Introductions -- First Memories

I am an aspiring baker/bakery owner. I have been baking since I was a small child, which started with my grandmother (Grammy). Her mother was an ambitious, poverty-stricken, over worked woman, so both baking and cooking were a means to an end for her. Grammy married a farmer when she was nineteen, and had three babies in three years, which meant that she was beyond busy taking care of a farm, a sick husband, and, not to mention, raising her children. While she had many obligations, she also found that she had free time that absolutely needed to be filled. This is where she found her love of baking and cooking. I have seen pictures of holidays filled with loaves and loaves of bread surrounded by dozens of rolls, and birthdays filled with cakes and pies. My mom was at the center of many of these pictures, frosting sugar cookies and smiling brightly at the camera holding a sprinkled treasure. She passed her love of food, all things sweet, and baking to me. My first memories of baking must go back to when I was only a couple of years old. I remember licking chocolate chip cookie batter off the spoon she was using and then scraping it out of the bowl and eating that, too. I very distinctly remember insisting that she let me eat the scraps of pie dough -- it looked just like sugar cookie dough, and must be as delicious. Alas, it never was. The disappointment I felt as soon as I tasted the bitter, unsweetened dough is something I am sure I will always remember. Why didn't it taste the same?! My little self could never figure it out -- no matter how hard I willed the dough to taste sweet and wonderful it just never did. You think I would have learned, but I always asked for the pie dough scraps, and mom always gave it to me.

Now I am baking every chance I can. The last thing I made was a ginger cake -- filled with ginger, cinnamon, applesauce, molasses, and Guinness. It is surprisingly delicious, especially when a paired with a cold glass of Guinness. The buttercream frosting perfectly complimented the bitter taste of the beer, and resulted in a piece of heaven on a bubble glass plate. Perfection!