Bonus - Dessert!

I thoroughly enjoy cooking - but when it comes to the kitchen, may heart really lies in a homemade apple pie or a plate of fresh from the oven chocolate chip cookies.  Baking is my culinary passion.  I know that it may not seem as creative as cooking (what with all the precise measuring that takes place), but since when has someone been forced to sit at the table for an hour, staring down a brownie because they couldn't leave until they finished their dessert.  Never.  Fresh baked goods make people happy and I love to see someones face light up over a batch of cookies, warm banana bread, or fruity cobbler; and to know that I made that person happy...well that makes me feel pretty darn good too.

Here are two recipes to get the dessert section of the blog started up.  We'll start with the classic chocolate chip cookie.  These are always number one requests from my Dad and from Flick (so he is probably happy that there is a batch kicking around the house right now).  My tricks are to use Crisco instead of butter, refrigerate the dough, and spoon them out using a half-tablespoon (bet you didn't even know they had those out there!).  I think that I'll go have one now as a matter of fact...

Next is an apple coffee cake that is nice for both brunch and dessert.  I have made this twice so far and gotten rave reviews both times so I am considering it a keeper.

Hope this tides you over for awhile - just to note: for those of you baking below 5,000 ft, these recipes are all adjusted for baking at altitude.  I am not sure what they will do unaltered at a lower elevation but I will include the "low altitude" adjustments whenever possible.  Now that is a change of pace!