Baking

This post was prompted by the question at the end of Maggie's post "don’t you just love to [take photos of the things you] bake?" She was writing about apple crumble, so I figure she meant dessert, but I don't have as big a sweet tooth as some, and don't bake sweets as much anymore since there are less people to eat the end product. 

Looking through my Facebook profile and Instagram feed as well as photos on my iPhone to jog my memory from the beginning of the school year, I found several snapshots of some of the things that have come out of my oven. I haven't taken photos of everything though - dinners including lasagne, roast vegetables or roast chicken aren't included in this post. Sometimes I bake to use leftovers - quiche is one example.

Pizza - dough from a quick recipe that you can leave to let rise and bake focaccia with or not. Used a bell pepper languishing in the refrigerator until it was starting to wrinkle and sausage that was frosting over in the freezer.

Crostata - an Italian cake-like jam tart - delicious for breakfast and used up the last of my sister's homemade plum jam.

Bread - besides pizza dough or focaccia, this one rolled with sun-dried tomatoes and cheese, others plain or with herbs, and a another not pictured made sweet with a bit more sugar, milk and fruit (apple is a favorite).

A dense moist cake using an overripe banana in the batter and swirling in a jar of pineapple jam someone gave me from Malaysia. I was considering making Taiwanese or SE Asian pineapple tarts, encasing the jam in a shortbread crust, but I went for the less labor-intensive route. I do love shortbread though...

Oatmeal cookies and my mom's favorite, pecan pie - with pecans she shelled for me (after I ate my fill of them raw).

Cheesecake bars with a chocolate crust

Brownies and Blondies

Keeping with childhood traditions, an assortment of baked goodies to give out at Christmas. This past year it was peppermint shortbreads,  gingery German Pfeffernusse, and roasted pecans (sweet and spicy with a little chili powder).

I bought a block frozen puff pastry on sale and had fun playing around making Palmiers and apple and banana tarts.  Not pictured are the pot pies made with leftover stew - easy dinner!

I enjoy puttering around in the kitchen, just not the clean-up!