Snickerdoodle is a fun word...

This batch of cookies resulted in my second favorite group of pictures and my least favorite recipe. The classic snickerdoodle recipe was jazzed up with the addition of dark chocolate pieces. The result was a dry crumbly excuse for a cookie. The pictures came out well in the natural light provided by the daytime. The small size of each cookie and numerous steps made this recipe a more time consuming one. Each cookie had to be rolled in cinnamon sugar which added to messiness factor. I would definitely not bake these again. I’ll stick to my mom’s original recipe.

Key Lime... Pudding?

Alright, so I attempted a key lime pie. I was pretty excited about this because I LOVE key lime pie. First of all, I have no idea where to obtain key limes. So I found a recipe for a lime tart that looked pretty delicious and just used the juice of regular limes. This pie didn't turn out exactly as planned.... Here's the recipe first:

For the crust:
2 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted(I think it needed more because the crust was still crumbly)
For the filling:
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk(Ew.)
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
3 large egg yolks
1 tbsp. lime zest




Preheat oven to 350. For the base place the graham crackers crumbs in a bowl and add melted butter. Mix to combine. Press the mixture evenly over the base and side of a 9 inch pie dish. Bake for 8 minutes. Set aside to cool.




Beat egg yolks until thick. Beat in milk, lime rind, and juice. Pour into the pie shell and chill until set, about 4 hours.


So like I said, this pie tastes good. I think that the two factor that I'm a little iffy about would be A. The uncooked egg yolks(I'm assuming the acid in the lime juice helps with that. and B. The texture of this pie came out more like pudding. I'm not sure what went wrong, if anything, but I just didn't like the consistency of the filling. I've never used condensed milk before either and that may have grossed me out a little too. I think that as far as key lime pies go, I will stick to the store bought freezer section pies(which are delicious by the way). This pie had a lot of steps and in the end I think it would have been more appetizing had I not seen the ingredients going into it.

Until my next baking adventure,

Laura Leigh

I Don't Eat Ripe Bananas

That's right. For me, the greener a banana the better. I know that banana bread is the go to use for overly ripe bananas but I wanted to try something a little different. T helped me find this recipe for banana chocolate chip scones. According to my Baking Illustrated book, scones should be more muffin like in texture than the dry American version that most of us are used to. These definitely were. They were delicious! They almost looked like chocolate chip cookies when they came out of the oven but they were not sweet like a cookie. The chocolate was a perfect accent to the banana. I would make these again in a heartbeat and I'm hoping to try more scone recipes soon.


2-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 ripe bananas
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.

3. In a large bowl mash the bananas. Add brown sugar, canola oil, maple syrup, vanilla, and baking powder. Mix.

4. Stir in the dry ingredients until well mixed. Fold in the chocolate chips.

5. Spoon dough onto baking sheet (I tried to shape mine into triangles). Bake 15 to 20 minutes.

6. Remove from oven and allow to cool on cooling rack.



The light in T's apartment wasn't the greatest and my ISO was too low so these pictures are not the greatest. The scones however, were wonderful.

I'll be doing some marathon baking these next fews days because I, like usual, procrastinated and need more entries before this blog is due. I think next up will be a key lime pie, since I've been craving it. We'll see... I'm a little intimidated.

Until my next baking "adventure",

Laura Leigh

Pumpkin + Cinnamon + Cream Cheese

In honor of all things fall, I decided to bake pumpkin muffins for my first recipe. I used a recipe I found online, but I ended up altering it a bit. Despite my lack of baking knowledge, I felt that 3 cups of sugar was a little bit much and cut it in half. Here is the recipe:

Dry Ingredients:

3 1/3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
3 cups sugar (I cut this down to 1 ½ cups)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground ginger

To Dry Ingredients Add:

1 cup oil
4 eggs
2/3 cup water
2 cups pumpkin

Bake at 350º for 20-30 minutes.





On the list of the I don't like about baking: it makes a pretty substantial mess... exhibit A...


These came out pretty well. I made an icing for them using cream cheese, sugar, cinnamon and ginger. The muffins weren't super sweet(probably because I refused to add 3 cups) but the icing evened it out.




Cinnamon deliciousness:



I think this was pretty good for a first try. On a scale of 1-10 I'm giving these a 6.5. They were a little dense and could have had more flavor. If I did it again I would definitely up the amount of cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. The icing added a lot, without that they would have been a no go. It was fun, in a way, but I honestly felt exhausted after this hour long baking experience. I'm going to have to build my baking endurance apparently. Next up on the list is brownies. I'm pretty excited(more to eat them than actually bake them).

Until my next baking adventure,

Laura Leigh

Baking Books

In my quest for baking glory(haha, what?), I decided that I could use some instructional help. After a few hours in Barnes & Noble, I managed to control myself and purchase only one book. I was a little overwhelmed at first, as there were about 3 huge walls of books dedicated to cooking/baking.



I gradually sifted through by taking pile after pile of books to my seat, looking through each, and deciding which would be most helpful. This was difficult, as I tend to be drawn to books with pretty pictures... not always good.






I really had to narrow it down so as not to spend my life savings in this bookstore.



And these books are not cheap....



And so after a lot of searching, reading, and impulse control, I found a book that I feel most addresses the needs for my mission. Baking Illustrated was the winner. Although it lacks a huge amount of the pretty photography that I love so very much, this appears to be an extensive guide to all things baking related. It has helpful tips and tons of recipes.




Hopefully this book will prove useful. It looks like it will be. The next step is to choose my first recipe. I don't want to get too extreme, so I'll probably start simple. I'm excited, but a little nervous. The next month is going to be baked goods galore. Good thing I recently joined the Y....

Until my next baking adventure,

Laura Leigh

A Long Overdue Beginning

Bienvenue! Welcome to my blog. My goal for this project is to, basically, learn to bake. While I love to cook, baking is NOT on my list of favorite things. This is probably why I'm starting this project weeks after I should have. I've been dreading the undertaking of trying to bake from scratch. I equate baking to math and science. You have to measure, have to be exact, follow directions.... basically all things opposite of me. So maybe, just maybe, through my 40 hours of baking over the next month, I will be able to master the art of baking. Okay... perhaps master is too strong a word. I'll just try not to burn anything down. So let's start with what I know now as baking:

Bigger cookies? Yes, please!

And so, my store bought cookie dough went into the oven and out came some delicious, fresh from the factory, chocolate chips cookies. Are they better than from-scratch cookies? And is it worth the effort? I guess we'll find out in the weeks to come. Unfortunately, I was unable to get an after picture of these delectable little morsels. Unbeknownst to me, while cooling, my cookies were ravaged by a boyfriend.... a sister... and a sister's boyfriend... it happens...

Until my next baking adventure,

Laura Leigh