I am not much of a baker. I can make a mean crème brulee and a to-die-for tiramisu, but pretty much only because they do not require me to bake them in the oven, and they are a little forgiving if you want to add a little of this or a little of that.

The best bread I ever made was when I accidentally turned the page of a baking book and combined the herb bread I was making with a cheddar pinwheel bread. It was extremely heavy, but it tasted like heaven.

Since then, except for a few very easy items, I've pretty much left the baking to the local bakeries or friends who are bringing a dish to pass. I just have a very hard time following recipes. And measuring stuff. I don't have the patience.

Regardless, I managed to whip up a batch of pretty decent chocolate chip cookies this week as I made them with the Nestle's mini morsels. I must say, although I am partial to other people's homemade chunk chocolate chip cookies, the mini morsels seem to create a better final product for me, a non-baker, than the regular Nestle's chocolate chips. Mini morsels make for a more balanced cookie to chocolate ratio. I highly recommend them. Of course, I just followed the recipe on the back of the bag -- no nuts.

I also rarely bake bread because I don't often have the forethought to create the dough and let it rise overnight, but I do occasionally bake English Muffin bread which my grandmother got me hooked on as a child.

Make a loaf, slice it up very thin, and mix equal parts sugar and cinnamon to sprinkle over your freshly toasted and buttered piece. Yum. It's wonderful with a good cup of Irish breakfast tea, but I don't recommend eating it untoasted, it's very bland that way.

This recipe is a bit forgiving, too, if you are a klutz like me and happen to spill a bit of the flour or you cannot remember if you put in one or two teaspoons of sugar.

English Muffin Bread
cornmeal to coat bread pans
2 cups milk
1/2 cup water
6 cups flour
2 packets active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda

Grease two bread pans and coat them with cornmeal.

Mix the milk and water in a saucepan and heat to 125 degrees. (I just stick a candy thermometer in the pot and let it go at a medium-low temperature).

In a large bowl, combine 3 cups of flour, the yeast, the sugar, salt, and baking soda. Stir in the warm milk/water mixture and then add the other 3 cups of flour one at a time until it is all mixed well. The dough will get extremely thick. Cover it and let it rise until it doubles in size.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and split the dough in half and put it in the two bread pans. Bake it until it is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Voila! A whole two loaves of tasty English muffin bread -- don't forget to toast it before eating!