Since it’s been over a month in self quarantine, I decided to get into a new activity. I’m still practicing yoga, playing Animal Crossing and closing out week six of the online course that I enrolled in. All of these activities have been useful during this time, but after seeing countless homemade bread photos pop up on the internet, I decided to give baking a shot. I’m a big fan of baked goods, but I have never dove into making my own. There were a few obstacles to factor in – Working with gluten free ingredients makes the process a little more research heavy and a lot more coconut-oriented, since coconut flour and coconut oil are good alternatives for flour and butter. I don’t like coconut, but my family did have the ingredients so I forged ahead, knowing that they would probably like the final product even if I didn’t. The second obstacle was to find recipes that utilized the random ingredients that we had an abundance of, like oatmeal and apples. The baking adventures started two weeks ago, and while many of these I wouldn’t consider Instagram-worthy, they have tasted pretty delicious. I haven’t even had a huge baking mishap, (So far!) At this point, I fully anticipated that something would have turned out inedible. That would have made for a more interesting article, honestly! Since that didn’t happen, I’ve decided to evaluate each recipe on how coconut-y it tasted after I baked it.

Here are my thoughts on everything that I’ve baked so far. Recipes listed below!

OATMEAL COOKIES: This was the first recipe I chose since we had lots of oatmeal in the cabinet and I was ready to turn it into something sweet. I did use coconut oil to hold these together, and I could tell when I tried it because the oatmeal and cinnamon didn’t fully distract me from that distinct coconut-y taste. Still, I enjoyed how hearty these cookies turned out! Coconut rating: 4 out of 5

APPLE CRISP: You guessed it, this is the recipe I used the apples for! The majority of the time spent making this was cutting apples into thin slices. It took about 5 minutes to combine the other ingredients and put it in the oven once the apples were done. I did substitute coconut oil for butter in this recipe, and I could tell when it was hot, (As apple crisps should always be.) The cinnamon/sugar/apple combo had a stronger hold, so it was only moments before the taste came back to what I wanted it to be.

Coconut rating: 3 out of 5

STRAWBERRY SCONES: The recipe said to use a cookie cutter or the rim of a glass to make the shape of the scones, and I couldn’t find a glass that had the right diameter, so the scones came out pretty oversized. But that’s what you really want in a pastry anyway, right? The dessert that never ends! I ended up using coconut flour AND coconut oil in this recipe – and once again, it was more prevalent when you heated the scones up. Maybe if I had made some icing to drizzle over the scones, it would have masked the flavor of that dang coconut. Still worth eating, especially with some coffee in the morning!

Coconut rating: 4 out of 5

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES: These reigned supreme in my quest for the most delicious baked good to make. Simple to put together and so light that you can eat 4 of these in 2 minutes if you wanted to. The recipe specifically said that coconut oil couldn’t be used for this one, so that is probably why I liked these cookies so much.

Coconut rating: 0 out of 5 coconuts!

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS: These looked better than I thought they were going to be. This leads me to believe that good bread photos on Instagram does not equal good bread. This recipe did not include any coconut ingredients, and I found that the muffins were kind of dry. Did it need some coconut oil? Have I changed my stance on coconut, just 2 short weeks into my baking adventures? Is this growth? Can’t say for sure. I’ll let you know if I still have this opinion after self quarantine.

Coconut rating: 0 out of 5 coconuts (Needed 1)

What should I try next? Comment below if you have tried any good recipes lately!

Written by Emily Parsons, Certified Let It Go Yoga teacher.

 

Let It Go Yoga Introduction Course for $97

Join our Introduction to Let It Go Yoga Course

Click Here