baking party

This past Saturday I was lucky enough to be invited to a Baking Party at John's house. What is a Baking Party you ask? It's kind of like a clothes swap, except with baked goods. Everyone picks out a recipe and brings the ingredients they need to the host house. Then you take turns baking and divide up the spoils. Genius! It was the perfect way to spend one of our coldest fall afternoons yet, and at the end of the day I had a full tin of cookies, muffins, and bars to take home.

Here are all the things we made. I will add links to the recipes, since typing them up here would be a little tedious.



Me: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip and Pecan Cookies
These turned out tasty, but I think the recipie called for way too much chocolate chip and pecan. It made the cookies too crumbly, and more importantly I want to taste the oatmeal in an oatmeal cookie. Next time I would half the portions for both.



John: Fruit and Nut Bars
It's like you get to eat all the toppings and fillings for other baked goods in one treat. Be warned, the fact that this uses almost no batter means they are pretty delicate. The trick is to eat them extra fast.



Christopher: Pumpkin Muffins
When you see yogurt and bran in the same recipie you can fool yourself into thinking these are actually good for you. I definitely ate one of these for breakfast this week, despite the fact that it's basically a cupcake in disguise.



Gigi: Pumpkin Cookies
These cookies were probably my favorite of the day. If I could eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner I would.

And in case you were worried that all we did was eat sugar for a full afternoon (Mom and Dad-- I know you read this blog), John also made this delicious lentil soup:



Since he did not have garam marsala or cardamom at home he substituted curry in equal amounts and also added a touch of cinnamon and half a tablespoon of seasoned salt. He also suspects that he may have messed up the tsp and tb measurement and added too much cayenne. Accidental or not, I thought the spiciness was perfect.