I believe I was not born a baker or a chef. However, since Covid hit, I started spending more time in the kitchen, like millions of people in the world. The journey continues. 4 years later, here I am, still enjoying cooking and baking. Of course, still on the beginner level. To this point, I feel like I enjoy baking more than cooking. The reason is simply because the ingredients for cakes I like are easier to find than the meals I love.
Going back to my disclaimer. Since I was not born with that talent, I rely hard on the recipe I have. With the great reliance on the recipes, I always look for “simple” or “easy” recipes when I feel like making something. The sources itself are mostly from Pinterest, and some from YouTube. Funny thing, it turned out good! Except for the look, which is not pretty Instagrammable, or Pinterest-able, the taste are unexpectedly acceptable (approved by other people too!).
Here is what I did when I look for recipes to follow.
Once I find the “easy” and “simple” recipes, I will jump right to the comments section. The comments section gives me ideas of how successful the trials go around other people who have tried the recipe. I always pay attention to those who said: “oh the sugar is way too much”, “oh I bake at 350 instead of 375, it came out more chewy”. Things like that. If the amount of improvisations are way too much, I will drop the recipe and look for the other one. The reason for this was: if it requires lots of modification, I would probably fail it eventually. And, I don’t feel like failing the recipe that needs 5 eggs. Lol. One more thing. I always make sure to follow the baking temperature and length instructions. That’s essential.
After more than 10 recipes, or maybe more, I happily admit that my success rate seems to be higher than my failures. Remember the catch, I bake as it is. I don’t do many customizations, because I can not. More often, I ‘cheated’ a bit. For example, instead of using room temperatures eggs and butters, I use the fresh from the fridge eggs and butters. I need to do better next time. Thank God I still made it, though. How wonderful!
The fact that I can bake, by following the recipes as it is, make me feels like I would like to share the experience and my recipe sources here. Who knows that you’re like me, and getting confused sometimes of how one recipe turns out for a newbie like you and me, maybe this could prepare you for how your trials will come out!
So, here they are. The recipes I’ve made, for the very first time, and how it turned out!
And everyone, GOOD LUCK! <3
PS: I pin the recipes on my Pinterest here https://www.pinterest.com/vw90210/recipes/
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Mini Quiche (filling: pepper, bacons, mushroom)
Source: https://pin.it/67oTAsGVQ
This is a very simple recipe. I followed the steps almost 100%. If anything, I think I used a bigger pan than the recipe, and added a little too much garlic salt (I don’t like salty food either). For my next trial, I am going to follow the recipe with no compromise.
Apple Pie by Grandma Ople
Source: https://pin.it/6w47pegHw
I remember one of the reviews expressed their disappointments because this recipe was not “Grandma Ople”‘s pie. I have not looked further of who is Grandma Ople in the apple pie world. But, this recipe also came out so good! The amount of sweetness was what I expected. I used only 5 graham apples (small to medium size), instead of 8 pieces. It was a bit savory. I did not add cinnamon powder, because I don’t like it. Lastly, some people serves apple pie hot. I like it cold. I also do not use ice cream for the topping. But, I like this recipe and the apple pie!
Chocolate Cookies (with no choco chips)
Source: https://pin.it/PruXmzeu4
I did not use chocolate chips, because I did not have it when I made this (and did not feel like leaving home again just to get the chips). I do not like too sweet food, and this recipe gives me the correct taste of sweetness and more of a not too sweet sides.
Marble Pound Cake
Source: https://youtu.be/64VwnW0pGU0?si=mjtd__qnK87ri7FZ
Few notes on this recipe: I used a cold butter (instead of room temp) and hand mixer (and did not feel like I used it correctly) when mixing it with sugar. Because of that, I think, the batter came out a little flaky. We need to pour a cup of milk after the batter wa done. But because of my flaky batter, the texture looked so weird. Then, I mixed it again with a standing mixer to see if I could get the right sample of smoothness (as what’s showed on the video). But I could not get it. I kept moving with the steps, and split the batter to two, one plain, one chocolate for the marble. Now, remember this: don’t do half and half. Maybe just do 1:3 of batter to mix with the chocolate, so you could style the marble right. I took too much for the chocolate so it came out too chocolate. Lastly, one comment said that it’s too sweet. So I used 200gr (2 cup) of sugar, instead of 300gr. How does it go? IT was magically good! Right amount of sweet (again). And it was moist in the middle. I believed it should not be moist lol.
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