I’m back! Sorry for the hiatus, it’s been a pretty busy time lately and a well-needed break seeing my family at home in Newcastle. Of the recipes in-game there’s two main categories I haven’t tackled yet, those being the baked goods and fish dishes. I’m breaking into the former this week (and no prizes for guessing what kind of recipe I’m making next!). I was lucky enough to be included, along with Everett of Stardew Valley Recipes, in a really lovely article by Jay Castello over at PC Gamer recently – Jay makes Everett’s recipe for cookies in the piece, and I figured I should join in too!

All the game calls for is flour, egg and sugar and despite the in-game artwork looking tantalisingly like it has delicious chocolate chips in, I decided to stick closer to the ingredients and make spiced snickerdoodles – they’re a great choice for something you can make with ingredients you already have around, plus since my partner’s bringing some to the picket line for his striking university tutors a little hit of cinnamon probably won’t go amiss in the unseasonally cold weather. ALSO, since I love snickerdoodles so much, there’s a recipe for a vegan version from my archives included at the bottom of the post.

I’m anticipating this being the simplest baked recipe in the game (aside from maybe the chocolate cake – I have a couple almost-foolproof recipes that I’m looking forward to sharing) which is a good starting point, since I think baking can be intimidating without much prior experience. It requires a lot of specialised equipment compared to other methods of cooking, and expectations can be pretty high-stakes what with all the highly-Instagrammable macarons and Bake Off baked Alaska trauma out there. I definitely don’t make the prettiest baked goods but it is easy and satisfying to bake something you can enjoy, and enjoy sharing, at home – and this recipe doesn’t need anything more specialised than a baking sheet and paper.

Continue reading “#6 – Cookies” →