2010 baking goals recap

So back in August, I gave myself some goals. I'm one of those kinds of people who really struggles without a constant in my life. For the last 17 years, I'd had school there to pace my life, with homework to come home to and breaks to plan vacations for. I knew that when I left school, I would get really bored really quickly without some goals. I wrote this post to give myself eight baking goals to complete before the end of the year. Granted, I'm a little late writing about it, but here, in pictures, are my seven of eight goals. I failed on one...whatever.


1. Macarons. I actually made these a couple times, once with Aunt Betty and once at Mom's in Michigan. I got reallllly tired of egg whites by the end of this goal. Maybe this year I will experiment more with flavors, but for now, I'm happy not beating egg whites.

2. Jayhawk cake pops. This is the goal I failed on. I only recently perfected just plain old cake pops, so shapes are coming soon.


3. Fondant-covered cake. Okay, so it's only a fondant bow, but it was still covered on top with the fondant bow. This cake was for Grandma's 90th birthday party, and she loved it. I will try more fondant work later, but this bow dyed my fingers pink for about a week, so I will go for a different color next time.


4. Maple leaf candies. While these aren't leaf-shaped, this maple fudge ended up tasting exactly like those leaf candies I love...like pure maple-y sugar.


5. Marshmallows. I've made these a couple times now. This first time was just for fun, and the second to give as gifts with Grandma's famous hot chocolate mix. Perhaps I should try some flavored ones soon.


6. Buche de noel. This tasty French tradition is something Aunt Betty and I tackled, and it was so worth it. It's my first jelly roll-style cake, and I know I will be making plenty more. Giant Swiss roll, anyone?


7. Doughnuts. I've actually made three styles now: apple cider, chocolate glazed and maple glazed. What I've learned? Oil is very temperamental.


8. Frosted sugar cookies. I gave this to myself as only a partial goal, but then it became a Daring Bakers' challenge, so that was perfect. Aunt Betty and I made the cookies and did the icing all in one day, and that took a LONG time. Not doing it again any time soon.

So seven of eight isn't too shabby. Coming in the next couple days: my new baking goals for this year.

Michigan and lake baking (2 of 8 goals met)

It’s been a fairly long week, well, couple weeks. I’ve had a major life change, which has taken most of my time lately. Not that I haven’t been baking, but I haven’t had time to write. Today I’m coming home from Michigan, where I was visiting my mother a couple days. On the upside (I guess), work has been picking up. It was slow all last week, until Saturday night, when all the crime that was waiting to happen, happened. Oh, and other big news, I made it onto Foodgawker and Tastespotting for the first time EVER a couple weeks ago! I came home and my hits had jumped by the hundreds, and I thought Google Analytics was wrong. Nope, it wasn’t, and I was super duper excited! Now, to keep getting pictures up there.


Before all this stuff happened, though, I visited my dad and stepmom out on the lake. He got an awesome new boat and it was a good couple of days away. My friend Sarah gave me some vegan recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World to try, so I decided that for the lake, s’mores cupcakes would work out. This was my second venture into vegan cupcake-making, the first being for Sarah’s birthday. This was definitely a little bit more difficult. One of the main sweeteners in the cake was molasses, and frankly, I dislike that strong a flavor. More graham cracker crumbs and that was fixed. Vegan buttercream was also an experiment (especially when the vegan shortening misspelled carefully as “carefulyl”). Ultimately, though, they were tasty, and a great addition at camp.


Last week, I had an intense baking/dinner session with Aunt Betty. Three desserts in about three hours, plus meeting a new kitty cat — definitely a highlight! The first was a tray of cheesecake brownies, a request from my friend Jon at work (I love requests — they keep things interesting!). This will be one of the first desserts I didn’t get a picture of because they were gone so quickly at work. They were super easy and from one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen. Maybe I’ll make them again this week. Also on the list was a recipe I heard one morning — or afternoon, however you look at it — when I woke up. Sometimes I leave the Food Network on while I sleep, and Sunny Anderson’s show was on. She had a recipe for apple pound cake, and it looked super tasty. The picture is what apple pound cake looks like after the newsroom has had some :)


The third item was my first stab at macarons, my second try at a baking goal. Aunt Betty and I used actual almonds ground up in a food processor, and we left them sort of chunky. Apparently you have to be careful not to process them too much or you’ll get almond butter. Anyway, French macarons are these almond-based cookies that are basically a meringue, so it’s too humid almost every day in Kansas, except for this one. These were eaten immediately, and oh-so-good.


Now, in Michigan, I tried making them with almond flour, pre-ground and much finer. I don’t think I’ll try making them again any time soon — a bag was $12.50! Anyway, I’m not sure I have the whole egg-white-whipping thing down, so it might be a while before I make lemon meringue pie. Here, I made two varieties — vanilla with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream, and chocolate with either maple Swiss meringue buttercream or vanilla buttercream. They’re super yummy, but I’m not sure they’re worth all the effort. At least until I get better at them.


I also wanted to make cupcakes while in Michigan, so I made cookies and cream cupcakes I’ve had my eye on. There’s half an Oreo (with cream) in the bottom, plus a super heavy vanilla batter with coarsely chopped Oreos mixed in. Cream cheese icing and the other Oreo half on top, and we’ve got ourselves a tasty cupcake. Let’s just say, Mom’s got a fridge-full of desserts.


