Learn from my mistakes!

Not very lovely, is it?  With all my baking of late, there are quite a few mistakes sprinkled in the yummy.  Not that the mistakes taste bad, they just aren't what they should be.

And, unfortunately, I don't know what I could have done differently to fix all the mistakes.  For example why did the center of my Molten Lava Cakes not rise?? Or perhaps they fell?  Either way, they've never done that before!  And I have made A LOT of Molten Lava Cakes!

Or why did my meringue on the Lemon Meringue Pie weep?  Is that even what it's called when the meringue sort of melts?  Was it too hot?  Was it the humidity?  This is the second time (in two different states) that this has happened to me.  Should I just give up on meringue all together and make Lemon Cream Pie instead?

Other mistakes I know EXACTLY what went wrong, and it was completely my fault. My blind bake pie crust seen above is a perfect example.  Please, when you are going to bling bake pie crust, don't put the egg wash onto the pie crust until after you've baked it.  Otherwise the parchment paper holding the dried beans will, in fact, stick to the pie crust and make a huge mess. 

Also, when making Fresh Strawberry Pie (because your pie crust is ruined for the intended Lemon Meringue Pie) and you think it's brilliant to put a chocolate ganache in the bottom of the pie, wait till the ganache is set before putting the strawberries in.  It might taste good either way, but what a frightful looking thing!

Some new recipes should be taken with a grain of salt.  Some techniques need to be improved.

At least the family still enjoyed tasting the experiments!

 Let's eat!