Tuesday Treats: Baking Extravaganza

The last two weeks I've been going crazy. Crazily baking lots of different treats. Fortunately, I have a great taste tester, who will give me a pretty honest opinion and I'm not eating it all by myself. So, here is my baking recap for the past two weeks:

Sunday, September 12 - Molten Lava Cakes (The only thing I changed on this was used 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, and 1/3 cup milk chocolate. I love milk chocolate.)
   Matt really loved this one. My sister also made it after I recommended it, and she and her husband loved it as well. So I'd definitely say this one is a hit. Oh, I liked it as well.... SUCCESS!

Wednesday, September 15 - Texas Sheet Cake
   Ok, so this one didn't turn out so well for me. And I'm not exactly sure why. Half of it tasted too sweet. The other half was pretty good. After baking this, I learned our oven was slightly crooked, so we got that fixed, but I doubt that's what caused the overall uneven distribution of sugar. I'd like to try this again, but I'm a little hesitant. Maybe I just need to use less sugar. So, I rated this one as FAILURE, but has potential.

Friday, September 17 - Fortune Cookies
   This was a FAILURE. At least I'm pretty sure it was. I've never made them before, nor had homemade ones, so I wasn't completely sure how they are supposed to turn out. It seems like it should be super easy, there are 5 ingredients!, but I couldn't figure it out. Are they actually supposed to turn out crispy like the fortune cookies from restaurants? If so, ya, I failed. I'll have to have someone show me how to bake these.

Sunday, September 19 - Key Lime Pie (I used lime juice instead of juicing limes; I think it might have tasted better had I juiced limes, so next time I will.)
   Super super easy. This recipe was easy. I'm not sure if they're all that way. But it tasted alright. I give it a PASS. It turned out, and tasted ok. Next time I'll try to see if there is a way to make it even better. Oh, and my taste tester gave the same opinion: it was good, just not the best he'd ever had. Also, I made my whipped cream (whipping cream and powdered sugar), seriously there is nothing better than homemade whipped cream.

Sunday, September 19 - Brazillian Lemonade
   So, this is supposed to be like the Tucanos Brazillian Lemonade. I think I need to try Tucanos version again (it's been a while) to see how mine compares. My taste tester said it was good, but I wasn't impressed. I thought it was too limey. I suppose for now this will be a PASS.

Wednesday, September 22 - Hi-Hat Cupcakes (recipe actually comes from Martha Stewart)

   Well, Matt saw me looking at this recipe on Bakerella's site, and he really wanted some. I gave it a shot. It was difficult for me, and I got frustrated and had to break it out over 2 days. The end result was ok, but not quite up to the pictures of what it's supposed to look like. I had a lot of trouble with the frosting, not to mention I got really tired of mixing it with a hand mixer for 12 minutes (you can't use a standing mixer). I think the frosting turned out too sweet, so IF I make it again I'll probably reduce the sugar amount. Matt really liked the end result. We had a friend try it, and he said it was a little too sweet for him too. So, this is just a PASS.

Thursday, September 23 - Banana Bread
   A couple of months ago I made some banana bread, and it was too dry. This time around I used my mom's recipe (she makes some yummy banana bread). Her recipe was much better. I still think it's a little dry, so maybe I'll add some apple sauce the next time. This is a SUCCESS.

This past Sunday I kept it simple with chocolate chip cookies and had an ice cream cookie sandwich. It was delicious. I have this great chocolate chip cookie recipe from my sister-in-law. And it uses Guittard milk chocolate chips; they are scrumptious! Oh, and this was definitely a SUCCESS!

After typing up all my baking experiments, I think I will take a little baking break, and just do it once or twice a week. Especially since the holidays are coming up soon, I'll need all that baking energy :)