This Baker Has the Perfect Stress-Bake Recipes for 2020
No matter your skill level, these recipes will bring some mindfulness and sweetness into your life.
Camryn Perez has been baking sweet confections for as long as she can remember. For her, baking is more than just the tasty reward at the end. For one, it provides a low-stakes platform to be creative and challenge herself, like when she’s trying a laminated dough (like for croissants) that requires attention or a meringue that can go wrong in multiple places.
But baking has also proved to be a mindfulness practice where she can be in the moment, worrying only if she should knead the dough longer or if the eggs are whisked properly. In 2020, a year full of things to panic about, that seems like the ideal escape.
“Of course the result of baking is always something delicious that people around me get to enjoy,” Camryn says. “It gives them a little moment to pause and savor a treat, which is also really rewarding for me.”
Well readers, get ready to have your cake and eat it, too. Camryn shared her top five simple recipes for stress baking. “Stress baking means the least amount of bowls and steps for me,” she dished. “These are also simple recipes so you don’t have to run out to the grocery store for last minute ingredients.”
That's Bananas! Bread
Prep time: 15 minutes
Serves: 8-10
Let’s start off easy, with a nice calming slice (or five) of banana bread.
Ingredients
3 very ripe bananas, brown and spotted
⅔ cup sugar
2 eggs
⅓ cup vegetable oil
Splash of vanilla
1 ⅔ cups of flour
2 ⅛ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¾ optional mix-ins: chocolate chips, tiny/chopped chocolate peanut butter cups (Trader Joe’s dark chocolate PB are the best), walnuts, etc.
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350° F and grease a 9” bread/loaf pan.
Mash bananas until smooth, then add sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Stir well until completely incorporated.
Stir flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined. Don’t overmix! Stop stirring once the flour disappears. (I am a one-bowl-mix lady so to make sure everything is evenly incorporated, I try to mix dry ingredients together at the top of the bowl before stirring into the wet ingredients.) Add mix-ins if using.
Pour into prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes until top is golden and a tester/toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few crumbs.
Happy Little Guy Choco Chip Cookies
Prep time: 10 minutes
Serves: about 24 cookies
My favorite recipe is not the trendy, craggly, widespread cookie of today, but a happy little guy with crisp edges and a nice cakey center. If you do want crispy and spread out cookies, increase the sugar content slightly (extra ¼- ½ cup brown sugar)
Ingredients
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temp/softened
2 eggs, room temp
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar
Splash of vanilla
2 ¼ cups flour
1 ¼ salt
¾ tsp baking soda
2 cups of chocolate chips
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425° F.
Cream butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy. Stir in eggs one at a time, making sure to incorporate each fully. Add vanilla.
Stir in flour, salt, and baking soda (employ top of bowl mixing technique for minimal dishes). Stir in chocolate chips.
Portion into balls on baking sheets using tablespoons. The bigger the ball of dough, the more dense and cakey. The smaller the dough ball, the crispier and crunchier.
Bake for 8 minutes or until the edges of cookie (top and bottom) are nice and golden brown. Allow to cool.
What Up With It Vanilla Cake
Prep time: 10 minutes
Serves: 6-8 (single layer cake)
Whoever said vanilla was boring was wrong. This recipe is easy as… well, cake, but it allows you to really dress it up or down however you like.
Ingredients
2 eggs, room temp
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 stick butter, room temp (very soft!)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease an 8” round cake pan.
Place ingredients into the mixing bowl in this order: eggs, sugar, flour + baking powder, butter. Mix until well incorporated; be careful not to overmix! Stop once the mixture comes together. This comes together quickly in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, but may take a while if mixing by hand. Arm yourself with a sturdy wooden spoon and go for it.
Pour into a greased 8” pan and bake for 20 minutes. Allow to cool.
Dress any which way you see fit: a dusting of powdered sugar, sandwiched with jam, with whipped cream, with ICE cream. The list goes on.
