Week 3: Fried Pies

I've been real excited about this week although I see that it isn't as easy at it my seem. There use to be a little off the road eating place in Missouri that made fried pies. They were fabulous. I want to create that recipe again. The key factor is the crust, which I am not happy with yet. I made a recipe that was suppose to be very good and I wasn't impressed at all. I am definitely going to have to do some more research. I used butter to give it a better flavor and also used ice cold water. It was too hard. I want a flaky crust. Apple fried pies tonight. The filling was good. Friends. Cooking can be stressful as well as being therapeutic. On a mission to find the perfect pie crust recipe. If any of you have a suggestion I'd love to know. Might try blueberry tomorrow. I also am going to try pumpkin and coconut cream. But until I find a good crust I'm in trouble. Will share the results in a few days.

Week 2: Biscotti

Decided to work on Biscotti this week. Sooo many different varieties. Starting out with Gingerbread Biscotti. Smelled great even before it hit the oven. I've only made biscotti once and it was pretty good. Hope to perfect it this week and even create some new varieties. The gingerbread variety has lots of spice in it and after it's done I am going to dip it in some melted white chocolate. Doesn't that sound good? Hope it works. I was out of whole wheat flour and substituted wheat germ....hmmmm....we'll see. Be back in a few to let you know how it turned out....took them out of the oven and not that impressed. Don't know if it's the wheat germ or that my baking powder was old. Didn't rise as good as I'd like. Smell great....soooo....guess I'll finish these. If they taste good I'll dip in white chocolate and just have smaller ones. Taste good. Not too happy about the texture. Some of them crumbled. Gonna dip the rest in chocolate and see how they are. Will try a new recipe tomorrow. Catch you then.

Week 1: Granola and Parfaits

OK, so I have been researching ingredients for granola. Wow! You really can do a lot with granola. I'm thinking about doing a basic granola and letting people choose their mix ins. That idea just came to me right now....hmmmm....just might work. The granola I am making this evening has oats, wheat germ, bran, maple syrup, cinnamon and some raisins and craisins will be my mix ins. I gathered my recipe and listed the ingredients and then went to the grocery store. Guess what I found out. Granola ingredients can be a bit expensive, but well worth it I'm sure. I have all I need so kitchen here I come. I'll get back with you in a couple of hours when it's done. Hopefully I'll be smiling...Well, I'm back and yes I am smiling. It's the perfect sweetness, not too much. Light and nutty. I am keeping some plain and I'm adding the dried fruit to the rest. Parfaits tomorrow. Well, that's week one of 52. My plans are to allow one week to perfect a recipe. That means I might have to make it several times to get it just the way I want it. Got this one on the first try. Thanks for coming along with me on my adventure. Forgot to share my creamy filling for the parfaits. First I tried plain vanilla pudding. Not very good, much too sweet. So I created a filling with cream cheese, heavy cream, french vanilla pudding all blended together and then whisk in a cup of whipped topping. yummy!!!!!! That's all I can say......

It all started about 43 years ago......

I am embarking on an adventure that has been somewhat of a dream since childhood. I started loving to bake in both grandmother's kitchens standing on a chair. Each grandmother had their own style of cooking. One would measure everything, read recipes and use fairly healthy ingredients while the other one didn't own a cookbook, measuring spoons or measuring cups. She also used lard to cook with. Both were equally fascinating and I learned so much from them. My mother is a great teacher of cooking too. She loves to bake and to this day I still haven't been able to master her yummy Four In One cookie recipe. I've been inspired by so many good bakers. I also love a good coffee and the atmosphere that allows one or several to relax, drink coffee and have some baked comfort foods while sharing stories from their heart or having some alone time to read or pray or just think. What a stress reliever. I guess my biggest supporters of this adventure are my two children. It's something the three of us love to do. Bake and cook, trying lots of new and unusual recipes. They have pushed me for a long time to do something like this. So, my prayer, hopes and dreams are that at the end of these 52 weeks I will have a good start on some great and tasty baked goods to serve with that great coffee at my own coffee shop. I hope you all will join me in this exciting adventure in my life. I'm sure I'll have my frustrating moments along with the great ones, but that is how we learn, right? Ready? I think I am.....Let's go.