I'M DOING IT AGAIN!
WELCOME ONE AND ALL TO THE 2012 WEEKEND OF "BAKE WHAT YOU FEEL!"
It was a complete baking rut that caused my declaration a year ago. This year I'm happy to say it is not. For me these past couple of weeks have been full of great recipes, pleasant surprises and a pretty successful experiment (coming Sunday-ish :)). Per usual (these days) I'm not always super clear on what I will be baking on the weekend but I haven't felt completely blah about it either (yay me!). And yet, I've still been looking forward to this weekend because I'm going to bake something based purely on how I feel Saturday. It might be an old recipe, it might be a new recipe, it might be a few recipes, who's to say :)? I'm going to bake without obligation and I implore you to do the same.
The importance of a weekend like this really depends on your circumstances. If you're a blogger that bakes a lot, then I suppose the impact is lessoned. If you're not a blogger, then hopefully you're baking what you feel like every weekend. However, I suspect that most people, blogger or otherwise, bake with some type of obligation. Maybe you're not baking exactly what you want because of those around you. Perhaps you're worried about calories, or fat, or something else. And maybe you just feel like you always need to do something new. This past weekend being St. Patrick's Day you likely felt it necessary to bake something in its honour. Something Irish or green or boozy (maybe all three)? This weekend you should bake what you want to bake, for you, not for anyone else. Wake up on Saturday morning with no plan. Let your desires and mood dictate the ingredients. Screaming children begging for chocolate chip cookies? Throw some Chips-Ahoy at them. If they can't catch, tell 'em to clean it up (can you tell I don't have children :)?).
The point is that you should bake something this weekend for yourself. Visit that recipe you've been putting off for months or an old favourite; make some changes, switch sugars, add chocolate, pb, or butterscotch chips, maybe some nuts? Perhaps some fancy extracts, or oils, add coffee, or peanut butter (goes with everything). Do what your heart desires. Who knows? When the flour finally settles you might end up with a new favourite.
If for some reason you have read to this point and don't typically bake, give it a shot. Take baby steps. No need to go super complex. Brownies, quick breads, muffins, all easy. Should the idea of flour, and extracts scare you, there's nothing wrong with cake mixes, prepared cookie doughs and pie crusts. If you don't want to turn on the oven, remember that there's not a person on the planet that can resist Rice Krispies Treats (IMPOSSIBLE!). Regardless of your choice, when a freshly baked good rests on your counter top begging to be eaten by you and you alone; you will have succeeded, and I will have succeeded.
So that's all I have to say. I have no clue what I'm going to bake this weekend. There are plenty of things I have in mind, but I'm going to let the early afternoon Adam decide exactly what recipe will be made.
As a note, early afternoon Adam is much more pleasant than early morning Adam, but not nearly as charming as early evening Adam. Unless early evening Adam is hungry, in which case stay clear.
Let The 2012 Weekend of "Bake What You Feel" begin!
~Adam
Now that I think about it, I do tend to think about my 'audience' whenever I am baking because I'm never the only person eating all of the baked goods. And there are other concerns, like 'does the person have enough room in the refrigerator if I'm bringing something that has to be kept cold' as well as dietary restrictions/preferences/hang-ups. What a wonderful 'day' to declare, although I will have to put on my thinking cap to answer the question: "what do I REALLY want..." It's a much more challenging question than 'do what feels good.'
ReplyDeleteI'm going to partially disagree :). It's not "Do what feels good" Instead it's more like "Do what feels right" :). What you really want now, might not be what you really want this weekend. For me it changes nearly every second :).. hahaha :).
ReplyDelete@Adam--yes, it's amazing how many times I change my mind about what I am going to bake! I can't wait for the full report on the apple crumble!
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