Maple Leaf-shaped Apple Hand Pies

These little maple leaf-shaped apple pies bring out my patriotic side.

 

Every now and then something I've baked comes along and bullies its way to the head of the queue. I let it push past all my previous favourites-- muffins and cupcakes I've been waiting to post for days or weeks. There are some poor, forgotten goods from months ago that still haven't gotten their time in the spotlight because something infinitely more amazing comes along.

My fickleness and lack of sentimentality know no bounds.

This happened today with these adorable maple leaf hand pies. Filled with a caramely spiced apple centre, they were too delicious to have to wait.

The boy and I are enjoying these today between snuggles and dance parties. I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!

Fudgy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Brownies

Let these delicious, chewy, peanut butter chocolate chip brownies make up for my recent neglect.

The past two weeks have brought about many changes. I've started a new job (hey guys!) and the boy and I have been adjusting to a new schedule. He's doing well, but I'm struggling to find time to take pictures of what I've been baking, since we leave and return when it's dark. I'm sure some of you wonderful bloggers and non-bloggers alike have suggestions for lighting I could look into-- please give me your advice! Baking just isn't as fun when I can't share every little detail with all of you.

Issues aside, I made these brownies one afternoon when I needed to provide a quick distraction for the boy. They were easy for both of us to put together (although, I've been told, he prefers to make cookies), and baked wonderfully. A perfect, simple, Sunday afternoon treat.

Challah Bread

Challah-lujah!

If there was a perk to my brief stint of post-degree unemployment, trying out new recipes from new cookbooks, especially William Sonoma's Baking Book, was it. It was, hands down, the most effective way to curb my near uncontrollable urges to sit around in my underwear eating bacon and kraft cheese singles inbetween sending out applications.

It was a good few weeks.

I had never made Challah before; any sort of bread always seems like too large a commitment for me. All the waiting and the rising and the shaping of the loaf. But if there's ever been something that's worth the effort, it's this. I'm (un)ashamed to say it lasted barely two days. Next time I think I'll make it into two smaller loaves, though, instead of one giant monster one.

It also makes the most indescribably amazing french toast I've ever had.

Because it's a hell of a lot to copy and paste, you can find the recipe over here!

Chocolate (not so) Chubbies

These Chocolate Chubbies look a bit malnourished. 

I saw these cookies a few weeks ago over at Divine Baking and was immediately sold at how fat and fudgy they looked in the pictures. 

Yeah. Not so much of that happening over here. 

But they were really good, regardless of whatever went wrong and caused them to slim out. They remind me of the top of a brownie-- a crackly and sweet top contrasted with a dense fudgy cookie. 

Even without being chubby, these were still an instant hit for the boy and me.

William's Sonoma Sour Cream Blueberry Bread

I bought the William's Sonoma Baking Book a few months ago, hypnotized by its cozy-looking cover and its extensive assortment of recipes. It has everything from delicate cookies to rustic breads. I've made a few items so far, but this sour cream blueberry bread is my favourite. It's light and flavourful, and keeps really well. I suspect it's quite versatile, too. I stuck pretty close to the recipe, not even substituting some AP flour for whole wheat like I usually do, but I did use yogurt instead of sour cream, because I had it on hand, and that other issue.

This bread also gets points for using up some of the bananas I have in my freezer! This must be a selling point to someone else out there-- I can't be the only one whose freezer is 90% bananas.

Happy Near Year!

Happy New Year!  I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve. (I also hope you refrained from wishing people a Happy New Year's, unless you were specifically referring to that night and that night only).

I had grand plans for Christmas and New Year posts, but have been sick with the plague since Boxing Day. So instead, let's take a look back at the 10 most popular posts from 2010.

Pie Pops: How can little tiny pies on a stick go wrong?

Vanilla cupcakes with the best chocolate frosting. Ever. Really. This still holds up as my favourite chocolate frosting. It has ganache in it!

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes New age cupcakes with a vintage feel (bonus points for whoever gets that reference)

Wedding cupcakes with gumpaste roses and lilies: Classic and elegant. basically the opposite of me.

Malted Brownies Chewy, fudgy, and perfect.

Glazed and cinnamon sugar donuts: Tim Horton's won't give me ingredient information, so I just made my own timbits. And they're better.

Soft Pretzels: These pretzels are making me thirsty! And some of you angry because of, you know, the swears.

Lemon Raspberry Bars: God, these were good.

Healthy Cinnamon Rolls: About as healthy as cinnamon buns can get!

Homemade Pop Tarts: When life gives you allergies, make allergen-free foods.

And why not take a look at the 3 biggest flops while we're at it?

Brownie Fail. Misadventures with Murphy's Law and baking.

Pretzel M&M cookies: Cookies taste better with risk of fire.

A tale of two puddings: A tale on how, sometimes, it's important to just stick to what you know.

It was, overall, a pretty great year, and I'm very glad to have shared with and learned so much from you all. Here's to another year of fantastic (and occasionally horrific) baking!