At the request of some family and friends and, unashamedly inspired by the movie Julie and Julia, I have decided to jump into the blog scene. I have no stories of baking to begin the blog, but rest assured they will come soon!
My love of baking started back in Watkinsville, Georgia in the first year of my marriage to my best taste-tester ever, my husband. I was in the summer break in classes before my senior year at The University of Georgia and I was using my time productively in baking cookies. Because my recipe makes 5 dozen (yikes!!), I took the extras to the store where my husband worked, where they were promptly devoured. Before I knew it, I had developed quite a name for my cookies. Yep, you read that right. The reputation had nothing to do with me or my cooking, but the cookies themselves. I have to say that I don't have much of a special recipe for my cookies, but something about the joy others received from my cookies created a drive in me to develop other recipes.
This drive cooled down for a time during my senior year in college, which I thought was the hardest I'd ever see until I got to graduate school. Throughout it all it was the baking that gave me some sanity. At the end of my undergraduate career my husband and I moved to Richmond, Kentucky to both be with his family and pursue my master's degree at the University of Kentucky. Come Christmas time in grad school, I was bitten by the bug to bake goodies for the neighbors at the apartment complex and my husband's new coworkers at a different store. The result was astounding! I heard rumors of snickerdoodles going missing, molasses cookies miraculously growing legs, and white chocolate/berry cookies mysteriously being left out of baggies. They were fighting over my cookies!! What more could a good southern gal find pride in than that?
One problem: my husband loves cupcakes. I mean really LOVES cupcakes. Well, really, cake of any kind. Cupcakes have a special allure because they are perfectly portioned. So I began my adventures in the world of cupcakery in Winter/Spring of this year with an amazing Cherry Red Velvet that seemed to stop the world. Since I have tried key lime, white chocolate raspberry, and Reese's. I've had my first batch of cupcakes commissioned ... for a commissioner! Those will be italian creme cake, which I have never even attempted (I hate coconut), so look for that adventure soon.
If you have ideas/requests, let me know and I'll give it a shot! I'm by no means an expert, but I absolutely love baking and find such joy in it.
I am Miss Georgia and I hope you enjoy my cupcakes, cookies, and other baking escapades.
