The 3 best (and easy!) things I cooked in 2020

Is it just me or was there just this huge increase in baking during quarantine and pretty much all of 2020 because let’s face it we’ve all been stressed and there’s really had nothing to do at home (apart from watching hours of TV but let’s not talk about that today, okay?)

I’ve baked and baked and baked this year and believe me when I say I’ve had my fair share of baking struggles. I’ve had some literally BURNED things that were truly awful (Christmas tree brownies – I’ll explain my terrible baking failure at the end of this post) However, there were 5 recipes that went so well, in plus they’re all simple which, to be honest, is just a win-win situation we all need after this year.

Here are the five baking recipes that captured my heart and will always be part of my baking routine:

1) Love & Lemon Vegan Sugar Cookies

These sugar cookies really are the best! I myself am a big fan of soft cookies and this was the perfect treat I baked during the holiday season. May I just add that these were so quick in and out of the oven. 15 minutes and it was done! Overall, I would say these cookies were my top 3 favorite treats of all time, topping the baking section! These cookies are decorated with cashew frosting, so if that’s not your cup of tea, you can most definitely opt for another frosting recipe, it’s a versatile treat!

2) Tin Eats Chocolate Cake Recipe

This chocolate cake saved me 2020. This recipe was so easy to follow and the instructions were super clear, so if you’re looking for something simple, you’ve got your perfect dessert! I love a moist cake, and this is exactly that. The time it took for this cake to disappear was scary. Seriously, bake it now!

3) Cake in a cup from Tasty

I know, I know, it’s not exactly something I cooked (since you’re using a microwave instead of an oven, but let’s be honest, microwaves make things easier and faster ). However, I HAVE to include this recipe in the article because I would be in huge disfavour if this particular mug cake was not listed. My sister called it “the best thing I’ve ever done” and she never makes those statements normally. Plus, you can use Nutella for this treat, which is even better (if you don’t like Nutella, there are a million other chocolate spreads to choose from!). We devoured it.

Of all the dishes I cooked this year, these 3 were my favorites. From the softness of the cookies to the moistness of the cake to the (generally) abundance of Nutella chocolate for the mug cake, all 3 recipes were next level and extraordinarily delicious!

FAIL: CHRISTMAS TREE BROWNIE

I had this grand vision of making the perfect Christmas treat back in December and linked the recipe above in case you’re a better baker than me. So the oven markings on my oven were done with this sticker, and they were starting to peel off so some parts of the symbols were missing, which is hard to tell the different settings apart because their symbols were all very similar. I put the brownie on a grill (or another bad one) setting and quite lack. Within 5 minutes the top was completely black and burnt and I burned my hand trying to save it, i.e. take it out of the oven. I had to remove each of the burnt pieces by hand.

THEN I realized that the brownies had blocked in the baking dish and were hard as a rock. I had already made the frosting in the 5 minutes my brownies took to burn, so I tried to save this disaster from a mess. Long story short, we only ate a quarter because that was all we could. Happy New Year 2020!