Can a muffin have frosting?
This is what life does. It brings new things in when you least expect it. I’ve been cooking professionally for what seems like forever, but have always stayed away from baking. I don’t like to measure. I’m not good at math. Or science. I’m messy. I couldn’t be a baker. Imagine how surprised I was in my last job when I started working with the bakers, making scones, cookies, muffins, cakes and then baking on my own, and actually enjoying the process. Not just creating sweet treats that everyone loves to eat, but being new at something, not being perfect. (Not that any of us are ever perfect!) Learning, making mistakes, and then learning why. If you forget to add the sugar in the muffin recipe not only will they not be sweet, but they will be dense and weird looking. Science! And then I started to come up with fun ideas on my own. Experimenting at home even. Bringing cookies instead of soup to a dinner party! Who is this person?
But what I think I also really loved was the physical act of taking raw ingredients and turning them into something completely different. When you make soup you still see the carrots, onions, celery, beans. But when you bake a cake you take flour, sugar, butter and turn it into something completely different. It is like magic in a way. You need to put the raw ingredients in the pan, put it into the oven and just trust. This is what life does too. Brings you all the ingredients to make your life into a magical cake or a dense weird muffin. We just need to learn to trust the process. And if we make mistakes, okay, next time it will be different. Hopefully we don’t make the SAME mistake, but we still might not get it right.
Makes me think back to all of the years of me saying I wasn’t a sweets person. Give me potato chips instead of a cookie. But is that completely the truth. Now that I am baking I really want to explore that “sweet” side of things more. Maybe I was afraid of the sweets, because of my past ED history with them, and afraid of not being able to control myself. But now I can taste something and like it (or not) and the feeling is different. I can eat a cookie or a slice of cake and feel good about it. Or maybe it was my nightly habit of a glass of wine. That was my sweet, so I never really craved dessert. And once the nightly habit of wine went away, then the sweets craving returned and I enjoyed dessert. But I still think given the choice I will take the potato chip over the cookie!
And now I am learning about bread! The other day I was working in a different bakery and was learning how to shape baguettes. With how much I love bread this was an exciting thing to be learning. A big, beautiful mound of dough is poured onto the work table and then it is cut into squares and pre-shaped into a mini loaf shape. It “rests” on a piece baker’s “couche” (a piece of linen used in baguette shaping.) Then we take the loaf of dough, make 3 folds and then roll it to baguette length. Sounds simple, right? Watching the other baker’s (some who have been doing this for 20+ years) do this so effortlessly and gracefully was so inspiring. Baking truly is science but also quite the art. My attempts on day 1 were quite frustrating and humbling. But by the end of day 2, I was finding more of a rhythm and realized that I was thinking too much about it, instead of just letting my hands find their way. There was marked improvement, but still have a long way to go before it feels effortless!
Another thing I am enjoying about this new baking persona is the chance to transform ingredients, transform myself, give myself a break, suck at something and not worry about having to get better. Just enjoying the process and maybe I will get better. And maybe I won’t. But that’s ok. too. The older I get the more I realize how fun “the process” can be, Enjoying the journey and not just the destination, as cliche as that sounds. It’s how I view my running and training and races. The race is a fun day and hopefully all the training will lead to a wonderful race. But if it’s not the “perfect day” then hopefully I have enjoyed the training and the process of getting there.
And finally the really important questions. Can a muffin have frosting? Does a cupcake have to be “unhealthy?” Is a muffin always “healthy?” And seriously though, does any of that really matter. In the meantime I will continue to be fascinated and excited to be a beginner at something new and keep enjoying the journey.
Do you like to bake? Thoughts on being a beginner at something? I’d love to hear about it.
Thank you for being here with me today and reading my ramblings. Please let me know if you liked today’s post by tapping the “heart” and add a comment if anything in particular resonated with you. I always enjoy hearing from you! I am so incredibly grateful for all of my readers and subscribers. All of your likes, comments, and notes are truly an inspiration to me.
I’m not going to read this. If it’s got frosting it’s a cupcake. No discussion needed!
You know they make cookies with potato chips, perhaps that would be a perfect trail running snack! I remember your disdain for baking but I often wondered if it were the temptation of something sweet, I know that's my struggle cause I tend to take a spoon and clean up the batter, and lick the beaters, I probably have a serving before the baking commences. haha. (and the 2 a.m. nibbles)
Anyway I'm excited about your baking journey as now we have more to chat about as you know I'm quite the pie baker! This story is one of my favorites! Thanks for sharing!