Cooking vs. Baking

Yesterday at lunch I half read my book and half thought of what I wanted to make for dinner. I thought, "I have chicken and tilapia in the fridge, you could bake one of those, add some vegetables and maybe some rice, or something." Then I felt my mind rebel and think, "But wouldn't you so much rather have cookies? Like those Coconut Lime ones? Or what about those Coconut, Toffee, Chocolate chip ones? Oooh! That Raspberries and Sour Cream thing? Mmmm, that would be good." And then I continue to daydream about things I could make and the thought of dinner comes creeping back in and I have to figure out what (whine) healthy thing I should make for dinner.

My name is Lauren and I'm a sugar-oholic.

I love sugar. I love treats. And I love turning butter, sugar, egg, flour, baking soda, and salt into something that looks, tastes and smells awesome. I love baking.

I mean look. How awesome is it, that all this:

turns into something like this? 

or this?

Really awesome. I know.

 

It doesn't help my sugar addiction that I have a rather large amount of cooking blogs I'm subscribed to, and that means I see the cookies or cakes or whatever is made and it's just so appealing to look at. Or, I type in stupid things like "favorite cookies" into google and the thing to catch my eye is Epicurious and I'm a gonner and start thinking of cookies to make tonight.

But I think I figured it out part of my problem, creating something totally out of some basic ingredients is so much more appealing than cooking some veggies until they're soft and a piece of meat until it's no longer raw. It's partially the process of combining ingredients that's so appealing, but the finished product, that soft, chewy center and slightly crispy edge of cookies or the soft, spongy yet moist cake with frosting, that does me in every single time.