Traditional Turkish cooking

The next few weeks, rather than solely focusing on baking, I'll be delving more into the world of cooking. Cooking that my mum and the women of my family know by heart. Cooking I have no idea how to do.

Stay tuned. This should be interesting.

-Denise

Don't count your muffins until they're baked

Yesterday I wrote about my creative outlet and how baking and cooking has become just that.
I wrote about how I wanted to bake cinnamon muffins - I'm not entirely sure why I chose to bake cinnamon ones but I did.  I think it had to do with a slight craving for gingerbread cookies (I'm the WORST at baking cookies, fyi).

They turned out quite delicious, when heated up and buttered up.  If you don't like your muffins heated and buttered, well you're truly missing out.

Anyhow, I suppose I should get on with the recipe, hey?

The Recipe:

1 cup                                   flour

3/4 teaspoon        baking powder

1/4 teaspoon             baking soda

1 teaspoon                    cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon                        ginger

a teansy bit of allspice 

a teansy bit of cloves (1 or 2 or 3?)

1/4 teaspoon                            salt

1/4 cup                       brown sugar 

2                                             eggs

2             tablespoons maple syrup

3-6 tablespoons                       milk  

2 tablespoons                        butter

Preheat oven to 350° degrees.

Ready with all of your ingredients?  Okay!  Blend all dry ingredients together.  

Add all liquid-y ingredients to the dry.

MIX.

Grease up your baking pan, I used butter, but it's completely up to you (Pam, cooking oil -work just as fine).  

Spoon batter approximately 2/3s full and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Done!

-Enjoy

Creative outlet!

What have I been up to the past couple of days??  I feel like I haven't written in eons.  Which I know is completely untrue but it just feels that way.  No judging, kay?  My couple of days have consisted of absolutely nothing really, aside from feeling ill.  Ill due to homework and headaches, which I haven't really had in while.  I guess it was about time.

I've realized something though.  Going a couple of days without cooking or baking kills me.  Accounting isn't a creative course, it's a straight forward balanced out course (with a few grey areas).  So where do I let out my thoughts and creativity?  Aside from this mini-blog, I cook and I bake.  As well as a couple of DIY things I have going on.  BUT ---when I don't do anything creative for a couple of days, I'm not myself.  I'm grumpy and mean.

In order to save some of my friends from a whiny bitch fest, I decided to bake.  I swear, I did it for my friends, no one else!  Just kidding.  Clearly, I needed a way to get some "colour" into my life, the bleak black and white world of accounting and business math just wasn't cutting it for me.

Rather than baking a cake, or the miniature kind I adore OH SO MUCH (cupcakes, if you didn't get it;)).  I decided to bake muffins.  It's been years and years since I've baked muffins.  Shocking.

I decided to go with something different, not typical blueberry muffins that I tend to run towards, but instead, cinnamon muffins with a sugary glaze topped with walnut scraps.  They sound good, eh?  I thought so too.

Keep reading for the up-coming recipe and pictures :).

-D

eggs IN toast.

I woke up this morning, feeling kind of....grumpy.  All I've done lately is school, school, school.  Aside from baking. But things just seem very, boring?  Yeah, I'd say that's the right word.  Boring.  Maybe even repetitive.

So, I thought I'd change it up a little bit.  I'm not morning food person.  Actually, that could almost be deemed a lie.  I love pancakes and waffles and bowls of delicious fruit, even oatmeal.  Not bland oatmeal, oatmeal with maple syrup and brown sugar, or apple cinnamon.  Mmm.  However, when it comes to eggs and cereal.  I gag.  I don't know why, but eggs, especially eggs, make me want to throw up.  I don't mind so much if they're covered in stuff to the point that I can't taste that gross eggy taste, but if they're not.  Gross.

You're probably thinking "Okay?  I swear I see eggs in the picture....".  Well, you do.  I was reading a blog last night, in bed, when I ended up coming across a woman around my age saying she used to hate eggs, but she decided to give them another shot.  In my mind I was thinking, "Oh my!  How bold of her!!!" (no sarcasm!!).  It made me realize that I haven't had eggs in years.  And if she could do it, so could I!

Yeah, ...no.  I made myself eggs and toast.  Eggs IN toast.  I made them all pretty, cut out stars in each and even topped them off with salt, pepper and feta.  They looked good and I was excited!

Big mistake.  Gag gag gag.  I'm not an egg person.  I cannot do it.  I can't venture out of my comfort zone, which I thought I could do.  I like trying different things, different foods, different drinks.  Eggs are just not my thing.

If you have any suggestions on how I could POSSIBLY become an egg enthusiast, let me know.  Otherwise...

Forever an egg hater,
-D

PS
I did finish one whole piece of egg in toast.  Just to let you know:).

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Last night I said that I'd post the recipe for the red velvet cupcakes I made.  Let me just tell you, they're to die for.  Mind you, anything with cream cheese icing is to die for, you don't have to agree, but I guarantee, most of you do.

I'll keep this short and sweet.