In my house growing up, there would constantly be baking – the scents of brown sugar and butter mixing in the air, making memories with my family, and most of all, enjoying the treats my mom made me. As I have grown up, instead of butter and brown sugar wafting in the air, it is char and smoke. Trying to recreate the kitchen magic turns into a waste of supplies and feeling exhausted. Needless to say, I am not a good baker. 

As I grow up and start to not always rely on my parents for taking care of me, I have found that I really love to cook. Being in the kitchen (as well as the clean-up, shockingly) gives me a sort of zen. The thing that I love about cooking is that you can really make whatever it is you cook, your own. If you want to add more salt, add more salt. If you want to have it thicker, add less liquid, All of this makes sense to me. Having freedom of what things I put into my meal allows for a good (and delicious) creative outlet. 

However, as bakers know, you can’t get away with adding a ‘little more of this’ or a ‘little less of that’. Baking is very exact, that’s where I find myself a little lost. One wrong measurement can turn blueberry muffins into salty blueberry bricks. 

This year, I really wanted to change my inability to bake and expand my ‘kitchen zen’ into the sweet side, so I chose a bunch of recipes to replicate – and see if I improve in any way. 

Considering its pumpkin spice season, nothing fits better than kneading out my baking issues that look at fall recipes. I chose a couple sweet treats that ranged in expertise, while also taking into account that my skills manifest into maybe edible chocolate chip cookies. 

A huge thanks to ‘Sallys Baking Addiction’ for all of these (FREE) delicious recipes. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe: Sallys Baking Addiction – Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie 

These cookies I felt the tiniest bit of familiarity with. I have made chocolate chip cookies before, and we already have an atrocious amount of pumpkin puree at my house (health benefits for dogs!) I went into the recipe with maybe a tad bit more confidence than I should have. Mixing together the wet ingredients with the dry was when I started to question my methods. However, so far, I was doing everything right, just a pinch of cookie anxiety. 

However, my suspicions were significantly raised when I tried the cookie dough. As I was eating the dough, I realized that the dough itself had no egg in it, normally the criminal to the salmonella crime, I then, of course, started to freak out because what kind of cookie recipe doesn’t have egg? I went over and over the recipe, seeing if I missed anything, surprisingly, I didn’t. 

The recipe “omitted” the egg, opting for more butter instead (sorry vegans…..and cows) this provided the cookie to be chewier than how I normally baked cookies. In my house, it was thin and crispy all the way, so putting in a little extra jaw effort was a bit alien. Nevertheless, the initial batch of cookies didn’t spread very well, and were less sweet than I imagined they were to be. Maybe I’m desensitized to pumpkin flavor because of Starbucks’s ‘Pumpkin Spice Chai’  having its own taste bud section on my tongue. 

The second batch, I pressed a tiny bit down on the dough to try and encourage some flattening. This got me results. The cookies spread quicker and were overall flatter, but they didn’t seem to be getting brown along the edges, like the recipe said they would. 

As a final trial, I spread butter along with the last batch, as well as added more chocolate chips (because more chocolate never hurt anybody …well, maybe a dog). This got me a more recognizable cookie shape, as well as some owning along the sides. 

Overall, the pumpkin taste was mild and went well with the rest of the ingredients, the dough itself was very chewy, so if you test the kind of cookie you go for, then by all means test out this perfect fall recipe. If you are nervous that it may be a little bit too out of your baking range, trust me, if I can do it, you can too. 

Apple Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting

Recipe: Sallys Baking Addiction – Apple Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting

These apple cupcakes were definitely the most fun to make, maybe that can be attributed to the movies I put on as they were baking. The ‘Saw’ movies may not be the most “apple cupcake” vibe, but they definitely added to my fall mood. 

The prep this time wasn’t as stressful as the cookies, I didn’t have any cupcake anxiety with the supplies or ingredients. The cooking went smoother, the only alien thing to me was folding in the cut up apples. However, once I took the cupcakes out to cool, the smell was enough of a victory for me. The recipe called for ‘salted caramel frosting’, this is where I strayed away from the recipe. 

The salted caramel used in the frosting was homemade, I, in all honesty, didn’t want to do all that.  It called for a candy thermometer and a 20 minute stove-sesh. I really didn’t think that I had the skills to complete such a task. We already had pre-made caramel in our fridge, but the recipe didn’t call for a specific measurement of the caramel, because the recipe used homemade, which had measurements for its ingredients.

Consequently, I fell back into my greatest mistake, treating baking like cooking, and eyeballing the measurements. This made the icing really sticky and thin. I realistically could have used more powdered sugar to make it thicker, but ‘Saw IV’ was near its final trap and I could not bring myself to start up the next movie. I used it more as a drizzle than an icing. 

This became my biggest mistake, over the night, the icing seeped into the cupcake, making it look more like a muffin.

 Nonetheless, the cupcakes were really good, maybe elevated by the caramel drench. The apples added a really subtle taste that encapsulated fall, and the ‘Saw’ movies (scary good).

Pumpkin Cake Crumble Muffins

Recipe: Sallys Baking Addiction – Pumpkin Cake Crumble Muffins

These muffins really took the cake (get it?) when it came to making them. Everything was, surprisingly, smooth sailing. 

These muffins were really easy to make, and the crumble added a whole new texture. I brought them as a promise to my (shameless plug) club, ‘Girl Talk’. I said during the first meeting that I wanted to bake more, and trust me, the members held me accountable. I brought them into our meeting and got positive reviews.

Altogether, I would really recommend anyone who doesn’t have baking powder powers to actually step out of their comfort zone and try. These recipes, all fall inspired and relatively cheap and easy to make, brought my family and friends together through food. It was really heartwarming to see the final outcome of my baking. Being in the kitchen is a great way of creative expression, and I push anyone who’s interested to try. Not only was I proud with my outcomes, I was proud of myself.