Buh-buh-buh Blackberry Pie!

Whoa - talk about a neglected blog. But, interspace followers, if it makes you feel any better, I haven't really been doing any baking either.

This past Sunday changed all of that when I baked my FIRST pie crust without the helping hands of my mom. A flaky crust, blackberry filling and lots of compliments all around means I guess I did a good job.

The crust was crazy simple, and I only refrigerated it for about two and a half hours (which was almost a little long). I split it apart and used two-thirds of the down for the bottom and one-third for the lattice work on top.

The pie itself was also super easy, and I even used frozen blackberries. I was a little afraid they would be flavorless, but none of my taste testers could even tell :)

This blog might see quite a bit more action in the coming weeks/months as my roommate's friend runs a coffee shop and he's looking for people to bake goodies for customers. But freelancing, nannying, applying for Teach For America and now volunteering for the Sustainable Food Center might be enough for my plate right now.

Happy baking!

Granola Goodness

So my new full-time writing job means less time for blogging.... and even fewer spare moments for baking. But, a 45-minute commute also means I want a breakfast that I can take with me. And that's where my newest baking adventure was born - homemade granola bars!

After doing just a brief world wide web search, I narrowed it down to three recipes. The first one I tried two weeks ago, but unfortunately didn't take pictures of. The bars turned out great (they tasted more like dessert than breakfast), but they didn't keep me as full as I would have liked. They were also pretty crumbly, something I attribute to my use of Chex cereal. The recipe can be found here - an excellent, healthy treat for peanut butter lovers :)And the use-any-cereal step means that their are infinite variations on this simple recipe.

This week, I moved on to my next recipe. With more flax seed (I used it instead of the called for wheat germ) and no peanut butter, I hope these will prove healthier and more filling. I haven't breakfast-tested them yet, but the sample taste proved promising. I like that these bars have more fruit (which is purely based on my trying to finish off the bag).

Tip: nuts and dried fruit can be on the more expensive side, and since this endeavor was mostly taken on to save money, that was a bit of a bummer. To save the dough, I bought a bag of mixed nuts and dried fruit for $4. In the first recipe I was able to keep them mixed, and in the second I had to separate them, but it really wasn't a pain. Definitely worth the $4-$5 it saved me!

The next recipe I try will be this one, but that won't be for a few weeks (off to NYC Feb. 17!). Care to try it and report back?

Does anyone have any granola bar recipes they've tried and loved? I'm particularly into ones that have common ingredients (again, for saving the green), but I'm sure there are some great variations with unique ingredients.

Happy baking!