Baking. From scones to shortbread, cookies to cakes, there are very few activities that fill us with such joy and anticipation than an afternoon dedicated to covering the kitchen (and ourselves) in flour and accidentally eating half the cookie dough - or maybe that's just me?
Even in Primary School, part of the curriculum was to bake. Wednesday afternoons were reserved for a lesson on fairy cakes, which we would eagerly carry to our mums in the playground to await their equally delighted response. In fact, according to Dr Alan Hirsch, founder of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago "the smell of baked goods was the number-one odour that made people nostalgic for their childhood".
And there the infatuation begins. For some of us, it evolves into something much more. Think Nigella or Delia. And you don't have to be particularly good at baking to enjoy it either. But why do we love it so much? Apart from the fact we're cooking up delicious treats, there's surely more to this.
1. Accessories. So yesterday when I baked above cake, I took a trip to the shops, you know, the kind where you buy pretty much ALL the ingredients which you already had in the cupboard, but forget the one thing you don't have (which in case you're interested was strawberry jam). Somehow after 30 minutes, I found myself in the midst of pretty aprons, floral oven gloves, (what looked like) gold plated muffin cases and a 'vintage umbrella cake cover'. Seriously I could go on. And on. And on. Needless to say I wanted to buy them all. So here we have it. Reason number one: it's just an excuse for us to accessorise, and shop, obviously.
2. Competition. A few months ago I sat in bed with my boyfriend and watched as he devoured a chocolate brownie that a work colleague had made. Having made him chocolate brownies on numerous occasions, I pretended not to hear when he said, 'this is the best brownie I've EVER had'. Well. What happened next was the kind of awkward silence that would follow after saying the wrong name in bed and I think I would have been less hurt by that. Needless to say a few days later, after numerous 'best brownie recipes' and 'brownie recipe secrets' google searches, the dynamics were restored.
3. Diet-breaking excuses. For some reason, if you're on a diet/eating healthily, going to the shop and buying a cake seems far naughtier than baking your own and having a cheeky slice or three as a little treat. The only real difference is you don't have a calorie count on the front of your own cake so perhaps blissfully unaware springs to mind? Maybe it's because it feels like we've earnt a treat, having been productive and actually produced a delicious snack instead of nipping to the shop and ripping into a cardboard box.
4. The way to a man's heart...Should I say this one? I'm gonna say it, but only because I think it's true. At one time in every gal's life, she will wanna impress a guy by cooking. And of course, we're all fabulous, independent women, times have moved on and we don't live in the kitchen like our ancestors may have, HOWEVER, men love food and when you wanna impress a man, it's actually a pretty straightforward hassle free option. Actually, when you want to impress ANYONE, who doesn't love a cup of tea and a slice of cake?
HAPPY BAKING XOX
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