My family isn't competitive at all. Really.

A few weeks ago, I visited one of my favorite cousins, Semra. We have a lot in common, but the most obvious similarities are our love of baking and our competitive spirit. When it comes to baking, we have different personalities. I focus on taste and follow all the rules, but struggle in the presentation arena - for Semra, creative liberties and presentation are the best part about baking. Together we are an unstoppable team. Which is good because we also love winning. My first day in Florida, we were participating in a pie baking contest. Where some would see this as good, clean fun, we saw it as an opportunity to crush competition and win the day (nicely of course). We set out to make the most amazing pie ever. What resulted was our award-winning apple, blackberry crumble pie.


Because we basically made this recipe up and Semra is not nearly as OCD as I am, I cannot tell you the exact ingredients or specific steps to make this pie, but here is what I can tell you - 


We coated slices of Granny Smith Washington apples and blackberries in sugar and placed the sugary fruit in the pie crust.  Then, we mixed softened butter, cinnamon sugar and oats together to make a crumble topping, which we spread on top of the fruit. Finally, we latticed the pie (this was all new to me) and coated it with melted butter. We baked it at 350 degrees until it looked done. 


The end result? Success.

New year, new muffins

In the spirit of New Year's Resolutions, I recently decided to make healthy muffins for the office. I found some intriguing recipes in the New York Times and tried my luck. 

The carrot cake muffins were my favorite. Both muffins were very low in sugar, but the spices in the carrot cake provided enough flavor that I didn't miss the sugar. Plus they were more photogenic...

The steel-cut oatmeal and blueberry muffins were good, but a little bland. They were best right out of the oven with a little bit of butter. I didn't cook the oatmeal first before adding it in, so this may have contributed to the blandness. Still, I loved eating a muffin with real blueberries and not that scary artificial substitute.  

The office was divided on which they liked best, so try both recipes and decide for yourself!

I'm in full baking and cooking mode and trying out lots of recipes, so more to come soon!