I took a flying leap onto the quarantine baking wagon somewhere around April 1. And yes, the vasty majority of these items are baking projects, though there are a couple of other little gems in there. I guess I consider myself a pretty good baker because I love doing it…but in non-quarantine life? I don’t actually do it all that much.

I’ve been struggling a bit (a lot) with this whole situation, as I’m sure many people are. Every day is a new challenge for a million reasons, and considering that real life seemed to halt overnight, we’ve all lost so many of our traditional outlets–like eating out, going to the movies, traveling, going to the park, seeing friends, etc. I won’t lie, though, the gift of time and the chance to actually cook and bake some new things for my family at home has been nice…one of the silver linings I try to find in every day.

Anyway, here’s all the new things that I tried in April! All the things that were edible, at least 😉

NYT Buttermilk Pancakes. In normal times, we go out to breakfast every single weekend, so to make things feel a little more “normal,” I’ve taken to going all out at least one weekend morning–think big, hot breakfast with mimosas and the whole lot. As much as I love pancakes–and breakfast food in general–I cannot tell you the last time I actually made them at home before now, let alone from scratch. These are so simple, but WOW. They’re literally clouds of delightful pancake-y goodness. I’ve made them at least four times this month.

Ram-Don. Yes, the same viral dish from Parasite. And no, I still have not seen the movie, but after seeing so many people talking about this, I had to try it! Admittedly, the exact brands of noodles the recipe uses may be hard to find (though you can order them in bulk on Amazon), so I may try experimenting with other kinds of instant noodles to see if it’s just as good. Either way, it’s a ridiculously simple dish that still manages to make packaged noodles feel special.

Sourdough Starter. I felt like I ought to give a name to something that I spent so much time and energy to bring into this world, so I did–this is Jeffrey, my sourdough starter. Mine took me a solid week to really come to life and get “ripe,” and then I actually killed one iteration because I forgot I’d left the container in the oven before I turned on the heat for something else. Either way, I now have a decent stash of dried starter flakes and a more active one in the fridge. I’ve even given some to a few neighbors!

Sourdough Banana Bread. One of many reasons that raising a sourdough starter is such a pain in the ass is the amount of discard you literally throw in the trash every time you feed it. Thankfully, there are ways to incorporate the discarded starter in all kinds of other recipes, and this one is AMAZING. It definitely adds a little extra “something” to the flavor and gives the loaf a wonderful rise. It’s like velvet…you NEED to try it!

Sourdough Bread. It took me four tries to get a viable loaf of sourdough bread. Now that I know I’m capable of it, I may never do it again…although this was delicious and made an incredible base for the Disney Grilled Cheese. Speaking of which…

Disney’s Grilled Cheese. OH MY FREAKING GOD this was…a lot to handle. Easily the best grilled cheese I’ve ever made at home and just RICH. I think I finished this and fell asleep for like 14 hours. One thing it for sure, I’ll never make grilled cheese without a cream cheese layer again.

Banana Cake. This was just something I made on a whim because I wanted something sweet, and it feels sliiiightly more special than plain old banana bread.

No-Knead Bread. After a couple failed attempts at sourdough bread, I gave up for a few days and made this instead. It definitely delivered! It’s a simple white bread with a beautifully crusty crust that was great on its own toasted with butter, with soup, as avocado toast…whatever! I like this version because it comes together and can be baked the same day rather than having to let it rise overnight. The secret to that? Use hot water.

Double Tree’s Chocolate Chip Cookies. AHHHHHHHHHH these are so good! As someone who stayed in approximately 6873465 Double Tree hotels on the interview trail last year, I feel like I can be a reliable authority when I say these are the real deal! Not sure if they’re better than my traditional go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe…but they might be? I’m feeling like a bake-off is in order very soon 🙂