Experiments in Baking
Dec. 5th, 2012 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyjendifiBaking has always been a fun activity for me, and I love showing up at gatherings with cookies. Because who doesn't like some cookies? Also, it can be a good way to harness frenetic energy productively, especially when I'm thinking about Stuff. When I hit my short term weight loss goal I bought a few new cookbooks. Living alone has afforded me few opportunities to bake for others, but I decided to give it a shot on Saturday when I knew I could distribute goods to merry makers at the OB Christmas parade.
So, these chocolate chip cookies were pretty good. I say 'pretty good' as opposed to 'wow good' because chocolate chip cookies used to be my specialty. I knew my old recipie from memory and had been baking them since I was a little girl. So these cookies, while tasty, didn't necessarily fit with my platonic ideal of chocolate chip cookie. I have a few ideas for tweaking that I will experiment with before the season is over.
Chocolate chip-mint cupcakes with a sugar-glaze frosting on the right, and carrot cake with a faux cream cheese frosting on the left. The chocolate chip-mint cupcakes were just regular chocolate chip cupcakes with crushed up candy cane pieces in them and on top; recipie called for mint extract, but I didn't have any, so I used vanilla instead and prayed the flavors wouldn't clash. They didn't. People liked them more than I did. Conversely, I am not a big fan of traditional carrot cake, but those carrot cake cupcakes were AMAZING. Having never worked with fake cream cheese before, I was suspicious, especially after I tasted fingerful out of the container; it was definitely not a 1-for-one switch, taste wise. But, when whipped with confectioner's sugar, I couldn't tell the difference, and I could have eaten the frosting with a spoon.
Round 2 of carrot cake cupcakes for the burner meet-and-greet last night. I think I'm going to take that recipie,
subtract carrot and add pumpkin pie spice, double the batch and bake it in a loaf pan to make pumpkin spice bread. During the holidays, the restaurant used to work at had the best pumpkin spice bread. Nothing would be more of a Christmas treat for me than to be able to replicate it.....
So, these chocolate chip cookies were pretty good. I say 'pretty good' as opposed to 'wow good' because chocolate chip cookies used to be my specialty. I knew my old recipie from memory and had been baking them since I was a little girl. So these cookies, while tasty, didn't necessarily fit with my platonic ideal of chocolate chip cookie. I have a few ideas for tweaking that I will experiment with before the season is over.
Chocolate chip-mint cupcakes with a sugar-glaze frosting on the right, and carrot cake with a faux cream cheese frosting on the left. The chocolate chip-mint cupcakes were just regular chocolate chip cupcakes with crushed up candy cane pieces in them and on top; recipie called for mint extract, but I didn't have any, so I used vanilla instead and prayed the flavors wouldn't clash. They didn't. People liked them more than I did. Conversely, I am not a big fan of traditional carrot cake, but those carrot cake cupcakes were AMAZING. Having never worked with fake cream cheese before, I was suspicious, especially after I tasted fingerful out of the container; it was definitely not a 1-for-one switch, taste wise. But, when whipped with confectioner's sugar, I couldn't tell the difference, and I could have eaten the frosting with a spoon.
Round 2 of carrot cake cupcakes for the burner meet-and-greet last night. I think I'm going to take that recipie,
subtract carrot and add pumpkin pie spice, double the batch and bake it in a loaf pan to make pumpkin spice bread. During the holidays, the restaurant used to work at had the best pumpkin spice bread. Nothing would be more of a Christmas treat for me than to be able to replicate it.....
