Baking is my therapy

Covid was not kind to anyone but if one good thing came out of it, I have found a cheaper more delicious alternative to therapy! I have practiced my baking skills by originally doing at least 4 bakes a week at the beginning of quarantine but that stopped real quick when the bathroom scale was apparently broken cause it was going up for some reason, unrelated to baking ofcourse and my family restricted me to at least 2 bakes a week. FINEEEE 2 bakes a week but still I must have baked at least 30 different bakes, repeats ofcourse on the good ones and sure I have had some failures along the way like overbaking, not enough baking powder, or I forgot the vanilla, but tasty failures none the less.

I wanted to document my favorite bakes not only in taste but also the most fun to make! so to start I just want to put it out there that I am a cake over pie person, but when I made my homemade pies......I think that has changed.

I started with what I loved and made a chocolate cake, but I wanted to add some flavor so orange and chocolate go together right? and get this....I put mayo in the cake and DEAR GOD it makes it AMAZING... believe me try it. It polled well with my family but half of us (not me) do not like chocolate (I cant believe I am related to these people). Other cakes that were so fun to make were the pistachio and mango cake. Those two flavors are a marriage and glued together with a mango infused marscapone icing...its a great alternative to your regular chocolate and vanilla cake (also marscapone is the best icing base of all time.... sorry Betty Crocker Icing pints) Lets not forget the lowfat apple cake. The most simple recipe for a cake out there...literally a one bowl bake and sooooo pretty to look at and eat:).

Next bake: Pie. What goes with pies....PEACHES obviously (haha you thought apples) I mean we all love the traditional apple but peaches.mmmmm they are better (cannot be argued). When you make the filling, mixing peaches with brown sugar and lemon and watching it bubble to a syrupy, peachy goodness and the smell of cooking pie crust with the carmelization of the sugar fills the room.....its a religious experience. Side note: serve pie with custard rather than whipped cream....you will never eat pie with anything else again.

One of the best bakes was the tiramisu. I am half italian so tiramisu and pasta sauce runs through my veins. Naturally I had to make tiramisu from scratch and let me tell you, I am never buying frozen tiramisu again. The secret to a good tiramisu....its all in the LADY FINGERS. they got to be the firm ones with a dusting of crystallized sugar on them...not the soft..NO SOFT LADY FINGERS HERE. Oh and the rum....lots of it. Also another tip, make tiramisu the day before you eat it, the longer it stays in the fridge the flavors will have more time to bring the tiramisu delciousness to level 5000000000.

And finally we reach cookies. Now I have made loads of cookies this quarantine. Shortbread, chocolate chip, almond cherry cookies, cardamom cookies, etc. and the one that I am most proud of is the cardamom, not only cause they were yummy but it was a group effort with my friend and I. I have never baked with cardamom seeds so it was such a fun learning experience for me to explore working with new ingredients. I have to google more recipes with cardamom.

Thus ends my top 6 bakes post. Honorable mentions go to: cinnamon rolls, scones, and my baked from scratch focaccia bread.

I am still baking through this endless year of 2020..and maybe doing shortcuts. I may or may not have bought a nestle tollhouse cookie pack because I dont think I can make a better chocolate chip cookie from scratch.

But if you are new to baking or want to be a good baker...BAKE. practice practice practice. Anyone can bake good things, with the right ingredients and company you are sure to make delicious things!!