the ingredients have been measured, and the batters have been mixed. the dough has been rolled out and the baking sheets lined with parchment. the ovens have been heated, and, most importantly, the cookies have been baked...and they came out fabulous!

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after a month or so of sporadic, then hurried, preparations, shanti and i taught our first CUESA baking class together to a group of over twenty people at the ferry building farmer's market today. yay, shanti!

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it was drizzling slightly, and although it was chilly in the market, the air around the dacor kitchen was comfortingly warm and filled with the delicious aroma of baking cookies.

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for weeks, we had been tweaking and developing recipes that would utilize ingredients that are available in the market right now. in the end we we decided to focus on using pumpkin, squash, honey, walnuts and dates. butter and eggs are always available, and we sourced those from the market as well.

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we read through our old baking science books and researched the functions of baking soda and baking powder as a refresher; we went over different flours and protein contents; we read about the history of dates and walnuts, and we hashed out the essential differences that occur when baking with different fats.

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the three cookies that we decided to demo were date pinwheels, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and tipsy rum date gems. we were both terribly nervous about teaching the class beforehand, but once we strapped on the mics and started doing our schtick, we were just fine. shanti, i must say, is a *natural.*

i learned a lot from this experience, both about baking and about teaching and i can't wait to do more of this next year :) we're already planning a baking class that will cater to special diet needs (like gluten-free or vegan). i'd really like to teach a baking class every couple of months to show people how simple it really is to bake locally and seasonally! lemon tartelets, pear and gorgonzola turnovers, roasted figs, strawberry shortcakes, zucchini bread, citrus shortbread, cherry pie, quince jam, apple crisp....the possibilities are endless. more to come on the blog...this week i also did my linguistics presentation focusing on food idioms and food etymology...i'll share some fun stuff soon :)