May 18, 20203 min read

Life in quarantine: Easy baking recipes

What to bake at home during COVID-19 — Baking away the lockdown blues with my partner-in-crime (do you recognize him with all that hair?!)

As the coronavirus pandemic drags on (wrapping up week 9 here 🤯), I've found myself doing a whole lot more baking than I usually do. Guess it shouldn't come as a surprise since I have the world's biggest sweet tooth and seeking out comfort foods is one of my coping mechanisms. 🤷‍♀️

If you are also looking for ideas of easy things to make from scratch while at home during this period of social isolation, here are five recipes for beginners that will have you making your own tasty treats in no time:

Banana bread muffins

By now you've probably heard about the homemade bread frenzy on social media. While I've yet to venture into exploring how to use yeast to make a fancy sourdough loaf, I have been baking my own banana bread since I was very, very young so I promise that this is one of the easiest things to make out there. My grandmother created this recipe and it's always been a big hit in our house. It makes one loaf (which will be gone sooner than you think; this stuff is addicting). Or put a spin on it like I did by making muffins instead!

Black and white cookies

Shout out to my sister Ally for discovering this recipe and whipping it up for our fam. With the icing on top it's a little more involved than your traditional sugar cookie, but if you're up for the challenge, these are amazing and taste just like the ones sold at bakeries. So pretty to look at too!

Full recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction linked here: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/black-and-white-cookies/

Carrot cake

To help make Easter still feel special this year, I naturally wanted to make a homemade carrot cake. This recipe seems to top all others I found online and I can see why -- it's incredibly moist and for a unique touch, has not only carrots but also pineapples thrown in! I did not have applesauce or shredded coconut so we modified a bit; there's definitely a lot of room to put a personal spin on this and make it suit your taste. Make sure to go overboard on greasing the pan -- mine fell apart upon taking it out but I salvaged it as best I could when icing 🙃.

Full recipe from Mom on Timeout linked here: https://www.momontimeout.com/to-die-for-carrot-cake-recipe/

Chocolate chip cookies

One of my best friends @_danamite introduced me to this recipe and DEMANDED that I try it myself since she was allegedly baking these cookies multiple times a week... if that isn't enough of a raving review, I don't know what is 😂. Trust me, these are not your average c.c. cookies -- using chocolate chunks instead of chips has been truly life changing. Tip: use whatever kind of chocolate you have on hand; we just broke Hershey's bars into smaller pieces and it worked like a charm.

Full recipe from Tasty linked here: https://tasty.co/recipe/the-best-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies

Zucchini bread

I'd never made my own zucchini bread before, but wanted to mix things up a bit since banana bread has been the usual go-to in our home. This was the first recipe I stumbled upon in my search and I'll never look for another -- it's super easy and deliciously yummy. And to say it again for those in the back, it *does not* taste like vegetables at all. Try it served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup for an unexpected dessert!