Bake Dancing Queen

Ok, sometimes I'm a a queen, sometimes I'm the joker. Last night the joke was on me, trying to convert a French recipe for ginger carrot muffins to a) measurements that made sense to me and b) ingredients I had on hand. Since I apparently did neither to the satisfaction of the French baking gods, I ended up spending a few hours on something I don't even think the dock lobsters would eat. To bed; it was tomorrow / today already.

Early morning with the CWIM batting my head...it was undercover huddle cold and I did not want to hit air but I was afraid she'd miss playing with my hair and claw my eyelid (she wouldn't). Up, shiveringly on my feet and gladly, as it turned out...the sky was glorious, the water flat calm. And even with garden watering, photo shooting, tea making and cat feeding, there was time to work on another recipe I thought I could cobble together for the now challenging ginger carrot muffins.

As usual, I tried one and got that mouth feeling of oh yes! A fine, fine muffin! Of course...like everything, everyone has their own idea of what a fine muffin should taste like. For me, I want a fairly dense, very moist, not very sweet muffin. A fruit bread sort of texture, but more crumbly. These muffins were a little too crumbly, but I think I know what to do about that for the next batch. Anyway, they sold out in fifteen minutes, with comments coming back A+ so if they crumble a little, that just makes them more fun to eat.


I keep thinking I should get some sort of cool plate or cake stand for the muffins and bars, but I can barely get them situated in a basket before they start flying away. Today it was tourists who bought most. I have seriously underestimated in actuality what my mind told me was possible... that I could, if I made something good enough, sell these things. Well, business has never been my strong point, but it seems to work out along the way of having a good time. How lucky is that? But I still am getting a cool plate and I know there is one with my name on it in cyberland waiting for me...probably on eBay. Someone is out there who wants to get rid of Granny's cake plate. Stay tuned!

I was going to make another batch tonight but guava bars sound like a good change from muffins. (I could never be a baker for that reason...300 muffins, every day...argh). I add cream cheese and it ends up a sort of Cuban Danish. Which, if you think about it, has the makings of an historical combo. Castro writing fairy tales while astride the Little Mermaid smoking a stogie - yes, I can go there.

Don't forget - as if I'd let you - it's GOOD to play with your food!

More St. Croix story tomorrow...I think.