Baking

I've been baking a lot recently. Behold:


Chocolate Chip Cookies


Chocolate Cranberry Pecan No-Knead Bread (I subbed cranberries for the cherries)


Pumpkin Surprise Pie ("surprise" = cheesecake layer)


Lemon Polenta Cake


Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake


Pumpkin Pecan Pie


Banana Muffins

First attempt at bread baking

With my lovely new-ish Emile Henry stoneware crock (purchased from Costco at about half the average online price) and a jar of active dry yeast found in the fridge, I thought I should finally try the famous No-Knead Bread that has made it's way around the baking blogosphere.

It came together well at first:


But then, perhaps precisely that the yeast has been in the fridge for an indeterminate amount of time, it never really rose much from this:


I baked it anyways, and it was ok. Much more successful was the lentil soup I made to go along with it. But I'm going to get some fresh yeast, and try again this weekend - this time the chocolate-cherry pecan version.

Organic vegan chocolate chip cookies

Last night I came home late for work and really wanted to bake, but not put in a lot of effort. I had a Goodbaker mix that I've been wanting to try, so that's what I used. It was really simple - empty the bag, add a little oil and water, mix, and scoop out.

The organic vegan chocolate chip cookies were really good!


They did taste healthy, in a really good way. There was good texture, depth of flavor, and enough salt to contrast against the sweetness. I'd definitely get them again.

Pumpkin pie brownies

I got to celebrate Halloween exactly the way I wanted to, by baking pumpkin pie brownies, inspired by a recipe for the same from the Post Punk Vegan Kitchen. Except mine wasn't 100% vegan, as I have conventional brownie mix to use up. It was still yummy!

Enjoy!

Food blog recipes

I just made a lemon banana cake because I've got my baking itch. We'll see how it comes out (it's in the oven now), because I got the recipe from a food blog. The recipe seemed to check out okay—a mix between a pound cake and genoise—and I realized she forgot to put the measurement for the melted butter (likely 3/4 cups). No problems there. But, BUT, when I poured the batter into the specified 9" round cake tin, I realized she probably meant a springform pan. Way too much batter. I've baked enough to know this was going to spill over and cause disaster in the oven, so I quickly grabbed my ice scream scoop and a small muffin tin. So now there's 6 little cupcakes waiting it's turn in the oven...

I'll let you all know how it turns out.