Not really. I love baking, but real pastry work drives me batty. Too finicky and fiddly and delicate.

A few weeks ago I had an amazing spice cake dessert and I have been playing around trying to come up with a recipe to replicate it. It's quite simple and very very tasty. Great for holiday baking.

Spice Cake with Cheese Creme Brulee

For the Cake:

1/2 cup of butter
1 cup of Molasses
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 T dried ginger, or 3/4 T dried and 1/2 T finely chopped candied ginger
2 t cinnamon
1 T baking soda
1 cup of recently boiled water
2 1/2 cups flour
2 eggs

Mix the butter, molasses, sugar, ginger, and cinnamon in a large boil.
Measure and sift the flour into a second bowl.
Beat the eggs in a small bowl or ramekin.

Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water and add directly to the molasses/butter mixture.
Immediately fold in the eggs and flour.

Pour into a greased 9" square pan and bake at 325 for 35 minutes or until done.

Allow to cool completely.

For the Brulee.

Cream equal parts cream cheese and chevre (about 1 cup total, more if you love frosting) in a kitchenaid.

Add icing sugar slowly to form a frosting to your taste.

Ice the top of the cake only and refridgerate until the frosting is set completely.

Sprinkle the frosting with a thin layer of granulated white sugar. Using a kitchen blow torch, carefully melt and caramelize the sugar to form a caramel crust over the frosting.

You cannot do this step in advance - the sugar will absorb the moisture from the frosting and you will lose the crunch.

Delicious as is, even better served with sliced pears poached in marsala.

1 can coconut milk
2 strips lemon rind, no pithe
4 or so fresh basil leaves

Bring the coconut milk up to a simmer in a medium sized saucepan. Add the lemon rind and basil leaves. Remove from heat and let steep for 5 minutes while you...

Seperate 6 eggs, putting the yolks into a mixing bowl.

Add 1 and 1/4 cups of cream
and
1/2 to 3/4 cup of sugar (more or less depending on how sweet you like things)

Beat the eggs yolks, cream, and sugar together until smooth and most of the sugar has dissolved.

Remove the lemon rind and basil leaves from the coconut milk.

Slowly add the egg yolk mixture to the coconut milk stirring constantly.

Pour in ramekins (4 large, or 8 small)

Place ramekins in a roasting pan and fill the pan to halfway up the ramekins with recently boiled water.

Bake in a 350 over for 35 - 55 minutes, until custard sets. (depends on size of ramekins)

Allow to cool, refridgerate for a couple of hours.

Sprinkle custards with an even layer of white sugar. Brown sugar with a small blow torch or under the broiler. (the blow torch is more fun!)

Allow to rest briefly, until the sugar hardens.

Bagels
(14 or 15 bagels)

1 medium potato, boiled
2 cups water
1 package dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey
4 cups unbleached white flour, sifted
1 tablespoon salt (optional)
1 whole egg
1 egg separated; reserve yolk for glaze
3 tablespoons oil
3 quarts water

Glaze:
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon cold water
coarse salt, poppy or sesame seeds (optional)

Peel 1 medium sized potato and cut it into fairly thick slices. Put the
slices in a saucepan and cover the potatoes with water, making certain
that you use at least 2 cups of water since some will evaporate with
cooking. Boil the potato slices about 15 minutes or until soft. Measure
out 1 cup of the water. The potatoes can be put aside and used for
dinner. Let the cup of potato water cool to about 90 degrees F.

Proof yeast in 1/2 the potato water with 1/2 teaspoon of the honey. Sift
the flour into a large bowl and add the salt. Stir the yeast mixture into
the flour and add the whole egg, the remaining egg white, balance of the
potato water, remaining honey and oil. Blend with flour to make a firm
dough, adding more flour if necessary.

Turn out onto a floured board or counter and knead for 8 to 10 minutes, or
until dough springs back when touched. Place dough in an oiled bowl, coat
top with a small amount of oil to keep from drying out and cover with a
towel. Place bowl in a warm, draft-free place and let the dough rise to
double (about 1 1/2 hours). Dough is ready when you push down with 2
fingers and the indentations remain. If they spring back, let it rise a
bit longer.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Boil the 3 quarts of water in a large pot.

Punch down the dough and knead for about 2 or 3 minutes. Pull off or cut
dough into about 14 or 15 pieces. Roll each piece between floured hands
until it is about 7 inches in length and 3/4 inches thick. Coil each
length into a ring, moistening the ends so that they stick when turned
onto each other. Let the rings stand about 10 minutes on an oiled board
or pan.

Using a slotted spoon, slide each bagel into the pot of boiling water,
being careful not to crowd them too much. They will float.

