We need this thread here. Who has baked recently?
I'll just leave you with my last peach pie.
Discussion
When I was obsessed with food, I loooooved making graphical representations of the way I eat. Graphs, pie charts, bulleted lists, the more complex the better. I would depict the macros, the timing, refeeds, carb cycling. My old fitness blog was full of that stuff. I was thinking about that yesterday when I was reflecting on how my approach has changed, so of course I had to make a new graphic for the way I eat now. It's crazy, right? But that's primarily how it goes. I get hungry, generally around breakfast, lunch, and dinner time, I think about what sounds good and what's available, I eat until I'm totally satisfied, and then I stop. If I get hungry and/or want something in between meals, I eat it. I wouldn't be thinking about it otherwise. Though, there are times when I'm presented with all manner of food in between meals and don't care. At work last week there were hot dogs, nachos, cookies, pizza, cupcakes, candy, a whole convenience store spread. I wasn't hungry. None of it was appealing at the time, but I grabbed a couple of little candy bars for later because you never know. They were tasty before dinner. I do still think about how I want to feel, not just what will taste good. I still enjoy a lot of nutritious whole food but I don't have any guidelines. It's normal for me to eat fish and vegetables for lunch one day, and then have pizza and cookies the next. Neither is right or wrong, it's just a matter of what sounds good, which is often exactly what I need based on appetite and emotion. If I'm tired, frazzled and daydreaming of comfort food, creamy pasta it is. Other times a crisp, fresh, loaded salad is what sounds delicious. The more I pay attention to what I want and need at each meal, the less crazy I am around food. The easier it is to recognize satisfaction and lose interest until I get hungry again. If I place a bunch of external conditions on what or how much I can eat, then I overthink and second guess everything. Then I'm not satisfied. Then I'm looking for the escape hatch from this stupid plan, which leads to eating a lot of random stuff, feeling bad about it, and tightening up the plan. Repeat until I can't stand it anymore and acknowledge that it's not working. Letting my appetite determine what, when, and how much to eat works far better. Think about every wild animal in nature. Even with an abundant food supply, they eat to appetite and maintain an ideal weight without ever reading a fitness blog. We come preprogramed with that same brilliantly effective appetite regulation. We're told it's broken, don't trust it, hyper-palatable foods have hijacked our brains. You can't eat freely. You need a plan. I don't buy that anymore. Food plans result in failure, rebellion, and more plans. Eating according to what my body is telling me actually works. I despised anyone who tried to tell me that! I got so angry about it. I ranted about intuitive eating and non-dieting for years. That fear is why I was still clinging to elements of restriction years into starting a site about not dieting. I think some people dive in fearlessly, let their body do what it's going to do, and experience the mental and metabolic benefits relatively quickly. I was SO not going to do that. I let go of restriction in a "one toe in the water" sort of way, but the more I moved in that direction, the more confidence I gained in myself and the approach.
I love the new site! A fresh start. I missed you all! (And I just saw you can add emojis, which is excellent 😍) I've been baking. Just baked these cookies, and they turned out beautifully. Halved the recipe because I didn't want 32 cookies! https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/peanut-butter-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Those look fabulous, jazz! I've loved pretty much everything I've made from Sally's Baking Addiction. Handle the Heat is another favorite.
I baked this delicious lasagna last night! It was a new recipe for me. I usually make an all meat and mozzarella cheese lasagna which is good, but really heavy and I always feel like garbage after I eat it. This is Cooking Light's Classic Lasagna with Meat Sauce recipe. It made 6 very generous portions which was the perfect amount for our family of 5.
I began to bake Christmas cookies, pies and lefse over the weekend. Note the large misshapen kisses in the front. I ran out of kisses and had to make a few of my own. Of course my melted chocolate chi/butter kisses are quite a bit larger!
Ooh, Christmas cookies! Those look good, [@julieberg525]. If I were choosing one for myself, I’d definitely grab one of the big bloppy ones. More chocolate = better. [@sunshine] The lasagne looks amazing. I haven’t made any in a long time. I need to get on it, or order some.
I made a mini coconut cream pie yesterday. This smashed piece with too much whipped cream looks like a Pinterest fail, but it was spectacular. I love toasted coconut.
No pictures but I baked 2.5 dozen chocolate chip cookies and 4.5 dozen double chocolate chip cookies this afternoon as part of my Christmas Baking adventures.
I'll be sure to take pictures next weekend when I bake the next 3 batches of cookies.
Ultimate pecan chocolate chip cookies. These are drool worthy. I made them smaller than suggested and with mini chocolate chips so there is chocolate in every bite. This is a keep recipe. https://www.dessertfortwo.com/ultimate-pecan-chocolate-chunk-cookies/
Mmmm, those cookies look fantastic! Chocolate in every bite is important. I worry about such things myself. It’s sad when you get a cookie with three chips in it.
My husband and I have been eating a banana or two each per day, so I’m buying an absurd number of bananas every week. Today, I noticed three spotty ones nearing the end of their lifespan, so I decided to bake with them. I made these Quick & Easy Banana Muffins from Sally’s Baking Addiction. https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/banana-muffins/ I added a rounded cup of chocolate chips, no nuts. They were fantastic!
