Baking in the summer heat

This post is NOT about sunbathing on the beach or staying outdoors…

My last post had been ages ago.

It’s now summer here in Manila. The heat sometimes is intolerable that it’s better to go to the malls for free airconditioning. But instead, I stay at home during my free time, too busy sweating and mixing… because this summer, I have decided to bake! For those who know me well, I can just imagine the incredulous expressions on their faces doubting/wondering if they read it right. But since I keep this blog a secret from them, there’s no way they can read this post any time soon!

For someone who hates cooking (and as a compromise, bought an induction cooker for heating water and an electric oven for heating leftovers), I also wonder why I decided to buy baking pans (probably because they were on sale at 20% off at Gourdo’s in Gateway Mall), cupcake mold, mixing bowl, measuring cups and spoons, silicone spatula (in orange to add more color to my kitchen since I already have a pink mixing spoon), whisk, multipurpose flour, cake flour, sugar* (and I was too excited to find several types in the grocery lane so I got caster, confectioner, and muscovado but forgot to get the refined white sugar), butter, milk, eggs (for which I have a natural talent of turning into century eggs, buying then forgetting them on the kitchen counter until they get molds and turn black!), honey, cocoa powder, almond and vanilla extracts, whipping cream, rock salt, and some other ingredients which all cost me a lot and exceeded my weekly grocery budget!

I checked out some easy to follow and basic recipes online and ended up with coconut macaroons and fudge brownie for my first baking attempt as an adult (I did play with the oven when I was younger but the cookies I created served as paper weights or as exercise tools for the jaw). The macaroon recipe, I think, was not a good one because my macaroons turned out too dry. So I made another batch and adjusted the amount of the desiccated coconut. For someone without a technical knowledge in baking, you’d say I was prematurely deciding to experiment on my own, but I do believe a lifelong experience in eating (and food critique!) is enough to qualify one to make some adjustments to the recipe. The taste bud is always right!

It’s embarrassing to post these photos but I wanted to have evidence that I DID bake these goodies and remove all doubt that I have just been imagining doing these things because of the summer heat.

Clockwise from top left, first batch of macaroons, fudge brownies, and second batch of macaroons

Fail! It was too dry.
This recipe used 1:1 desiccated coconut:condensed milk.

These are part of the first batch of macaroons that were the first ones in the oven. They have been discarded! They not only looked ugly, but eating them was like biting into wood.

The brownie recipe was easy but I didn’t like the final output. Although the taste was rich and creamy, I wanted it chewy in the middle and crispy at the edges. This recipe tasted more like a chocolate fudge cake.

The better-tasting-adjusted-coconut recipe look burnt because I realized too late that since I changed the amount of desiccated coconut, I probably should shorten baking time. The first ones in the oven look like the brownies! The ones at the bottom of the photo look acceptable though, I think.

Although I am not sure if what I did was technically correct in the language of baking, the adjusted recipe (with less desiccated coconut) tasted really good! It was chewy and very very creamy.

Despite of how they look, they actually taste good! Yum!

CG

* I am a self-proclaimed certified sweet tooth but up until now, I never had sugar in my kitchen because I never use it. I only EAT it! (cakes and other pastries have sugar in them, right?)