Practice II

Practice

The move to Muskoka actually went well. I saw two moose and, amazingly, I didn't even get lost.

Work for the bakery has begun, so we've been scratch baking every day—so exciting. No personal baking though—sorry, food blog!

Since spring decided to turn back into winter up here (it snowed on Sunday!), I've been practicing painting a bit in my down time. I still have no idea what I'm doing, but practice I must.

These flower designs are not of my own invention. I cannot find the source of the blue flowers in the first picture, though I'm pretty sure they were from Rifle Paper Company. Sorry! I thought I had pinned it. However, I do know that the roses are a lame attempt at ones from here. Everything on her website is so beautiful, it makes my heart ache.

The second practice was inspired by an old pillow case at my parents' cottage.

In the realm of baking and pastry, I know that baking theory is my passion. But when it comes to a favourite practical component, I just don't know.

Cake Decorating: Blackberry Cake

Last week, while leisurely decorating some miniature cakes, it occurred to me that they were ugly. I keep decorating cakes in the style I was taught in school—buttercream roses, piped borders, swags, etc...—only to repeatedly find myself displeased with the results.

Oatmeal Cookies II

If you will believe it, I haven't just been lazy about posting oatmeal cookies. It actually took me a month of obsessive oatmeal cookie making to arrive at this recipe. Creating an oatmeal cookie for my dream bakery was way more difficult than I anticipated...in part because I struggled to define my "perfect" oatmeal cookie, but also because of the increased number of variables to consider, adjust and change, especially compared to a basic shortbread or sugar cookie.

I'm spending my rainy day off working on a dream bakery oatmeal cookie. I am using my first oatmeal cookie recipe as a base, because, upon re-making it this week (and editing the post and pictures...haha, shh, it was embarrassing), I found the cookies were actually quite good. Still, I know they can be better...but I'm having a hard time determining the criteria for my ideal oatmeal cookie. All I know for sure is that it doesn't have raisins.

Barbados

My father has been living and working in Barbados for the last 6 months, and for a week this month, my family and I finally went to visit. I've tried to limit the number of photos I share, as this is a food blog, but it's difficult to go on vacation and not want to tell everyone about it. I'll try to be brief and food related...

Chocolate Cake with Honey Buttercream

It seems as though when you are an aspiring baker, you become forever responsible for making your own birthday cakes. Last year I made myself a raw cheesecake, but this year I wanted something more traditional. 

Rolled Sugar Cookies

Like shortbread, sugar cookies were a staple I thought I should be able to make using local sugar. This time, I stopped counting after trial batch number 6. While a nice tasting cookie was quickly achieved...a nice texture, not so much.

Sesame Crackers

James and I had some friends over for dinner the other day, and is there ever a better excuse to make your own crackers? These are perfect for cheese and dips, as they are only very lightly salted. I also like rolling them out in big pieces—saved a lot of time, and I think it's a neat look. This recipe is exceptionally easy, the crackers taste great, and they look lovely; I already have a second batch of dough in the fridge, waiting to be rolled.

Coconut Milk Caramel Sauce

I've been tempted to try making candies and caramel sauce with honey for quite some time, but I've always been anxious about the potential of wasting large amounts of honey. I'm not certain what prompted me to finally do it, but I made caramel sauce today, using this recipe. Though I have recently re-embraced dairy, a couple of my loved ones are lactose intolerant, and as I intended to make this as a Christmas gift for one of them, I opted to try using coconut milk.

Pecan Shortbread

To somewhat resolve my inner conflict over the sugary food related things I do at work, I've decided that I'd really like to establish my own repertoire of basic recipes, made with local sugars...perhaps to appear in my imaginary bakery. I really enjoy working on recipes and testing my knowledge of baking theory to adapt them. Shortbread was a delicious and simple place to start. And pecan sandies are among James' favourite cookies.

Getting Ready

Christmas is coming too soon, and I'm trying to get ready. Today I'm working on a shortbread cookie recipe for here and trying to finish my Christmas cards—'tis the season!

Lately

Christmas is coming, so I've also been busy knitting and making cards etc..., and work is pretty nuts right now too. I have been baking at home, because James and I have had company for the last two weekends, but by the time I feel any ambition to take a picture, it's gone.

I've been feeling conflicted about the amount of cane-sugar baking I do, when my real interests are in baking with local sugars, but here are a couple little sugary things I've made lately. The cookies are just a basic sugar cookie recipe with royal icing. I made them for fun, because I'd like to improve my piping and decorating skills. The cake is a chocolate genoise, with orange flavoured buttercream, that I made for a friend of James'. The colour combination for the cake's icing was a definite mistake, but I do think taste is most important, and the feedback was great. I hate looking at all the imperfections of my decorating, but I try to remind myself that I have to start somewhere.

Blueberry Dessert Scones

Sometimes I dream about opening my own bakery. And although it's far off, I've already decided that, if I do, these scones will be there. I love them, though they're very different from the Hearty Scones I've already posted. They're rich, sweet, short and crumbly. They like...melt in your mouth. This is one of my favourite recipes I've ever put on this blog.