Baking :-)

I just made homemade cinnamon bars this morning! They turned out fabulous and I will be making them for two baby showers and one bridal shower I will be attending this year.

Do you like to bake and what is it? Do you feel homemade baked goods are better than store bought sweets? or bakery goods?

How many men bake??

I trust you Maple even your poetry is tasteful and sweet. Coming to think of it, there are lots of similarities between these two arts.
I use to bake but now I am a vegan. I use to create a recipe each time I baked even though I knew sometimes it is better to go by the book. But not me I always have to change something.
I remember once I felt confused whether it was I who were baking or, it was me being baked by the very cake that I was baking. I am still so confused on that, for sometimes I even surprise my own palette, how sweet I am!!

Baking truly is an art :-) I have found that when I am following a recipe I start to think of things to add, to make it my own... it's fun!! :-)

Cakes from scratch are hard for me.. my icing drowns the cake and the cake is very heavy, like a brick! but it tastes good :-)

I was once a baker, then I got fat.

Still use the oven frequently, and I love to cook, but no cookies, cakes, etc., for me. I leave that to the housemate.

To answer your questions - homemade is always better!

I have yet to meet a man who bakes, except very, very occasionally. I know a lot of men who cook, but it seems gender roles still play a role when it comes to what types of foods are associated.

Cinnamon bars sound so good Andrea, glad they turned out :]

I'm getting more into baking. I do prefer it over making meals (because I don't do that much about cooking, my mom usually does or I help out a bit). I do make chocolate chip cookies (following the recipe from the Nestle package), which I love doing. So far though I've just done that, and muffins and pancakes from the box. I like mixing different flavors or fruits if I'm in that kind of mood, it's fun to find a new recipe and just experiment. I do find it's better than store bought if you have the time... I know I've had ideas in my head like cupcakes or cut-out cookies, something fun we don't do that often. I know people have traditions like that so I want to start. Plus, I have this thing with sprinkles, I love them on tons of things, so that on cookies or cupcakes is divine!

^It is tempting though Jane

I wish I did! I hardly ever use the oven unless I'm slow-cooking something or roasting something. Oh, and I love pies, savoury bakes and lasagnes as well. I just don't have much of a sweet tooth. But I feel very feminine when I bake sweet things for Nikko, who loves these rare treats dearly.

I just think cakes and things don't give me as much flexibility as I would like...maybe I need more experience.

I also like stove top cooking soooo much more - stirring, adding spices, listening to the pops and sizzles, smelling each new ingredient introducing itself, adjusting the flame, lifting the lids off pots, checking the colours, feeling like a witch... The oven is so closed off and mysterious (which may be why its products are often regarded with such wonder).

I can cook quite well most of the time.

but baking cakes is usually a disaster, they either come out flat or taste like crap.

I cook most days and can cook chilli or roast dinner or spag bol or stir frys, but on odd occasions I can destroy everything even if I have cooked it 100 times before.

**edit

I also tend to use every pan and utensil in the house for even the most simple meal.

I generally like baking, but I haven't done much of it in two years. My apartment has a teeny oven that I can't even fit a cookie sheet into, and in order to assemble ingredients, I have to take everything out into my living room, mix it up, and then bring it back into the kitchen. Did I give the impression that my kitchen is small?

Jane: My dad bakes! My mom does cakes and stuff, usually, but my dad is the pie expert in the family. Totally from scratch - apples off the tree and all. He also makes breakfast muffins pretty regularly.

My favorite things that I've made would be:

-Flourless chocolate cake with a raspberry ganache

-Chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese chocolate chip filling and a sour cream frosting. They are tedious as hell, though, so it's kind of a once-a-year thing.

On an embarrassing note, I attempted brownies from a box mix the other day, and they are now hard as rocks and cemented to the pan. Seriously, 1 egg, 1/4 cup oil, 1/4 water, mix, and pour. Shouldn't be that difficult.

Abby: I agree with you about stovetop cooking. Stirfrys are fun! Frying in general is fun.

Stovetop cooking is the best cooking! Yes!

Sib, you know what, you reminded me that my dad bakes too. He makes my grandma's apple pie every holiday. It's not as good as she made it :)
Shh, don't tell.

"I also tend to use every pan and utensil in the house for even the most simple meal."

Ooooh, Darren, you're one of THOSE people.

I bake at the holidays: my wife's favorite is our Plagiarism Pie

It's actually an Apple Cinnamon Crumb Caramel Pecan Pie

However, we got the recipe from her Good Housekeeping magazine around 1999 - very detailed & innovative. The submitter won the magazine's contest for that year.

About 5 years later Emeril Lagasse hosted a baking contest on the morning news show. The Identical Recipe, down to the misspellings, won his contest by someone several states away from the magazine winner. The woman on the show claimed it was her original recipe that she had devised through trial and error.

I was so incensed that I sent Emeril the Good Housekeeping article & sent a letter to Good Housekeeping about the Emeril contest winner.

Never heard back. On the other hand, we love the pie.

^
Yes, I am one of those.

Even a crappy microwave meal/TV dinner consists of this;

1 plate to heat it on, plus a sharp knife to slit the top several times, a spoon to stir halfway, then another spoon to serve it on to a clean plate. (the other plate would be too hot,) then a knife and fork to eat it.

so that's two spoons
two plates
a knife and fork and a sharp knife.

Now take that and imagine what I would use to cook a roast chicken and stuffing, plus 5 veg and roast potatoes, Yorkshire puds and gravy.

The kitchen is carnage afterwards.

-----

Larry, I am with you on that, I would have probably done the same.

What a cheeky moo

I have been experimenting more with baking this year. Sometimes it is an awesome, yummy success...other times not so much. But it is all about the trial and error, I'm sure I will get better with time.

Lol my fiance is one of those people who uses every dish while cooking. He also never fails to get what he is cooking everywhere...counter, stove, table, floor... even found sauce on the ceiling before. Lol

I personally do not bake nor cook. I would love to learn how to cook healthy food though. Like vegetarian food :)

I'm actually a baker at a local bakery here, but surprisingly I don't cook or bake since I feel like I never have a ton of spare time but if I did I certainly would! Cinnamon bars sound delicious, reminds me of our apple nut bars we make at work. You'd be surprised, there are apparently plenty of men that bake... I used to work with all men until we recently hired another girl.