A Return to Baking in 2008

After a long winter break away from our apartment, I've been trying to do some baking again. I did some last fall, which I (Jason here) meant to post about, but never did. It also helps keep the apartment warm when the temperature is so low.

So far, I've made buttermilk biscuits twice, once again this weekend, and a chocolate-Brazil nut torte and chocolate-chocolate chip cookies both last weekend. You can see the torte to the left. I made two types of buttermilk biscuits this weekend, plain regular and, at Chantal's request, some emulating Cheddar Bay biscuits like you would get from Red Lobster. You can see the biscuits with some eggs to the right. They made a wonderful lunch.

I think I enjoy baking so much because the results are so delicious, that is, when I don't burn or destroy things. :) The torte was probably the most adventurous dish of the lot, as it required me to make a meringue (I'm not exactly sure that's the precise term), which I'd never done before. The mixer came in extraordinarily handy to beat the egg whites. I'm sure I would have given up if I'd had to whip them by hand.

The recipe for the Brazil nut torte came to me through tastespotting.com and originally from this other website. The buttermilk biscuits are from a Betty Crocker cookbook Eric and Heather gave us.