The Loveliness of Baking is up at Cheryl's this morning, and ooh, I hope you have a 
cup of coffee or tea by your side, because you will want to sit and savor this one! Thank you, Cheryl, for a scrumptious fair!
And since I always have a few more words to say, I thought I would share an impromptu baking meme of sorts! :)
Favorite baking cookbook: Martha Stewart Baking Handbook and How to be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking ... though I would really love a peek at The King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking book (my library has it)!
Favorite baking magazine: The Baking Sheet (I LOVE it and have a few years' back issues saved.)
Favorite baking catalogs: The Baker's Catalogue, Williams-Sonoma, Kitchen Krafts
Favorite baking show: Growing up I loved Julia Child (the original show - really!) and now I love The Barefoot Contessa. Alton Brown is very funny; we try to catch his show once in a while, and if I had more time, I'd watch Martha, too (though I get very bored by all the celebrities - I wish she'd just bake and craft).
Favorite thing to bake: Bar cookies and fruit-filled quick breads (because they're easy!).
Thing I wish I baked better: Yeast breads (need more patience) and pies (my grandfather was the best pie baker ever - I aspire to make pies like he did!).
The next thing I can't wait to bake: Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting and Lenten pretzels (talk about two extremes!).
Favorite baking equipment: My Kitchenaid mixer, it's such a workhorse.
Favorite baking ingredient: Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla (it's like baker's gold)!
Favorite time to bake: On the weekends when the kitchen is clean and Bill has the boys out on a walk. ;)
Favorite kids baking book: Williams Sonoma Kids Baking (though there are great recipes each month in Family Fun and Nick Jr. Magazine).
Favorite pie: Apricot tart (or lemon meringue or my grandmother's blueberry or ...)
Favorite cake: Chocolate with chocolate frosting, although I really love vanilla pound cake too!
Favorite cookie: Scottish shortbread - butter, sugar, flour - what more do you need?
Favorite muffin: Gingerbread!
If I owned a bakery it would be called: Comfort & Joy
Favorite baking memory: Any of my grandmother's handwritten recipe cards and the beautifully decorated cakes my mother made for our birthdays. (I remember the standing doll cake the best.)
Posts from my blogging past:
- Autumn Baking: Cornbread!
- Light and Lemony Snowballs
- A Bit of Winter Baking
- anything in my Tea & Crafts index (liturgical baking)!
As you can see, Cheryl's fair got me quite inspired to think about baking! Be sure to stop by and get inspired too!
