2020—the start of a new decade, the outburst of a dangerous pandemic and the year that TikTok blew up like crazy. Rebranded from viral app Musical.ly, TikTok has taken the world by storm with its slew of dancing videos, lip-syncing acts, animal videos and so much more. TikTok’s growth was further heightened when quarantine season hit and the #homecooking trend was born, which has turned out to be one of the sources of my joy and satisfaction watching people cook up restaurant-quality meals at home.
Ever since the ‘Circuit Breaker’ started, I’m sure we’ve all found ourselves with too much time on our hands, an unfamiliar situation leaving us stumped on how to fill our days with meaningful activities. While scrolling through TikTok, I found a variety of different baking recipes, most of them simple and with as little ingredients as possible. After trying my hand at a few of them, I’ve collated a list of five easy TikTok baking recipes to try when you’re cooped up at home!
1. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
This recipe brings back nostalgic memories of one of my favourite breakfasts—a combination of peanut butter and Nutella on bread. Simple and still gloriously decadent, these cookies are sure to satisfy your sweet tooth cravings. The best part is that it only requires five ingredients that you probably have at home, and it’s only three steps!
Ingredients
- 1 cup of brown sugar
- 1 cup of peanut butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon baking/bicarbonate soda
- ½ cup of chocolate chips
Tools
- Mixing bowl
- Whisk
- Measuring tools
- Baking sheet
Recipe (In Pictures)
Preparation time: 5 minutes; Cooking time: 8 – 12 minutes (depends on size)
Makes 12 cookies
Step 1: Measure out all your ingredients and put them in a large bowl. Using the whisk, mix the ingredients well.
Step 2: With a spoon or ice-cream scoop, divide the batter into 12 portions and place on the prepared baking sheet in small dollops.
Step 3: Bake in the oven at 180℃ for 8 – 12 minutes, depending on the size of each cookie. Use a toothpick or a fork to check if the interior is sufficiently baked.
If you’re a fan of chewy, gooey cookies, you’ll definitely fall in love with these. The creamy and indulgent taste of peanut butter in the dough paired with the melted chocolate chips was rich and sinful, so I’m glad this recipe only makes 12 portions.
2. Molten Lava Cake
I saw a two-ingredient recipe on TikTok for Nutella Lava Cake, and I tried twice to replicate it but it didn’t really work, so I’ve fallen back on my go-to recipe for Molten Lava Cake. Although it might take slightly longer, there actually aren’t many steps to this recipe, and rest assured that the result is totally worth it. Filled with that characteristic chocolate lava that oozes out of the cake, this is something you should save for those cheat days.
Ingredients
- 100g dark chocolate chips
- 100g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
- 2 eggs
- 50g castor sugar
- 20g self-raising flour
Tools
- Ramekins
- Electric whisk
- Spatula
- Pot
Recipe (In Pictures)
Preparation time: 20 minutes; Cooking time: 10 – 12 minutes
Makes 3 portions
Step 1: Using a microwave, hot water bath or double boiler, melt 100g of dark chocolate and 100g of unsalted butter.
Step 2: Whisk the 2 eggs and the 50g of castor sugar together in a large mixing bowl with an electric whisk till the mixture turns pale and frothy.
Step 3: Once melted, the chocolate-butter mixture cool for a few minutes before adding to the egg mixture. Add in the flour and stir everything together with a spatula.
Step 4: Preheat oven to 180℃ on the conventional setting. Grease 3 ramekins with butter or oil and fill them with the batter till ¾ full, then place in the oven for 10 – 12 minutes.
Step 5: Remove them from the oven and wait a few minutes for them to cool. Using a fork or knife, loosen the edges and invert the ramekins on a plate to reveal your lava cake.
Step 6: Top the lava cake with icing sugar, strawberries and serve with ice cream.
The moist yet not too dense exterior gives way to a molten interior, just the way it should be. No molten lava cake is complete without some vanilla ice cream to bring out the richness of the oozing chocolate and for the delicious contrast between warm and cold in your mouth at the same time—it’s the perfect dessert to finish off your meal.
