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I’m a little high maintenance, I have to admit….I like things well, a certain way,  I’m sensitive to well, everything…..but nothing compared to these cookies!!!! Arg! Too humid, overmix, undermix, too cold, etc. and they just go all wrong. I’ve been on a mission to make these macarons actually work out for months. The first 2 batches I threw out (they were too flat) the 3rd bath worked well, but not quite perfect….and then these!!!! I think it was the combination of a few things that came together to produce these sweet little wonders….

1. My new food processor (!!!) The blender just didn’t do the trick for these…

2. Letting the sit on the cookie sheets for a hour before baking them. Note: The second sheet sat for longer than an hour and didn’t turn out quite as well though…

3. My new oven is pretty awesome compared to the old apartment oven

4. I think I’m just getting a feel for working with egg whites and how much to mix them without overmixing or undermixing.

Look at their perfect little “feet”!! 

I believe we’re going to be baking these in class in a couple of weeks so hopefully, now that i’ve had some practice, I will be able to produce some A+ cookies!

This class moves FAST! I like fast…but wow, not only am I learning A LOT but the expectation is to do everything with absolute precision and SPEED! I love it, I just need a lot of practice.

So, week one of pastry class was piping skills practice. We whipped up some royal icing and just played with it, creating shells, shell borders, rosettes, lady fingers, S’s and mounds. Then in week 2, we used the skills that we learned to make cookies piped in all of the different shapes. Like this…

They turned out….not bad….they taste good but spread a bit too much. I know what I’d do differently next time and it was good practice. We also prepped some ice box cookies so that they will be ready for us to slice and bake next week.

Baking in the new kitchen=SO MUCH BETTER than the apartment kitchen! Its bigger, actually has a dishwasher, and the oven is actually accurate! *Gasp* So I’ve been having fun. I’ve been trying a mix of new recipes and old faves, but feel that I need to push myself to actually creating my own recipes. So, the blog may be featuring some very experiemental stuff in the near future but that’s how you learn right? So I start with something easy. I make muffins a lot. They’re pretty easy and forgiving. I have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn’t….so I give you….

Carrot Muffins With Cinnamon Streusel Topping

Dry Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat flour (I used Robin Hood Nutri-Blend)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

Wet ingredients

• 1 1/2 tsp egg replacer
• 2 Tbsp water
• 1 1/4 cup shredded carrot, packed
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 3 Tbsp Canola oil

Streusel Topping

• 1 Tbsp cold butter
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp whole wheat flour
• 1Tbsp oats
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400. Line muffin tin with paper liners 

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Combine water and egg replacer in a small lidded container. Shake shake shake to combine. In a medium bowl combine remaining wet ingredients and stir to combine. For the streusel topping, “squish” everything together with your fingers until crumbly-like.

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir just until combined. Don’t over-stir! (I hear my mother’s voice in my mind when I say this Spoon batter equally into muffin cups. Sprinkle the center of each muffin with streusel topping. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Nibble on streusel topping as soon as they come out of the oven.  Err…..enjoy!!!

I also made this….

Multigrain bread! I was so impressed with how it turned out. 

In other news….I’m taking a professional Baking and Pastry Arts class at George Brown College two nights a week. Its pretty intense and I’m very excited because I’m going to be learning A LOT. I’ll remember to bring my camera to class tomorrow so that I can post updates on everything that I get to learn!