Cranberry Oatmeal Cornflake Cookies

For those of you who think a cookie needs chocolate to be enjoyable, think again. Take a bite into one of these healthy goods and it will make your heart flutter and your chocolate craving taste buds will be changed forever. After not being able to bake for over 50 days (yes, I had withdrawals!), I was given the opportunity to use a friend’s oven in Bangkok. Since finding an oven has proved to be difficult while traveling in South East Asia, I jumped at the opportunity. I got to bake three times in the span of a week, but to be honest, these cookies were the only ones that turned out. I definitely was feeling a bit rusty on my skills. I made a batch of pretzel chocolate cookies as well as some pumpkin muffins, but neither came out the way I would have liked, which explains why they haven’t and won’t make the blog. Only the best for you guys!

The story behind these cookies is even better than how they tasted.

Oreo Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

Want to know something about traveling around Thailand? There are no ovens to bake with!

Well let’s just say that I didn’t expect ovens to be as popular as say, street food stands, gorgeous beaches, or cheap massages but maybe, just maybe, there would be a baking cafe for me to hone my skills in for a few hours.

For anyone who hasn’t heard the news,

Red Velvet Cake Pops

Wanna be a trend setter? If you do, than these cake pops are something out of the ordinary and they are some kind of delicious! After my friend Lauren brought these to my attention, I knew that my sweets addiction would not let me forget about them until I made them. All I could think of  for several days were these cake pops. So I got to work…

I have to say, they were not as easy as I thought that they would be. It went something like this: baking 2 cakes, mixing up some cream cheese icing, mixing it all together, rolling them into little balls, freezing them, coating them with chocolate, decorating them and eating them. Wow, that was a sentence full! One thing I would do differently next time is keep them frozen up until moments before I serve them. If you don’t do this, they will thaw out and fall down the stick, making a not so pretty cake pop.

Adapted from The Velveteen Baker

Eggnog Spice Bundt Cake

Ever wondered what to do with all that extra eggnog you have after the holidays? My solution…bake with it! That is my answer to most of life’s issues when it comes to eggnog. Eggnog spice bundt cake really outperforms many other holiday favourites and I will tell you why. The smell alone, wafting through your home, will put a smile on your nose for the rest of the day. The smell even encouraged me to put some Christmas music on and dance in the kitchen. Although this may not inspire you to listen to Christmas music since it is mid-January, I’m sure that you can bust your dance moves any time of the year! This cake also puts a nice finish on Christmas dinner or to a 12pm snack on New Years Eve or to a Chinese New Year party. The top comment I received from the partakers of this cake was that it was the “most moist cake they’ve ever had.” Bake away my friends!

Adapted from Bigsis Littlesis

2011 year in review

The stats helper monkeys from WordPress prepared a 2011 annual report for The Male Baker!

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 13,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it. Booya!!!

Click here to see the complete report.

Whoopie Pie Bar!!!

First off, I have to announce that The Male Baker is married! Back on November 5^th, I said “I do” to my wonderful wife Hannah. Since then, I cannot stop thinking about the ever soo scrumptious whoopie pie bar at our wedding. Throughout the months before November 5th, I spent a lot of my time thinking about what I could bake for the dessert at our reception. A couple months before our wedding, I decided that whoopie pies would make a classy, delicious, and unique dessert. But just a stack of plain whoopie pies, lacked the zest I wanted for an unforgettable dessert. Luckily, one sunny afternoon in Santa Barbara, Greg Spencer, my father-in-law, came up with a brilliant idea! I am sure his idea came to surface while he was on his front porch, grading way too many papers with a hot cup of coffee at his side…a Whoopie Pie Bar for the wedding! Just pure genius right??!!!!