Hi everyone,
Do you remember that cute ad when the little boy asked his ouma and her friends what they do for fun? Her answer was an emphatic, ‘We bake!’.
That’s how I feel about baking. It’s fun and happy and makes everything alright, especially as there’s a delightfully gorgeous goodie afterwards to just plain indulge on.
In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve been basking in the glory of all things baking this April. We’ve dedicated a delectable section to showcase some of our 1000s of baking recipes and I’ll eat my whisk if you don’t just drool over it.
Kids love to bake
I watch the delight in my boys little faces when we bake together, it’s one of the best activities to do with little ones. They adore the measuring and plopping of stuff into bowls, breaking of eggs, the mixing and moulding – it’s quite frankly better than a carnival for them (and more contained for us parents eh?). The best part is that they get to eat their freshly baked yummies, warm and special, in their very own kitchen.
Try these pretty stained-glass lolly cookies or these cookie decorations that use boiled sweets to make the colourful ‘windows’ – too clever and really very easy to do.
For some chocolate smiles, try the choc-chip chickpea biscuits (with a nice healthy twist mums), the choc-peanut whoopie pies and the chocolate Horlicks brownies.
You could also use a Saturday morning to bond with the little munchers and make the family a dreamy banana bread with citrus cream, baked cheesecake or some lavishly sticky malva pudding. After all, as our fabulous restaurant Ed. Cath Shone succinctly puts it, ‘Familes who bake together, stay together”.
Something for everyone
So let’s be real now my lovely foodies, who doesn’t adore a little something wicked all the time every now and again?
It doesn’t always have to be sweet, we’ve got handsomely savoury recipes like chilli spiced biltong and mielie muffins, the attractive and funky beetroot and poppy seed loaf and this fab flatbread recipe that you could serve up for snacks with all manner of dips.
And for the naughtiest of sweet-toothed delights, you’ll find voluptuous chocolate cakes, oozing fondants and all sorts of SA lovelies to nosh-out on.
So there you have it my baking beauties, fly high on the sweet-dream cloud of sugar and wonder.
Floury noses and sticky fingers,