So now, I just need something to look forward to. I’m one of those people who needs a long-term goal, even if that’s my birthday (which is a month and a week away!). I actually will get to go out on a Saturday night – woo hoo! I hope to enjoy some shark attacks (like in this photo from my last bday, with one of my best friends Erin). Beyond that, it’s time to figure out some new things to look forward to.

My baking goal: eight new desserts by the end of 2010

This will be my first semester not in school since...well, since I was in kindergarten. Needless to say, it's going to be weird, just as it has been for probably everyone before me. I have no doubt, though, that I will not miss the homework. Especially after last semester, which almost killed me. Nope, I have a personal goal of continuing to read nonfiction throughout my life, but the key is to find well-written nonfiction. It's difficult. But I digress. The real issue I think I'm going to have is not having long term projects to work on. I'm better when I know where I'm headed and what I need to do.

So one way I will fix that is giving myself baking goals. I figure writing about said goals will help me keep to them. So here are eight (well, seven solid ones and an eighth iffy one) goals for me to achieve by the end of the year. December 31. Not too tough, right? Well, I hope not. Some of these things are affected by weather (macarons and humidity don't get along well, so those will be set aside for a bit until Kansas decides to calm down weather-wise). But I'm hopeful.


1. Macarons — The French version, not the American, which is full of (nasty nasty) coconut. They're delicate cookies that are piped and then sandwiched around a filling. I've tried them at Dean and Deluca, and they were pretty tasty. They have a crunchy exterior but the inside of the cookie is soft. I think they'll take a bit of work, and some experimentation with flavor. I'm not big on fruit+chocolate in dessert (this macaron was raspberry with chocolate filling). I think these will be accomplished with the help of Aunt Betty. Edit: Goal met in August. Click here to see the macarons I made.

2. Jayhawk cake pops — I've been practicing cake pops lately just to get a feel for them, but I think I want to make some that look like Jayhawks for football tailgating soon. I hope to base them off of these Sesame Street Big Bird ones...but this will take some practice. I'd just like to know I can decorate these to look like something rather than a sphere covered in sprinkles.

3. Fondant-covered cake — Which leads me here. My cake experience in the last year has mostly been with the ice cream variety, but all that Ace of Cakes I watch (and Food Network Challenge, and etc., and you get the idea) makes me want to try out this smooth finish for cakes. I know it's a lot harder than people make it look, so this might take some practice. I would like to make this a goal for football tailgating too. Maybe a Jayhawk head? Or maybe an easier shape, like a football. Whatever. There are some amazing cake decorators out there though, so I have quite a bit of places to pull tips from. Edit: Okay, I didn't cover a cake completely, but I made a bow out of fondant for my grandma's 90th birthday cake. I plan to work with it more, but for now, this is it. Click here to see the cake.

4. Maple leaf candies — My stepmom is from Canada, and in my multiple visits up north, got hooked on maple leaf candies like these. This stuff is addictive, probably because it's pretty much just sugar. What's not to like? I tried making these once in high school and failed miserably, so now, with my well-stocked kitchen and slightly increased knowledge, I want to try making them again. Especially because one maple leaf at the store costs $4. Sheesh! Edit: Goal met in October. It was technically maple fudge, and not leaf-shaped, but it tasted the same. I think it counts. Click here to see it.

5. Marshmallows — Yup, homemade marshmallows! Another candy-like item I want to try, specifically after seeing this Etsy site Mia Mallows. Mango marshmallows, lime marshmallows, pineapple, peppermint, peanut butter, etc. I think I will start with plain ones like Alton Brown makes in this recipe. This might wait till later on when it starts getting cold so I can put them in my grandma's homemade hot chocolate. Mmmm. Edit: Goal met in August. Click here to see my first homemade marshmallows.

6. Buche de Noel — Another holiday item, basically a giant swiss roll made to look like a log. I actually had it in my high school French class because it's another traditional French dessert, like macarons. I've been wanting to make a roll-up cake for a while, so a holiday one seems like a good goal to have. Edit: Goal met in December. Click here for my Christmas Buche de Noel.

7. Doughnuts — When I visited Mary in New York last year, I got a doughnut cutter. I have yet to use it. I think that's a little ridiculous, so doughnuts of some sort (likely cake, and possibly these devil's food ones) are on the list. Edit: Goal met in September...twice. Click here for my chocolate glazed doughnuts and here for my apple cider ones.

8. Frosted sugar cookies (my partial goal) — Okay, frosted cookies seem pretty basic, right? The kind I'm talking are iced with royal icing and decorated impeccably, a skill I'm not sure I can master in a few months. So I'm setting a goal to try royal icing and start experimenting, and improve. Take a look at some of these amazing cookies others have made (and I hope I can someday make): margaritas, princesses, beer and hot dogs, popcorn, animal crackers and many many more. So you can see why this is long term rather than instantaneous, yes? Edit: Goal met in September for my first Daring Bakers' Challenge. Click here for my fall-themed cookies.

I've also signed up for something called the Daring Baker challenge, a monthly challenge where bloggers around the country make the exact same recipe of some really difficult/obscure dessert and see how they all end up. I'm not approved yet, though, so hopefully I can actually do it!

So those are my baking goals. I have a couple other minor things in there I want to do, like some vegan baking, but that is what I'm trying next week :) So hopefully this keeps me busy, at least for a while!