Growing up I was obsessed with the food network. It seemed like every week I spent my nights watching Cupcake Wars or the Holiday Baking Championship to fall asleep. I was obsessed with the complexities of their flavor combinations and the designs of their desserts. It seemed like every episode I watched the more I wanted to emulate what they did, it was where my love for baking spawned. Whatever opportunity I had I would make something whether it was a holiday, birthday, or whatever celebration I would use as an excuse to bake. While it annoyed my dad to take trips to the grocery store for unhealthy foods all the time I fell in love with baking.
The thing with baking is it isn’t necessarily difficult but if you mess up one thing the whole recipe is terrible. I can tell so many stories of my failed baking experiments from the chocolate chip cookies that had so many eggs it could’ve been an omelet to the time I couldn’t open a can of pumpkin puree and it exploded all over my ceiling and walls because I was hitting the can with a mallet out of frustration because I couldn’t figure out how to use a can opener. But through those epic fails, I still figured out proper baking techniques and how to make a ton of interesting recipes I love which made it worth the mess.
The thing I became most passionate about baking was my key lime pie. You can ask any of my friends I’ve baked for and they will tell you how much I make key lime pies. I seriously will take any excuse to make my acclaimed pies; whether it’s friends-giving, an apology for an argument, or my friends going away to college I make a key lime pie. I’ve even begun experimenting with how I can make these pies so I’ve made mini pies or used food dye to change the color of the pie, it’s so exciting. While it takes a lot of work to make them due to my hand making the graham cracker crust and the long cooling periods of the pie it is so worth it to hear my friends tell me how good I am at making these pies.
While I love making these pies some of my other favorite recipes I’ve made are a bit more complex than a simple key lime pie. I think another favorite recipe of mine was a dark chocolate cupcake with peanut butter chips topped with peanut butter, cream cheese icing. I brought these to school one day either sophomore or junior year and it was loved by all my friends. I know this is a bit of a brag but truly I just love baking. To me, baking is a form of therapy in a way because I’ll bake to cope sometimes with the stress in my life. As great as my key lime pie is I know I’m not the best baker ever but I have so much love for it and want to continue home baking in my future.