random stuff about life: baking experiments of the 2010

I am no baker, - i don't really like sweets all that much, and i always feel that the harm to the body is not worth the enjoyment received, so, i never really bothered. But in my new life i found a new inspiration to bake, in a form of my sweet-loving C. Learning a new skill is always nice, especially when there is someone appreciating the effort and the result. Plus, seems that C was well accustomed to the freshly baked goods being always available, since K enjoys baking as a hobby, so i figured i might as well try
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The first was yablochnaya sharlotka, using the family recipe, and it came out nicely, the picture of it was saved off somewhere, i'll add when i find it again.

The second one was my favorite Lemon Merengue Pie, for which i make my own graham cracker crust, which tasted good, but the edges didn't look pretty. The Merengue part was a bit flat, because when i separated the whites from the yokes, one of the eggs broke and, consequently, the yoke touched the whites, which, as i later found out, prevents the whites from whipping properly and becoming stiff. So, soggy merengue it was...

then there were banana mini muffins. Since i don't care much for banana-baked goods, it was hard for me to be excited about them. But C ate them, and so is his visiting cousin, although i later discovered that they must be shrink-wrapped individually to preserve freshness.

Later i made cranberry walnut muffins, and liked them a lot better.

The masterpiece came in a form of a late birthday cake for C's birthday. This German Chocolate cake took some 6 hours to complete, but it was truly amazing. We shared some with his brother, and he approved the creation as well. I am not sure i would be brave enough to repeat this though.

The next thing i tried was pumpkin cranberry cookies, using my Fridays off for the experiment. They looked too yellow, and had a soft cake texture, so i was tired of them after eating the first two cookies. I got the recipe off the all-recipes spinner, but i don't think i'll be repeating that one.

The next came the German Apple cake, also off the all-recipes spinner. I modified it a bit, and it came out perfectly delicious, very similar to our yablochnaya sharlotka, but even better and healthier, i think.

For thanksgiving, C's son asked for the pecan pie, which i myself like, so i figured it would be a good idea to try. Once again, i made my own graham cracker crust, and picked a recipe that did not call for corn syrup, which is probably why it lacked the gooey layer that i like in pecan pies. The son liked the taste, so we will call this production a relative success.

The next experiment was a Key Lime pie. For this i used a store-bought gram cracker crust. The pie was very easy to make, the only effort being squeezing a zillion key limes, and both C and his son loved it, but it was certainly not healthy, as it contained loads of condensed milk .

Somewhere in between all this, there was also a pizza from scratch experiment, which was time consuming but fun and delicious.