I love to bake.

I mean, I loooove to bake.

If I could start my day doing absolutely anything, it would be to bake.

Now, there are things I do while I bake that I wouldn’t expect the average person to do (like make my own yeast…yes, I’ve done that!).

But, I started like many of you…scared of not turning out the perfect cake and intimidated by the control some of the ingredients have over me (like, how finicky can yeast be, right??).

But, I would love more than anything to get people back in the kitchen, confident and proud of what they turn out.  It is such a ego-booster to see a beautiful dessert that you made.  All.  By.  Yourself.

So, I figured, we should start small and start easy.  Let’s make baking less intimidating by  beginning with a recipe that is impossible to mess up and starts with ingredients that everyone is familiar with.

So, turn on your oven, take out a pan, and get your baking face on!!

Oh, and for all my university friends, I have made this “university friendly”…no fancy equipment needed and easy, peasy.

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 can Pillsbury Cinnamon Buns

2-3 tbsp flour for rolling

Filling:

Option #1:

1 can of pie filling (apple would be good here)

Option #2:

1 jar Strawberry spread (in the jam section of your store…like jam with less sugar)

Option #3:

3 cups rhubarb (fresh or frozen)

2 c strawberries (fresh or frozen)

1 cups sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup strawberry jam

Crumble:

1 row vanilla Oreo cookies

1.  Preheat oven to 375 and take out a muffin tin.

2.  Open the package of Pillsbury Cinnamon Buns; separate the buns – there should be 8 – and save the small tin of white topping for later.

3.  Flour your rolling surface and put some flour on your rolling pin; roll out each bun (if you are new at this baking thing and don’t have a rolling pin, use an un-opened wine bottle [make sure it’s clean!])

4.  Tuck the rolled out buns into each muffin compartment.  If you don’t have a muffin tin, you can use anything that is a similar size and oven friendly (like a bunch of coffee cups).

5.    If you are using option #3 for your filling, mix the rhubarb, strawberries, cornstarch, vanilla and strawberry jam together in a pot.  Cook over medium heat until the mixture becomes thick and “jammy”.  This process will vary in time depending on whether you are using fresh or frozen rhubarb (fresh takes longer to break down) – you want to make sure the rhubarb is beginning to get soft. Remember, it will thicken a bit as it cools.

6.  Assuming you don’t have a food processor (which you could totally use if you have one), put your cookies into a Ziploc bag, remove most of the air and close.

7.  Take a fry pan and smash the cookies until they look like this…

…nice and smooshed!

8.  Put your filling into the crust-lined tin (if you are using bottled spread or pie filling, just open the jar/can and fill – no need to cook).  If you have left-over filling, place in Ziploc bags and use another time to serve over ice cream!!)

9.  Sprinkle each tartlet with some crumb (no need to measure…just make sure most of the filling is covered).

10.  Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden; remove from the oven and, once cooled for about 10 minutes, drizzle with the white icing.

The crust won’t be flaky like regular pie crust…it will be more cake-like…but still yummy!!

So, there you have it.  The easiest dessert anyone can make.  It will boost your confidence in baking and make you feel like a superhero in the kitchen!