. . . a glimpse into my heart.

I love to bake. I think everyone who knows me at all knows that about me. However, my husband is currently training for a marathon and is trying to eat healthy. I know I should be too but that means I shouldn't be baking. How can I stop baking?! I tried my hand as Whoopie pies for the first time and they were delicious! I think they are one of the easiest things I've made. The recipe I used said it yielded 16 whoopie pies which would mean 32 cakes, right? Well, it didn't specify the size so I used an ice cream scoop (so they'd all be even sizes) which was maybe 3 tablespoons of batter. It made a TON! I didn't count but it probably made 32 pies if not more. So, next time I will cut the recipe in half and for your benefit the recipe listed here is the halved version.  For the cakes:           • 1 1/2 cups sugar • ½ cup butter • 2 eggs • ¼ cup vegetable oil • ½ tablespoon vanilla extract • 3 cups all-purpose flour • 1 cups unsweetened ...

In September 2010 I posted my bucket list. > Write a book > Take my boys to Ethiopia > Take a cooking class > Get a bachelor's degree > Go on a short term missions trip within the next two years We are heading to Thailand in a couple weeks to minister to some missionary families. Dave and I will spend our time with the youth. I don't know if this is officially a "missions" trip but I'm counting it. The cooking class is something I would still like to do but more then that I want to take a baking and cake decorating class. I love baking and want to learn more about it. So, I'm adding that to my list! > Take a baking class > Take a cake decorating class

I made some lemon cupcakes that turned out quite yummy. I have made them twice, once with lemon cupcakes and once with vanilla but both times I made lemon butter cream frosting. Here's the recipe: Vanilla cupcakes (makes 1 doz) 1 1/2 cups flour 1 cup sugar 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 8 T unsalted butter at room temp 1/2 cup sour cream 1 large egg, room temp (you can place the whole egg in warm water to assist in this) 2 large egg yolks, room temp 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract Heat oven to 350. >In separate bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. >In mixer cream butter, sour cream, egg, egg yolks and vanilla. >Add dry ingredients and beat on medium until smooth, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides and mix by hand until smooth and no flour pockets remain. >Divide batter evenly among paper cups in tin. Bake until tops are pale gold and tooth pick comes out clean. , about 17-20 minutes Cool cupcakes out of tin and on cooling rack. Alternative Vanilla...

I took my mom's Oatmeal cookie recipe and tweaked it a bit. I substituted real white and brown sugar for Splenda white and brown. I also added a teaspoon of lemon juice which (I have read) cuts the after taste of the Splenda. I have made these without the pretzels but decided to try the sweet-savory direction this time per Dave's request. Grandpa's Favorite Oatmeal Cookies (with a TWIST) 1/2 cup butter (softened) 1/2 white Splenda 1/3 cup Brown Splenda 1 egg 2 TBL Milk 1/2 tsp vanilla 1 cup flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt (I omitted it this time due to the added salt in the pretzels and because I used salted butter) 1 cup Oats (not quick cooking) 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips 1 cup broken pretzels Heat oven to 350 1. Mix Flour, baking powder & soda and set aside. 2. In mixer, blend butter, brown and white sugar until smooth. 3. Add egg, milk and vanilla. Beat well. 4. Add Flour mixer and beat well. 5. Add oats, chocolate chi...

Cupcakes are so fun! I experimented with cupcakes at high altitude while living in Colorado and had some success and many failures. It's challenging to get it right. Now we're living at 1000 feet instead of 4500 in grand Junction and baking is much more fun. My dream is to some day open my own bakery. . . .I know it's not likely to happen but a girl can dream. :-) My sister Bethany is taking art classes and is a very talented artist. She drew me a picture to use for my logo someday. But at this point, I still need to play with it until I am happy with it. Until then. . . I am going to start blogging about my baking successes and mishaps. So, I created my blog logo by using one of the three cupcakes Bethany drew for me and merely call my baking blog "Kami's Kitchen". Here's the blog logo: So, I have a few cupcake and cookie blogs to catch up on, so stay tuned!

Grand Junction, CO- Elevation 4,593' (maybe more up here on Orchar Mesa) Baking is tough at this elevation and very frustrating for someone like me who LOVES to bake. I am especially into cupcakes. Dave got me a book full of cupcake recipes. So, I got myself this book: There's a lot of advice on high altitude cooking and baking but most of it means I have to experiement. . . not what I enjoy. I like making something and it turning out amasing the first time. Their advice is to first raise the temperature of the oven 25 degrees before ever tweaking the recipe. Pie In The Sky hadn't come in the mail yet when I decided to start with the Cookies & Cream Cupcakes. I put 1 tablespoon less sugar then it called for but I totally misread the "1 Tablespoon baking powder" as "1 Teaspoon baking powder" and took the advice of taking away 1/8 of a tsp. for each tsp in the recipe. Therefore, I only put 7/8 of a TEASPOON in when the recipe called for 1 full TABLESP...