Baking Distraction

Tags

baking, banana bread, bourbon, chocolate, feelings, womp

I’ve had a lot of feelings the past few days. Being a musician, you might assume that I could just vent these through playing my viola, but it’s never really worked like that. Whenever I’ve tried, I usually just end up crying, unable to play, and my instrument runs the risk of getting (more) tear-stained. On the other hand, one way that playing does help is if I work on drilling passages, so the focus becomes more on the task at hand rather than what’s running through my mind.

The music that I’ve been working on lately is for a musical that starts next week in San Antonio. There are some really tricky parts in it that make me nervous, plus it runs for a month, so I’ll be staying at my parents’ house instead of commuting. I mean, I’m lucky to have a place to stay, but you know how parents can be when you’re within range. They worry if you’re not home by a certain time, want to know your dinner plans, make you keep your door open, etc., even when you’re 32 years old. (Maybe that’s just me?) Kind of dreading that.

So between those things and the excessive emotions, I’m basically a mess right now.

Bake It List

Tags

baking, motivation, NaBloPoMo

So it’s November 30 which means it’s the last day of this NaBloPoMo nonsense. YES. I mean, it’s fun, but kind of ridiculous.

In an effort to not be that girl who only posts during the eleventh month, I thought I could keep a list of things I’d like to bake, which would hopefully lead to writing about them. Right now I only have a few ideas there (and mostly Milk Bar recipes, surprise), but it will definitely keep growing. It’s its own page right up there next to the Bucket List of restaurants.

Yes, I do realize that this is what Pinterest is for, but I hate it.

Also, that is my little cookbook collection, minus a couple ice cream books. The majority of those books were given to me as I tend to mostly look for recipes online, so only a few really get used. If you have any cookbook musts for someone who likes to cook with lots of veggies and bake, I’m all ears.

Lofty Leftovers

Tags

baking, croissants, leftovers, Milk Bar, NaBloPoMo, Thanksgiving

A couple friends have pointed out that I’ve been playing it safe on my blog this month. Back in the blogging heyday, I used to participate in monthly baking and cooking challenges from the Daring Kitchen, but would also tackle difficult recipes just because, well, I wanted to be challenged. The thrill has always been more in the process than in eating the final result, you know? Though getting to enjoy it is always the best bonus.

So why haven’t I beed very adventurous? I don’t know. The main excuse has been that there are always so many vegetables that need to be cooked, so that’s what’s been keeping me occupied in the kitchen. That said, I do have more time than most, especially if managed well, and I have missed the crazy baking projects.

Pie High

Tags

baking, butternut squash, fall, NaBloPoMo, pie, pumpkin, Thanksgiving

Usually for holidays, I bake a couple of desserts. I’m not sure if it’s more for variety or to avoid the whole eggs/basket situation, but it’s probably a little of both. This year, I just made one because there is always too much dessert (yes, possible), and it sounded like we’d have less people.

Oddly enough, I decided to make a classic pumpkin pie, which is odd because I don’t really care for it that much. I mean, I’ll eat it, but it would never be near my first pick in a pie line-up. So, why? The recently-posted pumpkin pie recipe on Smitten Kitchen. There’s something so reassuring about Deb that she makes you feel like she’s posting something that’s going to be better than all of the other recipes because she’s done the dirty work and already tried them all for you. But if you’re reading this food blog, then you know this because hers is one of the best and that is partly why.

Um, not that I intended to wax poetic about Deb when I haven’t even talked about this pie. But no surprises here: it was fantastic. I have some truly depressing pie experiences behind me, but this came out pretty perfectly, crust(!) and all.

Wordless Wednesday: Pie Mode

Tags

baking, butternut, fall, NaBloPoMo, pie, pumpkin, Thanksgiving, Wordless Wednesday

I’ll post about the finished pie tomorrow. :)

Sweet Defeat

Tags

baking, bundt, cake, fail, NaBloPoMo, persimmon, pudding

When you plan to bake something new and post about it on the same day, you’re probably setting yourself up for disaster. And when you’re making yourself blog every day, well, you still post about it.

So those persimmons that I bought on Sunday? I thought that I would use them in a bundt cake of some sort since I missed the one food holiday that I observe. Really, I should have just made one of Mary the Food Librarian‘s favorites, but kept running across recipes for persimmon pudding and was intrigued.

A couple of the recipes on NYT Cooking caught my eye, and I ended up going with this Persimmon and Buttermilk Pudding. The other recipe sounded a little more appealing, but the one I chose calls for a six-cup baking dish, which is the exact size of my small bundt pan.

Do Not Donut

Tags

baking, donuts, doughnuts, NaBloPoMo, rant

[donut emoji donut emoji donut emoji]

I’m not sure which is more unhealthy: my love for donuts or my love for emojis.

I am a plain, glazed donut kind of girl. You see chocolate-covered donuts with sprinkles. What I’m saying is that I made the donuts that I rarely go for because they are the EMOJI DONUT. Seriously.

Maybe I wrote the above on February 1st, which was my birthday. Because maybe I made these donuts for my birthday, but never actually posted about them. (Yep.)

As a lover of donuts who loves to bake, it seemed like the obvious birthday treat. I had only made baked donuts before, which, let’s be honest, are just donut-shaped cakes. Even real cake donuts are fried. Also, I had been wanting to try a potato donut, or spudnut, so figured I would make a batch of those since I hadn’t seen them in this part of the country.

The Key to Quiche

Tags

baking, cooking, custard, Julia Child, NaBloPoMo, pie crust, quiche

Quiche is one of those things that I always think I can wing without a recipe. It’s just a matter of scrambling some eggs and throwing some fillings into a pie crust, right? This is probably why I’ve never made a very good one.

A few weeks ago, I wanted to make a quiche and decided to actually use some guidance. Who better to trust than Julia Child? It turns out that it’s really easy to make up your own awesome quiche using her custard ratio.

Short Stack for One

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baking, breakfast, brunch, easy, NaBloPoMo, pancakes, recipe

So I’ve totally posted a variation of these pancakes, but am being a little bit selfish here. Every time I make them, which is every time I make pancakes, I cut the recipe in half. The halved ingredients are jotted on a purple Post-It which is now covered in grease spots, so I decided that it would be worth it to post this version. I mean, at least for myself. See? Selfish. But maybe you just want to make a few pancakes for yourself, too.

To me, these are the ideal pancakes. They’re buttery, yet fluffy and get the slightest crispness on the outside. There isn’t much sugar in them, so the pancakes balance out anything sweet that you might add, like fruit or chocolate chips. They really are fantastic as-is, though I like to pour a little maple syrup on them because pancakes.

Milk Bar Baking

Tags

baking, cookies, dessert, Milk Bar, Momofuku, NaBloPoMo, pie

Christina Tosi’s Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook came out a while ago, but I never treated myself to a copy until a few months ago. Since then, whenever I have an occasion that calls for baking, I just want to try another recipe from it. If you’ve never baked from this book or even looked through it, the recipes aren’t necessarily difficult, but tend to be a combination of recipes.

For example, today I made a batch of the Chocolate-Chocolate cookies. After the ingredients for the dough, a half recipe of Chocolate Crumble is called for, so some looking ahead is required. Tosi also has very specific directions for creaming the butter and sugar for cookies on page 27, which she refers to in each recipe.

Chocolate-Chocolate Cookies