home sweet home.

today was a day spent baking, watching glee, and catching up with neighbors over food. my favorite kind of day. 🙂

i was in a very raspberry sort of mood today for some reason. i don’t think raspberries are in season right now (i honestly have no idea what fruits are “in season” when anyways…) but i usually love baking with raspberries so i thought why not. i’ve had this folder on my bookmarks tab labeled “Recipes to Try!” for a while and it has grown to a list with over 20 recipes.  i think it has stemmed from my addiction to reading TasteSpotting whenever i get bored.

first, i decided to try making the an oat, pear and raspberry loaf (recipe adapted from 17andbaking, which by the way is another one of my favorite websites).

Topping:

• 1/4 cup oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons chilled butter

Oat, Pear and Raspberry Loaf:

• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup boiling water
• 11 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 pear (peeled, cored and diced)
• 3/4 cup raspberries (i used frozen ones)

preheat the oven to 350 F and butter a loaf pan (8.5″ x 4.5″).  i put parchment paper on the bottom so it would be easier to take out afterwards!

for the topping, combine all of the ingredients and mix until small clumps are formed.

to make the loaf, first pour the boiling water over the oats and then set aside until it becomes luke warm and the majority of the water becomes soaked up. drain out any excess water. 

beat the butter and sugars until they become light and creamy. add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and then mix in the vanilla. sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon,  and salt over the mixture and beat until mixed well.

add the drained oats and half of the pears. using a spatula, fold the oats and pears into the mixture until everything gets combined.

spread 2/3 of the batter into the pan and then add the raspberries and remaining pear evenly on top. spread the rest of the batter evenly over the rest and sprinkle the topping on top.

bake for about an hour and ten minutes. let it cool on a rack before running a knife along the edges of the pan. 

i’ve never baked with pear before but this loaf ended up tasting and smelling so good! the oat topping was perfectly crunchy and the raspberries added a good tart flavor to it. i think that if i were to make it again, i would add more raspberries! the recipe only called for 3/4 of a cup but i definitely think that there could have been more. either way, totally something i would make again.

my second baking adventure of the day was raspberry cocoa cookies (also adapted from 17andbaking; i wasn’t joking when i said it was one of my favorite websites to read). these cookies were relatively easy to make and baked super quickly. for some reason, mine turned out kind of dry, but still tasted pretty yummy!

• 1/2 cup raspberry preserves
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

preheat the oven to 350 F.  stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and salt. add the jam, oil, vanilla, and almond extract until well mixed. place flattened walnut-sized balls onto a greased baking pan and bake for about 10 minutes. 

despite all the fun baking i did today, i think that my favorite part of the day would have to be making/eating homemade pot stickers! from wrapping up the fillings to frying them to finally getting to eat them, every part was delicious. in the past, my parents used to use leek plus pork for the filling but have recently started to use green beans with pork instead. either way, i absolutely LOVEEE homemade pot stickers. 

yum. definitely a day very well spent! 🙂