A Little Baking

I made banana muffins for breakfast yesterday. The kids love muffins, specifically banana muffins and cinnamon muffins (aka French Breakfast Puffs). Sometimes I make blueberry (my favorite), but the kids just pick out the blueberries, and what's the point of that? Anyway, when I make muffins (fairly frequently), I'll make banana if there are some overripe bananas lying around, and cinnamon if there aren't. Both recipes are from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (1989 ed.) They are quick and easy.

Today I made the Farm Wife's Fresh Pear Tart from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. This is one of my favorite cakes. It's full of pears and studded with cloves. The batter has no leavening at all, which confused me the first time I made it, but it produces a very dense cake that surrounds the pears. It's very different from a light and fluffy cake, and honestly, I really like it.

I used the last of my cloves, though, so I'm going to have to place an order with Penzey's for more spices.

In other news, my peas have finally started sprouting. I'll post a photo when they get a little bigger (at least bigger than the weeds). And I restarted the Flow top; I'm now at the point I was when I ripped it out. Hopefully I can get some good knitting in....