LydMc

The 4th of July is a great time to celebrate freedom, independence and our nation's birthday. It's also a great time to bust out the fireworks (where legal), barbecues and patriotic baked goods! As it turns out, I actually started out just planning a baked good to celebrate the  July  birthdays of two of my coworkers. When one requested cherry pie, I could not help adding one more birthday to the mix. My, my, this American pie Instead of the typical lattice top, I simply added three full dough stripes across the bottom of the pie and three half stripes across the top. I added white sugar to the stripes to make them extra white and tossed it in the oven for about 20 minutes. (If you're looking for a good crust recipe, by the way, check out  Pie Crust V   on Allrecipes.com. It's my go-to crust recipe for most of the pies I make.) The stars were baked separately on a cookie sheet (also topped with white sugar) for about six minutes. Once both the pie and star

I <3 Valentine's Day! Valentine's Day is the perfect time to celebrate with sweet, pink treats full of love and deliciousness. As it turns out, you can make just about anything heart-shaped, and muffins are no exception.  Instant yum While I originally just intended to make some of my favorite go to muffins as part of a low-key brunch, inspiration and timing got the better of me and made for a fun, new creation. Think outside the box... By following the "What if" recipe option listed on the back of the box, you can transform these already tasty muffins into allegedly "guilt free baked donuts." The only main difference in the process involved putting the batter into a plastic bag and piping it out onto a pan. The shape of my heart Since it was <3 day anyway, I decided to take it one step further and make Valentine's Day themed, heart-shaped donut muffins.  Circles, hearts and triforces, oh my! Along with the

Edible fiction One of the few things I enjoy more than baking is reading - especially a good, old-fashioned book. Fiction, nonfiction, tomes, novellas... stories of all kinds are welcome on my bookcases. So, when I found a baking pan in the shape of an open book, I simply could not resist.  Book armor (+42) My test run with the new pan began with an already hungry audience, so I decided to go the quick route of boxed cake mix. I also decided to sweeten the deal by making a few modifications.  Going bananas! Taking a simple yellow cake box mix, I followed all the directions as listed, but added to the concoction two ripe bananas and... Chocolate makes everything better. ...Chocolate chips! This way, instead of having a run of the mill boxed cake, you have a delicious semi-homemade banana chocolate chip cake. Yum!  This story isn't even half baked. After mixing everything thoroughly, I poured the batter into the book pan and set it to bake, again follo