Yes... I Like to Bake

      I am no domestic goddess by any stretch of the imagination – any of my friends who have been to my house on an “off” day can attest to that.  I hate cleaning. I hate laundry.  And I hate cooking. I am not a good cook – I have come to terms with that. But baking – oh, how I LOVE to bake.

      I don’t really like sweets, though. I just like the process. There’s artistry to it. Now, I’m no Betty Crocker. I use recipes – even read the instructions on the box.  But when I bake from scratch, that is where I become truly inspired. I change things up. I add my own flair. And then, there is always evaluation and revision. Luckily HWHMMLWL is a “baked goods” junkie. Though he is reluctant to disparage the goodies I bestow upon him, I do manage to coax some constructive critique from him and adjust accordingly the next time.

At the Orchard

Fall is a wonderful time for allowing my inner bakologist to shine. Just recently, I had my first foray into baking apple pie. HWHMMLWL loves Macouns, so we spent a day in late September picking them straight off the tree in an orchard upstate. Ah, what a beautiful day it was…

Majestic Mountains

After apple picking, we meandered through the mountainous landscape and found our way to Poet’s Park. 

A Park for Poets

I love hiking trails – especially in the fall – and the expanse of the property afforded us hours of quality time together. The inspiration of that excursion was poured into the pies it yielded.

  I found a highly-touted recipe online (great resource) and, not content to use a “ready-made” piecrust, I made THAT from scratch too.  This homemade crust also became my very first lattice crust ever.  I must say, as easy as it seems, making an apple pie from scratch was a LOT of work! First, there was the peeling. Then, there was the chopping. And mixing the piecrust by hand was brutal at best. “Why not get a stand mixer?” asks HWHMMLWL...

Guess the Secret Ingredient

Because there’s something satisfying about expending every ounce of your energy to mix those ingredients into a flaky, melt in your mouth crust that a Kitchen Aid robs from you. And when you put all that energy into what you create, the ones who you are baking for can taste the love.