Fifth Tier Baking Studio

My wife and I celebrated our 12th Wedding Anniversary last Saturday. Oddly, we didn’t have our usual Anniversary Pizza. We did, however, celebrate by watching our daughter perform at a comedy show in town.

The day after our anniversary we met up with a friend of ours (Lyle) who is opening a bakery in town – The Fifth Tier Baking Studio. He had some treats for us – well, probably a little more for me since I have a sweet tooth.

The first treat was Ready-To-Bake chocolate chip scones.

 

He had just made them so they needed to sit for a few hours before I could bake them. That was a bit of a test for my patience, but I kept myself busy.

After dinner, I pulled them out of the fridge and started to prepare them. Lyle made this very easy. They came complete with a nice set of directions.

Since they were already sliced, he suggested that I separate them out in groups of 3 or 4 and freeze whatever I wasn’t going to make. That seemed like a great idea so I kept 4 of them out to make for breakfast the next few days and froze the rest in smaller packages.

I only very lightly greased the pan because we were just about out of baking spray.  For future batches, I should probably use a little more. The didn’t really stick, but they didn’t slide right off when they were done either.

Next, I basted them with butter and sprinkled sugar on them. On one of them I also added a little confectioners sugar. That didn’t seem to make any difference so I think I’ll stick to regular granulated sugar and just use more of it. After 25 minutes in the oven, I rotated the pan and let them cook another 2 minutes. Then I pulled them out to cool.

I sent Lyle a picture of them and he said they looked perfect. As you can see, he really puts a lot of chocolate chips in his scones. That’s just the way I like them.

That plan to save them for breakfast the next few days didn’t quite work out. Before I put them in a Ziplock bag for the night, I had one and it was delicious.

The next morning, I took another one into work. They pair very well with a cup of coffee. I finished off the last two this morning at work. I’ve already taken another pack out of the freezer to make up later tonight.

The second treat Lyle made for us was banana cream cupcakes. I guess one didn’t make it home with us.

I’m not a huge fan of banana, but these were really good. However, there were so many of them that I brought some in to work the next day. Several people asked who brought them in and where they came from. Needless to say, they didn’t last the afternoon.

Lyle said he was kind of experimenting a little with these and wished he had put cream inside as well. I think that also explains the various sizes. I could see putting the cream inside the bigger ones , but I didn’t think the smaller ones needed it. They already have a good cake to cream ratio.

Lyle’s bakery opens at the end of September and if these are any indication, I think he will do well. He puts a lot of care into his baking and it shows in the final product. I don’t know if he plans on taking orders outside of the area, but if you are in the area, be sure to check it out.