdone, but they tasted fine. I obviously missed the part about soaking the onion in some water first), and for the second batch I sprinkled sea salt and onion powder. Both were delicious, and made excellent bagel sandwiches.

~ I didn’t bother with a flour-covered towel. I just put the formed bagels on the flour-dusted countertop without a problem.

~ Tossing water and ice into the bottom of the oven did freak me out a little, so I covered a pan with foil and tossed ice cubes onto that instead.

~ I used my stand mixer for the dough, and used the instructions for that in the recipe below.

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