TWD: Bagels! (and Veggie Cream Cheese)

 I'm sorry. I'm sorry I've been gone for a week and a half. I'm sorry I haven't posted a new recipe in nearly three weeks. The kitchen being painted, our house's lack of heat due to a boiler switch, schoolwork, pottery classes, and various other shenanigans got in the way of baking these past couple of weeks. I actually made an okay gluten-free carrot cake last week, but it was kind of crumbly, and let's just say that the chocolate "glaze" resulted in a cracked, hard-as-rock layer of yuck. Overall, not a great culinary period of time...

 ...but. Last weekend, these bagels. Bagels have been on my to-bake list for years, and I never got around to making them. I was so excited when I saw that they had been chosen as last week's Tuesdays with Dorie! This week was actually a fifth Tuesday of the month, so we had a make-up week in case we wanted to go back and make something we missed. Perfect!

um, YUM!

 The dough was kneaded, left to rise, deflated, left to rise, shaped into doughnut shapes, boiled, baked, and left to cool. I made the quick Vegetable Cream Cheese from the book, using red bell peppers instead of radishes. The cream cheese was light and refreshing, as opposed to the heavy, buttery spreads that can sometimes be piled onto deli bagels.

Listen, dears. (I feel that as I'm writing about a recipe made on Julia Child's show, calling you dears is appropriate. 'Kay?) The thing is, I live in New York City. My hometown basically is the bagel capital of the world (Montreal, I don't even want to talk about this with you). I was skeptical that these could live up to the chewy perfection two dollars can get you on my corner.
I was wrong to doubt this recipe. These bagels are tender, golden-brown bites of delicious. They are like a very, very good New York deli bagel (although not quite so huge, which is a good thing). I am so glad I got to try out making this usually-store-bought staple at home, and I know I will be making bagels again in the future; that said, I'm not promising to never buy one again.
If you live near a great bagel place, give this recipe a try and compare the two results. Let me know what you find? If you don't live near a great bagel place, you must give this recipe a try, if only to understand what all the fuss is about. ;) The recipe, as always, can be found in Baking with Julia or on the host's blog, Heather's Bytes. Thanks for hosting, Heather!
    Enjoy!