Baking made easy with Betty Crocker

I've never been blessed with the gift of culinary skills and my fiance and even my father has been nagging at the lack of it for years. You'll rarely catch me in the kitchen unless I'm making instant noodles or heating up some leftover food.

The two things I dislike about cooking is having to get a ton of ingredients beforehand and washing up the pots/pans used after all that slogging in the kitchen.

I do have a little confession to make though, I actually secretly wish that I am able to whip up great tasting dishes for my loved ones but I just don't know how and where to start. The last time I actually cook for my fiance was more than 4 years ago.. and the last time I baked was when I was in Secondary school for my childhood sweetheart when I was 16.

Yes, I've not baked in 12 years.

So, when my blog manager told me about this Betty Crocker collaboration, I was pretty worried that I will not be able to do it because I've not baked in so long and I didn't even have any proper baking tools!!! But my blog manager assured me that it is really simple as everything came in a box and ready to bake! And that I wouldn't need much skill at all, so I decided to give it a go.

& can you believe that I managed to make these in less than 2 hours?

I'm not kidding!!!

I started at around 10-ish pm and I was done around 12.15am? This is inclusive of stopping in between every step and taking pictures + washing up the mixing bowl.

These are all you'll need:

- A tray of eggs

- Vegetable oil/Butter

- Baking sheet

- Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

- Betty Crocker Fudge Brownie Mix

The other things I bought from daiso that isn't really must are:

- Measuring cup

- Large mixing bowl

- Pans for the brownie

*MT x Cookie!*

So let's start with the cookies!

1 egg + 1/2 cup butter or for my case, I replaced it with vegetable oil + Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip cookie mix.

I didn't have to measure how much flour or sugar or whatever it is you need to make cookies, thank god.

All I did was empty all the cookie mix into a large bowl.

Add in the vegetable oil.

Crack an egg & mix!

Mix everything out evenly and I'm almost done!

Up till this step, I only took 5 minutes. Haha. It is almost fail-proof man.

The finishing steps is to just scoop up a little of the cookie dough & place it on the baking tray.

& as you can see, the shapes doesn't matter, no need to be super neat or anything!

*Be sure to have a baking sheet above it so that it will not stick onto the tray (I learned it the hard way 12 years ago when I had to pry the stuck cookies off the tray with a fork..)

Put it into the oven and just let it bake!

You can tell that my oven is super small & dirty. HAHA all those pizza/bread crumbs, just ignore it okay? We only use it to heat up leftover pizza/bread.

& the best part? My oven doesn't have an option to set the temperature. It is forever on default which I don't even know how high it is. So at this point I was really thinking that my cookies are going to fail.

& after 10-15 minutes of staring at the oven like a hawk, the cookies edges started to get brown and also the fact that my kitchen smelt so good that I knew it was ready.

TADAH!!

This was all done in about 30 minutes?

The shape not very nice but I don't care!! They smell so good and I'm so proud that I managed to make my first batch of cookies in 12 years. & it was made possible with Betty Crocker's fuss-free method!

I wanted to give them to my family to try but I couldn't resist a first bite myself.

*Nods head in approval furiously*

It is a little softer in the center as compared to the edges and with really generous amount of chocolate chips in it. I really couldn't believe that I could make this. HAHA. I kept telling my mom to wait for my brownie because I felt pretty domesticated for the first time.

*MT x Brownie!*

& feeling pretty confident, I moved on to the next item.. brownie!!

All I needed was Fudge brownie mix + 2 eggs + 1/4 cup water + 2/3 cup vegetable oil.

Can it get any easier?!

Empty the brownie content into the mixing bowl + add the water & vegetable oil in.

& of course, the eggs.

Once it is all in.. just..

Stir and mix it all up!!

Until it look like this glorious bowl of chocolate.

So I got my baking pans ready to be filled!

Look at this beautiful sight..

Oh my god, this is so satisfying to look at.

Very therapeutic.

& I think I have natural talent because the entire bowl of brownie mix was just enough to fill both of the baking pans that I got.

So I stick both the pans into the oven and just set the timer for 30 minutes.

As I've mentioned earlier on, my oven sucks and doesn't allow me to set the temperature so I have to keep monitoring my brownie every 10 minutes.

To tell if your brownie is ready, just stick a fork or a toothpick down the center and it should come out clean!

Mine was done in around 40 minutes.

& you can tell I'm no domesticated bunny because I don't even own any oven mitts.

I just used damp cloth to pull out the hot tray.

Look at my masterpiece!!!

I tell you at this point in time, my room really smells like a chocolate factory.

As usual, I couldn't wait but to taste it first and it was even better than the cookies!!

I think even better than many other brownies that I've tried from cafes, and I'm not bias because I made it okay? I really meant it! The crust is crispy and the insides of the brownie is moist and rich.

You know what would make it even better?

A scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side!

This is my first time ever baking a brownie and I must say it is a huge success thanks to Betty Crocker's Fudge Brownie Mix! I would never get the measurements right and probably be too lazy to buy the ingredients separately. So I'm really pleased that with just 2 ingredients on hand (eggs + vegetable oil), even someone who is so bad in the kitchen can bake such delicious treats!

I sent these pictures to my fiance after baking and he made me promise to bake for him next week. HAHA. Now I can't find any more excuses to not bake for him because I kept telling him how easy it is and how my cookies tasted so yummy and how he definitely has to try the best brownie ever!!

Thank you Betty Crocker for igniting the baking genes in me that I never knew existed.

I really enjoyed the process of baking and it is pretty fun and relaxing. I can definitely see myself baking more often and now I can't wait to check out other selection of ready-mix baking items from Betty Crocker!

I think these inexpensive desserts from are really handy when you are having a party. I mean, instead of buying treats from bakery, why not bake them yourself at a fraction of the price? There are so many occasions for it, birthdays, anniversaries and even my bachelorette party! But of course, my bridesmaid must bake for me as I am the queen that evening. Haha. & best of all, you can personalize them too and it takes less than 30 minutes to bake the cookies and less than 45 minutes to bake the brownie.

I am pretty upset at myself for not trying out these recipes earlier on. I've always seen them on the shelves at supermarkets under the "Baking goods" section but I always thought it would be too difficult to bake and I just walked away.

So if you are like me, someone who has never baked in her life or in years and have minimal baking tools at home, don't say I never share ah. Go and try out these baking methods from Betty Crocker.

& you can thank me later.

:)