Have you ever been at home one night craving comfort food, but don’t want to order out because you want to feel the taste of, well, of home? Our suggestion is to bake something – especially if you find comfort in cakes, bread, cookies, or anything warm and sweet. But what is the easiest thing to bake at home, especially if you’ve never baked before?
Well, don’t worry – this list is for you! We have five suggestions for you that will bring you a lot of happiness and less time spent in the kitchen and more for relaxing and eating.
Let’s get to it, shall we?
Wait… what is considered an easy baking recipe?
So if you’re a beginner baker, you might be wary of the suggestion of something “easy”. What exactly constitutes answers the question, “What is easy to bake at home?”
Well, the five baking recipes and food items we’re going to suggest have the following characteristics:
The recipe has simple ingredients. You won’t need anything that cannot be found in most supermarkets. You won’t need a lot either, like these examples of food with five ingredients or less.
Prep time is very minimal. You won’t spend hours in the kitchen preparing anything – and it won’t take you long to complete either.
There are only a few steps needed to complete the recipe. You won’t be required to know any fancy baking knowledge or have plenty of experience. You’ll also have only a few steps to do to produce delicious food.
The recipe can have variations. Baking can be an exact science, but with these easy-baked foods, you don’t need to be so strict. You can improvise and not completely follow the recipe, but still get the same general result. And speaking of results…
Following the recipe should give you a predictable outcome. No matter what happens, you’ll be able to make the exact same thing over and over, as long as you generally follow what the recipe says. If it says you’re going to get eight butter cookies, you’ll always get eight butter cookies. Cool, right?
Oh, and if you ARE a beginner baker, make sure to check out our Basic Rules of Baking for Beginners. These might help you while you’re in the middle of your home baking project.
So… what are some easy things to bake at home?
Without further ado, here are some ideas for you to try!
Banana bread – one of the easy recipes for beginners!
Banana bread is probably one of the most well-known easy-baking recipes. In fact, ask anyone “What is the easiest bread to make at home?” and they’ll probably answer banana bread.
Why? Because you can bake this golden brown bread anytime and anywhere with ingredients that are both simple and convenient. The same goes for baking tools – you can use any pan, you can mix the batter with even a spoon, and so on.
It’s also an easy baking recipe that’s forgiving, so it’s a great option for bakers who are new.
Here’s a recipe for basic banana bread:
Ingredients:
- 3 ripe bananas – the riper, the better!
- 1/3 cup of melted unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- A pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup of white or brown sugar
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to around 350°F (175°C). Grease your pan. Alternatively, you can also line up the pan with parchment paper to make the cake easier to remove.
- In a large mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas. After that, mix in all the ingredients and stir until just blended.
- Pour the batter into the pan, then bake for 60 to 65 minutes. You can also do a toothpick test to check if the cake is done.
- Let the bread cool in the pan for around 10 minutes, then remove it from the pan and place it on a wire rack to cool completely.
If you want to add variety in the future, you can add other ingredients such as dried fruits, nuts, chocolate chips, or cinnamon to vary the flavor.
Fudgy brownies – surprisingly one of the easiest things to bake at home
Who hasn’t experienced their mom or grandmother making these delicious treats when they were kids? They’re definitely comforting, especially when freshly baked. All that chocolate goodness has us drooling already!
Check out this recipe for making them:
Ingredients:
- 1 cup or around 2 sticks of unsalted butter
- 2 1/4 cups of granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups of cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 2 cups of chocolate chips
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line your baking dish with parchment paper. And speaking of your baking dish, don’t use a circular one if you want evenly proportional brownies.
- Melt the butter over low heat in a pan. Once that’s done, combine it with the sugar fully. Let the mixture cool for 5 minutes.
- Once cool, integrate the eggs to the mixture. Mix some more, and don’t forget to add the vanilla extract.
- Get a separate bowl, then mix the cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and flour. Mix everything together, including the chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into your baking dish and smoothen the top as much as possible.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.
- Let it cool completely before cutting into squares and indulging.
And hey, if you get lazy to cut up the end result into squares, congratulations! You have accomplished an easy-to-bake cake recipe instead!
For an even better recipe, check out Chef Jimbo de Panadero’s FREE class: Moist and Fudgy Brownies!
Peanut butter cookies – an answer to the question, “What is one of the easiest snacks to make at home?”