Boil 2 minutes on each side. Remove with the slotted spoon and place them
on oiled cookie sheets. They will be very slippery.

Mix the remaining egg yolk with the 1 teaspoon of water and glaze each
bagel with a pastry brush. Sprinkle with coarse salt, and poppy or sesame
seeds, if desired.

Bake ~25 minutes until golden brown. Place on a wire rack to cool.

(courtesy Katy)

Note: this is written as requiring a stand mixer, but I don't have one and make it by hand instead. My hand mixing notes are in parentheses.

Rustic Italian Bread (from Cook's Illustrated, Jan. 2003)
Biga
2 cups bread flour
1/4 teaspoon rapid rise/instant yeast
1 cup water at room temp

Dough
3 cups bread flour, plus extra as needed
1 teaspoon rapid rise/instant yeast
1 1/3 cups water at room temp
2 teaspoons salt (a bit more if you use kosher)

1. For the biga: Combine flour, yeast, and water in bowl of standing mixer (or medium bowl). Knead on lowest speed until it forms shaggy dough, 2-3 mins (or stir with wooden spoon for 2 mins). Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise at room temp until it begins to bubble and rise, about 3 hours. Refrigerate biga at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours.

2. For the dough: Remove biga from refrigerator and let stand while making dough. Combine flour, yeast, and water in bowl of standing mixer fitted with dough hook; knead on lowest speed until rough dough is formed, about 3 mins. (Or stir with wooden spoon for same amount of time.) Turn mixer off and cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap; let dough rest 20 minutes.

3. Remove plastic, add biga and salt to bowl, and continue to knead on lowest speed about 4 minutes. Increase mixer speed to low (2 on KitchenAid) and knead until dough forms cohesive ball, about 1 minute. (If mixing by hand, a spoon won't work here. Use your hands to squish the biga and dough together directly in the bowl. You'll be able to tell when they're incorporated when the texture is uniform. It takes about 4 minutes and is nice and messy.)

Transfer dough to large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until slightly risen and puffy, about 1 hour.

4. Turn dough by lifting each edge with a spatula and folding it into the middle. Replace plastic wrap, let rise another hour. Turn dough again, replace plastic wrap, and let rise 1 hour longer. (Note: I've skipped the last rise without the bread seeming much different.)

5. To shape the dough, dust work surface with LOTS of flour. Scrape dough out of bowl, dust with more flour, and pat gently into an 8 to 10 inch square. Fold top corners diagonally and roll dough into a log from top to bottom. Tuck the edges under and slide onto a sheet of parchment paper. Cover loosely with plastic, let rise until doubled, about 1hour. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 500 degrees.

6. To bake, cut slit 1/2 inch deep along top of loaf; spray lightly with water. Slide parchment sheet with loaf onto a hot baking stone (or if you don't have one, an inverted cookie sheet). Bake 10 minutes and reduce oven temp to 400. Bake about 35 more minutes until deep golden brown, rotating loaf as needed. Transfer to wire rack and cool 2 hours.

(courtesy Spinny and Cook's Illustrated)

honey wheat bread

ingredients

2 cups warm water (approx 110 degrees)
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup vegetable oil
5 cups all-purpose flour

* dissolve yeast in warm water for about 5 minutes
* add honey and stir well.
* mix in whole wheat flour, salt, and vegetable oil.
* slowly add white flour.
*put dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 or so minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic.
* place dough in oiled bowl. flop the dough around so all sides are coated with oil. cover the bowl with a damp cloth.
* let rise until doubled in bulk. (it took about 55 minutes for me)
* punch down the dough and let rest 5 minutes
* shape into loaves and put in well-greased pans.
* let the dough rise again, until it is about an inch higher than the pan. (my pans are a bit big, so there's no way it would have risen this high-- I just let it rise about 25 more minutes)
* bake at 375 for 30 minutes. (Dark pans need a little less time-- I checked it at 25 minutes and took it out after 27.)

(courtesy Velata)

In original this has different name (karask) from bread (leib). Of course, for estonians anything else without rye in it is not bread either (sai).

BARLEY BREAD

1 litre of buttermilk
3-4 cups of barley flour
1-2 cups of wheat flour
2 tea spoons of soda
salt, sugar
¼ cup of oil
caraway seeds

Bake the batter for around 20 minutes. And the batter should cover the pan quite thinly. Best eaten hot, drowned in butter.

(courtesy Guilty)

ANADAMA BREAD
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
3 tablespoons butter or shortening
1/4 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup boiling water
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

This is a do-in-stages recipe, good for a day while you're doing other things. It makes a sweetish bread with an unusual and fairly heavy texture that is really good for breakfast.

