I did some baking...

There maybe more on this later since it seems like each week I bake something new. Partially I blame myself because baking is relaxing and fun and makes me happy but I also blame my boyfriend who started us on Imperfect Foods. Which I can’t complain about, because it’s reasonably priced, gives us a variety and unlike other meal deliveries I don’t have to also go to the grocery store for fruits, lunch stuff and other staples.  Sorry this wasn’t supposed to be an ad for Imperfect foods, where was I ? Right we get these deliveries weekly, but we don’t always eat everything so what happens, either it’s thrown outdoor I’ve got to do something with it. 

It started with the morning glory muffins that used both zucchini and carrots which I think fell in my news feed before I knew I needed it.  It also happened to be my first time using wheat flour, I guess there was something I did have to go to the store for.  They ended up pretty good, half in the freezer and half for breakfast, a little healthier, or at least what I tell myself.  

Then came along the pears, lemons, more carrots and more apples then I could eat. Okay internet and mom (who has shelves upon shelves of recipe books) I need some help!

First was apple pie, not by choice, I would have preferred apple crisp, but it was requested.  Again something I wasn’t familiar with making and I didn’t want to do store bought/premodern crust.  I did end up using a box crust, the basically just add water kind but having to make something I was not familiar with I needed a little help.  Found a recipe, that honestly now seems to simple. Do I eat apple pie a lot? No. Do I remember what it should be? Kind of.  My first lesson out of this was check your ingredients before you go to the store, went thinking I needed eggs or butter, I barely needed butter, knew I had brown sugar but didn’t check it first. Half way through chopping/preheating/ rolling out dough I realize the brown sugar is stiff, a little too stiff, not wanting to go to the store I keep on hoping it won’t affect it too much. Clumpy stiff brown sugar not good.  

The apple pie cooked, smelled good, was a bit more runny then I remember and tasted okay. Maybe I’m remembering apple pie poorly, maybe I’m my worst critic, but the box crust may have been the best part.  Again a learning experience, and maybe I find a different recipe next time. 

That day also brought Banana muffins and blueberry banana loaf.  One failure of three isn't bad for a weekend.  With so much been baked and only two of us, I figured time to show some of my baking skills to coworkers and brought/snuck some in to work the next day.  Coworkers loved them, and possibly yet another reason why I keep baking, to feed coworkers.  

The next week was spiced pear muffins.  I was trying to find something that combined the pears and apples, that's a thing isn't it?  Pinterest didn't seem to be as helpful as I would have liked, plenty of apple muffins, some pears too but nothing to combine them.  So I settled on the spiced pear, knowing I had plenty of other apple recipes to try and hey if they worked out, I could try and combine the two. 

This time I had some new brown sugar, but forgot the yogurt.  I had flavored yogurt, but I'm pretty sure mango and pears might not have made the best combination.  Again halfway into baking, already gone to the store, or not going to the store I know there has got to be something I do have that I can substitute for yogurt: sour cream, Oil, not comfortable with that, mayo, buttermilk, NOPE, but can I make it with what I do have, yes!  So in a quick five minutes I have homemade buttermilk that will replace the yogurt but I may have to use less of it.  I cross my fingers and hope all goes well.  Mix it all, sans the allspice (another oops) and they come out yum! Melty warm pears mixed in the fluffy bread, delicious.  
Ginger pear muffins might be next on the list.

Here comes another long day of baking.  My initial thought was bake four different things in one day.  I decided on three so that other day to day things could happen too, and my kitchen wouldn't be a complete mess.  So what were these three things?  A different recipe for morning glory muffins, no raisins, possibly extra carrot (hence the baking) and somehow it made 14 muffins.  Me and my brilliance didn't want to wait to cook two extra muffins, but also didn't want to dirty the other muffin tin, so I found a nice, round small baking dish that two extra muffins would fit perfectly in.  I knew as I was doing this they may come out a little different, there is a reason a muffin tin is shaped and separated the way that it is.  

Clearly there is a lesson here, but hey just because they are funny looking doesn't mean I wasn't going to eat them, it just meant that I wasn't taking these two to work.  

