I have been in a veritable baking frenzy lately, which is good for my tastebuds, but not so good for my waistline. I’ve been meaning to cut back the baking to one day a week, because I really do want to reduce the amount of sugar that all of us are eating, but I keep finding myself back in the kitchen whipping up a batch of this or that. The thing is, I like baking. I like it a lot. Also, I’m good at it; it makes me feel cheerful and competent and it’s very rewarding to see my family and friends enjoy the goodies I’ve made.

Last weekend I tried a recipe for chocolate eclairs that I’d been eyeing for a while, and they turned out great. It was hard not to be a little smug when I served these up:

Yesterday it was banana bread, which was good (but such an old standby that it didn’t warrant a photograph), and today, in honor of Fat Tuesday, I made original-style semlor. I usually make one of the more “exotic” varieties, like chocolate-coffee or saffron-lingon, so this was only the second or third time I’ve made the “normal” kind, but they turned out well. We invited Olof’s parents over to drink coffee and eat a couple with us, so it was a regular Mardi Gras celebration (complete with a magic show by Tage, but that’s another post).
I’ve toyed off and on for the past couple of years with the idea of opening a little cafe one day, and I’ve been considering it more seriously again these last several days. If I did decide to do it, it would be at least a few years in the future–I wouldn’t want to do it until the kids were all in school full-time–but it’s fun to do a little planning and thinking now. I’d like to have just a few tables and serve coffee and baked goods. I wouldn’t have a set menu, which would leave me free to experiment with different recipes, and I think I’d have just two or three different things each day. I’d most likely convert our downstairs living room to the cafe dining room, which means that our overhead would be minimal. I’d really have to sell almost nothing in order to cover costs, and my need to bake and feed would surely be satisfied by such an undertaking. It seems like a win-win.