Love Thursday: Baking

I am definitely in the nesting phase (still?). The most recent manifestation is more and more baking. I would like to be making things and decorating, but mostly need help for those so I'm waiting for my helpers to come over the next few weeks. Meanwhile, I'm doing some minimal gardening and lots of baking. I find it rather cathartic to make something out of things we just have around. One of my recent endeavors was Custard filled Cornbread from A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table. This recipe was FABULOUS and my entire dinner yesterday drizzled with maple syrup. The one caveat being that it is a little gooey in the middle, intentionally, so if you don't like that texture it probably won't work, but I absolutely loved it.

Today's trial run of Chocolate Caramel Cookies was just OK. I found these random caramel bits at Target today and was convinced they had to go in some cookies. These were fine, but not out of this world like the cornbread experiment. I've also made the Cheddar, Pear, Bacon, Pecan bread from Bon Appetit which I mentioned earlier and Fig Coffeecake Muffins from The Ultimate Muffin Book: More Than 600 Recipes for Sweet and Savory Muffins. Both were fine. I tinkered a bit with the Bread recipe and probably should have left it alone as it was so perfect before. Luckily the guys love carbs although B hasn't been cooking quite as much with me as usual which is a little sad, but I assume it is cyclical.

In any case, definitely feeling this need to create tangible things and love the experiment that is food. What's making you happy this week?