We're one year old!

Well, we're actually 27 and 28 years old (almost 28 and 29)... but our partnership as the East to West Bakers turned 1 today!

Sharing our recipes with you (the good, the bad and the occasionally ugly) has been a blast. I've enjoyed your comments, your feedback -- and I get especially excited when you tell us that you used one of the recipes to successfully whip up something delicious.

Baking isn't always a smooth ride. Every baker has an off day. Although this Boston Cream Pie tasted amazing, I did learn the importance of greasing not just the bottom of the pan, but also the sides. Not the prettiest cake ever, but I'd say the taste made up for it.

And, of course, there was the oven dying debacle in which my poor, old, decrepit oven made a disaster out of a batch of brownies and some chocolate chip cake bars. I had to act on the fly and whip up these M&M pretzels for Super Bowl Sunday, and then I had to say a sad goodbye to my trusty oven.

But now and then, you create a real gem, sometimes unexpectedly. One of my most surprisingly easy successes was the biscotti that I made for a beach trip with my in-laws and again for my co-workers. (Actually, I made this again for Easter and this time I brushed the unbaked biscotti with a beaten egg and then sprinkled it with a mix of 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tspn ground cinnamon. The result = a favorite new variation that you should really try. I got the idea from the Heather Drive blog. Heather is always posting delicious new recipe ideas.)


But the baking adventure I am most proud of during the past year is my replication of Mike's Nana's Christmas Roll-Out Cookies. He talked about them with such reverence that I wanted to make sure I recreated them perfectly, and with the help of my friend Kelly, it was a huge success. This will be an annual tradition.

We've enjoyed the baking blog journey so much during the past year -- and I hope you've enjoyed reading. Now's a great time to give us feedback! What have you enjoyed reading about? Should we do more theme weeks, a la Lemon Week and Desserts of the World? Are you tired of cookies but craving more candy? We want to know!

I hope you enjoy reading through the next year's adventures (we've got to start practicing for all those future PTA meetings) as much as we've enjoyed baking for you this year.