While in lockdown lots of people are trying new recipes in the kitchen. These are a selection of really quick, easy and pretty fool-proof sweet treats you can make in just a couple of minutes even if you’ve never cooked before. 

BROWN BUTTER RICE KRISPIE™ TREATS 

Makes about 24 2-inch squares 

110g unsalted butter, plus extra for the pan 

280 g marshmallows 

1/4 teaspoon sea salt 

6.5 cups (270 grams) Rice Krispies™cereal  

You can also add in chocolate chips or nuts, etc if you want to, but then you’ll need to cut back a bit on the amount of Rice Krispies™ you add to the marshmallow butter mixture. 

Butter an 8x12 inch cake pan with 2-inch sides. Line pan with parchment paper. 

In a large pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. It will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. Stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do. Make sure to keep an eye on the pot because the butter will turn from golden to burnt very quickly. 

As soon as the butter has browned, turn the heat off and stir in the marshmallows. The heat from the pan should be enough to melt them, but if it is not, turn the heat back on as low as it can go and stir until the marshmallows are smooth. 

Remove the pot from the stove and stir in the salt and cereal together. Quickly spread with a spatula into the prepared pan because the mixture stiffens up very quickly. 

Once cooled, cut up into squares and enjoy! 

TATE’s CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES 

These are my favourite chocolate chip cookies from a bakery in New York.  You can buy them in supermarkets now in the US but they don’t sell them here in England so we tried to make them ourselves at home. They’re super crispy and yummy. 

Makes approximately 40 cookies. 

480g plain flour 

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 

1 teaspoon salt 

225g salted butter, at room temperature 

165g granulated sugar 

165g dark brown sugar, firmly packed 

1 teaspoon water 

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

2 large eggs, beaten 

300g semisweet (46%+) chocolate chips (or you can coarsely chop chocolate bars as well)  

Preheat the oven to 180º. 

Whisk the flour, soda and salt together in a bowl. 

In another large bowl, mix the butter with a wooden spoon to lighten it a bit and then mix in the sugars. 

Add the water, vanilla and eggs to the butter mixture. 

Stir in the flour mixture until just combined and then fold in the chocolate chips. 

Using two soup spoons, drop the cookies 2″ apart onto two baking trays lined with parchment paper. 

Bake for 8 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway after 4 minutes. 

Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool, and repeat the process with the rest of the batter. 

BEST CINNAMON BUNS, EVER 

These are definitely a bit harder to make than the previous two recipes but if you’re feeling confident and you’re lucky enough to have flour and yeast at home, it’s a big treat for the whole family. We tried a few different recipes and ate a lot of cinnamon buns while we’ve been isolating at home and these are my favourite. The recipe is adapted from a website called “Ambitious Kitchen”. They’re not hard to make, they just take a while because of all of the resting/rising time. 

Makes 12 cinnamon rolls. 

For the dough: 

¾cupwarm milk (whole milk or semi-skimmed)(~43ºc) 

2 ¼tspsactive yeast (or quick yeast works as well) 

55ggranulated sugar 

1 egg plus 1 egg yolk, room temperature 

60g unsalted butter, melted 

3cupsplain flour  

3/4tspsalt 

For the filling: 

2/3cuplight brown sugar 

1 ½tbspsground cinnamon 

¼cupunsalted butter, softened 

For the cream cheese frosting: 

113gsoft cream cheese 

50g unsalted butter, softened 

120g icing sugar 

½tspvanilla extract 

Warm milk to around 43ºc by placing milk in a microwave safe bowl and microwaving it for 40-45 seconds. It should be like warm bath water. Transfer warm milk to the bowl of an electric mixer and sprinkle yeast on top. Wait a few minutes to let the yeast foam up.  If the yeast doesn’t foam, that means the yeast is ‘dead’ so you’ll need to get new yeast or else your buns won’t rise and you’ll be very unhappy that you went through all of the effort and ended up with flat buns. If the yeast is foamy, add in sugar, egg, egg yolk and melted butter. Mix until well combined. Next stir in flour and salt with a wooden spoon until a dough begins to form. 

Place dough hook on stand mixer and knead dough on medium speed for 8 minutes. Dough should form into a nice ball and be slightly sticky. If it's too sticky (meaning it's sticking to the bottom of the mixer, add in 2 tablespoons more bread flour.) If you don’t want to use an electric mixer, you can use your hands to knead the dough for 8-10 minutes on a well-floured surface. 

Transfer dough ball to a well-oiled bowl, cover with cling film and a warm tea towel. Allow dough to rise in a warm place for 1 hour to 1 ½ hours, or until doubled in size. This may take more or less time depending on how warm your house is. 

In a small bowl, cream together the brown sugar, cinnamon and butter.  

After dough has doubled in size, transfer it to a well-floured surface and roll out into a 14x9 inch rectangle. Spread the butter sugar cinnamon mixture over dough, leaving a ¼ inch margin at the far side of the dough. 

Now roll the dough up, starting from the 14-inch side and place seam side down making sure to seal the edges of the dough as best you can.  

Cut into 1 inch sections with a serrated knife. You should get about 12 large pieces. 

Place cinnamon rolls in a greased 9X12 inch baking pan or large round cake pan. (I also recommend lining the pan with parchment paper as well, in case any of the filling ends up leaking out.) Cover with plastic wrap and a warm towel and let rise again for 30-45 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 180ºc. Remove cling film and tea towel and bake cinnamon rolls for 20-25 minutes or until just slightly golden brown on the edges. You want to underbake them a little so they stay soft in the middle. They should be just slightly golden brown. Allow them to cool for 5-10 minutes before frosting.  

To make the frosting:In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Spread over cinnamon rolls and serve immediately. 

Good luck and happy baking!