So It Begins.....

I have long had a love affair with baked goods and confections. There is nothing like the smell of fresh baked breads, cupcakes, muffins or cookies. They invite feelings of warmth and peace (and cause the occasional drool). You wait with anticipation for the timer to ring, then again while your goods cool, all the while imagining how that first bite will taste. In some cases you're also forced to beat back the crowd (in our house that means all five of my children and my husband) to keep them from swiping a delicious morsel while you're back is turned. My husband has gotten pretty quick, I'll have to keep a closer eye on him.

The only thing better than eating all these wonderful things (ok, maybe not better, but just as good) is watching your loved ones enjoy them. There are few things that bring me as much joy as when the eat something that I have made for them. I love that my kids brag about how they get home made cookies in their lunches and that I am the best Mom EVER!!! They sing and dance around me in the kitchen before finally throwing me on their shoulders to do a victory lap around the neighborhood. Ok, maybe their isn't any singing or hoisting (would love to see how my kids would accomplish that seeing as how they are all under the age of 9), but there are smiles and big hugs and kisses. So I'll wait for the day of ostentatious celebration and take joy in the pleasure of just watching them devour the goodies.

This blog is going to feature my masterpieces and maybe some not so masterful ones. I believe in trial and error. Hopefully we won't have too many errors, but just as in life sometimes things just don't work out the way you plan. Once a month I will take a challenge from one of my readers. So if there is something you have been dying to know how to make or try, but don't have the time (or heck just don't want to have to be the one to clean up the mess), just post a comment of what you would like to see on here. In addition to that I will post recipes for cupcakes, cookies, breads, muffins and such.

For the month of October I have decided to give myself my own challenge. I will be trying to tackle the art of croissants/pain au chocolat. I think I'll be starting with the latter as it doesn't require me to cut perfect little triangles (I'm lazy and want a croissant cutter to do it for me, guess I'll be looking for one in the very near future). Same dough though, so yay for that! I will post pictures, tips and the recipe when I'm done. Here it goes!