I've been entrusted/asked to bake a cake for a friend's (small) wedding! She's asking for a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. I want to do a big and slightly outlandish cake, I'm thinking 3-4 layers. Any recipe suggestions? I've found some promising ones on brown eyed baker, pioneer woman, and epicurious but it's so hard to know!! If anyone has a go-to chocolate cake or one they've tried and enjoyed, would appreciate it!!
https://www.hersheys.com/kitchens/en_us/recipes/black-magic-cake.html. This is a no fail chocolate cake that my family has used for years. It is very moist.
I made my sister's wedding cake!!! It was a massive project and stressful at times but I loved it. It was a white chocolate mud cake. Good luck!!
Yay!! Thank you both so much. Luckily it's a very small wedding, ~20 people. She's asking two people to make the cakes, so that eases some pressure:)
I was also going to suggest the Hershey's Black Magic Cake. I've made it many times. It's a winner.
I use this recipe to frost it: https://addapinch.com/perfect-chocolate-buttercream-frosting-recipe/ I use Hershey's Special Dark cocoa in both recipes. It gives it a dark, dark color and rich flavor, that and the espresso powder. I was skeptical of that ingredient, not being a coffee drinker, but it's critical for a rich chocolate flavor. There's no coffee taste to it at all, just amazing chocolate.
I'm thinking about making myself a Black Magic Cake for my birthday next month.
I've been birthday baking! I made a batch of Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies from Handle the Heat. At first glance, this recipe looks really fussy with two kinds of flour and the multi-day chill time, but it's so easy and the cookies are so delicious! I actually like that you make the dough in one session and pull it out and bake it on another day. It makes both processes seem quick and easy. These cookies are huge and extra chewy thanks to the bread flour. I used a 3 tablespoon scoop. Plus, they're almost more chips than cookie. Yum!
Then I made the Chocolate Olive Oil Cake from Smitten Kitchen. That is a terrible and unappetizing name for a wonderful cake. They're also called "wacky cakes," which is what I've been calling it. It's based on recipes from The Great Depression that don't include eggs or butter because those were expensive and hard to come by. It's a single layer baked in a 9-inch round cake pan. There are only like seven ingredients, one bowl, no mixer. The recipe called for a cup and a half of water or coffee. I used espresso. My husband and I both had two pieces after dinner. We probably won't be able to sleep. 😄 He was highly skeptical of the no eggs or butter situation but ended up loving it. The cake is super moist. He said it reminded him of Hostess cakes, which makes sense. I'll bet there are no butter or eggs in those either! LOL You can't taste the olive oil at all, or the espresso. It's super chocolatey, and I love the shiny frosting. I will definitely make it again.
Anybody else been baking lately? Any good recipes to share?
That cake looks delicious! I'm bookmarking that recipe to make at some point.
Today I baked chocolate chip cookies. We have had cookies of some sort in our house since Christmas. But before we went away on our trip we ran out of cookies and I didn't have time to bake any. Well let me tell you we have all been missing our post-supper cookies the past 4 days! So I baked up a batch tonight. I use Mr. Fields Cholesterol Free Chocolate chip cookies. I don't care about the cholesterol part, I just love the recipe. It's fairly easy to make and they are DELICIOUS!
Not really baking per se, but I made Lasagna tonight. I've been making Cooking Light's Classic Lasagna with Meat Sauce at least every other weekend this winter. It is insanely good and worth all the effort it takes to make.
I've just discovered the most amazing pie crust recipe. It's the Smitten Kitchen Extra-Flaky Pie Crust.
https://smittenkitchen.com/2019/03/extra-flaky-pie-crust/
It's a butter crust, which I've had terrible luck with in the past. For some reason, mine have always come out tough compared to shortening crusts. This recipe uses a sticky and wet dough that seems like it will never work. (Actually, when I made it as written, weighing the flour, it wasn't sticky and wet enough, so I added another splash of water.) Once you chill it and the butter hardens, it's easy to work with. The big super secret is that you fold the dough up like a business letter before you roll it out. This gets the flakey layers started. It was so perfectly tender, buttery, and flaky. I was amazed! It almost reminds me of puff pastry, or a croissant.
I made a cherry slab pie with it. I've never made a slab pie. I feared it would overflow and I'd have a big cherry puddle mess on a cookie sheet, but it came out perfectly. I followed Deb's sample pie recipe but used canned cherry filling instead of rhubarb. You can also make two standard single crust pies or one double crust pie with the recipe.
Behold!! 😍
Yay, my login works now!! I've made this twice in the past couple weeks, both presents for family:
https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/spiced-gingerbread-loaf/ It's amazing. I skipped the glaze because both people I made it for don't like glaze. It doubles nicely, too!
Baking cookies for my brother soon too who is headed out of town for work for two months, so I want to make him a big batch he can freeze. Was thinking of these, but any other suggestions are welcome! https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/peanut-butter-cup-surprise-monster-cookies/