It’s a baking kind of day

I don’t know if it’s the crappy grey weather or the fact that I’ve felt like today is Monday all day long, but all I’ve been thinking about all day is how much I want to be home baking in my kitchen. It probably doesn’t help that I made this after work for Valentine’s Day dessert last night:

And, of course, since Mr. Traditionalist gave me the puppy dog face when I said I was making this instead of his favorite homemade cookies, I just had to go make them too…

So, needless to say I’m in a bit of baking withdrawal today. Yesterday may have been a bit of an overload, but I was super excited to try the new recipe. It was called a chocolate pot de creme, and it was my first experience at making a custard that didn’t start as powder in a box. To continue the homemade theme, I even used some of the left over whipping cream to make homemade vanilla whipped cream on top. Then I totally cheated and got some of those store-bought pirouette cookies- homemade fail. Regardless, it was really fun to go through all of the steps- I had never baked a custard before! Now at least I know I can do it in the future.

My favorite part about the recipe was how un-sweet it was. I know, that sounds a bit contradictory, but it was nice to have a bit of sweet whipped cream mixed with a more bittersweet dessert (the chocolate was 70%). I can’t wait to make this again- it would be super simple to make for a larger group too!

So, readers, any baking going on at your house this week?