Since we were talking about Corona last time and the unexpected wonders that end happening as a result of being stuck at home all day (e.g. uncovering your love for new music genres) I believe it is only fair to mention the thing that most of us resorted to during quarantine. Baking. The short-lived hobby of a large part the population. Why was baking specifically the thing we all picked up? I wish I knew. But whatever the reason may be, it was definitely a big part of our lives for some time and so I thought it’s only fitting to share with you my attempts (and subsequent failures) at baking during the past couple of weeks.
1. Chocolate chip Cookies
I know most people resorted to banana bread as the first thing they baked during quarantine for some reason (I genuinely do wonder why that was the universal ‘go-to thing’) but to be fully honest, I had an unexplainable need for chocolate chip cookies instead. Plus, my brother and I had been talking about making cookies together for quite some time and we had nothing better to do, so… here is the result.
I have to say, I was impressed with how well they actually turned out considering we all now know I’m a pretty bad cook (/baker). And yet, the cookies turned out to be beautifully golden, crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside; nice and sweet with bits of Cadbury dairy milk chocolate inside (the chocolate chips ran out). All in all, I’d say everyone was pleasantly surprised. Including me. I was over the moon, thinking that my cooking went well for once but little did I know…
The next day we all came to the unfortunate realisation that they had all turned incredibly hard and stale and were extremely difficult to bite into. Almost inedible. So the joy of eating cookies was definitely not there anymore. Instead, you ended up being very conscious of the way you were eating, making sure you didn’t hurt your gums and teeth. We later realised that the reason for that is probably because we didn’t put them in airtight containers overnight, and so the change of moisture crystallised the starch or something along those lines. I don’t really know to be honest. Chemistry is not my strong suit.
So overall, a great start and a pretty bad finish.
But here is the recipe: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/user/23650/recipe/millies-cookies-recipe I hope yours has a better ending than mine!
2. Brownie cake with coconut sprinkles
I present to you one of my favourite cakes in the entire world. A chocolate cake with a Bulgarian twist that inevitably brings me back to my childhood every single time. Trust me when I say, this cake is divine.
It is an (intentionally not very tall) chocolate cake with syrup on top and a bit of coconut sprinkles to add colour.
I would show you the way my cake turned out but I’ve just realised that I must have accidentally deleted the photo I took so hopefully the one above gives you a rough idea.
Now imagine a whole tray of this and coconut sprinkles on top. Beautiful right? But alas, there was, of course, a problem.
The syrup.
I cut the cake in rhombus shapes and then poured the syrup to ensure it soaks in more easily. But surprise, surprise – it didn’t work. I am still not entirely sure as to why, but I thought it might have been because the syrup was not enough. So, the next day I added some more to try and fix it but once again, it did not work and after four days of no one eating the cake ( 
) it slowly became even more dry, equating to another failure. Lovely. But hey, at least the kitchen smelled of cocoa for a good few hours! So, I guess I can’t really complain.
I couldn’t find a recipe online but here is the one my mum gave me in case you want to try it out for yourself!
| For the cake: 2 eggs 1 ½ cups of sugar 1 ½ cups of flour 1 cup of yogurt 1 tsp of baking soda 1/2 cup of oil 2 tbsp cocoa powder 1 packet of coconut sprinkles | For the syrup: 3 tbsp of water 6 tbsp sugar 2 tbsp cocoa powder 1/2 packet of butter (out of 125g= around 63g) |
3. Banana bread
And finally, what you’ve all been expecting. The one and only. Banana bread. The first thing that everyone resorted to during lockdown.
You may be surprised when I say this but, banana bread was the very last thing I baked. I actually did it only a few days ago. I know- dreadful. Shocking. Shameful. Take your pick.
What we should focus on however, is the fact that it was the one and only desert which didn’t result in a failure! Interestingly enough, this was the main thing my family was sceptical about because they had never tasted banana bread before (the thought of bread tasting like a banana put them off). On top of that, making banana bread was new to me and we all know my cooking capabilities, so I guess I kind of understand why they were worried. But you can imagine the surprise on everyone’s faces when I took it out of the oven and we found that it was the perfect colour, delicate and soft on the inside and oh-so-delicious (not to brag or anything).
On top of that it was a healthy recipe (if bread can ever be healthy). So if you want to have some guilt-free banana bread then feel free to use the recipe below.
| Healthy banana bread recipe: 2 cups of almond flour 3/4 cups of brown sugar 1 teaspoon of baking powder 1/4 teaspoon of salt 1/2 cup of coconut oil 2 eggs 2 bananas |
I do hope this inspires you all to try something new while having fun and hopefully (unlike me) be successful in all of your baking attempts. Best of luck!
– Dimi
DaringWithDimi 