It’s not quite been a month, but I figured the simplest way to get caught up again was to do another catch-all post. I’ve baked less since we moved, though I love my new kitchen. Mostly learning things at my new job has taken up a lot of brain space, which makes other projects hard.

But sometimes you just have to bake–like when you find yourself with brown bananas. Having already made the banana bread recipe, I decided to try the banana-coconut variation of the “all-star” muffins in TBC. It looks like they’ve since moved to a different basic muffin recipe.

Interestingly, the all-star muffins are made on a variation of the creaming method, not the muffin method. Liquid ingredients–eggs, sour cream and vanilla–are mixed into the creamed butter-sugar mixture, and then dry ingredients are added.

The recipe comes with 23 flavor variations, the most of any recipe in the book, I believe. Adding in the banana and coconut was easy, and scooping them with a disher was a breeze.

The two dozen muffins lasted two people (since Winry is a light snacker) several days for breakfast and snacks. I’d say they have good flavor, but they’re maybe a bit more sturdy than I like my muffins. I might try the new basic muffin recipe next time.

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After coming back from a weekend away, I thought it would be nice to make some fresh bread to make the apartment feel homey. Vermont oatmeal maple-honey bread sounded the homiest.

This dough had a normal procedure, except for soaking the oats and flavorings in boiling water before proceeding to the mix and rise. It made downstairs smell lovely.

Though the dough started out sticky, the loaves rose and baked perfectly. The maple cinnamon flavor was subtle to the taste, though strong to the smell. I enjoyed it toasted with butter. If I had thought of it soon enough, I would have tried turning some of it into French toast, but then we were out of eggs (we’re always running out of eggs in out apartment…) and then the bread was almost gone.

I loved the texture of these. Two loaves is a lot for three people to eat quickly, so I might halve the recipe next time.

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Husband and I loved the pear-ginger clafouti I made early on in my adventures in baking, and I’ve been eagerly looking forward to trying the most traditional version, cherry. Though most cherry-flavored things taste awful to me, probably because they remind me of cough syrup, I love fresh sweet cherries, and I thought they would taste wonderful with the custardy clafouti base.

I love it when I’m right.

Though I found cutting the cherries in half easier than figuring out how to pit them, everything went smoothly. This is probably my favorite recipe I’ve made so far in the new kitchen.