Fall 2010 Semester Baking Wrap Up

I baked a lot during the fall semester of senior year, and while I plan to feature most of those recipes as individual posts, there are a few that don't necessarily need or deserve such detail for various reasons.

Strawberry Daiquiri Cupcakes
These cupcakes were for another friend's birthday, and while they looked great, they were probably the only thing I've made so far this year that I would not recommend at least trying. The batter and just-out-of-the-oven cupcakes tasted wonderful, but after they cooled, they just didn't taste very good. Waaaay too sweet. I made another strawberry cupcake recipe this past semester that I found much more satisfactory (and I will post it soon!).

Apple Dumplings
I made a lot of small changes to this recipe: I added vanilla as per this recipe, cut back on the butter, used reduced fat crescent rolls, added more cinnamon, and only used a small cup of 7 Up. I probably should have cut back the sugar a bit too because I really don't feel like it was all necessary. All that said--these were really good. If I get around to making them again, I will probably post them again with an updated recipe.

Apple Streusel Bars
Apple-cinnamon-crumbly desserts can basically do no wrong in my world, but I found this particular recipe to be a bit lacking. Although still delicious, it didn't create enough topping for me. In the future, I have a few other recipes I want to try, and hopefully I will like one of them better!

Oatmeal Blueberry Applesauce Muffins
This was actually a pretty healthy recipe--wow! Not only did this muffins have lots of fiber, they tasted good, too. However, when I decided to made these, I tried to convince myself that I liked oatmeal, but honestly? It seems like the only way I can stomach oatmeal is in granola. I have no idea why. However, everyone else seemed to like them, and I'm sure that this would be a great recipe for someone who does like oatmeal in baked goods.

Blueberry-Buttermilk Scones
These didn't taste that much like scones to me, but they were still good! The buttermilk flavor was very prominent. I think my scone making technique needs some work though, and that inhibited my enjoyment of these. I found the dough sticky and  hard to shape (this is a problem I have had in the past with scones, so I think it's just something I need to work on). I have some other scone recipes in my lineup for the future that I want to tackle, and hopefully I will get better at them!