Love peanut butter but don’t like eating it out of the jar? Why not make this comfort food in cookie form? It’s one of the easy things to bake at home with few ingredients for sure.
Plus, when it comes to the dough, you can just put it directly onto the baking sheet, so you don’t need to roll anything or cut out shapes (unless you want to, of course!).
Here’s what you need to do for some soft and chewy peanut butter cookies:
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of creamy peanut butter – choose a flavor you really like!
- 1 cup of granulated sugar
- 1 cup of packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Get your large baking sheet and place parchment paper on top of it.
- Mix your peanut butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla extract in a howl that will fit everything. Make sure it’s all well combined. Add the flour after.
- Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto your baking sheet. Leave a space of 2 inches between each cookie.
- To achieve the cris-cross pattern, use a fork. See? It’s that simple!
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden brown.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for around 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Enjoy peanut butter in cookie form!
(If you want better peanut butter cookies, well, these aren’t easy bake, but they’re gourmet! Check out Chef Bam Piencaneves’ Gourmet Cookies class. You won’t only make peanut butter cookies, but 5 other flavors too!)
Cheese muffins – your answer to what is the easiest cheese treat to make at home!
Ahhh, cheese muffins. These are very versatile baked treats – you can mix them in with something sweet to make them desserts, or use herbs and spices for a savory snack.
The ingredients are simple, but make sure that for this one, you have a muffin tin or cupcake tray for shaping the muffins.
Here’s how to make them!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 cup of milk
- 1 large egg
- 4 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese – select the cheese of your choice!
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). While this is happening, grease your muffin tin.
- Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
- Get another bowl. This is where you’ll beat the egg. Once done, add the milk and melted butter and mix them up really well.
- Mix the two bowls together, then add the shredded cheese.
- Put the batter evenly into your muffin tin. Don’t fill it up to give the batter room to adjust when heated.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes. Alternatively, you can check if the muffins are golden brown and that it passes the toothpick test.
- Let them cool, then remove them from the tin and let them cool more.
You can also use this recipe in the future for different flavors, such as banana muffins, blueberry muffins, and even chocolate chip muffins. Just remove the cheese and you’re good to go! The possibilities are endless!
Apple crisp – one of the simple things to bake at home
If you love apple pies but have no idea how to make a pie crust, or you don’t like the taste of storebought pie crust, why not make an apple crisp instead? It’s a dessert made with baked apples and topped with a sweet and crunchy mixture of flour, sugar, butter, and oats.
Sounds yummy, right? Here are the steps in making it!
Ingredients:
- 6 medium apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
- 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg – if it’s hard to find, you can use star anise
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup of rolled oats – pick any brand
- 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
- Mix the apples, granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon juice in one bowl.
- Transfer the apple mixture to a baking dish of your choice.
- Next, mix the flour, oats, and brown sugar. Add butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
- Sprinkle the oat mixture evenly on top of the apples.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and the apples are tender.
For an additional treat, you can it topped with cream cheese, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or a scoop of caramel sauce!
There’s one problem with these easy baking recipes though…
What’s the problem, you ask? Well, if you’re on a sugar-free diet or are trying to watch your weight, you might feel a little guilty about making these recipes. They’re definitely things not to eat while on a keto diet.
So does that mean you can’t have easy bake treats anymore?
Well, no. Thanks to our latest class with Ms. Chiqui Ortiz Dingcong, you can now have easy recipes for keto desserts that will satisfy your sweet tooth.
Introducing: Keto Easy-Bake Bestsellers!
In this class, you’ll learn how to make easy bake home recipes that are low carb, gluten-free, sugar-free, and most of all, GUILT-FREE!
Get to enjoy super rich and very chocolatey Keto Cheesecake Brownies. You can also choose from two kinds of Keto Donuts, or bite into some warm and fruity Keto Berries Streusel Muffins. Or if you need extra comfort and are looking for fun things to bake, why not make all three in one sitting?
And remember, you’re likely not the only one looking for guilt-free recipes to snack on. That means these easy dessert recipes are great to add to your menu or for starting a food business.
So what are you waiting for? Sign up at The Bailiwick Academy today and get to making these easy things to bake at home – and jumpstart your foray into the keto lifestyle!
—
Keep coming back to The Bailiwick Academy blog for more kitchen tips, tricks, and much more!