Page 67: Gingersnaps

That's right - ginger again.  Maybe I don't hate it after all.  At least not in baked goods... I remain suspicious of the little pink shavings that incessantly litter my sushi platters.

I can't recall ever before eating a gingersnap, let alone making them.  As a child I generally shied away from the boring brown spice cookies in favor of those laced with chocolate chips or a certain candy coated chocolate.  These days, thankfully, I'm smart enough to know that if it's in the BabyCakes book, it's probably worth trying.  And these were no exception.

As it turns out, gingersnaps are really, really yummy.  As usual it's likely my version is chubbier and more cakey than the BabyCakes version, but I loved them anyway.  The chubbiness might be due in part to the fact that I got distracted when I was adding the flour and lost track of the number of scoops I added.  So, I may have accidentally added 1/4 cup too much.  I didn't stress about this possibility because Erin McKenna said in the description if you wanted a cakier cookie, add an extra 1/4 cup of flour.  My thought was that if I did overscoop it would work out either way, but now I don't know if this is the same cookie I'll get next time I make them by the recipe.  Oops - guess I really didn't think that one through.

As usual, I had to adjust the suggested baking time.  I've pretty much mastered the baking time for the chocolate chip cookies with my oven and climate, so I used the same standard for these - 10 minutes, rotating 180 degrees after six minutes.   This seemed to work out perfectly.

In addition to ginger, these snaps are loaded with molasses and cinnamon too - and the combination of flavors was delish.  In a warm spice, holiday, homey kind of way.  They are like the comfort food of cookies and they were perfect with a cold glass of almond milk!  Judging by how quickly they disappeared at work today, my coworkers were big fans as well.

Ginger does it again.  I'm now actually excited to make the gingerbread.  Not only because I'm sure it's amazing, but also because it's recommended served frosted with a generous slab of BabyCakes frosting.  I can hardly wait.

Page 28: Ginger Peach Corn Muffins

In reviewing my list of "yet unbaked" recipes recently, I realized I still have a lot of muffins to bake. I made the Blueberry Muffins early on in the adventure, but the rest of the chapter was still relatively unvisited.  This might be because the ones left to bake included Pumpkin-Spice Muffins, Zucchini Muffins, and these Ginger Peach Corn Muffins... all of which seemed best suited for fall baking.  Thus, I was very unmotivated to make them in March.

It didn't help that I don't care for ginger either - at least not in most forms. But I knew I had to make these eventually and invited over a few friends to help me bake who are bigger fans of the spice - just in case I didn't want to keep any of them when all was said and done.  Plus, baking with friends is more fun than baking alone (as long as you make plenty to share)!

I also had a hard time finding good peaches, particularly since it's March and I'm on an island where peaches have to be shipped a minimum of 3,000 miles before they reach me.  I was so proud of myself when I stumbled upon a handful of soft and yummy smelling peaches at my grocers. However, when we cut into them it was obvious they had been through some trauma - instead of soft peachiness inside it looked as though they had been partially frozen at some point.  Fortunately, these are tossed in agave and lemon juice and caramelized in the oven before topping the muffins, so the caramelizing served to both sweeten them up and disguise their scars.

In short, this corn, ginger, and peach flavor combination is amazing. And I'm speaking as someone who doesn't - or at least didn't - like ginger.  They were also incredibly moist, even when I enjoyed one for breakfast the next day. 

And so pretty, right?  I love the aesthetic quality the caramelized peaches add to the top.

After being pleasantly surprised by the flavor of these darlings, I'm suddenly much less hesitant to try two other recipes in the book: Gingerbread and Gingersnaps...  more opportunities to let ginger impress me!

Page 49: Johnnycakes

If you're like me and have never before heard of something called a Johnnycake, do yourself a favor and make them for breakfast this weekend.  Especially if you live in a place where it still feels like winter.  You'll thank me, I promise.

Full disclosure: I don't think my Johnnycakes turned out anything like those coming out of the ovens at the BabyCakes bakery.  From the photo in the book, they are supposed to look more like a cookie or small pancake - flat and golden browned to perfection before being smothered in delicious agave nectar.  Despite my repeated attempts to thin the batter (I feared drowning out the flavor I was adding so much hot water), I couldn't get them anything close to flat-as-a-pancake.  They do contain coconut oil (an ingredient with which I have a love-hate relationship at this point), so it is possible I did an inadequate job of melting the oil before adding it to my batter.

Nonetheless, these were a perfect breakfast treat on a rainy Saturday morning.  Rather than resembling a pancake, mine turned out somewhat scone like (you know how I love scones) with a distinct cornbread-esque quality.  It reminded me of the cold winter days my mom would make chili and cornbread, and I would proceed to drown piece after piece of cornbread in maple syrup.  The cornmeal in the cake and the agave poured oh so generously on top is a similar flavor, but is lighter and somehow comes across perfectly suited for breakfast.  Like I said, do yourself a favor and try them yourself.

As I mentioned, don't forget to add generous amounts of agave nectar.  Yes, it's breakfast, but I'm sure you deserve it!

We will definitely be making these again - maybe next time I'll do a better job with the batter and we will get a flatter version.  If not, I'll still be happy.  Just pass me the agave.

Also - HOORAY! I just passed the half-way mark in my little adventure: 26 down, 25 to go.

Page 45: Chocolate Shortbread Scones with Caramelized Bananas

As you may remember, my dear friend Jess introduced me to the BabyCakes cookbook (inaugural post found here) and, therefore, is responsible for my BabyCakes enlightenment.  She's done it again: for my birthday she gave me the second book written by Erin McKenna: BabyCakes Covers the Classics.

It was like Christmas morning for me.  The book contains gems like Thin Mints (I literally gasped), S'mores with homemade graham crackers, Whoopie Pies, and an entire chapter of gluten-free vegan donuts. Not to mention a recipe in honor of my very favorite holiday: "Valentine's Day Overboard Cookie Craziness". I love this woman.

Being the committed and orderly person that I am, I have a new found motivation to complete the remaining 27 recipes from the first book so I can move on to this sequel of BabyCakes bliss. So... it's quite likely you will see more frequent posts from me henceforth.

Now, on to today's adventure: Chocolate Shortbread Scones with Caramelized Bananas.

I have been scared of this recipe for awhile, because it's one of those lovely items that involves pre-baking -  specifically baking chocolate cupcakes for a crumb base. However, I happened to have a few cupcakes in my freezer from past adventures so I got to skip a step. Bonus!

The recipe is actually a scone that you cut in half and sandwich with 1) vanilla frosting and 2) caramelized bananas.  The first step is the baking the bananas, and they filled my house with a fragrance that was nothing short of divine.

As the bananas caramelized, I whipped up the scones. You know the drill... spelt flour, coconut oil, and other vegan magic. The chocolate crumb base and chocolate chips are folded in and become marbled through the slightly milder chocolate scone batter.

As the scones baked I confronted a new challenge: trying very hard not to eat all the then-cooling caramelized bananas.

Once the scones had baked and cooled I cut them, slathered them with vanilla frosting, and added a layer of caramelized bananas as directed.  The end result:

In a word: DELISH.  The scones are a tiny bit salty and just mellow enough to serve as a perfect backdrop for the sweet frosting and velvety rich bananas, without making the combination overly sweet.

I know, it looks like bacon. But I promise it's just caramelized bananas! You can also ignore the half eaten scone on the lower right - I couldn't help myself.

Another BabyCakes winner for sure. After setting aside a couple for us, I'm off to divvy out these treats among friends so hubby and I do not end up eating all twelve of them over the weekend. After all, I have to save room for the next adventure. Just 26 to go!