Are you a "from scratch" baker?

Yes, only from scratch. I am known for my fudgey brownies.

Yes. Nothing else warrants the title, “Baker.”

“Mixer” or “adder” would cover what you are doing.

Making brownies from scratch just takes a few minutes more and is very easy.

Ignore the suggestion to substitute margerine for butter; you can omit the nuts, if you want.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/quick-and-easy-brownies/

I usually use a mix for cakes these days, but I bake other things from scratch: cookies, gingerbread, muffins, etc. I have never used any kind of prepared dough or mix for cookies.

However, after several failures with brownies, I gave up, and now I leave them to my son, whose brownies are always perfect. Brownies foil me because you can’t tell by appearance or by test when it’s time to take them out of the oven.

Depends on my mood.

I make some seriously kickass chocolate chip cookies. Brownies are pretty easy. Cheesecake, great.

Pie is evil. I have never managed to make a decent pie crust.

And cake is pretty blah anyway, so I don’t bother doing them from scratch unless it’s a really special occasion. I doctor my mixes, though, for the variety.

I don’t bake much. I buy already made. It sounds extravagant for a frugal person, but I don’t really like baked goods that much.

I usually use a mix. Baking from scratch taste better but it’s way quicker using a mix.

No way. If , and I repeat if I bake I use a mix. My daughter makes cookies each week and fairly often a fancy cake. I don’t know why.

Cake mixes will never darken my pantry door.

We are so from scratch, we grind our own wheat. It makes stuff taste amazing – in an “if this is bread, what have we been eating up till now” sort of way – and is said to maintain far more of the nutritive value of the grain.

Having just started on the cooking path a few years ago while in my late 40s, I’ve found that it isn’t too hard to cook from scratch. It just takes prep, time, and following the directions.

I’m a scratch baker with one exception – graham cracker crust. I’m able to make them, I just find them to be a hassle.

I cook a lot, but baking is not my favorite, mostly because it’s so much easier to wreck things, due to the science of it all.

One of the scariest sentences in a recipe, to me is, “Use the paddle attachment of your stand mixer.” I don’t even own a stand mixer, and all I can think of when I hear the term “paddle” is back in my elementary school days, supposedly our Principal had a paddle in her office. Paddles are for spanking, not baking. Eeeeeeeeek!

One of my friends is probably the best baker I know, she makes me look like mud pie baker : (

@Kardamom I love to bake, and not only do I not own a stand mixer, I don’t currently own a mixer, either. I do all of that by hand, often with a whisk.

@glacial I do own whisks! Maybe all hope is not lost!

I do need to get my oven calibrated, though.

@gailcalled I’m going to give that recipe a whirl tomorrow. Wish me luck! lol

@All I’m glad I’m not the only one who is intimidated by baking!! lol
I hate measuring which is part of my problem.
I’m jealous of those of you that rock the mixing bowl!

@wildpotato Feel free to send me a loaf of that bread. Sounds amazing!

@Katniss If you hate measuring, perhaps you need more or attractive or fun or even whimsical tools.

@glacial Very cool! I love the “fun” measuring spoons!

Good luck, @Katniss. I’m one of those people who love baking… It is more fun to bake from scratch, in my opinion.

@glacial Oh my goodness! I love those geese measuring cups!

@Katniss @Kardamom Yes, aren’t they cute?

I love baking, and it’s always from scratch. My sister specializes in cookies, and I’m partial to custards.

@OwlofHappiness Can you post a good custard recipe?

Eagerly awaiting the response

@Kardamom My go-to isn’t my own recipe, sadly, but one from Food Network. It’s for chocoflan (half chocolate cake, half flan), and is probably the most delicious thing ever.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/marcela-valladolid/chocoflan-recipe/index.html

The recipe calls for using a blender, but depending on how good of a blender you have, the cream cheese stays in tiny clumps. So, use a food processor or Kitchen Aid mixer on the cream cheese alone, first, and then add it to the rest of the ingredients. Also, my first time making it, I bought hot cocoa powder instead of coca powder for the cake portion by mistake. I was pleasantly surprised, it made the cake really moist. Finally, don’t be impatient when you take it out of the oven. Wait for it to cool before taking it out of the pan, or it falls apart really easily (go heavy on the non-stick spray, too). Good luck!

Yes. One of the benefits of being a stay-at-home mom is having the time to spend hours in the kitchen cooking from scratch.

I give myself a break once a week by having a frozen pizza night on Wednesdays. Wednesday is pizza and Survivor night in our house.

No.

As it requires that I create the universe.

@OwlofHappiness That does sound delish.

I don’t have a food processor either : (