7 posts tagged “baking”
It's the fall season and it's starting to get cold. It finally gives me the excuse to fire up my double ovens. I'm also excited to take all of my winter clothes out. All the scarves, sweaters, gloves, hats, etc. I'm totally in my element.
Lately it seems that I've been on a cupcake craze. I wanted to make cupcakes all the time, but the truth of the matter is that it is winter and I can fire up my double ovens whenever I want.
For a couple of weeks now I've wanted to bake and experiment with cupcakes. There was a cupcake recipe on my Ghirardelli Recipe book for Dark Chocolate cupcakes. I reinvented the recipe by adding really strong coffee. I wasn't at all scared at how it would taste like. It's not going to be dramatic nor will it change the the consistency of the cupcake. I figured nothing could go wrong with coffee and I was right. The hint of coffee flavour mixed with the chocolate was positively scrumptious.
Every year during the month of September, we throw Alice a birthday party or a birthday dinner at my house. Every year, I bake a cake and every year it's different. This year, I've deiced to make her a raspberry torte.
It seems as though every December, I manage to make myself even busier than usual. I don't knit as much in the winter season, which some people find odd since it is the season that one must knit. Of course, I knit plenty during the late winter, around February and during the spring so that my projects or even Christmas gifts are finished by the beginning of autumn. So, without the heavy burden of trying to finish projects, I'm enjoying the December month as always.
As I looked at my schedule on the Crackberry (aka Blackberry), I found that every weekend before Christmas was fully booked. I normally make my Christmas cookies around the second week of December, but alas, the Scuba portion of my life does not allow to do so this year.
Therefore, I was reduced to making cookies this past weekend. I couldn't believe my kitchen after my tornado filled weekend. I was covered from head to toe in frosting, flour, food colouring, and marzipan clay. But it was all well worth it. The cookies were a hit and for Mike, he couldn't quite eat them since "they were so cute."
I couldn't quite believe that two people can make such a mess cooking two items for Thanksgiving Dinner. It's like this every year. My very pristine kitchen where everything is organised, for two hours or more, it seems like its' been hit by a cyclone.
This year, I've decided to make pumpkin cheesecake (a dessert that I haven't made in practically three years) instead of the traditional pumpkin pie. I knew what I was getting myself into. Instead of the Pumpkin pie that's so easy to make and where I only use one bowl for everything, I made pumpkin cheesecake which requires a heavy mixer and another bowl to create the pie crust. Talk about a mess. On top of that, my hsuband decided to make breakfast which consisted of Mexican Chorizo and Potatos, Eggs, and Biscuits and Gravy. Which means, my kitchen started to look like this.
Although my kitchen looked disastrous, all the hardwork of cleaning up paid off. The cheesecake was a big hit.
I just love it when Thanksgiving arrives. Just after that, the sales come out and the smell of cinnamon, pine, and apples gives me the warm fuzzies inside. Of course, it's the baking season. I'll be making everyone fat and happy this year.
