Love = A Warm Cookie
It seems like I've been doing a lot more baking than I have in the past. I only started baking again a few years ago after a lifetime of presuming I was just bad at it, because a few attempts at cookie baking in my youth left me with sheets of burnt crisps. Especially with the internet and a plethora of social media websites like Pinterest and food blogs galore, it seems to me like there really isn't an excuse anymore to avoid cooking well or baking well.
So ever since I found the best chocolate chip cookie recipe EVER, I've been a little more enthusiastic about the world of baking. This past week, I had a craving for peanut butter cookies and just googled easy recipes that called for few ingredients [besides peanut butter, duh]. They were okay. Good enough to crave my hankering for a peanut butter cookie--but next time, I think I'll search for one that's a little chewier and I'll probably use chunky peanut butter, so I can get bits of peanuts in it this time.
I also got around to making Giada di Laurentiss' Ricotta Orange Poundcake (which I had intended to make around Christmastime, but things got too crazy) to bring to a friend whose father recently passed away. I had bought mini loaf stoneware from Michael's over the holidays and used those to bake the pound cake. They were very tasty, and the ricotta and orange were subtle but delicately delicious. However, next time, I'll make sure to bake them in regular sized loaf pans, as these were way too small.
Then last night, after eating a dinner of Borgata's NY style pizza (SO good), I just felt like baking cookies. I didn't have any chocolate chips in the pantry, but I did have cocoa powder, so I made chocolate cookies. They were good, but would have been better with chunks in them. I don't remember what recipe I used, but I'll have to find it and post it later.
I know...with my goals of being more physically fit, you'd think me a crazy person to do all this baking, but fortunately, I have self control. I usually don't have a desire to eat any more than one or two cookies (and I make them small anyways), and the main reason I bake in the first place is usually for others. If a birthday or any other event comes up, I'm usually baking; if the husband wants something sweet, and I don't want to spend the time doing an elaborate dessert, cookies are the perfect out. Plus, there is something really, really relaxing about being in the kitchen concentrating on a recipe. Not just baking, but cooking, too. I am 99% sure that if I hadn't been a musician, I probably would have tried to enter the culinary world.
Anyone else a former non-baker who has discovered that it isn't so bad?
So ever since I found the best chocolate chip cookie recipe EVER, I've been a little more enthusiastic about the world of baking. This past week, I had a craving for peanut butter cookies and just googled easy recipes that called for few ingredients [besides peanut butter, duh]. They were okay. Good enough to crave my hankering for a peanut butter cookie--but next time, I think I'll search for one that's a little chewier and I'll probably use chunky peanut butter, so I can get bits of peanuts in it this time.
I also got around to making Giada di Laurentiss' Ricotta Orange Poundcake (which I had intended to make around Christmastime, but things got too crazy) to bring to a friend whose father recently passed away. I had bought mini loaf stoneware from Michael's over the holidays and used those to bake the pound cake. They were very tasty, and the ricotta and orange were subtle but delicately delicious. However, next time, I'll make sure to bake them in regular sized loaf pans, as these were way too small.
Then last night, after eating a dinner of Borgata's NY style pizza (SO good), I just felt like baking cookies. I didn't have any chocolate chips in the pantry, but I did have cocoa powder, so I made chocolate cookies. They were good, but would have been better with chunks in them. I don't remember what recipe I used, but I'll have to find it and post it later.
I know...with my goals of being more physically fit, you'd think me a crazy person to do all this baking, but fortunately, I have self control. I usually don't have a desire to eat any more than one or two cookies (and I make them small anyways), and the main reason I bake in the first place is usually for others. If a birthday or any other event comes up, I'm usually baking; if the husband wants something sweet, and I don't want to spend the time doing an elaborate dessert, cookies are the perfect out. Plus, there is something really, really relaxing about being in the kitchen concentrating on a recipe. Not just baking, but cooking, too. I am 99% sure that if I hadn't been a musician, I probably would have tried to enter the culinary world.
Anyone else a former non-baker who has discovered that it isn't so bad?
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