Joy the Baker IN PERSON

Last weekend was a milestone in my life: I met a celebrity. Joy the Baker (also called Joy Wilson, her actual name) was signing books in Boston at a holiday market. Roadtrip! I already own her cookbook so I loaded it into my purse with my traveling gnome (it's actually a Yoda figurine) and camera and friend and set off! We had tickets for a particular time and there were lots of other vendors there but our primary focus was meeting Joy.

It's a good thing we got there when we did because there was already a line around the room to meet her. We soon realized this was because she was taking the time to talk to everyone and take photos with them which was just so nice and fantastic. It was a little awkward standing near all the other vendors, obviously focused on Joy but we did go back and look around, I promise!

JOY THE BAKER!!!!!

The line only continued to grow and it seemed the room was at capacity because they weren't letting anyone else down into the room (warehouse style). Literally as the person in front of us walked away, one of the people running the market came over to Joy. It was torture wondering if they would take her away but they couldn't do that! We were next! It's like going to see Santa but so much better and you can't take away my Christmas miracle. And then, she was right in front of us and we were making small talk and we told her how we made Single Lady Pancakes that morning in honor of coming to visit her. My friend and I realized that I would be the rambling one and she would be the quiet one as we waited in line and we were pretty spot on. So we got her to sign our books and she took a fantastic photo with Yoda and then with us and it was wonderful!

Mission accomplished, now I can feel slightly less creepy for thinking of her as a friend of mine whenever I listen to her podcast and think "we should be friends, we'd totally get along" because now I've met her so technically now she knows who I am. But as I said before, there were a whole lotta people there so it might take some reminding.

At any rate, there was a lot of Joy baking and general baking that happened after that encounter. Which brings us to the actual baking part of this post. Orange Cranberry bread (and for the record, as a tall person who doesn't fit into boutique itty bitty sizes, I enjoyed this post for more than the recipe portion).

Normally I'm not a fan of nuts in bread, it's just not the right consistency. I don't like to chew that much plus I'm not a huge fan of pecans (pecan't, if you will). But she's an expert so I guess I can trust her recipe in its entirety. I particularly enjoy the part where my nails matched the cranberries, don't mock my OCD.

Cranberry nails and cranberry--cranberries

Breads are definitely delicious and I love making them for sharing with people because it's not too sweet that people complain and you can have it as a snack or for breakfast. So versatile. Since this recipe makes two loaves, I sent one to my grandparents because it's a nice personal gift and I know my grandfather is a fan of pecan pies (and he reads this blog, hiiiii!). And then the other one was for me!

Ready for mixing!

 It has taken me awhile to eat the whole thing but I endured. The combination of orange and cranberry was quite delicious. I'm not really sure what the point of parchment paper is, I've never really used it before in my life until a couple months ago. I usually just spray non-stick but someone suggested that the parchment paper keeps any extra tastes from being added. This bread also made me a convert for pecans, they are actually kind of yummy and I snacked on the extras.