u/DaniekkeOfTheRose

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I own too many cookbooks, clearly, or I’m getting too tired to make decisions, because I spend hours perusing through recipes w/o settling on any of them.
In any case, this morning I was bored, it was gray and cold and I wanted to bake my day away, so I literally closed my eyes and blindly pointed at books in my kindle collection.
The result, graded per the PITA / FLAVOUR scale:

1- Cranberry Almond White Chocolate Bars (Snacking Bakes p. 102): PITA 1, Flavour 6. A breeze to make, required a bit more time in the oven than suggested in the book, crispy and chewy, but I’m not totally sold on the taste. The cranberries plumped while baking, and it makes it slightly difficult to slice without leaving crumbs left and right.

2- Jumbo Blueberry Streusel Muffins (SBA Irresistible Cookies, Cupcakes and Desserts… p. 13): PITA 2, Flavour 8. I’ve made these before; this time I put half the blueberries but added dark chocolate chunks.

3- White Chocolate Bark (SBA Irresistible Cookies, Cupcakes and Desserts… p. 91) PITA 3 (because of the chocolate and crushed nuts I had to clean after!) Flavour 8. I used Callebaut and added what was left from a small bag of Prana Kilimanjaro trail mix to the required pistachios and cranberries.
2-

First time I bake from this book (kindle edition). I had planned to bake a lasagna, changed my mind, so I had ricotta waiting for its destiny in the fridge. And the inclusion of cardamom intrigued me. I opted to make cupcakes; there’s only 2 of us home, so freezing some of them was a plus. (I really like that options and baking time for other forms of pans come with most of the recipes!)

End result: very moist cake, and the chocolate cream cheese icing is also very good - my piping simply sucks, it’s not because of the icing’s texture. Cardamom addition: jury’s still pending. It was hardly discernible and I’m not convinced it brings anything to the taste, I will add espresso powder instead next time. I add cardamom to a pear, rum and dark chocolate chunks Bundt cake I often bake and I love it, but in this case, meh. I ended up with 12 regular size cupcakes, though recipe said 12 to 18.