Creativity 8/21/21 (Learning Outcome 1)

 Over the past week I have been testing out lots of new recipes for my upcoming treat box. I have wanted the theme the box after supermarket treats that are better homemade, so I've been scouring the aisles looking for household favorites. My first thought was the lofthouse cookie: the classic combination of pale cakey cookie with sweet frosting. When I made these they turned out great and tasted delicious because of real ingredients being used instead of what might be found in the store-bought version. My next idea was giant bakery style blueberry muffins. I always think of these with the sugar on top of a sweet streusel bursting with blueberries. I made these with fresh picked blueberries and they were amazing. Much more moist and fresh than the storebought counterpart. So far things were going well! Next I attempted hostess cupcakes: a chocolate cupcake with a chocolate glaze stuffed with marshmellowy filling. I thought these were going to be great...until I forgot the sugar. The cupcakes did not turn out good at all and after trying to salvage them they just ended up sticking to the pan. After my second attempt, however, I learned from my mistakes and they were delicious! My final pastry for the box was going to be donettes. The classic thick powdered sugar coated donuts that make a tasty weekend breakfast. I planned to make this baked instead of fried to lighten them up a bit. My first batch was okay, but I had trouble getting the powdered sugar to stick, and they also ended up a little dry. I decided to try a different recipe, but I had no canola oil so I subbed coconut oil. They donuts ended up tasty, but I had difficulty getting the coconut oil to stay in liquid form when it was combined with cold milk. 

While I have accomplished some good recipe testing over the past week there are still some elements I need to improve. This falls under learning outcome 1, because I need to be willing to try new recipes or practice recipes again and again to improve them. One of my weaknesses is getting lazy and getting upset if something doesn't work out as well as I want it to the first time, so I need to work on trying recipes again to improve them and make my baking better.