What's Bakin'?!!!

This Friday's Faves are brought to us by Alena, the intuitive and whimsical blogger behind the intuitive and whimsical blog: What We Cooked! I asked Alena what her favorite things are to cook and as it turns out, she. loves. to. bake.

Scones are quickly becoming one of my favorite things to bake. They are deceptively easy. Easier than cookies even! I really enjoy the moment when you get to combine wet + dry ingredients and use your hands to knead it into a big ball of dough. Another nice thing about scones is that you can cut them into circle OR triangle shapes, depending on your mood. This winter, when I experimented with scone-making for the first time, my friend Hillary and I made circular cream scones, and when I made the savory scones a few weeks later, I went with triangles. Either way, they taste delicious. I am convinced that you can throw pretty much anything into a scone and it will be tasty.

The top 2 photos are "traditional cream scones with currants" and the other 3 are "savory cheddar scallion scones". Yeah!


Another thing that I like to bake are rainbow cookies.

I must admit though, that I've only made them once. But I vow to make them again, one day. You see, the rainbow cookie is an epic cookie. I learned this a few months ago, when my friend Amy suggested that we make them one afternoon. We read the recipe and learned that they must be chilled for at least EIGHT HOURS (!!) in order for the layers to properly set before you douse it in chocolate. So, we did what any logical people would do, and planned a sleepover so that we could begin the recipe, allow the cookies to chill, and then complete it. And have rainbow cookies for breakfast.


My love for making granola began with my attempt to eat more yogurt...

I don't particularly like yogurt, but found that if I mixed in some granola, I could usually eat it without minding it too much. Then I realized that making your own special granola makes the yogurt even less noticeable. (The granola is also good to eat on it's own of course.)

This is the recipe I like - *RECIPE*
(but it can be modified in lots of different ways depending on your taste.)


Quiche is another one of those fun things to bake because you can pretty much put anything in it. Like scones, I've always felt that quiche seems impressive to serve even though it is so easy to make. Most quiche recipes call for luxurious (fattening) items like cream cheese or heavy cream, but the one I like to use just uses milk, and is relatively healthy (...relatively. there is still a lot of cheese in it). But think of all the vegetables you get!


I modified *this recipe* for mine.


I saved the best for last: Pizza. Pizza has got to be one of the most fun things to bake. First I should confess - I have never made pizza dough from scratch. That will be one of my next projects, hopefully. Usually I just buy some dough from The House of Pizza and Calzone near my house (highly recommended), or one of my pizza-making companions will bring some over from their local pizzeria. Making pizza at home means you can have a pizza party anytime YOU WANT.

Faryl even helped me bake a pizza CAKE for a special birthday last summer. Can you tell which one it is?


WHOA!!! Thanks Alena, that was so fun and delicious.

Alena and Duff, from the TV show Ace of Cakes!!!