By Erica Callahan
Last Friday, the hubby and I went to a friend’s surprise 30th birthday party. As usual, I had baked some treats. A friend of a friend at the party and I got into a discussion about cooks vs. bakers. She had assumed since I love to bake then I must hate to cook (or that since I am a good baker, I must be an awful cook). I don’t think one has to do with the other, but after asking everyone at the party, people seemed to fall into 2 categories: those who enjoy the improvisational nature of cooking (a pinch of salt, don’t have chili powder, use cumin!) and those who love following recipes to a T and enjoy the straightforward nature of cooking.
I don’t think there needs to be such a divide, but I do understand both sides, and can see why people who love to throw together dinner by grabbing 5 random ingredients out of the fridge would get frustrated with baking. You can’t substitute flour for something else, or decide to leave out the baking powder—if you do, your cookies are toast. It’s true that you can’t be too creative with the basic fundamentals of baking– you can’t substitute flour for something else, or decide to leave out the baking powder—if you do, your cookies are toast. But, if you have a few simple, yummy recipes under your belt (or apron), and get comfortable with the basics, baking is a breeze, and you can learn how to change up recipes a bit if the cook in you comes calling.
Some tips before you get started:
– Keep it simple. Choose and easy recipe, a complicated recipe with 20 ingredients that takes all day to make will only discourage you. Once you master that chewy chocolate chip cookie, you can move on and make that seven layer cake with swiss buttercream and chocolate ganache filling.
– Double check to make sure you have all of your ingredients. Sounds obvious, but nothing is worse than when you are halfway through a recipe and you realize you are out of eggs or have no sugar.
– Have all of the ingredients you need right at your fingertips before you begin. That way, you are not running to the pantry to grab baking powder and end up using cornstarch because you weren’t paying attention.
– Read through the entire recipe before you begin. That way, if you need to use room temperature butter or chill the batter for 30 minutes before you bake, you a prepared
– Use a timer. I know 12 minutes might not seem like a long time, but once you put those brownies in the oven, and walk away to call your mom/let the dog out/catch up on The Millionaire Matchmaker, before you know it, the oven is smoking, the brownies are in the garbage
– Don’t be afraid to make a mistake (and you will!). For every perfectly crisp cookie, moist cake, and fudgy brownie that comes out of the oven, there are the dry, overcooked, dense, and flavorless confections. As upsetting as that is, try to think if anything went wrong (did you follow the recipe exactly, skip any steps?), and try again. Believe me, the looks on the faces of your friends when you serve them your homemade treats will make you forget about all of your mistakes!
