Baking Binge

by trishf

I’ve been on a bit of a baking binge lately.

Not sure why. Perhaps the sudden change of seasons compelled me to turn on the oven so the apartment feels warm and fuzzy with the smell of baked goods lingering in the air.

Hmmm.

With this urge to bake, my oven churned out three kinds of goodness this week.

A Lemon Yoghurt Anything Cake. Mostly ‘coz I was feeling lemony and (greek) yoghurty. I threw in a handful of macadamia we got from our NoCal trip. The result was a super moist, delectable and refreshingly citrusy cake that made for a moreish breakfast, tea and supper. I’m sure a cup or two of blueberries would be awesome too. Isn’t that crackling golden sheen divine?

When that ran out, I turned to a staple in my arsenal of cookies.  Not just any (oatmeal raisin) cookie, but Oatmeal Raisin Dark Choc Chip Cookies. Thick, chewy, substantial, most of all, chocolatey. It’s like the breakfast all-in-one with just a smidge of guilt. What more can you ask for?

Finally, I needed to undo the travesty of a quasi chocolate pound cake I made last week, because I didn’t have cocoa powder on hand…. Resulting in a somewhat semi faded used sponge look of a cake that was neither here nor there. I had to do something to eradicate that horror of all baking horrors, so these Double Chocolate Raspberry Muffins were the instant memory eraser! I used unsweetened Valrhona cocoa powder which gave the muffins a very intense chocolatey taste and a warm mahogany sheen.  The muffins were rich, moist and kept well for up to five days. A definite keeper.

Now onto next week’s baking spree….