Vista: Stay at Home Baking Inspiration
If you’re anything like me, you started stress baking by day two of staying at home. The therapeutic nature of following a recipe and combining ingredients to create a delicious baked good is by far my favorite pastime. Now that free time is abundant, it is a perfect time to try out new recipes and experiment in the kitchen. Whether you’re well-versed in the art of creaming and whipping or you’ve never attempted to bake more than a pack of refrigerated cookie dough, let these recipes inspire you to break out your oven mitts and create a treat to make your days at home a little sweeter.
Brownies (Gluten Free Option)
Brownies are the perfect baked good to satisfy any chocolate lover’s cravings during this time at home. They are also easy to bake, which makes them a good choice for Toreros looking to make their first creation from scratch. While you could use a boxed brownie mix that is simple to make and tastes delicious, there is something special about knowing that you made a batch from scratch.
The best part about this brownie recipe is that they can be made gluten free or regular, depending on your preference or allergy. Due to my mom’s gluten allergy, I decided to use gluten free flour and let me just say, these were some of the best brownies I’ve ever had. Whichever way you choose to make them, the only difference is the flour you use, which makes for an easy conversion.
So, if you’re diving into the baking world for the first time or you are just looking to fill your days by making this classic treat, this recipe is what you’re looking for. And, if you want to make them even better, mix some chocolate chips into the batter before you put them in the oven for some extra chocolatey goodness.
Ingredients
¾ cup gluten free or regular flour
½ tsp salt
⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ cup of semi sweet or dark chocolate chips
8 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 ¼ cup sugar
2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
(optional) A handful of chocolate chips to throw on top before baking
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line an 8×8 or 9×9 pan with parchment paper. Spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Stir together until well-mixed and set aside.
- In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the 2 oz of chocolate chips and cubed butter, stirring until melted. About 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a separate mixing bowl, beat the sugar and eggs with an electric mixer until the mixture is pale yellow and doubled in volume.
- Once the chocolate is melted, pour it into the egg mixture. Then add the vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Stir with a spatula to combine.
- Add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, mixing with a spatula just until combined. Some flour present is okay.
- Pour the brownie batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30-33 minutes (glass pan), 25-27 minutes (metal pan) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let the brownies cool for 10-20 minutes and then cut and serve or save for later.
Recipe by The First Year
Coffee Cake Crumble Muffins
As a longtime baker, my Instagram feed is filled with baking bloggers that give me inspiration for recipes I want to try to make. When I stumbled upon these coffee cake crumble muffins, I had to try them out. While these muffins are a bit more involved than the brownie recipe above, the steps are still easy to follow and anyone can bake them. With multiple parts, this recipe is a bit more time consuming, but this could actually be an added bonus during a period where we all have free time to spare.
These muffins will be the perfect breakfast surprise for any of the roommates or family members you are social distancing with. One note to make about this recipe is that it calls for cake flour. If you already have cake flour in your pantry, you’re golden, but if you are like me and were unprepared for this addition, making your own cake flour is actually quite easy. To make one cup of cake flour, measure one cup of all purpose flour and remove two tablespoons. Then replace that with two tablespoons of cornstarch and mix it all together. For the half cup, cut these measurements in half. While this may seem unnecessary, cake flour will create a fluffier texture in your muffins and the added step will be worth it.
Ingredients
For the Coffee Cake Muffins:
1 ½ cup cake flour
½ cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup milk
⅓ cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
For the Crumb Topping:
⅓ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
1½ cups flour
For the Icing:
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or coat with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- To make the crumb topping, combine sugars, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in melted butter and add flour, mixing until it forms crumbly pieces.
- To make the muffins, in a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, canola oil, vanilla and egg. Pour mixture over the dry ingredients and stir using a rubber spatula until just incorporated, being careful not to overmix.
- Scoop the batter evenly into the muffin tray about 2/3 of the way full. Top with reserved crumb topping, using your fingers to gently press the crumbs into the batter to help it stay in place while baking. There will be a lot of crumb topping on each muffin. That’s what you want!
- Bake muffins in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 F and bake another 5-10 minutes.
- When the muffins are done, cool for 10 minutes and drizzle the glaze on each muffin using a small spoon.
- While the muffins are cooling, make the glaze. Combine powdered sugar and milk in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. If the glaze is too thin, add more powdered sugar as needed.
- Allow glaze to set before serving.
Recipe by What Molly Made
Garlic Knots
This final recipe calls for active dry yeast and lots of patience. When we first started staying at home, I decided I was going to try my first attempt at making bread. Despite my fears of breadmaking failure, I bought plenty of packets of yeast and was ready to go. What I discovered through my trials is that bread is much easier to make than I had initially thought. While kneading dough for ten minutes may seem a bit strenuous, which it is, it’s also the only difficult part of the process.
The only other reason bread is more challenging to make than other baked goods is simply because of the time it takes to make it. This recipe, for example, requires that you let your dough rise for a total of about two and a half hours. On a normal day, you may not have three or more hours to spare to make homemade bread, but our current situation is not a normal circumstance, which means now is the time to challenge yourself to try it.
So, yes, bread is time consuming, but the actual steps to make it are simple and I know that as long as you have the patience you will be able to create a bread masterpiece. Plus, you will definitely feel like you’re on “The Great British Baking Show” when you’re proofing and rolling your dough and I can pretty much guarantee you that these buttery, fluffy rolls will be a hit for anyone you choose to share them with.
Ingredients
For the Dough:
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 to 3 cups bread flour
For the Garlic Butter:
1/4 cup (half stick) salted butter
1/4 cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, add the yeast, warm water and sugar. Make sure the water isn’t too hot. It should feel like nice bath water. Not hot-tub hot. Let this mixture sit for five minutes to proof. You are “proving” that the yeast hasn’t been killed. If the yeast has puffed up, you’re good to go. If the water is still flat after five minutes, then toss it out and start over.
- Stir in the salt, olive oil, and 1 cup of flour.
- Once a dough has just come together, flour a clean surface and dump the dough out. Knead the dough for 7-8 minutes. Add in the remaining ½ cup of flour 1 tablespoon at a time until it is no longer sticky. You want the dough to be smooth and elastic. It should not stick (much) to your fingers. Stop adding flour when you have reached this stage.
- Grease a large bowl with nonstick spray or rub with olive oil.
- Shape the dough into a ball and place it in the greased bowl. Turn it over so that the top half gets oiled.
- Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for about 1 and 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size.
- Once the dough is risen, punch down and let rest another 10 minutes.
- Prepare 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, or spray with nonstick spray.
- Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into an 8-inch snake. It should be between 1/2 and 1 inch thick.
- Carefully tie each rolled-out piece into a knot. Place each knot on the prepared baking sheets.
- Preheat the oven to 425 F.
- Cover with a towel and let rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until doubled in size.
- Bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes, until the tops are golden and the bottoms are brown. I used 2 oven racks and switched pans halfway through baking time. Remove from the oven and let the rolls cool for 10 minutes.
- While the rolls are baking, make the garlic butter sauce. In a small saucepan, add butter, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook over low heat for about 3-5 minutes, until the garlic has just barely started to brown. Keep an eye on it, you don’t want the garlic to get dark.
- Onces the rolls have cooled, either spoon the garlic butter on top of the rolls or dip the rolls in the butter to get them fully covered. Serve warm.
Recipe by The Food Charlatan