In the beginning

In the beginning there were simple ingredients; butter, sugar, eggs and flour.

The combining of these base elements should always create the same result, right? But as anyone who bakes will tell you, a simple twist of one thing or another & the whole kit and caboodle changes!

That is what draws me again & again to my mixer bowl. The excitement to see what's next! How one little change can create something all together different & wonderful!

Please come along on this journey with me & we'll see what kind of messes we can get into together!

Our first adventure is to discover Vanilla Bean Paste. I've seen this advertised in different places and have wondered at it's applications to baking. The name implies something along the lines of a thick cream that you would scoop out & use, think softened butter with vanilla beans in it.
When I finally found a recipe for homemade vanilla paste on line , I was off & mixing! Luckily I had some vanilla beans that hadn't quite made it into the vodka bottle (homemade vanilla, not what you were thinking!), so I am all set!

Vanilla Bean Paste

things you'll need:

• Four vanilla beans
• 4 tablespoons corn syrup, more or less as needed
• Flat baking pan
• Parchment paper
• Sharp paring knife
• Spice or coffee grinder 

1. Lay a piece of parchment paper over a baking or cookie sheet. If air drying, find a dry place with low humidity to allow the beans to dry, or preheat oven to 175 to 200 degrees, depending on how low the oven will go. The temperature should be warm but not hot.
2. Place each vanilla bean on a flat work surface or counter top. Using a small paring knife, split the vanilla bean in two lengthwise. This is done in one of two ways. The first is to hold the vanilla bean firmly down with one hand and in the other take a paring knife and work the tip of the knife down the vanilla bean, working right to left if you are right handed. The second is to hold the vanilla bean on the right side, place the knife parallel to the work surface and cut the vanilla bean in two by going left to right. Repeat with remaining vanilla beans.
3. Place the cut vanilla bean halves on the parchment-lined baking sheet and spread them out to avoid touching.
4. If letting air dry, let the beans dry out for several days until brittle and completely dry. If drying out in an oven, place the vanilla beans inside and bake for about 30 minutes. Check every 10 to 15 minutes thereafter and remove when completely dried and brittle. Remove and allow the beans to cool to room temperature.
5. Break up the beans into smaller pieces and place several broken-up vanilla beans in the bowl of a spice grinder or a thoroughly cleaned coffee grinder. Pulse until the vanilla beans have been pulverized into a powder. Open up the top and pour out into a mixing bowl. Repeat with remaining vanilla bean pieces.
   Measure the corn syrup one tablespoon at a time and add enough to get the desired consistency. Add only enough to make a paste that will be easy to scoop. The amount of corn syrup will depend on the amount of powder from grinding the vanilla beans.
6. Mixture will keep for a week in the refrigerator.

Now that I have this, what to do with it? Found this recipe on-line Vanilla Bean Pound Cake, but will probably have to wait for another day. I've got a bunch of things lined up for the remainder of the week and will probably be "sweeted" out by the time I get done. How about you? Anything sweet cooking this week?