Baking, Baking and more baking!

So I know I haven't posted in awhile, but between school, work, traveling, and most recently finals I haven't had much free time. The free time I did have, I spent baking all sorts of yummy goodies. Before Thanksgiving I got the urge to make pie, partially because I got a pie cookbook, and partially because Thanksgiving was coming and my Mom never makes pie so I decided I wanted to. I made three pies, a peanut butter one, a coconut one, and a brown sugar one. I got them all from this book...

These are all three...

When I started I was only going to make one pie this brown sugar pie, because we had a pre-made crust in the fridge, but after baking the first I decided I couldn't stop after just one. You can tell this one is the pre-made crust because it is a lot darker than the other two. I took this pie to work and everyone really liked it. I was proud of myself.

The second pie I made was a coconut pie. I honestly thought going into making it that is was a coconut cream pie but I quickly realized that it wasn't. Oh well I didn't really care I figured it would still taste okay. Unfortunately I didn't get to taste it, but I was told it was really good. The reason I didn't get to taste it was because my parents took it to a party and I didn't want to cut into it before they took it. My parents didn't taste it either. When they came home from the party I asked how it was and my mom said they forgot about the desserts....I thought to myself yeah right you were probably too embarrassed to serve it, but they for real forgot about all of the desserts. It was a pizza party and apparently they filled up on the pizza and didn't eat anyone's desserts. Anyways my parents ended up leaving it at the people's house and when they brought the pie plate back they said they really liked the pie and ended up eating it all! I was happy at least someone enjoyed it.

One thing that I love about my Mom is that through all of her years of baking and cooking she has acquired so many different pots, pans, plates, and pretty much everything you can think of. She also has practically every ingredient you would ever possibly need, so when I go to bake you can pretty much guarantee that everything I need for any recipe is in our kitchen somewhere. I love it! The only thing I ever need to buy are things like flour, sugar, and such since I go through it so fast.

You can call this pie a fail. I unfortunately wasn't smart enough to read the directions carefully and kind of ruined this pie (that's why it looks like poo anyways). So I made the two different fillings, put the crust in the pan, pressed in the first layer of the pie then poured the second filling on top, and went to look in the book to see what the oven should be set at and how long to cook the pie for. I was reading through and realized it just says to put the pie in the fridge and let it set. I was like What?! you don't cook it, what about the crust? Well at the beginning of the recipe where it lists all the ingredients, it says I need a prebaked crust....I felt like an idiot. So what I ended up doing was scoop out the filling and baked the crust, but when I put the filling back in they mixed and the it ended up looking like this.....
Then after screwing it up no one really wanted to eat it and it sat out for a little to long so I just tossed it. I figured 2 out of 3 was good enough for my first time making pie.

Since making the pie I decided to make a few other things. I made more red velvet cupcakes for Heather's boss, Michelle's anniversary party. Apparently red velvet is her favorite type of cake and she really liked the ones I made the last time so Heather thought she would appreciate them for her party. Heather came home and told me everyone loved them! I think that is my favorite part of baking, getting to give people something that they will love and will really enjoy. When I made them I made a double batch so I brought some into work too.

I also tried a recipe I found on another blog for S'more cupcakes. I guess you can't really call them cupcakes, there isn't any sort of cake in them, but whatever I didn't come up with the name. The recipe was super easy. You can find it at Sumo's Sweet Stuff, she has so many good recipes but this is the only one I have tried so far. They turned out so delicious and this is coming from someone who doesn't really like marshmallows or s'mores.

I followed the directions just fine this time, but I was surprised when I opened the oven to take them out and found the marshmallows had grown big time. I should have realized that was going to happen...hello who hasn't seen someone blow up peeps in the microwave. After I let them cool they had shrunk a little but because the brownie had hardened in the big blown up shape I just took a knife and kind of folded it on top of itself and covered it up with the marshmallow fluff. They turned out awesome, I even broiled them a little bit with the fluff on top so it looked like a toasted marshmallow! I again brought them into work and everyone loved them. They all at least two...I am pretty sure one guy at four of them!

I got this from another blog and it is so ridiculously easy and fast to make. It is called Christmas Crack and for a good reason, it is so addictive. I have made so much of it already. All you need to do is boil one cup of butter and one cup of brown sugar and pour that over a cookie sheet filled with saltines. Make sure to put the saltines on parchment paper. Once you have poured the brown sugar mixture over the saltines, you bake it at 400 degrees for 5 minutes take it out pour a bag of chocolate chips over top, let them melt spread them out and refrigerate until chocolate it hardened.

The last thing I got from a book called All Cakes Considered! Awesome book, I highly recommend it! This is called an Appalachian Stack Cake. It is a 5 layer cake of ginger molasses cookies with a spiced apple filling. I made it for the Barrett Birthday's Bash. Heather was in charge of providing the desserts so she asked me to help out with it. I had been wanting to make this cake and I had all the ingredients so I figured why not. I was a little nervous cause I didn't get to taste it before hand so I was hoping and praying it didn't taste rancid or anything. Luckily it was delicious! Perfect for this time of season. The only complaint I had was that on the very edge it was a little dry because the filling didn't reach out that far and moisten it. Besides that it wasn't bad by any means. I really liked it cause it looked cool too and it isn't something a lot of people make.

I have made a few other things but these are all new things for me so I figured I would share them. I might share the other stuff later.

So as everyone can see I love to bake and I can't really get enough of it! That is why I am going to try and make a business out of it. My sister Heather gave me the idea. Here is how it is going to work... For the people who don't like to take the time or don't have the talent of baking I am going to offer my services to them. I have a list of the items I make and the costs of all the different things so that people can choose what they want, how much they want, and when they want them and I will bake the stuff and have it ready by the time they need it. I hope it works and people actually order stuff from me. I really need money for Spain and I have less than a month to get it!