Kids who eat their (delicious) feelings: Get ready for diabetes!

I feel like.... I haven't been true to myself lately. I am, at the very core, a baker. I love to bake. The most unfortunate thing about baking is having it sit around for days and days. If no one eats what I bake within the first couple of days, it calls my name from the kitchen and slowly but surely it gets piled onto my .... well you get the picture.

I'm in Houston for a few weeks, and I thought I needed to take advantage of a spacious, fully stocked kitchen, equipped with an amazing sink that makes dirty dishes disappear as I work. (Ok ok the magical sink has my daddio behind it, cleaning as I make every dish in their kitchen dirty.... I think it's an even trade)

So I thought: I'd tackle the bane of my existence, the cobbler. It's rather simplistic. Just berries, or peaches, or whatever kind of fruit filling. And..... crust. Oh that buttery flaky crust that I can't seem to get just right. And my number one critic? One Matthew Taliaferro. He doesn't ask for much, ever, so when he asked for cobbler many years ago, I knew I HAD to make it. First try was an epic fail and I've been scared to try it since. I'm just so much better at brownies.....

So here it is.

Let me share a little background about crusts, if you've never made it before. The key is that you want the butter to be super cold, and you cut it into tiny pieces, about the size of peas, into the flour. This can be done with knives (fail) your hands (even more fail) or a food processor, which is what I did this time around. I think my butter chunks were still too big. You want there to be chunks in your dough when you put it in the oven so that it will hit the heat and melt, giving your crust that flakiness that everyone loves. Mine wasn't quite flaky, but you sure could taste the buttery goodness, so I guess I can't complain. And the blackberries this summer are amazing!!!!

Next. In honor of the World Cup and my intense sweet tooth, I thought I needed some brownies. I ended up with a slightly different recipe that is nothing short of wonderfully rich. It's Chocolate Gingerbread, if you can imagine such a thing. It's made with molasses and the typical spices of gingerbread, with plenty of cocoa and chocolate chips. Oh it's good.

Want some?

I must add a sidenote on this Bundt cake. I had a My Big Fat Greek Wedding moment asking for the Bundt pan......

L: Mummy where's the Bundt pan?
Mom: Huh? Butt?
L: Haha, funny. No really, your Bundt pan.
M: Chee chee? ((the equivalent to what in Farsi)) Bund? A pan?
L: Ohhhh, eetsaCAKE!
M: Ohhh, Bundt cake! The one with the hole. ((in Farsi))

Finally.... I made banana bread. Now I'm sure you're asking, why on earth would you attempt three desserts in one evening (starting at 9 pm no less) when you have no party to take these to and you'll end up eating them yourself? Well, I made banana bread a few weeks ago, and before I even got to have a second taste my mom had them wrapped up and frozen. You know, for later. WHAT ABOUT RIGHT NOW?

Next thing I know, there's a bowl of 6 rotting bananas in the refrigerator.

So I made banana bread again, and I will likely make MORE before I leave for Dallas in two weeks. Just because that's how we roll here. But I can make it with my eyes closed, so here you go: