Adventures in Baking

Anyone who knows me is aware of the fact that I don't cook. On a typical day, I'll put a frozen burrito in the microwave for lunch, have a frozen Smart Ones mac & cheese meal for supper, and top it all off with some cottage cheese or chips and salsa when I get home from work.

If I'm feeling adventurous or getting tired of frozen fare, I'll whip up some Hamburger Helper. And, on really special occasions, some Hy-Vee recipe chili.

Yet, for reasons I can't really explain, I decided this Christmas season that I wanted to do some baking. It started when I read in the paper about a project to provide all the inmates at the South Dakota State Pen with a "Christmas sack," consisting of cards, fudge and hard candy.

The group organizing all of this was asking for donations of fudge, which had to be made according to a specific recipe (no marijuana allowed). Much to my surprise, the recipe appeared fairly simple – just boil a whole bunch of sugar and butter, then add some chocolate chips and marshmallows. It seemed like an easy enough way to spread some Christmas cheer.

And then, since I was already baking stuff, I decided I might as well go all-out. So after spending an agonizing hour in the baking aisle at Hy-Vee (if confectioner's sugar means powdered sugar, why not just call it powdered sugar???), I had everything I needed to make rum balls, prison fudge, peanut butter balls and oatmeal raisin cookies (that one was a special request from my grandpa).

And, with the exception of the peanut butter things, which would not hold together well enough to form balls though they still tasted delicious, it all turned out well. Maybe I'll start cooking more often. Then again, there's a burrito in the freezer with my name on it.