3. Nutella Brownies
Nutella; arguably one of the best bread spreads with its smooth richness and addictive hazelnut flavour, and also extremely multi-purpose. In this recipe, I’ll be showing you how to make a three-ingredient recipe for some decadent Nutella brownies, simple and not time-consuming.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of Nutella
- 2 eggs
- 10 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
Tools
- Mixing bowl
- Baking tray
- Oven
Recipe (In Pictures)
Preparation time: 5 minutes; Cooking time: 20 minutes
Makes 12 portions
Step 1: Mix Nutella, eggs and flour together in a large bowl until all the ingredients are well-combined to form a thick and shiny batter.
Step 2: Line your baking tray with parchment paper and fill with the batter. Bake for 20 minutes at 175℃ on convection setting.
Step 3: Remove baking tray from oven and allow the brownies to cool fully before slicing.
Monitor your brownies closely to make sure that they’re not over-baked, or else they will lose their fudgy flavour and texture. These quick-fix treats are easy and they taste just like Nutella, but in brownie form! However, if you want the real deal, I wouldn’t do this because these don’t quite hit the spot the same as you would get using a proper recipe, and there are plenty on TikTok for you to follow.
4. Banana Bread
This recipe is not quite as simple as the previous ones, but once I saw the title ‘Best Banana Bread’, I was committed to trying my hand at it, and I’m glad to say it turned out pretty well. Even before it was out of the oven, the fragrant aroma of the banana bread had permeated the whole house, and just looking at its golden brown exterior had me salivating.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of brown sugar
- ¾ cup of unsalted butter, softened but not melted
- 2 eggs
- 1½ cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Ripe bananas
Tools
- Mixing bowl
- Electric whisk
- 9×5 loaf pan
- Sifter
Recipe (In Pictures)
Preparation time: 15 minutes, Cooking time: 45 minutes
Makes 12 servings
Step 1: Measure out the flour into a bowl, sift in the baking soda and add the salt.
Step 2: Place the butter, eggs and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl and whisk it together using the electric whisk. Pour in the vanilla extract and bananas and continue whisking.
Step 3: Funnel in or add the flour mixture inside the batter in batches until well-combined. Pre-heat oven to 175℃ and coat loaf pan with butter or baking spray.
Step 4: Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.
I had to improvise slightly because I didn’t have a pan with the right dimensions, so I fashioned a makeshift stopper to create the right size for the loaf. The end result—banana bread baked to perfection with its slightly crunchy, golden brown exterior and a soft and moist interior. It wasn’t too sweet or dense, and it’s great for keeping as well.
5. Matcha White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Calling all lovers of matcha! This recipe combines matcha and white chocolate—a match(a) made in heaven. Although these might take a bit of work, the end result will have others green with envy because of how aesthetic and yummy these look.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons green tea/matcha powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup castor sugar
- ¾ cup of unsalted butter, melted
- 1 egg and 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate
Tools
- Mixing bowl
- Sifter
- Baking sheet
- Electric whisk
Recipe (In Pictures)
Preparation time: 20 minutes; Cooking time: 20 minutes
Makes 16 cookies
Step 1: Sift flour, baking soda, salt and matcha powder together into a large bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the brown sugar, castor sugar and butter together. Once well-combined, add in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract and mix again.
Step 2: When the mixture becomes thick and creamy, add the dry ingredients into the mixture in portions, and whisk together until it becomes soft. Fold in the white chocolate chips and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Step 3: Grease your baking sheet or use parchment paper. After 15 minutes, remove batter from fridge and place batter onto the baking sheet, using a tablespoon.
Step 4: Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 165℃ and let cookies cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
When I try this recipe again, I’ll probably use less flour and the proper kind of white chocolate chips because mine didn’t melt properly. Nevertheless, these cookies were still true to its name, with a slight astringency from the matcha that was offset by the sweet white chocolate chips.
I think my favourite recipe out of all of the ones I tried was the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies; simple and as good as any store-bought cookies, although I might use slightly less sugar the next time. I hope this list of TikTok recipes has made the baking process more streamlined and user-friendly, so you can start baking no matter if you’re experienced or not!
If you give these recipes a go or if you have any others to suggest, let us know in the comments. You can also check out our Simple Stay-home Recipes series for savoury meals that you can make with ingredients you already have at home. Here’s to trying new things during this ‘Circuit Breaker’ period! Stay safe everyone.
