I'm a list person. I love lists, a lot. So much so that I am somewhat of a list hoarder. I am constantly making lists at work, at home, in my phone... And sometimes I keep my lists just so I can look at them once they've been worked through and annotated. I've also been known to take pictures of completed lists, just so I can remember them without actually keeping the hard copies. This obsession skill came in quite handy during wedding planning, of course (our family and attendants love to recall my personalized and color-coded PDF files they had emailed to them), but it's been burning a hole in my purse for a few years now. I've been working on my "baking conquest list," which is one that I consider a working list, if you will. It constantly changes, whether it be a slight change or a big change, and I don't really have a time limit on it. This is a list of things I have found on baking blogs, in recipe books, on TV, and so on.
Before I get to my actual list, I have to start from the beginning. If you live in PA, you know the snow/ice/cold weather has been incredibly abundant this winter. It's been pretty awful, and that says a lot coming from someone who doesn't mind the colder weather too much. The weather has made for quite a few days of staying inside, forcing us to pack up our apartment to get ready for our big move on March 1st, all of which has led me to reading more blogs, looking at more recipes, and thinking about when I can get back into the kitchen (since our kitchen is mostly packed up except for the essentials at this point and even if it wasn't, there's no room to do anything since the boxes are piling up in every available corner we have). That being said, Matt and I both have been trying to focus on the positive through all of this miserable weather: looking at the beauty in the falling snow and frozen branches, rather than the news that highlights all of the accidents, travel troubles, and people in grocery store parking lots complaining about how hard it was to get there. It's been an absolutely beautiful season to photograph, and I'm considering this weather a gift from Mother Nature to give me cool stuff to take pictures of.
This was a picture I took the afternoon of the Saturday it snowed a few inches. The sunset was just so beautiful and peeked through the clouds and tree branches perfectly.
We did a bit of house-sitting over Super Bowl weekend, which turned out to be a weekend of very nice temperatures, but still cold enough that the snow didn't go anywhere. This is a picture of Gracie sitting ever so perfectly in the snow for me. It looks like she's posing, but in reality, she was terrified of my camera and went running as soon as I pulled it out. This is her "I'm-hesitant-to-come-back-over-to-you" pose.
And this is Maddie... Not in the snow, but still a good photography subject.
I came home from work one day, glanced out the window on my way up the steps, and immediately ran into our apartment to grab my camera.
This was the 4:45pm sun, perfectly placed between two snow-covered trees. I really love the landscape where we live.
And of course, no winter weather would be complete without epic pictures of icicles. There was no shortage of them around our porch, but I had to wait for the perfect temperature to capture the second photo...
...of a dripping icicle. This was one of those times I was thankful for my continuous shooting mode. It took several tries, and this one was, believe it or not, taken without a tripod, thanks to a great tip from a photographer friend!
So there you have it, just a sampling of all of the fun things this weather has brought us, which brings me back to my list. I actually just snapped a quick photo with my iPhone to show you the list sitting next to me. This "baking conquest list" started as a few recipes I physically printed out and kept in my purse, morphed into a "note" in my phone, made its way to a few pieces of scrap paper in my wallet, and finally, thanks to all of the cold weather, was transferred to three sides of note paper.
This list is a mess. I'm not sure if you can see in the picture, but some of these things have actually been numbered. Yes, that's right, I have recipes I am anxious to get to sooner than others, and some that I want to make at specific times of the year (for seasonal tastes), so I will be keeping this mess in my possession so I can refer back to the order I so neurotically assigned to the "2014ish" list (the recipes I would like to try the soonest).
So alas, without further ado, here it is, in all its glory! Some of these are specific, others are general and broad. There are a few that are family recipes and are noted as such (Marm is my mother, Kathy is Matt's mother). Those items marked with an asterisk are a second attempt, the first attempt being either a complete flop or simply unexciting and in need of some jazzing up (more on the first attempt as the second is reported).
YEAST BREADS:
- Easter Pizza (a DeAngelis family recipe)
- cardamom rolls (Marm's recipe)
- St. Lucia bread (Marm's recipe)
- bagels
- pitas
- babka
- croissants
- baked donuts
- honey oatmeal sandwich bread
- whole wheat loaf
- potato rosemary bread
- jalapeño cheddar biscuits
- brioche
- pepperoni cheese bread
- challah
- cinnamon buns
- pretzel bread
QUICK BREADS:
- zucchini bread
- banana bread (Kathy's recipe)
- cornbread (Kathy's recipe)
- shortbread
- gingerbread*
COOKIES/BARS:
- French macarons
- rollout sugar cookies (regular, chocolate, and chocolate chip)* --currently on my baking you-know-what list
- pizzelle (an April family specialty)
- biscotti
- scones
- snowballs
- lemon bars
- graham crackers
- decorated gingerbread men
- cannoli
- cannoli sandwich cookies
- whoopie pies
SPOON DESSERTS:
- bread pudding
- chocolate mousse
- spoon bread
PASTRIES:
- zeppole
- baklava
- danish
- strudel
- cream puffs/eclairs
- apple dumplings
- pop-tarts
- sfratti (my dad's speciality)
CAKES/CUPCAKES:
- Irish carbomb cupcakes
- black forest cheesecake
- angel food cake
- pineapple upside-down cake
- coffee cake
- pumpkin spice latte cupcakes
PIES/TARTS:
- peach pie
- lattice top pie (apple, maybe?)
- lemon meringue pie
- fruit tart
CANDY:
- candied orange peel
- caramel chews
There you have it.
Any suggestions? Recipes you know work great? Advice you want to share? Things you would like me to add?
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Next up on the blog...
The Colemans come to visit!!
They are supposed to fly in overnight on Wednesday... Please keep your fingers crossed this snow doesn't keep them from getting to the east coast...
