Happy Friday y’all! This week’s Foodie Friday is another cookbook review. What can I say? I like cookbooks! This one caught my eye because who doesn’t want to make great-tasting treats without having to make a special trip to the store? The 3-Ingredient Baking Book by Charmain Christie is chockful of just that kind of recipe.
Charmain Christie is the genius behind the blog The Messy Baker. Her blog is full of delicious recipes and some Sunday Stories. First published in September 2019, The 3-Ingredient Baking Book features 101-simple recipes. Out of the 101-simple recipes, I tried making 3. That doesn’t include the citrus sugar and self-rising flour recipes. So I guess I made 5.
Buttery Oatmeal Squares
The first recipe I tried in the book was the one for the buttery oatmeal squares. The recipe sounded delicious, and I knew it would succeed in my house. At least with my husband and I, our kids are weird and don’t like oatmeal. Crazy, right?
The three ingredients in the recipe are so easy and most likely in your kitchen at this moment. Those ingredients are salted butter, brown sugar, and oats. I will state that I did not use salted butter because I don’t typically use salted butter in my baking. Christie states her preference for salted butter, especially when making easy recipes like this because it adds flavor, and is not an extra ingredient. I don’t believe the lack of salt in the butter made a difference in the results.
I was curious to see the final results, as the squares were quite soft and bubbly when I pulled them out of the oven. But after cooling in the pan, they had a crunchy texture. In many ways, the texture reminded me of the topping from the apple crisp I often make. There were no complaints from my husband, especially as he ate most of the pan on his own. I found the crumbs in the pan were perfect on top of yogurt as a substitute for granola.
Mandarin Muffins
Muffins with only three ingredients? You better believe it! This recipe calls for two cans of mandarin pieces, citrus sugar, and self-rising flour.
The recipe states that the yield is 12 muffins, but true to form for me, I ended up with 18. I have no idea how that happens, as I closely followed the directions. I suppose this is my burden to bear.
I was kind of disappointed with these muffins, as they were relatively flat. The first thing I said to my husband when I pulled them out was that they looked more like cupcakes than muffins. What I mean is they didn’t rise as a muffin does typically. We both tried them as they were after they had cooled for a bit. I found them to be rather sweet and sticky. My husband enjoyed them and ate the majority of the muffins over three days.
Buttermilk Scones
Buttermilk scones with three ingredients? Yes! Technically, I used four ingredients as I had to substitute vinegar and milk for the buttermilk. The other ingredients were cold butter and self-rising flour. Additional flour was used on the work surface.
Everything went fine with the scones until I turned the dough out onto the counter. I don’t think I put enough flour on the counter or my hands. The dough stuck to both, which made it hard to pat the dough out and fold it.
I did get a nice rise out of them. It was nice to have fresh scones straight from the oven with some raspberry jam smeared on them.
My Opinions
The way The 3-Ingredient Baking Book is written makes baking more accessible to everyone. What I mean is the fact Christie doesn’t talk down to anyone. I have read some cookbooks in the past where the writer seemed to think everyone reading the book understood everything about baking, even if it is a book designed for beginners.
She takes the time to explain the purpose of the book and how the recipes work. Some ingredients have to be in a recipe because, without them, the chemistry won’t happen. She even talked about ensuring the oven temperature is correct, which seems to be a no-brainer. But did you know that your oven isn’t truly at the temperature you set it when you pre-heat the oven? That never occurred to me, and I bake a lot.
The biggest issue I have with this book is the number of recipes that contain nuts and peanut butter. For many people, that might not be an issue, but it is in my house. Almost a quarter of the recipes contain nuts, and that would prevent me from purchasing the book. I hesitate at spending $20 or more on a cookbook when I wouldn’t be able to use all of the recipes.
If you are looking for a cookbook to help introduce someone to baking or increase their comfort level with baking, this book is an excellent place to start. There are no strange and unusual ingredients that will leave you running to multiple stores, which helps when the urge to bake hits you!
Are you looking for more food-related content? Check out my other Foodie Fridays posts.
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Hm… sounds a bit more basic than I’d need. By the way instead of vinegar and milk you could have used yogurt instead of buttermilk. I’ve done that in the past, or, if I don’t want something to be dairy, I use soy “cream” which is the thickness of buttermilk.
Now I’m hungry! I like the look of the Buttery Oatmeal Squares. My mother used to make something similar and I just loved them.