However, there are still remnants of my “Type A” personality left in me. Since the book that I had finally settled on was “Dessert a Day ‘Til Christmas”, I felt personally compelled to complete 25 desserts before the end of November. Fortunately, a lot of the work was already done since the ebook was primarily going to be a compilation of desserts that had been featured on Foodie City Mom. What wasn’t already completed, I baked this past weekend- gingerbread, peanut butter cup brownies and the best oatmeal raisin cookies that I have ever tasted. Michael loved the brownies and to my surprise (because he is very wary of new flavors), Sean loved the gingerbread. We also completed the “chocolate covered” section. The boys and I had fun melting chocolate and dipping pretzels, chips, dried mango and candy canes into it. We gave away some of the brownies and oatmeal raisin cookies and the mango so thankfully my house isn’t filled to the brim with sweets.
I learned a lot…and had a lot of fun with the boys in the process. Now, when they see different desserts, they say, “You should make that too!” Uh…no. I’m all “baked out” for the moment, but it has been exciting to see that I can learn to bake well. You can too! It mainly takes three things…
1. A great, easy to understand recipe: I didn’t start out as a “natural” baker. It didn’t come instinctively to me. I need exact measurements. Just like with most things though…the more you do it, the better you become at it. Now, I usually look at 5 different recipes of the item that I want to bake and see what they have in common. Then, I usually switch a few ingredients or make other variations to suit my family’s tastes and my (simple!) baking style. So far, the only recipe that I haven’t changed anything in at all is the recent oatmeal raisin cookie. They are perfect “as is”…dangerously perfect.
2. An attention to detail: I was on a baking “I got this” roll on Friday night UNTIL I looked back at the gingerbread recipe that my chef friend Mike had shared with me. Instead of including baking soda, I had included baking powder. Argh! Which leads me to thing #3…
3. A sense of humor: Baking is not brain surgery. If you mess up, you can start over again…and you’ll probably even learn something new in the process. (Something like, “don’t sit the baking soda and baking powder next to each other on the counter when one of them isn’t even an ingredient in the item that you’re baking”!) Or maybe that’s just me… 🙂
P.S. The other thing that I learned is that IF I can learn to bake (this year/2012), THEN I can also learn to take great food photos. If you have any recommendations for food photography classes or workshops that are taught in a simple, easy to understand manner, please let me know! Thanks!