1. Combine the cornmeal, fat, molasses, salt, and the boiling water in a small bowl. Let that cool until it's lukewarm.

2. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in a LARGE bowl and let it sit for five minutes. (This will be the final mixing bowl and needs to be able to hold everything. It's better to mix in the yeast bowl than the cornmeal bowl. Don't ask me why, it just works better.)

3. Add the egg, the cornmeal mixture, and half the flour to the yeast bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon until the flour is incorporated, then mix in the other half of the flour. After all the flour is incorporated, you'll probably want to dive in and start working the dough with your hands to get it really mixed; it'll have begun to fight the spoon at this point.

4. Shape into a ball, put in a buttered bowl, turn it to coat the surface of the ball with butter. Cover with a towel and let rise (don't refrigerate) until doubled in size.

5. Punch down. Turn out into a well-greased loaf pan. Cover again and let rise until doubled again. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

6. Sprinkle the top of the dough with cornmeal. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

(courtesy Columbine)

Cranberry Brownies

I made these twice, and everybody loves them, so I'll share the recipe I googled up somewhere.

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups sweetened dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour an 8-inch square pan.
Place sugar, oil eggs and vanilla extract in a medium bowl. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer to combine. Add flour, cocoa and baking powder.
Mix on low speed for about one minute, gradually increasing to medium speed until dry ingredients are combined. Add cranberries, mixing well.
Spread batter evenly in prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool completely before cutting.
Makes 9 brownies.

(courtesy Prudence)

Sourdough starter and things to make with it.

I cheated and used yeast to make my starter. The wild yeasts around here are erratic and I was more likely to get some funky black or red mould than yeast. This starter should be used once a week, so it is perfect for making sunday morning pancakes/waffles, which is the recipe I am giving below.

Starter:

1 c. milk
1 c. flour
1 tbsp yeast

Keep in a warm spot until it begins to sour and bubble -- 24 to 48 hours. Keep the starter in the fridge in a covered container, allowing room for expansion. Each time you use it, replenish it by adding equal quantities of flour and milk and let stand for about 24 hours. If you have to go away on a trip or something, stick it in the freezer and when you come home, leave it out 24 hours again to get the yeast action started again.

Sourdough pancakes/waffles/buns

1/2 c starter
2 c milk
2 c flour
2 eggs
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda

Blend starter, milk and flour, and leave at room temperature for an hour or two (overnight is ok too). Then add eggs. sugar, salt, and soda and mix well, but don't beat it. To make pancakes, drop spoonfuls onto a greased griddle. Turn over when top is full of broken bubbles and is not glossy. Good with real maple syrup and fresh fruit. Feel free to adjust the quantities to your own taste, the recipe I give makes fluffy pancakes but with substance, not flabby or mooshy.

Waffles: Use same batter but add 2 tbsp oil to mixture. Make sure iron is well greased.

Hot rolls: To at least 1 1/2 c. pancake batter or the whole recipe, stir in enough flour to make a stiff dough. Turn out on a floured board and knead until smooth and shiny. Put in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place for an hour. Punch it down and roll out to 3/4" thickness. Cut out with a round cutter, brush top and bottom with melted butter and place in greased baking pan. Cover, let rise until doubled (probably an hour or so) Bake in a 375 oven for about 30 minutes (check them). Serve warm and buttery.

Or, I like making english muffins: dip tops and bottoms of rolls in cornmeal, let rise until doubled and bake on a frying pan or griddle for about 8 minutes each side.

(courtesy Kate)

Carrot Cake

2 cups unbleached flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup canola oil
3 eggs (lightly beaten)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups cooked pureed carrots, cooled (about a one pound bag, steamed)
1 cup shredded coconut
3/4 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained

Preheat oven to 350 F. LIne a pan with wax paper and grease the paper and sides of the pan. It seems it will work with a 13 x 9 inch pan, two 9" layer pans, or (what I did) two 8" round pans and as many mini pie pans as I needed for the rest of the batter. (It does rise in baking)

Sift flour sugar, baking soda and cinnamon into a bowl. Add oil, eggs, vanilla, beat well. Then add carrots, coconut and pineapple. Stir it all together.

Pour into pan(s) and bake for about 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean and the sides draw away from the pan.

It originally called for walnuts (1 cup), but I don't like them so left them out. My mother says she used to make it with raisins. It also is supposed to have cream cheese frosting, but I was lazy and it didn't seem to need it. (I am pondering a few variations, but haven't tried any of them yet).

edited to add: If the carrots are cooked enough, you can puree them with a Braun handblender, in the cup it comes with (they like to escape in a larger vessel). The plastic cup may end up stained slightly orange, but such is the price of cake.

(courtesy Ashley)