This past weekend was a heavy baking weekend. After the waffles of Friday night, I made Halloween treats for a friend’s Halloween party on Saturday (and brioche bread on Sunday). It was a lot of fun and a challenge for me... although I did bite more than I could chew, leading me to use *blush* shortcuts... However, I still managed to learn something. I started with Halloween cookies. I used the same recipe as for the French-themed cookies I had made, but had more fun with the decorating. It was far from perfect, mind you, and my hands and arms were killing me by the end BUT it was fun. I really like that cookie recipe but will try and find other types of cookies that can be decorated. I used Halloween-themed cookie-cutters and tried to ice designs on the cookies. There is still more to learn, obviously, but Christmas is almost here with plenty of excuses to make cookies. For the other treats, I used shortcuts, I admit it. I used boxed mixes for the cakes and really worked on the icing technique. The mini-muffins were pumpkin spice muffins and I made them into brains, following inspirations found online. The cupcakes were chocolate and again, I found inspiration online for mummy cupcakes. All in all, I don’t think they were too bad. I definitely need to work with the consistency of the icing to make it easier to pipe. So, for the last couple days, I’ve been looking up online tips to improve my cookie/cupcake decorating techniques and will, hopefully, soon be able to apply them.
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Believe it or not, I experienced snickerdoodle cookies for the first time a couple of years ago. A friend had brought it as her contribution to a group meal. They were just delicious and became one of my favorite cookies. So, when I came across this recipe, which is a muffin version of the cookies, I just had to try them. And here we go.
The recipe itself was very easy to follow and make, but here are some of my comments for those of you who wish to try it. One cannot help but be fascinated by the number of possibilities out there on the internet. I recently found this recipe and my daughter has been asking for it. So here it is, (very) slightly modified.
They came out light and fluffy, moist with a taste that was not sweet at all. They can be served at breakfast or for snacks, you can take them on road trips or serve them in the Fall or for holidays. What to do when you have a whole bunch of over-ripe bananas? You bake, of course. I looked up "what to do with overripe bananas?" and landed on this recipe. I added cinnamon chips to the batter and sprinkle some cinnamon sugar on top. Visually, well, they didn't rise much, even though the recipe calls for both yeast and baking soda. Maybe I needed to put more batter in each mold. It could also be that the banana weighs the batter down, I know that has happened to banana cakes I've made before...
Taste-wise, I'm very happy with the way they came out. They're moist, soft, not too sweet and the cinnamon chips are a little surprise. I can see making them again with chocolate chips instead, or, of course, the obvious walnuts. |