Fun experiments with baking

Ok, so I'm doing my best to stay awake and adjust back to non-holiday real life.  I am writing this post to reminisce about the month long fest of eating I've just had and then move on with work :).

I am a baker.  At least, I used to be back before my DC adventures, dissertation, and normal 8-5 job.  I'm also a bit of a nutty professor/scientist type.  I think my enjoyment of cooking and the fact that I survived my chemistry minor solely by loving lab experiments are directly correlated.  The result is, I rarely make a dish the same way twice or actually follow a recipe to the letter because I'm always thinking "I wonder what would happen if I did this?..." This does not always mix well with the fact that I really enjoy sharing my food with others and really want them to like it, even when I don't yet know the results of my experiment. I "made up" 2 new recipes this year, and thankfully they are both keepers. 

I was strolling down the aisles at Publix the week before Christmas when I discovered that they now make Craisenets and sell them on the candy aisle beside Raisenets and Goobers, and they were on sale!  I immediately knew these belonged in a cookie.  So, I modified my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe (Barbara Bush's Chocolate Chip Cookies from my Presidential Cookie cookbook - it also won the First Wives cookie cook-off when her husband was elected - yes this is a real thing) to include the chocolate-covered cranberries, pecans, and cinnamon.  Oatmeal is already in this cookie recipe, so I didn't have to add that.  My family went crazy for them and at them all up!!  Even my super picky nephews! 

I had decided to make rice krispy treats for our New Years Eve party because I already had the stuff and because who doesn't love a party with rice krispy treats? (side note - unless they are nursing home rice krispy treats, which is a whole other blog post).  These are super fun to experiment with because there are so many things you can melt along with butter and marshmallows.  It just so happened, I had 2 extra jars of nutella following the Thanksgiving Nutella Poundcake Snafoo of 2009.  So, I added 1/4 cup of nutella to the marshmallows.  So easy and so yummy! 

I highly encourage you to try these ideas or make up new recipes of your own!  But, whatever you do, do not store your food near the moth balls...(see nursing home reference above).