stress baking
With the end of the year quickly approaching, I'm getting more and more nervous. While everyone else is doing their daily Facebook countdowns (like "25 more days then im free", or my personal favorite, "only like one more month of this bs then i can finally sleep again!!!") I'm in the corner biting my nails, thinking of the millions of things I should be getting done before graduation rolls up.
When I feel stressed, I like to bake. Due to an electrical fire in my school's bakery (no one's fault and no one was hurt), we're out of order for what looks like the rest of the year... I haven't really baked anything since April! It's crazy. And so, in hopes of easing my stress (and to kill time before I have to get ready for a movie "date"), I decided to make some pumpkin bread from scratch. It's not even remotely close to fall, I know, but seasonal-schmeasonal? I like the stuff, and my sister's been craving it for ages now.
I checked out The Pioneer Woman blog, one of my go-to's, and Ree led me to a Bobby Flay's pumpkin bread that he outlines in his recipe for pumpkin bread pudding. The pudding looks good, but all I really cared about was making the bread, sooo...
Now, I didn't know we were running low on sugar... nor did I realize that we only had whole cloves, not the ground stuff. I didn't even think to check until I was elbows-deep in the dry ingredients. So... word to the wise: always double-check to see if you're fully prepared for a recipe before you, y'know, go to make it. I ended up attacking a handful of cloves with a mortar and pestle and using approximately one cup of granulated sugar in the recipe, substituting the remainder with a generous half-cup of confectioner's sugar. My loaf's still in the oven, so I don't know if that did anything to negatively affect the texture, but it looks great. (I can also verify that it tastes good, too... so good.)
So... yeah! How're y'all doing? To those whose summer vacations are almost here, how many of you are looking forward to it? Dreading it? What do you think of desserts or foods that are "seasonal"? I'd love to hear from you guys! I miss talking to you. ♥
When I feel stressed, I like to bake. Due to an electrical fire in my school's bakery (no one's fault and no one was hurt), we're out of order for what looks like the rest of the year... I haven't really baked anything since April! It's crazy. And so, in hopes of easing my stress (and to kill time before I have to get ready for a movie "date"), I decided to make some pumpkin bread from scratch. It's not even remotely close to fall, I know, but seasonal-schmeasonal? I like the stuff, and my sister's been craving it for ages now.
I checked out The Pioneer Woman blog, one of my go-to's, and Ree led me to a Bobby Flay's pumpkin bread that he outlines in his recipe for pumpkin bread pudding. The pudding looks good, but all I really cared about was making the bread, sooo...
Now, I didn't know we were running low on sugar... nor did I realize that we only had whole cloves, not the ground stuff. I didn't even think to check until I was elbows-deep in the dry ingredients. So... word to the wise: always double-check to see if you're fully prepared for a recipe before you, y'know, go to make it. I ended up attacking a handful of cloves with a mortar and pestle and using approximately one cup of granulated sugar in the recipe, substituting the remainder with a generous half-cup of confectioner's sugar. My loaf's still in the oven, so I don't know if that did anything to negatively affect the texture, but it looks great. (I can also verify that it tastes good, too... so good.)
So... yeah! How're y'all doing? To those whose summer vacations are almost here, how many of you are looking forward to it? Dreading it? What do you think of desserts or foods that are "seasonal"? I'd love to hear from you guys! I miss talking to you. ♥