Next on my day of baking was a Lemon bread with glaze my mom has had for a while.  The recipe said to use salad oil (I remember making it with her before and thinking how strange), so possibly my grandmothers recipe.  This was a hit at work, so moist and soft, but also very strong smell so we had to be careful it didn't interfere with our sensory testing.

Lastly was these raspberry oatmeal bars, which I thought breakfast, and now read dessert in one of the first sentences.  Okay, so its flour, some sugar, and hey a cube of butter, but oats are good for you aren't they, aren't they breakfast?  So I don't usually have a tablespoon of butter with breakfast so maybe there is a point, but I also didn't just cut it in nine even squares so hopefully that makes up for it (and the fact it wasn't the only thing I was eating for breakfast.)  These came out good, although now I am short of raspberry jam/jelly so there is another staple on the list.  That first bite right out of the oven reminded me of the warm center of a poptart, and maybe that is why I liked it so much reminding me of something I haven't had in years.  

Then comes this week I do the apple flax muffins that I cut from the week before, and make a coconut macadamia banana bread my mom mentioned making.  Banana bread is clearly my go to, barely need the recipe I can do it by heart, and there are always aging bananas somewhere.  

Lets start with the good, the Coconut macadamia bread came out perfect.  Almost perfect, slicing into it last night and it was crumbly, maybe falling apart too much, but still enough that each slice held together.  I guessed on both the amount of coconut and macadamia, tried to blend the nuts but that didn't quite work so I smooshed them to break them down instead, and just eyeing the picture my mom sent put some coconut in the bread, and sprinkled some on top before putting it in the oven.  

Perfect!  Although I was a little worried that the middle wasn't going to cook enough (as some of the breads have come out that way) but a few extra minutes in the oven and this one was fine.  

Now for the bad.  First I blame the internet, and also myself for not reading the intro blurb/questions/side notes to this recipe.  I knew I needed flaxseed, bought myself flaxseed meal only to read the recipe calls for ground flaxseed.  Here is where I blame the internet, google are these two things the same thing a few quick glances said that no, you can't interchange the two.  I guess that makes sense, maybe.  I'm not too familiar with flaxseed to know what it can or cannot be used for.  Go back to the recipe decide I can just make it without the flaxseed, because nope, not going to the store and carry on in my merry way.  I've been baking new recipes for weeks, what could go wrong?

I had everything else, the yogurt, wheat flour, applesauce, brown sugar and plenty of apples.  Because I made the bread first, the oven was already at 350, yet her recipe calls for the muffins to be at 400.  I'm thinking, oh this is wrong, I'm making muffins and the recipe is for a loaf so I should keep it at 350, then realize, no it is a muffin recipe, okay 400 it is.  I didn't add extra apples like I did for the pear recipe, but maybe I cut them up too small.  I am still learning the differences of white flour and wheat flour, so maybe that was my issue.  I tried to follow the recipe, not over mixing in fear that they would become rubbery or tough (coworkers liked the pear muffins, why not these too).  They were a little tough getting into the muffin tins, but again just though that was a texture thing from the wheat flour.  

It maybe hard to tell, but they didn't come out great.  Not a light and fluffy muffin I'm used to, and not quite the right color either.  There is a first time for everything and I think I just had mine first time burning muffins.  Although the outside yes completely dark and unflattering also pretty hard, the inside not bad.  The inside still fluffy, the apples could be better, and maybe its the concept that if you look at something ugly you think it'll taste bad, and that is what is going on but also it was just wrong.  

I again taste isn't horrible once you get inside, but no way are these going to work.  Anything I've learned from cooking shows is taste what you make before you have someone else eat it.  This wasn't a sharing food, this is make it into bread crumbs or croutons or something.

Of course I go back read the recipe notes and see that yes ground flaxseed and flaxseed meal are interchangeable.  Internet, why did you lie to me?  Lessons for next time.  

Edit: I did look at the bag of flaxseed meal and think it was basically flour, why would I need this extra flour for these muffins.  Again, mistakes made but now I know its okay, and after reading the bag, it can be used as an egg replacement, sort of.  At least if I'm desperate the bag won't go to waste, or I do some more googling on what to use this for.