Quick Quarantine Recipes

Baking and cooking are becoming very popular during self-isolation, but it is also harder to find ingredients and harder to stay healthy at this time. I am sharing with you a few easy and/or popular recipes to make during quarantine!

Easy AP Flour French Baguette

Bread making is really on the rise (pun intended) these days, but few people have the patience for a starter or bread flour in their homes. The solution is this delicious crusty French baguette.

Time:

Prep time: 45 minutes

Rise time: 1 hour (split into 30-minute intervals)

Bake time: 15 minutes

Yield:

1 Baguette

Ingredients:

2 ¼ teaspoons of yeast (1 envelope)

1 tablespoon of honey (or another sweetener)

¼ cup of warm water

2 cups all-purpose flour, with a little extra to dust workspace

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup of warm water

A few ice cubes

Directions:

1. First, stir together yeast, honey, and ¼ cup of warm water in a small bowl. Wait for the yeast mixture to foam. This should take about five minutes
2. Mix flour and salt together in a large mixing bowl using either a dough hook or your hands. Slowly add yeast mixture while combining.
3. Gradually add in ½ cup of warm water while mixing. You may not need all the water depending on the climate or temperature of your kitchen, so make sure to do it slowly.
4. Mix in the bowl until you form a cohesive dough ball that is not too sticky or wet. If it is too wet, add a bit of flour
5. Put your dough on a lightly floured surface and knead until elastic. You can do what I call the memory foam test and press your thumb down on the dough and if it bounces back well, it is ready!
6. Roll dough into a ball and place in a bowl. You can lightly oil the bowl to prevent sticking. Place a cloth on the top of the bowl to prevent your dough from getting crusty. Let rest in a warm area for thirty minutes, allowing the dough to double in size.
7. Squish down your dough and make it into a flat rectangle. Fold the top and bottom of your rectangle toward the middle, making an envelope fold, and seal the seam with your fingers. Keep folding and resealing until your dough is stretched to a foot long and two inches wide. Fold and seal each end.
8. Flip seam-side down onto a parchment paper-covered baking sheet and cover with a cloth. Cut diagonal slits across dough with a knife. The slits should be about ½ inch deep. Let sit for thirty minutes.
9. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and position your oven racks with one on the bottom and the other in the middle. Place an oven-safe (non-glass) bowl or pan on the bottom rack.
10. When your bread has doubled for the second time, remove the towel and quickly and simultaneously, slide the sheet tray with the baguettes onto the middle rack while carefully throwing the ice cubes into the bowl on the bottom rack. The ice will create a burst of steam that will give you a nice crispy crust. Quickly shut the oven door so no steam escapes. 
11. Bake the baguettes until golden brown, 15 minutes.

*Adapted from Food Network recipe*

Banana Bread Muffins

Do you have bananas that are overripe? If yes, this extremely popular quarantine recipe is for you!

Time:

Prep time: 15 minutes

Bake time: 20 minutes

Yield:

24 mini muffins or 12 regular muffins

Ingredients:

1 and ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional if you don’t have, but will affect the taste)

¼ teaspoon nutmeg (optional if you don’t have, but will affect the taste)

3 large ripe or overripe bananas

6 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

⅔ cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

Chopped nuts and/or chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and spray regular or mini muffin pan with nonstick spray or use cupcake liners
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, or nutmeg in a medium-sized bowl
3. In a large bowl, combine mashed bananas, butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla extract, and milk with a mixer on medium speed.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix.
5. Add nuts or chocolate chips now, if desired
6. Spoon the batter into the muffin pan, filling them all the way to the top. 
7. Bake for 5 minutes at 425 then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Bake for an additional 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 21-23 minutes, give or take. (For mini muffins, bake 12-14 total minutes at 350°F).

*Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction Recipe*

Mini Apple Pies

Do you have apples that are about to be rotten? If yes, make this delicious freezable recipe to save your apples from the trash!

Time:

Prep time: 20 minutes

Bake time: 15-20 minutes

Yield:

12 mini pies

Ingredients:

Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

⅔ cup chilled butter

1 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons water

Filling:

3-5 peeled and chopped apples

¾ cup of sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

6 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons chilled butter

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Take out a 12 cup muffin pan. Magically, there is no need to grease it!
2. In a food processor (or blender if you don’t have one), blend flour, salt, and butter
3. Add in water and blend until a dough forms and is sticking
4. Take out and mix by hand until well combined
5. Roll out dough until ¼ inch thick on a lightly floured surface
6. Cut out 12 circles that are about 4 inches in diameter using a cup or bowl
7. Save the rest of the dough to make strips to place on top of the pies
8. Place dough circles into muffin tin cups
9. Mix the filling ingredients in a medium bowl by hand and place into the dough cups until full
10. Cover each pie with dough strips. Be careful to allow open room
11. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the crust is light brown and the filling is bubbling
12. Allow to cool and then use a spoon to pop pies out