Macaroons might have been the death of me.

After one successful macaroon attempt, I figured the rest would follow suite after that.

Sooo not the case.

I've made three batches of macaroons since then, and only about 1/4 of them turned out. Some were missing their feet, others were chewy and others were burnt. I was using the same recipe every time, but for some reason, they turned out differently each time. It was such a frustrating experience!

After much agonizing about what went wrong and how to fix it, I just decided those cute, quaint little treats were just not worth my time and energy. Now, some might call this quitting, but I'd like to think I'm just moving on to another, more rewarding part of this hobby of mine ;)

Doug (after watching me throw up my hands in disgust over the macaroons) bought me a new cookbook for my birthday last week. It's pretty much amazing! Almost all of the recipes in it have food I'm not allergic to (did I ever mention that I have food allergies?!), are easy to follow, yummy, and the best part is... every step has a picture! Not just a little picture, but this is a full-color picture that shows you exactly what texture the batter should have at that stage! LOVE IT! It is exactly what this disheartened Baker (heehee) like me needed!

I immediately picked out a recipe that looked delicious and I had all of the ingredients for... peanut butter cupcakes with cream cheese frosting! Sooo yummy. The pictures helped immensely and the recipe was super easy to follow! It was my first time making cupcakes that weren't out of a box, and I think it was a success! They were peanut-butter-y, had a nice texture, and totally different than anything I had ever made before!

I was very excited that I had made something that, unlike the last few batches of macaroons, everyone really wanted to eat! I took them over a client meeting for D&D, and by the time the meeting was over, the cupcakes were gone. I'd say that's a pretty good sign. And a pretty good boost to my baking ego (which so badly needed it)!

Lesson learned: When something isn't working out the way you want it to, don't get discouraged and give up, just try a new approach!