Contessa Challenge

I love desserts.  I love making them, tweaking them, and of course, eating them (that's right...I said it).  It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside whenever I get asked for the recipe of a dessert I have made and brought to a shindig, dinner, or some other casual hangout.  The thing is, the recipe is never my own.  It’s always from some fabulous cookbook like Martha Stewart’s “Cookies” or Susan Purdy’s “Pie in the Sky” (I live in Denver).  I want to be able to make something (scratch that….many somethings) that are memorable, delicious, and most of all, of my own creation.  One of my favorite chefs, Ina Garten, effortlessly creates and cooks, all without formal training!  I too want to reach a point where I can mix, whisk, prepare, and decorate sweets without them falling into some awful mess or tasting like day-old fruitcake.  So, on the heels of the book/movie “Julie & Julia” as well as the crock pot blog “A Year of Slow Cooking” http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/, I have decided to search for and ultimately find my own inner Barefoot Contessa by making one Ina Garten dessert recipe every weekend of 2011.

The Details: One recipe per weekend from Ina Garten’s “Barefoot Contessa Family Style”, “Barefoot Contessa At Home”, “Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics”, and her newest “Barefoot Contessa How Easy Was That?” (thanks mom!).  All four books have a total of 63 dessert recipes, so I’ll have to cut a few.  The primary judge of my desserts and dessert-making abilities will be my wonderful husband (he literally likes everything, so while getting through home-cooked dinners and choosing restaurants is a breeze, knocking his socks off is another story….this accomplishment will be an added perk of my year-long journey).  Other judges include my nearby family, friends, and coworkers. 

So here I go.  Off to discover and challenge my dessert-making self….

And ps:  during my pursuit of desserts, I will also be working on regaining my love for running (after what I like to call my “pregnancy hiatus”). Who says you can’t have opposing passions?