Don’t Get Shortbread With Me, Mister
Prep time: 25 minutes
Serves: about 24 cookies
Underrated! You can stress eat so many of these, they keep for days, are really easy, and super versatile for flavor.
Ingredients
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1 stick butter + 2 tbsp
⅓ cup of sugar
Splash vanilla extract
1 ½ cups flour
Pinch of Salt
Optional ½ tsp of ground spice (I really like cardamom or cinnamon)
Directions
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; stir to combine. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Roll dough out on a floured surface to roughly ½ inch thickness. Cut into shapes using a mason jar, drinking glass, etc as long as the width is about 3 inches.
Bake for roughly 15 minutes until the edges are just slightly browned. Dust with powdered sugar or let ‘em be naked.
Pie-ce of Mind
Prep time: 45 minutes
Serves: 6-8 slices
This recipe is for an open-faced pastry, that some may call a pie and some may call a tart. Either way, it’s topless like when you stress drink instead of stress bake. Also, if making your own dough is kneading above your weight class, store bought is fine.
Ingredients
1 ¼ cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
½ tsp salt
6 tablespoons COLD butter cut into small, ¼ inch pieces
Filling of choice
Directions
Mix flour, sugar, and salt until well combined.
Using a food processor, your hands, a fork, or pastry blender, “cut” the butter into the flour mixture. Either mash with your fork or squeeze the butter between your fingers and toss with the flour quickly. You want the butter to be as cold as possible, so try not to warm up the mixture with your fingers too much. Continue breaking up the butter until it forms a pea-size mixture with the flour that will come together if you press it. Slowly add 4 tablespoons of cold water and mix until a shaggy dough comes together.
Press out onto work surface and *lightly* knead until it comes together. Shape into a disk and wrap in a dish towel or plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375° F.
Lightly flour your work surface and a rolling pin (wine bottle, beer bottle, hardware dowel). Roll out the dough to roughly ¼ inch thick. Place in your chosen baking tray (pie dish, tart pan — I’ve used square pyrex baking dishes and round cake pans to moderate success. Work with what you have!)
Prick the bottom of your dough with a fork to prevent extreme rising. Bake for about 20 minutes until the dough is slightly browned and golden, but not crisp, and remove from the oven.
Add your filling! Use fresh fruit tossed with some sugar and cinnamon, a pre-made jam, nuts in a brown sugar and butter mixture). Extra points if you use seasonal ingredients — be resourceful!
Bake for an additional 25-30 minutes until your filling seems set and the edges of the pie are golden brown.
If you have no pan:
You can also make little pie pockets or pop tarts by cutting rectangles, filling with jam, sandwiching and sealing edges with a fork. Brush with some beaten egg and bake for 20 minutes.
Make a galette, a super fancy open-faced, self-contained fruit tart scenario. Shape a 10 inch circle of dough for one large galette or ~4 inch circles for individuals. Pile fresh fruit in the center, leaving at least an inch border. Fold the border dough section up and over the filling, pleating as you go (fold over and pinch) until the sides are covered by dough.
More About Camryn
Born in Los Angeles, Camryn is now pursuing her Master’s degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences in Seattle. Her go-to stress bake is a cake or cookies, since they take little thinking to put it together thanks to their simplicity. “They also bake quickly and don't need extra dressings, which means you get to eat them that much sooner, too,” she pointed out.
However, her favorite thing to bake is brioche, a sweetened, yeasted bread. She enjoys the process of kneading in butter and ensuring that everything rises/proves happily. “It smells heavenly as you go and is the most pleasing dough to look at,” she said. It's also a great base for everything sweet bread like cinnamon rolls, apricot braids, or with chocolate filling.
Finally, she recommends a pie as the easiest thing to bake with the fewest ingredients. Butter, flour, a little sugar, and water are all you need for a good crust. “So as long as you have fruit or a nice jam you've got a solid pie or tart. The same goes for biscuits and scones, simple sugar cookies, or shortbread.”
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