Without leaving the house, bring the sweet aromas of flaky pastries from your favorite bakery home. If you’re a beginner baker, all pastry dishes begin with a dough of flour, water, and solid fat (this can be shortening, butter, or lard). Pies, tarts, donuts, croissants, danishes, and scones are some common pastry examples.
Your concern is you might not be an expert baker, and perhaps precise measurements frighten you. However, if you want to improve your baking skills and add some fail-safe cakes, cookies, and muffins to your repertoire, try some recipes that you’ll make for the rest of your life.
Here are a few of our favorite pastry recipes, including some quick pastry ideas that use shortcut ingredients like frozen puff pastry or refrigerated pie crust:
Apple Crumble
An apple crumble is a baked dessert with tender pieces of cooked apple tucked beneath a buttery, crumbly topping made of flour, sugar, butter, and other ingredients like rolled oats, spices, and nuts.
The apple crumble is a simple variation of traditional baking recipes, such as apple pie and peach cobbler, that requires less time, effort, and baking skills. Warm apple crumble can be served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream and a cup of ice cold milk or hot coffee.
Macadamia Nut Cookies
The salty-smooth crunch of toasted macadamia nuts pairs well with the buttery, aromatic white chocolate, which gets its ivory color from extracted cocoa butter and milk. Because white chocolate has a higher fat and sugar content than milk chocolate and dark chocolate, it melts more easily, resulting in a creamier crumb than the standard chewy chocolate chip cookie.
Pound Cake
A pound cake is a dessert named after the proportion of simple ingredients used in its original recipe: a pound of flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. Pound cakes are typically baked in Bundt or loaf pans, which give the classic dessert its signature density.
To improve the dense cake, you can add additional ingredients, flavorings, or toppings (such as powdered sugar or icing). Modern pound cakes typically contain less than a pound of each ingredient, but the proportions are still fairly equal.
Chocolate Cake
Cake and cupcakes, from red velvet to carrot cake, are a staple of many dessert bars, bakeries, and birthday parties. For an easy baking recipe, make a classic chocolate sponge cake topped with buttercream or cream cheese frosting.
You can also play with the French-style chocolate cake recipe, made of thin layers of delicate gluten-free sponge cake and silky smooth chocolate mousse enrobed in a slate-black chocolate mirror glaze, which is ideal for ambitious bakers.
Savory Puff Pastry
One of the best aspects of puff pastry is its versatility. It has numerous applications, both sweet and savory. To make savory puff pastry straws, cut the pastry into long strips, sprinkle with grated cheese, twist, and bake. Wrap strips around sausages or mini hot dogs to make the best sausage rolls/pigs in a blanket you’ve ever had.
Cover a small wheel of brie or camembert cheese in puff pastry to make brie en croute, also known as baked brie. For a savory appetizer or pizza, make small tarts or cut rounds and top with mushrooms, spinach, and/or onions. Serve warm and enjoy!
Key Takeaway
Baking is an excellent social activity. When you bake at home, you can cater to everyone’s preferences and tastes. This is a subtle way of expressing your concern, care, and love for your family. Involve your children in the baking process and watch them enjoy themselves.
You can start with the recipes we shared in this article and try to experiment and spice things up when you get the hang of baking.
By starting small, you can always have room for improvement and become a better and more adventurous baker at home
