Vanilla Cupcakes

Vanilla Cupcake with
Vanilla Buttercream

I've always admired those baking sites with beautiful photos that clearly showcase their products for their customers. Some day that will be me, but in the meantime, I'm making do with my at-home in-the-kitchen pics to give you an accurate impression of my Bling baking.

A while ago I was in the bakery section of a local grocery chain looking at their cupcakes. $1.99, and it seemed almost as big as mine which I was beginning to market for $3.00. Oh dear. Why would anyone buy my cupcakes when they could get something almost the same size from this place. I bent down to look more closely at my competition through the glass and - surprise surprise - it wasn't a standard cupcake, it was a little mini one with 2 inches of frosting on top. Well now, that's a completely different bowl of cream! The cost of the cupcake is in the cake, not the whipped sugar and lard of the frosting. Not really competition after all! 

Lemon Sponge with Lemon Mousse

Lemon Sponge with
Lemon Mousse

When I was growing up, cake was an important member of our household. Any flavour, the bigger the better, loaded with frosting, and always served with ice cream. Every night of the week. Well, almost every night because dessert was a critical component of our menu.

I used to do the same type of baking for my own kids, though only on their birthdays. Traditional recipes with lots of flour, butter and eggs, they would be heavy creations that would take the four of us days to finish. What was wrong with me? A sliver of cake and I'm done? Same with my husband and the boys. Hmm. 

Coconut Oatmeal Cookies with Belgian Chocolate Drizzle

Coconut Oatmeal cookie with
Belgian dark chocolate swirls

I've always been leery of making anything with coconut to serve others. I guess I've come across too many people who don't like it or are allergic. But last summer, when I made some vanilla cupcakes and was experimenting with coconut buttercream, the reviews from 'the masses' were positive and no one had to visit the hospital. That experience gave me the gumption to work with an oatmeal cookie recipe that I'd already modified to suit my oatmeal taste buds. After a number of modifications and experimenting with different ways to bake them, I've ended up with a coconut oatmeal cookie that has become my new favourite. 

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Chocolate Chunk cookie

There are a ton of chocolate chip cookie recipes out there and everyone seems to have their favourite. Personally, I've shied away from these calorie bombs for a number of years because as I've grown older and my metabolism slows, I just can't eat this sort of treat without it showing up later on the outside of my stomach. I also seem incapable of eating just ONE cookie at a time, so I tend to lean (....get it?..."lean"?) toward healthy, flavourful, not-sweet-not-rich baking that gives me the option of having 3 or 4 cookies at once without feeling or seeing the after effects. But enough about my eating habits.

Maple Oatmeal Muffins

Maple Oatmeal muffins

I have tried countless oatmeal muffin recipes over the years, and given that I'm still trying new ones, I suppose that means I haven't settled on The One that makes it into my recipe book. 

Case in point - the other day I came across a Maple Oatmeal Muffin recipe that seemed interesting and worth a try. As always (read "usually"), when trying a new recipe I follow it faithfully then later switch it up to suit my palette. What you see here are the first results and they were pretty good. The muffins had a really nice height, likely because I filled the cups almost to the top with batter and they bake at 400F.