baking heals the heart

Just a few days ago, I suffered a loss of a loved one and it hit me pretty hard. I have taken time off from work to mourn the loss and in this time, rather than just being sad, I have decided to bake.

Today, I followed a recipe in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. The recipe is titled "Chocolate Chunk Cookies" on page 75.

I had to add about 1/4 cup of flour to the mixture after it was all mixed after discovering the cookies were baking flat.  Here's a picture of the first batch without the extra flour. See how flat they are? So disappointing.

So once I discovered this, I added the 1/4 cup of all purpose flour to the remaining batter.
This is how they turned out. 100% better, full, round and not thin.

In addition to baking cookies, I made 2 loaves of Banana bread.  One loaf is made with chocolate chips and coconut and the other is just a plain banana bread.  I always add cinnamon to the dry ingredients and stir thoroughly before adding it to the wet mixture.

Banana bread with chocolate chips and coconut

Banana bread

These breads will be a Hit. I have made these in the past and they are devoured within no time at all.

I used Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook for this recipe, but you can tweak it by adding your own "secret" ingredients.

Happy baking.

Sweets,
Stepheny