Three Reasons I Hate Baking

A reasonable person might see white marble countertops in my kitchen and think I chose those for an optimal baking surface.  That person would be wrong.

I picked them because I love white kitchens.  Yep, end of story.

And they aren’t really all that practical.  They scar easily.  But I don’t care.  I still love them.

The truth is I hate baking.  I could probably come up with several reasons why, but here are the top three.

I’m No Engineer

I have a DF who is a wonderful baker.  And she happens to be an engineer with a degree from one of the top universities in the country.  Many years ago she gave a batch of cookies to John and he said, “Why can’t you bake like Ruth”? 

Well.  I guess one route to a man’s heart really is his stomach.  Hmmph. 

But, the reason is, I’m no engineer, no scientist.  I don’t measure flour with precision.  I don’t drop cookies with a special scoop.  I’m not sure what a pinch is.  If I don’t have a three-quarter measuring cup (nobody has one, right?), I wing it using a scant one cup. 

I’m sure you’re getting the picture.  And it turns out my cavalier measuring attitude negatively affects the results of baking.

I Eat Whatever Comes Out of the Oven

The smell of baking goods drives me insane.  I am beyond any reason when something comes out of the oven and I can barely let it cool before I stuff it in my mouth. 

I have no self-control!

When I was baking for this test, I ate two muffins and two biscuits.  In one day.

The Mess

This is the real reason.  Numero Uno.  I love my kitchen clean and when I bake I destroy the place.  In fact, I may get the mess outside the kitchen into other parts of the house.

I can’t even drink a cup of coffee without spilling it on myself, so can you imagine what I look like after this?

This is a picture of just part of the dishes I had after my baking episode.  I was still finding little messes the next day.

Regardless.

We got a new Cuisinart Air Fryer/Convection Oven to replace the perfectly fine convection oven we already had.  I wanted to test out a couple of new recipes and test the oven at the same time.

So I sacrificed my neat kitchen to bring you this post.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I have been using recipes from Iwashyoudry.com a lot lately.  I made these muffins, but in reality, you might just call them chocolate chip muffins.  We only had one ripe banana and I don’t really like a strong taste of banana mixed with chocolate so I gave it a try.  Delish.

Here’s how these muffins worked out in the new oven.

The 12-cup silicon muffin pan I have is just a wee tad too big for the oven.  Since it’s silicon, I used it anyway and fold it up a bit on the edges.

The oven thermostat is at least 50 degrees too hot for both the recipes I tried.  Even turning it down, I had to watch it like an eagle and I had to remove some muffins before others, indicating the heat isn’t even in the oven.  That was super fun since those chocolate chips are mighty hot.  I ended up using tongs to get selected muffins out.

Other than that, the muffins got two thumbs up.

Easy 6 Ingredient Biscuits

On Instagram I follow @Themodernnonna and love her recipes.  I found this recipe and thought I’d give it go.  Another two thumbs up.  I can’t link her because she doesn’t have a website, but here is the recipe I used:

• 2.5 cups flour
• 2.5 tsp baking powder
• 2 pinches of salt
• 1 cup milk, buttermilk or unsweetened plant based milk
• 1 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice (leave this out if you’re using buttermilk)
• 1 stick frozen butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (I set it at 350).  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.  Freeze a stick of butter for 30 minutes.  Butter must be really cold

In a big bowl, sift flour, add baking powder and salt and whisk.  In a separate bowl make buttermilk if you don’t have any.  Add I cup of milk with 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice and let it sit for a few minutes.

Grate or finely chop frozen butter into flour mixture and break it all with your hands until a crumbly dough forms.  Add buttermilk and mix and knead for a few minutes into a soft dough.

Lightly flour counter and roll out with a rolling pin to 1 inch thickness.  Use a glass or cookie cutter to cut out biscuits.  Place onto parchment and bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

The oven is really pretty complicated.  I never had to read an instruction book to use an oven before.  I not only had to read the book, I had to watch several videos. I’m giving it mixed reviews for now.

So I cleaned the counter tops (three times), the mess off all the cabinet fronts and handles, swept and mopped and then I ate stuff I shouldn’t have. 

All in all, a success, I’d say.  Especially since I once again have a clean, white kitchen.