My Egyptian Hobby

I enjoy baking but I don't do much baking in Minnesota any longer.  If the two of us ate many baked goods we would probably shorten our lives by years and my trainer would be very unhappy with that much sugar consumption. So I look forward to my time in Egypt where I do a year's worth of baking in 3 months.  I've introduced the idea of cookies to many Egyptians, especially two of my neighbors.  Cookies are not totally unknown here but are not common. 


I readily find common baking ingredients like sugar, flour, butter and eggs and anything I think I may not find I bring with me, such as cream of tartar.  In past years I've not had a problem finding brown sugar but this year it's been a challenge to find it.  I may resort to the Martha Stewart substitution for it when my current supply runs out.


from left to right: baking powder, bicarbonate, sugar vanilla (In Egypt vanilla cannot contain alcohol)



I like making different kinds of cookies but the favorite is always chocolate chip cookies.  Hershey's milk chocolate chips can be found in any sizable market. Other flavors I can find include butterscotch and cinnamon, an uncommon flavor at home.  Semi-sweet chocolate chips can be found with some searching.




I have a delicious and easy recipe for making cookies with a cake mix. This is the favorite of the sixteen year old neighbor girl.


I brought this plate of cookies when I was invited to a pot luck ladies' lunch.


Tom has tried unsuccessfully to buy just two bananas. The Egyptian mind just cannot comprehend buying only two so we usually buy a kilo of the small bananas which is 10-12. We cannot eat them fast enough so I also bake banana bread (which I call banana cake) for friends and neighbors. It's a big hit.
Posted by Linda.