Holy crap, I baked something.

Last night, for the first time, I actually baked something that did not come in the form of a mix in a box. This may come as a shock to the reader, but by and large the oven has always been for me, a place to which I did not go.

The art of baking has never been something I really got into, I think perhaps due to the exactitude involved in it's practice. I'm a very "eyeball it" kind of cook, I just throw what seems right into the pot, and see what happens. Generally all the measurements for my recipes come afterwards, during an introspective phase in which I think back on it and try and remember just how much of any given ingredient I put in it.

The preheating process is a sublime agitation to me, this idea of having to wait for the device to finally getting around to producing the requested temperature. I tend to have a similar complaint with electric ranges too, though to a far lesser extent.

I don't even use the oven for any non-baking/pastry type recipes. Basically, if it can't be made on a grill or a stovetop, I don't cook it. The general exception has been frozen pizzas, boxed cake or brownie mixes, and Bisquick biscuits.

However, I think my attitude on this is starting to shift, as I continue my desire to search out new avenues of experimentation.

A few nights ago, I made biscuits and gravy for the household. Now generally, when I make biscuits, I buy a box of Bisquick, add milk, and spoon onto cookie sheets as per the recipe on the box for drop biscuits. But this time, I was feeling a desire to actually try to make them from scratch for once. In the end, I sort of wussed out on the scratch-built way to go and bought another box of Bisquick. But this time, I decided to improvise and buy some buttermilk to use instead of the normal milk. I also decided to actually put in the effort of properly kneading the dough and cutting it into rounds, rather than half-assedly spooning them onto a cookie sheet and calling it good.

And to my surprise, I found I rather enjoyed it. Something about just digging in and getting my hands dirty and working the dough appealed to me.

So last night, when I found myself craving something sweet, I wound up deciding to just bake something. I expressed a desire to try my hand at baking in my IRC haunt, and someone mentioned making shortbread, which then led my thoughts to shortcake.

So I did some digging on the Food Network site, and started pulling up recipes, and found one for sour-cream shortcakes. This would be perfect I figured, because I didn't have any heavy cream, as was called for for most of the recipes I'd found, while this one only wanted the sour cream.

I ran into a few snags as I prepared my ingredients. Right after I'd just got done mixing the dry ingredients, I discovered to my dismay that we were out of butter. but I soon discovered that apparently the butter-flavored Crisco can be used as an even substitute. I also found that the recipe was actually missing an ingredient in it's list, as the directions mentioned combining egg with sour cream, yet made no mention of how many, which lead to a frantic googling for similar recipes, which eventually revealed that the standard amount seemed to be a single egg.

However, I am pleased to report that, despite these setbacks, I successfully produced some pretty damn tasty little treats, which I have been slowly consuming, split in half, with a bit of jam on each side. They are rather like an odd mid-point between a yellow cake and a scone, and the combination is very, very pleasant, and may indeed become a regular staple.

I will I think do some experimenting further. For one, I'd like to see how it comes out with real butter instead of shortening. Butter has a certain percentage of moisture to it that shortening doesn't have, and I think it might make the different in making a moister cake. I'd also like to try actually kneading and rolling it out, and cutting it into rounds like biscuits, to get a more regular shape than the rough balls as per the written recipe. I'd also of course like to try some more elaborate toppings than just simple raspberry jam, maybe even that old standby, the strawberry shortcake.

But even as they stand, they're wonderful little cakes, and serve well both as a dessert base, and actually do well as a breakfast pastry, thanks to their similarity to scones. I will be making them again.