Is it just me or has there been just this huge surge of baking during quarantine and pretty much the whole of 2020 because let's face it, we've all been stressed and there's just been nothing to do at home really (apart from watching hours of TV but let's not mention it today, shall we?)
I have baked and baked and baked this year and believe me when I say I have had my fair share of baking struggles. I have had things literally BURN which was definitely horrible (Christmas tree brownies - I'll explain my terrible baking fail at the end of this article) However, there were 5 definite recipe standouts that turned out so well, plus they are all simple, which, to be honest, is just a win-win situation that we all need after this year.
Here are the five baking recipes that have won my heart and will forever be a part of my baking agenda:
1) Love & Lemon's Vegan Sugar Cookies
These sugar cookies are the actual best! I, myself, am a huge fan of soft cookies and this was the perfect treat I baked during the festive season. May I just add that these were so quick in and out of the oven. 15 minutes and it was done!
Overall, I'd say these cookies were the top 3 of my favourite treats of all time, topping the baking section! These cookies are decorated with cashew icing though, so if that's not your cup of tea, you can most definitely opt for another icing recipe, it's a versatile treat!
2) Recipe Tin Eats' Chocolate Cake
This chocolate cake saved 2020 for me. This recipe was so easy to follow and the instructions were super clear so if you're looking for something straightforward, you've got your perfect dessert! I love a moist cake, and this is exactly that.
The time it took for this cake to disappear was alarmingly scary. Seriously, bake it now!
3) Tasty's Mug Cake
I know, I know, this isn't exactly something I baked (since you use a microwave instead of an oven but let's be honest microwaves just make things more easier and fast). However, I NEED to include this recipe in the article because I'd be doing you a massive disfavor if this particular mug cake was not listed. My sister named this the "best thing I had ever made" and she never normally makes these statements.
Plus, you can use Nutella for this treat, which is even better (if you don't like Nutella there are a million other chocolate spreads for you to choose from!). We devoured it.
From all the dishes I've baked this year, these 3 were my favorites. From the softness of the cookies to the moistness of the cake to the (in general) abundance of Nutella chocolate for the mug cake, all 3 recipes were next level and out of this world delicious!
FAIL: CHRISTMAS TREE BROWNIE
I had this grand vision to make the perfect Christmas treat in December and I've linked the recipe up above in case you are a better baker than I am. So the oven markings on my oven were made with this sticker, and they were starting to peel off so certain parts of the symbols were missing, which is hard to differentiate between the different settings as their symbols were all really similar. I put the brownie on a grill (or some other wrong) setting and it completely failed.
Within 5 minutes, the top was completely black and burnt and I burnt my hand trying to save it a.k.a get it out of the oven. I had to hand pick each of the burnt bits off.
THEN, I realized that the brownies had stuck to the baking pan and were rock hard. I had already gotten the icing ready in the 5 minutes my brownies took to burn, so I tried to salvage this disaster of a mess. Long story short, we only ate like a quarter because that was all we could. Happy 2020!