Isolation Baking

Channel your inner Mary Berry with some quick and easy quarantine bakes!

After almost two months of lockdown, it’s safe to say that many of us have struck severe boredom. So, as a way to pass time (and to persuade myself I’m still being productive) I’ve ventured away from my usual daily activities, Netflix and hayu, and started spending some time baking instead. With some help from BBC Good Food and my own imagination, here are three of my favourite quarantine bakes fit to satisfy a sweet tooth.

Strawberry Topped Scones

Ingredients:

• 350g of self-raising flour
• ¼ tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 85g of butter, cubed
• 3 tbsp of caster sugar
• 175ml of milk
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 beaten egg to glaze
• 1 284ml tub of double cream
• 250g of icing sugar
• Strawberries

Method:

1. Heat the oven to gas mark 7/220^oc and line a baking tray with greaseproof baking paper.
2. Mix together the self-raising flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl.
3. Add the butter cubes to the mixture and rub in with your fingers until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.
4. Stir in the caster sugar and vanilla extract.
5. Make a well in the mixture. Then, heat 175ml of milk for 30 seconds in the microwave until it is warm (not hot) and pour this into the well. Use a cutlery knife to stir it in until a dough forms.
6. Scatter some flour onto a work surface and place the dough on top. Fold the dough over multiple times until it is smoother.
7. Shape the dough into a circle around 4cm deep.
8. Take a cutter (I only had a flower shaped one but this worked surprisingly well!) and cut out your scones. Cut as many as you can from the dough, reshaping the leftover dough back into a circle to be able to get more scones from the mixture.
9. After placing your scones onto the baking tray, brush the tops with egg.
10. Bake the scones for 10 minutes, or until they are risen and golden on the top. Check the centre of the scone with a skewer to ensure that they are baked throughout.
11. Leave the scones to cool until they are fairly cold. In the meantime, make the cream to top the scones with.
12. To make the cream, pour the double cream (I used one whole 284ml tub of Elmea double cream) and icing sugar into a bowl and whip together. If needs be, add more icing sugar to make it thicker, or add water if it becomes too thick.
13. Once cooled, cut the scones in half and place the cream on top of them (I usually use around 2 tablespoons of cream for each).
14. Finally, cut the strawberries into halves or quarters and decorate the scones!

Honeycomb Cookies

Ingredients:

• 100g of sugar
• 100g of butter
• 2 tbsp of golden syrup
• 2 bowls of 75g of self-raising flour (150g altogether)
• 1 packet of honeycomb pieces

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4/180^o
2. Mix together the sugar and butter.
3. Add the golden syrup (add more if you prefer chewier cookies).
4. Mix in the first 75g of flour and the honeycomb pieces (you can add as many as you want).
5. Add in the next 75g of flour and combine. Mixing and folding the mixture with your hands can ensure that the consistency is correct.
6. Arrange the mixture in 12 round circles/blobs on the baking tray, but don’t flatten them. Be sure to leave room between each for them to spread whilst cooking.
7. Put them in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until they are golden brown.

Pink Honeycomb Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

• 110g of softened butter
• 110g of caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 110g of self-raising flour

For the buttercream icing/decoration:

• 150g of softened butter
• 300g of icing sugar
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp milk
• Pink food colouring
• Honeycomb pieces
• Edible pink glitter
• Piping bag

Method:

1. Heat the oven to gas mark 4/180^oc and fill a cupcake tray with 12 cases.
2. Beat together the softened butter and caster sugar until pale, fluffy and smooth. Then add in both eggs and mix.
3. Add in the vanilla extract and self-raising flour and mix.
4. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. Test that each cake is baked by inserting a skewer into the centre of each cake. If the skewer comes out clean, the cakes are ready.
5. Leave the cakes to cool until fairly cold (to ensure that the icing won’t melt off). In the meantime, prepare the buttercream icing.
6. To make the icing, mix together the softened butter with the icing sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. Stir in the milk.
7. Mix in as much pink food colouring as you wish until the icing is your desired colour.
8. Spoon the icing into a piping bag and slowly pipe on top of the cupcakes to ensure that they are neat.
9. Sprinkle pink shimmer glitter and honeycomb pieces on top to decorate!

Amrit Virdi

Featured image courtesy of Becca Swift via Flickr. Image license found here. 

Article images courtesy of Amrit Virdi.