Home-Made New York Style Bagels (and the Friend Who Showed Me How!)

So I swore up and down I wouldn't make these again.  Especially all by myself.  Don't get me wrong:  it's not because they aren't completely chewy-delicious.  They just require a large time commitment.  And I was pretty sure I didn't want to commit that much time to it ever again.

But then, for some reason, I have been craving a really good bagel lately.  I'm a bagel girl quite often.  That's another thing I used to have almost every morning when I was working:  a bagel with cream cheese.  And usually I just go with those store-bought (sometimes from the day old bread store...) multi-packs.  Easy. 

Then, one day, my friend Ani (who has since committed the ultimate no-no and moved halfway across the country... ;)) mentioned that she had an awesome bagel recipe -- and she'd be happy to come over and help me make them.  I was a pretty hungry preggo woman back then -- with no job and not much to do.  So I was all for this experience -- especially since it resulted in yumm-o bagels!  We ended up quadrupling the recipe (well, okay, we made double the recipe twice).  And though not technically hard, it does take time.  And it does dirty a lot of dishes. 

But the end result is so fantastic.  I ended up with 30-something bagels of different varieties.  I sliced them all, plastic-wrapped them, and froze them.  And enjoyed eating them over time. 

And swore I'd never do it again.  Especially by myself. 

Just one more time I have learned to "never say never" (ack! split infinitive...  my Grammar teacher would so not approve...).  Because some cravings just drive you to do crazy things. 

Like make more of these bagels. 

And sure, it wasn't nearly as fun making them alone as it was with a friend.  And these aren't nearly as pretty as the ones I made with Ani, because I'm more impatient.  But I survived -- and I'm eating one now.  And it turned out yummy :). 

So, thank you Ani...  You are awesome -- and so are the bagels.  And I'm grateful for you both! 

The recipe can be found here.  I recommend you at least double the recipe, because it's an awful lot of work for just 8 bagels -- even if they are phenomenal.

What are you grateful for today?