During lockdown I found that a lot of my hobbies which I did, I now was unable to do so I decided that I would try to start baking to give me something to occupy my time. As a person who had never baked in their lives and can barely boil the water for pasta I knew that it would be a struggle. While you can read the recipe books and see something you would like I found it was a lot harder than first anticipated. Having seen my mum bake my whole life I decided that I would enlist her help so that I could make the food edible. She showed me some basic skills that were necessary in the kitchen such as when to whisk or mix the batter. I found a pile of cookbooks that I could use to satiate my sweet tooth.
Having started baking as a small hobby to fill the time during lockdown it soon grew to becoming something much more. As the weeks passed I began to have more interest in the topic and I was thinking what I would bake weeks in advance. Each week I began to bake more adventurous recipes as I went from baking simple cookies to cheesecakes. While this may look like not a big difference it was for me. I decided that I would start this blog to show some of the recipes that I have used over the last few months that people could try. These recipes are suited to people with a sweet tooth as when I bake I like to make sweet things such as cake. Having used a mixture of the collection of cookbooks that my mum owns and the internet I began to try out different recipes and not make the same thing twice.
I’ll look at three recipes in the first blog from three different sources. The first thing I looked up when I decided to bake was a website called Bakingmad which has a large selection of recipes to use. One of my favourite foods to eat are cookies so I made simple chocolate chip cookies and they turned out well. These cookies are really easy to make and I would recommend people that are beginning to bake to try it out. The next recipe I used was from an Avoca café cookbook for Wellington squares and this was a big step up for me as I had to make the filling and the recipe was a lot more procedural than when I just threw all the ingredients into a big bowl for the cookies. This recipe is definitely for people who like caramel and are looking for a homemade dessert instead of a generic one.
The third recipe I used was the most recent dessert that I decided to bake. I definitely like different types of desserts and I decided that when I saw this recipe I had to try it as it combined two desserts together and they accentuate the differing tastes. While making cheesecake brownies look quite difficult to make with the photo that came with the recipe but Rachel Allen’s recipe is straightforward and easy to follow. I found it difficult to know when I could take them out as I found that while the recipe says to take them out when the middle wobbles slightly I didn’t know how tell if it was done. My baking prowess has definitely improved since I have begun and each week I will continue to bake and try new and different recipes. Next week’s recipe that I decided to bake is a salted caramel cookie traybake which there is link for it below with all the recipes that I have discussed.
Rachel Allen’s Cheesecake Brownies - https://myfavouritepastime.com/2016/11/04/rachel-allens-cheesecake-brownies/
Bakingmad’s Cookies - https://www.bakingmad.com/recipes/copycat-chocolate-chip-millie-s-cookies
Avoca’s Wellington Squares - https://happyfoodbaby.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/wellington-squares/
Bakingmad’s Salted Caramel Cookie Traybake - https://www.bakingmad.com/recipes/salted-caramel-cookie-traybake
