the tail end of baking

Standard

I wrote the other day about how I no longer derive joy from baking. But I discovered that in the middle of a medium-sized bake. Later I posted pictures of the baking, and everyone exclaimed, “You’re baking! But I thought you said you weren’t going to!” Yeah… I won’t. But I didn’t realize I didn’t want to until I was too far down the road of baking this recent stuff to stop. I finished the bake, vowed only to do my planned Halloween bake next month, and then that’s it.

Meanwhile, if you want to try your hand at the things I made for my office this week, here are the recipes:

June – near Midsummer break – bake

Standard

The latest bake … did not grab pictures of everything but most of the recipes are linked below.

M&M cookies and white chocolate macadamia cookies

IMG_1619

Gluten-free/”paleo” brownies

IMG_1620 IMG_1621

Cranberry-pistachio biscotti

IMG_1622

Ginger cookies with pumpkin spice kiss candies

IMG_1623

Cherry oat bars

IMG_1624

Faux thin mint cookies

IMG_1625

Vanilla cupcakes stuffed with Raffaello candy, vanilla frosting

IMG_1626  IMG_1628

Cookies and cream cupcakes

IMG_1629

Banana-oat cupcakes stuffed with Smil, frosted with caramel Swiss meringue buttercream

IMG_1630

Brown sugar cupcakes injected with maple syrup, maple Swiss buttercream and candied bacon

IMG_1631

Nanaimo bars

IMG_1627

Lemon raspberry bars

Crack pie with M&Ms

Anzac biscuits

Chocolate truffles

Baked goods & recipes – May 27

Standard

When I finally came out of hibernation and baked, I ended up making nine different things to take to my office. I had a list of more things than that but was so slow in the baking process that I was not even sure I would manage to make the nine things I did. But here is the recount and all the recipes, for those who care:

M&M cookies

MMM MMMMMM ... M&M cookies

MMM MMMMMM … M&M cookies

White chocolate macadamia nut cookies

Ever-popular favorite: White chocolate macadamia cookies

Ever-popular favorite: White chocolate macadamia cookies

ANZAC biscuits

Deceiving you into thinking they're healthy: ANZAC biscuits

Deceiving you into thinking they’re healthy: ANZAC biscuits

Nanaimo bars

Nanaimo bars for all those times you don't count calories and/or want to pretend you're Canadian

Nanaimo bars for all those times you don’t count calories and/or want to pretend you’re Canadian

Coconut macaroon shells filled with dark chocolate ganache

Gluten-free doesn't mean it's not amazing: Dark chocolate ganache filling in coconut macaroon tart shells

Gluten-free doesn’t mean it’s not amazing: Dark chocolate ganache filling in coconut macaroon tart shells

Chocolate chip cookies stuffed with Reese’s peanut butter cups

Heart attack in cookie form: Reese's peanut butter cup stuffed in giant chocolate chip cookie

Heart attack in cookie form: Reese’s peanut butter cup stuffed in giant chocolate chip cookie

Chocolate cookies with Andes mint chips

Using the rare Andes mints for chocolate mint cookies

Using the rare Andes mints for chocolate mint cookies

Chocolate cookies with Reese’s peanut butter chips

Using up peanut butter chips brought by "chip mule" from the States - chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips

Using up peanut butter chips brought by “chip mule” from the States – chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips

Shortbread with chocolate sprinkles

Perennial favorite - buttery shortbread with chocolate sprinkles

Perennial favorite – buttery shortbread with chocolate sprinkles

Ambition above reality

Standard

In much the same way as people’s eyes are often bigger than their stomachs, my baking ambitions often far outstrip my capacity to deliver.

That said, my current ambitions for the big intro bake of autumn include (potentially):

Shortbread
Carrot-sandwich cookies
Anzac biscuits
Dark chocolate hazelnut mini tarts
Cranberry-pistachio biscotti
Tart cherry, blueberry and toasted pine nut biscotti
Oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookies
Smil-filled chocolate cookies
Samoa cookies
Nanaimo bars
Mini cheesecakes with Oreo crust
Oatmeal lemon cream bars*
Caramel apple crumble bars*
Kahlua coffee cupcakes*
Malt chocolate cupcakes*
Brown sugar cupcakes with maple frosting and candied bacon*
Carrot pineapple spice cupcakes*

* means this will be a new/experimental recipe for me
I might also make the tired “normal” cookies, such as M&M cookies and white chocolate macadamia cookies. Perhaps something with peanut butter because I seem to have a lot of peanut butter on hand right now … but want to do something different than just standard peanut butter cookies. I will think about it.

Notes from the Wolf Eel Bakery: Making fast work of the baked gods

Standard

Continue reading