Easing Back into Baking

January and February in the Pacific Northwest are sluggish at best. The cold, windy, rainy start to the year grants a license to hibernate. While I typically find it difficult to “do nothing” and feel guilty that I’m not tackling my to-do list, this year, I’ll admit I’ve done a pretty good job of doing not a whole lot. At least it feels that way. I haven’t been very motivated in the kitchen or behind the computer. I’m trying to give myself some grace. My mom passed away in early January and I feel like I just camped on the couch for two weeks afterwards. But I did manage to bake more than 100 cookies for her service, and somewhere in there I hosted and fed my brother-in-law and two teenage boys over a long weekend and hosted a Superbowl party for the neighborhood.

Okay, so when I think about it, I’ve done a lot more than it feels like. And I have taken walks and cleaned the house and continued to put dinner on the table. Maybe it’s that I haven’t been motivated to be creative in the sense of working on my blog, trying new bakes, etc. I’ve instead sunk into somewhat of a routine of comfy knowns that don’t take a lot of creative energy. I keep looking at the stack of cookbooks begging for my attention. But mostly I’ve been sauntering by that stack to the couch where I’ve been instead making my way through the Oscar-nominated movies and binging Great British Bake Off (GBBO) episodes.

Luckily, those GBBO episodes motivated me to pick up my new copy of Small Batch Bakes from Edd Kimber who was the winner of the inaugural GBBO. See his backstory. (Phew, sorry, that was a long lead into how I started baking again!)

Small batch bakes have a particular beauty about them. It’s just enough for a craving. No waste. You get to try more desserts with less guilt. You can use a bowl and single utensil for many recipes. A hand mixer over your KitchenAid. Plus it’s a good excuse to buy that mini spatula or mini whisk. And definitely this Dansk butter warmer (also handy for warming milk or sauces, melting chocolate, etc.) These eighth sheet pan/baking trays come in handy for small scale tasks. You definitely need a kitchen scale to ensure accuracy of your small bakes.

Perusing this book led me to wonder how many GBBO contestants have written cookbooks. After all, they don’t win a publishing contract, or anything for that matter. I found this article in a Scotland newspaper: 9 of the best cookbooks from The Great British Bake Off contestants. Spoiler Alert! Don’t read if you’re still making your way through past GBBO series and don’t want to know who wins a particular season. Although not all cookbooks listed were written by season winners.

Back to Edd Kimber and Small Batch Bakes!

I naturally flipped to the “Cookies, Bars and Treats” section first. Here’s what I’ve made so far:

• Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies – (cover photo/page 44) - makes 4

• Emergency Chocolate Chip Cookie (page 50) – makes 1

• Lime Coconut Macaroons (page 56) – makes 4

Be forewarned that these are small but mighty batches!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

The Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies have no flour (gluten-free!) and a good amount of brown sugar. My first bite reminded me of a Butterfinger. Yum. Best GF cookie this gluten-eating person has ever had, ha! I highly recommend the flaky sea salt on top. I rolled mine in balls but think if I would have just left them in scoop form, they would have looked more like the cover photo. Delicious but a lot of cookie to eat all at once.

Emergency Chocolate Chip Cookie

I ate this so fast that I didn’t get a decent photo - not as pretty as the one in the book at all!! Next time I’ll leave the chocolate chunkier to achieve prettier puddles.

Emergency Chocolate Chip Cookie – love this one! Makes one cookie but it was huge. And I thought what’s better than one emergency cookie? Why two of course. So yes, I doubled the small batch. One for me and one for my husband. We probably could have split one and any emergency would have been averted. Delighted that this is made with measuring spoons and I don’t have to wash measuring cups. (Took me back to Easy-Bake Oven days using miniature baking pans.) You can see in my photo that I chopped the chocolate pretty fine. Next time I would keep it bigger to get more aesthetic chocolatey puddles. Again, don’t forget to top with flaky sea salt.

Lime Coconut Macaroons

Today I made the Lime Coconut Macaroons. I was intrigued by the lime-chocolate flavor mix. I had my friend Sharon in mind – who last year requested Key lime pie dessert for her March birthday after first hesitating over a chocolate choice. Perhaps this could have been the answer. Also, the “who put the lime in the Coke-you-nut” song going through my head was sure to brighten the dismal day outside.

The recipe calls for “dessicated coconut" – which is basically unsweetened shredded coconut but with less moisture. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in the store. I almost always have leftover coconut in my fridge and so used unsweetened coconut flakes pulsed in the food processor a couple times. The recipe says to roll the macaroon mixture into 4 balls. My mixture looked too wet to roll, so I used an ice cream scoop to shape them and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. My scoop size resulted in 5 cookies, which were still generous. The recipe also called for Golden Syrup (which originates in London) and is not available at stores near me. I substituted dark corn syrup but you could also use honey. After dipping in dark chocolate, I placed on a tray in fridge for 15 minutes to set. Afterwards, you can keep in an airtight container on the counter. The lime zest really brightens the cookies and gives a little zing that hints at Spring! Macaroons conveniently have no flour either.

I was going to rank these three cookies, but I liked them all!! I think it depends on what you’re in the mood for. Again, the beauty of a small batch bake – you can find one to fit any mood.

Back to the GBBO

Now that I’ve accomplished a blog post, I’m headed back to the couch with a plate of cookies to read Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame, a novel whose main character secretly applies to be a contestant on the prime-time TV show Britain Bakes. Sounds perfect to feed my GBBO obsession.