BAKING HAIKUS

Cookies:
Soft, warm, and gooey
oatmeal, chocolate chip
cookies are the best

Brownies:
Yummy chocolate
Brownie mix baking in oven
I can't wait to eat

Cupcakes:
Sprinkles and frosting
on top of a mini cake
made by the dozen

Blueberry Muffin:
Healthy, sweet muffins
with bright blueberries inside
I ate half the batch

Pancakes:
Circular, golden
with maple syrup on top
I can't get enough



Emma B

Last weekend, my mom and I went to the mall and she found a short rib sauce for her slow cooker and she made that last night. The recipes was for short ribs over mashed potatoes so, I took the mashed potatoes portion band she handled the ribs. I made homemade mashed potatoes with just plain old Idaho potatoes but I put some of the short rib juice in there to flavor them at the end. Finally, my mom made sauteed spinach and carrots with time as a side dish and they were very good. She likes to make that a lot because she had it at a restaurant in Hartford but it was actually on a pizza. It was a like thin sliced carrot and spinach pizza and now she makes it without the pizza. Personally, I love to have spinach cooked down with; red pepper flakes, garlic, shallots and a little feta cheese. I came up with it one day when I was home alone and wanted to have a healthy lunch. I love a lot of garlic so I instantly grabbed that and since I had no proteins I just grabbed a tub of spinach. The recipe is actually really simple, I put some oil in a pan and brown up garlic and shallot, then I add; salt, pepper, garlic powder and red pepper flake. Finally, I put the spinach in until it is cooked down and add toasted almonds. Today, I was driving into school with my mom and she said she wanted to go to Figs this weekend. She went a few weeks ago and said that it was very good. I was just wondering if anyone could tell me any reviews or what they might serve to see if I want to try it. I haven’t heard anything about it from anyone but my mom and she really isn't a great critic, she doesn't ever like to say negative things. We once went to this really bad restaurant in Brookfield and when my dad asked if she liked it all she said was that the menu looked very nice. So, I was wondering if anyone could help me get an idea of what Figs serves and how the actual food is. Connor L.

My favorite part of baking is seeing how pretty you can get your dessert to look. I love baking cakes and cupcakes just so i can be able to decorate them to the best of my ability. I was actually so interested in decorating cakes, I took a cake decorating class when i was 12 and I didn't even care that i was the only person under 60 in the class. I think it is something to do that is so fun it is impossible to get sick of it. Right when you think you've learned everything your introduced another technique you can use to make your decorations look even better! Whenever I get the opportunity to bake a cake for an event I do. This is a cake I decorated for my friends birthday this past summer. I hope we have fun decorating cakes and cupcakes this year in baking and pastry!! Natalie P.

            A few days ago, I woke up and wanted pancakes. After making them in class, I looked around for all the ingredients, but we didn’t have everything and I was the only one home. I did find some store-bought pancake batter though, so I decided to use that. I knew it wouldn’t be the same as what we made in class, but it would be fine. As I was looking around the kitchen, I opened up the spice cabinet, almost by accident and the cinnamon sugar caught my attention. That was one ingredient that we used in class that I knew I could use at home too. So I mixed up the pre-made batter and poured a little onto the griddle. Then I sprinkled some cinnamon sugar onto the top liquid side. I flipped the pancake when I saw the little bubbles and then immediately sprinkled some more cinnamon sugar onto the top, cooked side. It was still hot, so the sugar melted almost immediately onto the surface. When the bottom side of the pancake was done, I took it off the griddle and dumped on some more batter. Before I put any cinnamon sugar on that one, I tested the first pancake out. I drizzled a little hot maple syrup onto it and dug in. The flavor was incredible, and there was a bit of a crust on the outside of the pancake. The sugar must’ve caramelized on the pancake. I made a few more after that, all with cinnamon sugar of course. From now on, the only way I can really enjoy a pancake is if it’s cooked with a little cinnamon sugar. I never would’ve even thought to try that if I hadn’t seen it done in our class the other day. This class has made me want to make more things on my own at home.
Jake L.

A few weeks ago, I was in Cape Cod, MA and visited Cupcake Charlies. Its a little cupcake store in the shopping center and they are a very talented bakery. If you go there, you won't find all sorts of bakery goods, just pretty creative cupcakes. I am not a cupcake fan, I do not like the texture of cake at all, but these are fun to look at. You can tell hard work goes into these, they look absolutely amazing. The frosting looked so creamy and delicious and perfect applied to the cupcake. They have a bunch of different types of cupcakes, different frosting flavors, and they put little candies on top. They have cookies and cream flavored with an Oreo, they have fruity pebbles, mint chocolate chip with a mint chocolate square, pumpkin flavored with little pumpkin candies all around the frosting, and so much more.You can probably think of anything that would be delicious on a cupcake and they'll have it. Over all the shop was cute. They sold cute little shirts, cups, mugs, and a whole bunch of little things to advertise themselves. Any cupcake lover would admire the whole place. I can't say anything about how they taste because I didn't have any, but my family loves them. They did have one thing other than cupcakes; they had balls of brownie dipped in chocolate on a stick, like a lollipop, which is what I had and is what so delicious. They also had measuring spoon sets on display which you could buy, and they had little seashells and starfish on them. They were so cute that we bought them for our home and even though we don't bake a lot, they are nice to have on display in a kitchen. If you are ever in the Mashpee commons of Cape Cod, you should definitely check this place out, especially if you like cupcakes. – Sam P.

My friend Alexa and I both love to bake and we love baking together. Whenever we are together we create our own recipes or alter already existing ones. Our products usually end in success taste wise, not always looks wise. The other day when I was at Alexa’s house, we decided to alter a snickerdoodle cookie recipe. We have played with that recipe before and thought that we could recreate what we had made a year ago. We were far off. We started adding the ingredients that we could remember and the ones that we thought would complement the other ingredients. The cookie dough tasted great and even better than before, so we started to cut shapes and ad a cinnamon and sugar spread on top. We were able to account for everything but how much the individual cookies would spread. After opening the oven to check on them we saw our different cookies massed into one giant rectangle, pan size. Even though they didn’t look attractive, we knew they would taste great. But our misfortune continued. Alexa and I are both terrified of spiders, and Alexas cat Spooky loves to chase anything that moves that is smaller than him. A spider ran across our cookie tray within a couple of minutes of it being out of the oven, causing Alexa and I to back away from the cookies. Of course the cat decided to chase the spider. Our poor cookies were fed to the birds that day. At least it was fun to make. BEFORE AFTER

The Chocolate Fudge Dream When you hear homemade chocolate fudge sauce what do you think? I think of creamy, warm, rich chocolate melting in my mouth. What else could make this more perfect? How about homemade whipped cream with a light fluffy sponge cake? A few years my grandma and I were baking in the kitchen trying to figure out what to make for desert and we pulled out an old recipe that my grandma’s mother had made. After adding a little bit more sugar and a few other ingredients, it became a great success. It’s now known as in our family as the traditional birthday cake and it just tastes so sweet and yummy. First you make the sponge cake and after you cook it, cut the cake in half and let it cool. Then it’s time to make the whipped cream. Add confectionery sugar, vanilla extract and heavy and blend it in a kitchen aid blender until it’s whipped. Spread a thin layer of it on between the two half’s of the cake and then put the top half back on top. Then start to make the chocolate. Mix cocoa, flour, white sugar, milk and butter and cook on the stove until melted. After it’s done and ready to serve, pour the chocolate over the cake and it’s ready to eat! -Sydney A.