A/N: SO to Celebrate 10,000 visitors (seriously, wow) here's a little half-chapter of Dair fluff/a bonus recipe created by yours truly before the whole scheme plotline kicks off...Enjoy! And Thanks so much for reading! And definitely try these out, I made them up this afternoon and they're amazing!
CHAPTER 10 1/2
"So I had a great idea this morning."
"Careful, Humphrey, don't over-sell yourself."
"Do you want to cook later?"
"We don't cook. We get takeout."
"Well not cook, bake. I just bought a ton of food."
"What do you want to bake? Can you even bake?"
"Just you wait and see."
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"Where did you get a pumpkin?" She is dubious, but her interest is definitely piqued. Admitedly, it was tiny. And not in season. But it was a pumpkin! "Are
we making a pie?" Her whole face lit up.
"Come on Blair, there's not enough pumpkin there for half a pie. And you're not going to ever eat canned. But I got this recipe off my mom. And I think we can adjust it a little. There's enough pumpkin there for...PUMPKIN MACAROONS!" There is a pause while Dan stands holding up a handwritten recipe. His great idea.
She regards him with all his enthusiasm and pride with a strange smile. Her whole face has softened, and she just stretches up and kisses him lightly.
"Ok, Humphrey, where do we start?"
DAN HUMPHREY'S SUPER AWESOME PUMPKIN MACAROON RECIPE
Estimated Time - 90mins (Actual cooking time went on for about three hours, but then both Blair and Dan aim for better next time)
You will need:
For the Macaroons -
5oz ground almonds
10oz icing sugar
4 egg whites
1tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon zest
Few drops of orange food colour (optional)
For the Filling -
2oz marscapone
1oz whipping cream
2oz icing sugar
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 small pumpkin
Brown Sugar and Cinnamon to taste
HOW TO MAKE THE MACAROONS:
Preheat oven to 180C
1) Prepare filling: Roast the pumpkin with sugar and cinnamon. Cool. Puree.
Whisk together cream, marscapone, icing sugar and maple syrup until thick enough to spread. Fold in the puree. Set aside in fridge until needed.
2) Mix together dry macaroon ingredients - almonds, icing sugar, cinnamon and lemon (you might need to sieve the ground almonds to keep them fine. Blair hates gritty textured macaroons)
3) Whisk egg whites until stiff peaks form
4) Fold together very gently as to keep air. Add maple syrup, orange food colour and vanilla at this stage.
5) The Loft didn't have a piping bag, so they just used spoons. You can do whatever. Just lay out on some baking parchment some little circles of mixture of about an inch wide and well spaced. Make sure you do an even number as two macaroon halves make one whole!
6) Leave them to stand for at least 30mins. THIS IS IMPORTANT!
7) Put them in the oven with the door kept slightly ajar. They cook very quickly so you have to be careful and watch them now!
8) After maybe 7-8 minutes, they should look firm but not brown. We want to keep the lovely pastels!
9) Allow to stand a second, then remove from parchment with a spatula or wide knife. Try not to break them up!
10) When properly cool, spread some filling onto one macaroon and sandwich together. Repeat until all is used up!
11) Eat, preferably while watching Breakfast at Tiffanys with a beautiful hipster from Brooklyn.
12) Next time, why not try some exciting variations? Such as adding pecan nuts, using sweet potato instead of pumpkin or going all out with another flavour entirely! The same basic recipe can be adjusted a thousand different ways!
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The last macaroon had been eaten. The two of them were sat in a sugar-coma on Dan's sofa half-watching a movie and sipping tea. The smell of sweet cooked pumpkin had permeated the Loft and made Blair feel sleepy and happy.
"Jenny just texted me out of nowhere. Asking what I was doing today." Dan said, and it was half a question. Half asking Blair, silently, what she thought ofit.
"Really?"
It was a testament to how little Blair trusted anybody - and how well she knew schemes - that she too realised that this was slightly unusual. Jenny never texted Dan, and if she did it was always a grudging reply to three or four of his messages.
Serena would have just written it off as a non-incident. But the tone was all wrong. And Dan and Blair had both felt for several weeks that they were in a lull before the storm sort of period.
"I told her the truth. That I was going to the exhibit."
"Hmm." Blair turned back to the movie screen, nestling a little deeper against his shoulder. "So do you think anything of it?"
"Well, it could just be coincidence. But I had another missed call from Vanessa."
"You think they're planning something?"
"Probably not. But I guess it's better to be on guard."
"What would they have in mind? Does Jenny even know about us?"
"I assume so. It's not exactly private anymore. But then she never talks to Dad or Eric."
"What about Vanessa?"
They weren't even pretending to watch the movie anymore. But then they'd both seen Don't Look Now heaps of times before.
"I doubt they're talking." Dan pulled a face. "Not after Vanessa's stunt before Christmas."
Blair nodded, thoughtfully. "I say we just act as normal, but with our eyes a little more open than usual. Yes?"
He nodded, but a little crease of worry remained between his eyes.
"Maybe one day I'll be able to have a relationship where I don't have to watch my back."
She laughed joylessly. "Not on the UES you won't. But at least we have the Brooklyn Bubble."
"What, this foul hovel?" He joked, playing with her hair.
"It's not a hovel, Dan. I never said it was a hovel. Just the shabby side of shabby-chic is all. And now, it's a bakery too."
He grinned. So what if most of their macaroons had been misshapen, partially singed and crumbled away. And now Blair had a fine dusting of icing sugar on
her hair which made her look thirty years older. He'd burned his thumb on the oven holding it ajar. But it was the best afternoon he'd had in a long time.
They'd reached such a good place, and he'd be damned if he let Jenny or anybody try to take this away. His arm around Blair tightened a little, and so did his resolve.
Just let them try.