#bakingaddiction

🍥 Bacon, Egg, Jalapeño Breakfast Melt

Wednesday mornings are a dream. The district has given us more planning time, and a shorter class time on Wednesdays. Seeing my students in the morning makes a difference. They are more alert and ready. Today, I read them Mo Willems’s Knuffle Bunny. It’s the third time they’ve heard it, and because they know the story, they are able to participate. And they did. So darling. We did a little glueing activity connected to it, then my teaching day was done - at ten a.m. A few emails later, I headed to my kitchen, my other work space. 

I’ve been eyeing a recipe called French Yogurt Cake with Marmalade.  Somewhere I also read about using leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving. Why waste that? I had about one half of a cup left, so I used it to fold it into this cake recipe. It’s in the process of baking in a square pan, rather than a loaf. Bakes faster, and I’m feeling eager. I may skip the marmalade. Too many flavors. Maybe I’ll go with a lemon glaze. Now there’s a good idea. 

AND...drum roll.....it’s a keeper. 

If you choose to make this, here’s how I changed the recipe: I only used 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup oil, only two eggs, and a half cup of the leftover cranberry sauce. I baked it in a 4x4 pan for 25 minutes, and used a lemon glaze instead of the marmalade. It’s just wonderful. Warm, spongy, sweet, and fruity.

Baked goods, baking for good <3 

In awe of our latest interview with @jasminemcho - her work is a brilliant reminder that our strengths create meaningful, unexpected change. That routine, daily acts of making are self care. Jasmine’s research behind bake therapy is finally giving name and accessibility to what we’ve known all of quarantine. Bake therapy is a means of nourishment, physically and emotionally. 

@mwelbel asked Jasmine, “What is it about baking that makes it therapeutic?” “In the field of art therapy, the choice of what material or tool you use is dependent on what kind of emotional state you’re in. For example, if you need more of a sense of control, we wouldn’t recommend a medium that’s hard to control like watercolor. You would want to use something more exact like a marker. I am definitely a person who prefers some sense of control, so for me precisely measuring out ingredients and following a provided structure feels very therapeutic. I kind of lose myself in the process. We all know that mindfulness is crucial to our mental health, but rather than being like ‘Okay, now I’m going to be mindful,’ when you’re baking it just kind of happens.”

Baking is a mindful act. The provided structure is methodical, almost meditative. There’s a reason “stress baking” is something we turn to in moments of overwhelm. Applied linear thinking in the form of flour and sugar. It’s comforting. 

Let’s normalize baking as a tool for improving mental health. Let’s normalize posting less-than-perfect pictures to share our progress and stay in the moment. Let’s create accessibility for the practice for a wider audience. In Jasmine’s words - “I firmly believe that we all heal in different ways, and I think that baking can be one of them.”

Do you have a go-to recipe for your baking therapy? #closedloopcooking Mine is some form of this carrot cake banana bread!