Best of Baking Delights

I have actually only been co-writing this blog since the end of May. Prior to that Steph and Aisa were keeping you all supplied with amazing recipes and incredible pictures. I was looking through the other day to see what had been done and what might need to be done, trying to come up with a plan for the next few months, and I thought that perhaps it was time for ::can we have a drumroll, a thunderclap, or even a tada?::::: The BEST of BAKING Delights!

I don’t know how it is at your house but here I often get into a cooking rut. I find that I am doing the same things over and over because I know that my family likes them and because it makes it easy to plan dinner. The thing is that, like anything else, when we do that our creative juices get sluggish and mediocrity reigns in our cooking. Apply that to too many areas and we become washed out, passionless, and predictable. God forbid that someone would refer to me as predictable! There must be creativity and change in my life for things to work they way they were meant to. That seems to be the 2 cycle oil that allows me to function smoothly.

So in saying all of that, I am encouraging you to take a look at these recipes from the vault. I have carefully wiped the dust off so you won’t get dirty, and spend some time, bookmarking those that you want to try. Challenge yourself to try something new regularly. Live. It’s a gift.

1. The first recipe is one that Steph posted back in January. Spanakopita is probably one of my absolute favorite things. I love the flakiness of the phyllo dough and then the richness of the spinach filling followed by the bite of the feta cheese to finish. YUM! Look for the phyllo in the freezer section near the puff pastry. Somewhere I have a recipe for homemade phyllo if you have none available where you are. I will post that soon.
2. Have you ever tried to make your own vanilla extract? Steph outlined the method in March. Homemade vanilla extract is wonderful, much richer in flavor than commercially produced types and you know what’s in it!

3. In April Aisa did these yummy allergy free plum turnovers none of my family has food allergies but I know it can be difficult to cook around them. These should make dessert a bit easier!
4. my very first post! Coconut praline pie is a favorite around here. People who don’t like coconut still enjoy this thing! It is rich and buttery, and unusual enough to impress people. I once auctioned one off at a church fund raiser and it went for $65.00. O.k.? THAT is a recipe worth keeping!

5. Another summer favorite around here is crispy peach cobbler. I developed this because I liked both the southern peach cobbler with the pastry baked in layers IN the filling and the peach crisp that I grew up with. So, I put them together for a glorious summer dessert..or a treat in the middle of winter if you used canned.
6.Aisa did these raspberry lemon bars . Raspberry is one of my very favorite things and who can resist lemon bars? If you put them together you have something gloriously summery. These are truly irresistible.
7. This black olive bread is delicious for sandwiches, or croutons, or slathered with garlic butter. I love it!

8. I had fun making this tropical fruit tart with rum glaze. It is impressive, beautiful, and delicious, so you can see why it goes into the category of my favorites! Plus I think I did a really good job on setting up the picture.

. Look at these chocolate covered cherry bars! Aisa made these and the minute I saw them I thought of how perfect they would be at Christmas…or fourth of July..or Valentine’s Day..or right now.
10. And, last but not least, this has to be one of my favorite posts just because it is so much fun to wade through all of the cookies! The 50 Best Cookie Recipes on the Internet
So, there you have it. For today anyway, The Best of Baking Delights.