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Addicted to Baking – My Favorite Essay on Baking as a Hobby

If you’re like me, you are probably obsessed with baking, to the point that it’s your every-day hobby.

Below is an essay example about “Baking as my hobby” written by Lauren Bradshaw from CustomWritings – personalized essay writing service established in 2008. You can learn from this sample and write perfect college essays.

As the only boy with five sisters, it wasn’t common that I was attracted to the kitchen. I didn’t particularly enjoy cooking except for when I am doing the steaks with my dad. However, there is just one part of cooking that I am attracted to, baking .

Growing up, I used to love cakes. I would cry for hours unending until my parents got me a piece. I was so addicted to chocolate cake, and my mum used it against me. She would tell me to do the dishes, fold my laundry, or even water the garden for a piece of chocolate cake.

I would gladly do all that and more to get my piece, and my mum is great at baking. Her cake is always near perfect, and she knows how to spice them up with fruits and other sweet additives. Watching her bake in the kitchen at special occasions like Christmas, birthdays and Thanksgiving brought me so much happiness. While some of my sisters didn’t like the idea of baking, I was glued to my mum whenever she baked and asked her many questions about the process then, although some of them were annoying.

As a little boy of seven, I could attempt to bake a simple carrot cake. My love for the chocolate was, and carrot cake became my new cool. On my 10th year, I baked my first cheesecake for the family and got plenty of positive feedback from my mum, sisters, and my dad too.

As I grew, my interest in cake decorations intensified. I would go to parties and carefully observe the decorations on the cakes. Then, I would come home and ask my mum what she thought about it. I got my first camera and took tons of cake pictures I found interesting. As my curiosity grew, my family adopted the idea that I was the chief baker. I took up that position with so much joy as I looked forward to pleasing them. I baked all kinds of easy cakes for deserts. I bought cookbooks and learned new ways to make a great cake without fuss.

From cakes to pies and delicious bread, my love for baking grew with me to my teens until I had to get to college. My mum was crying because since I took over the baking responsibility, she has been free and had not baked for years. My family was sad, but I was devastated because I may have to focus on my studies and lose my passion for baking.

Dad didn’t want me to go into the confectionary business without at least getting a professional certificate, and I correctly understood his plight. I got to college, and my first year was hectic, so I had no time for my hobbies, especially baking. I made new friends and found some that lived around. Made a few visits and found out one of my close friends lives with his family and they were open to my visits.

One day we were all having dinner, and I talked about my baking expertise and how I missed doing what I love most. The family suggested I come around and bake for an upcoming birthday. I was so excited to get another opportunity to display my talent.  I showed up very early on the day before the celebration and got down to work with the help of my friend’s family. They were skeptical at first because I was a boy, but when we were halfway into the process, they were amazed at my knowledge and skills on baking. 

The cake turned out better than they expected, to my amazement. I did a unique decoration, and the celebrant never stopped thanking me. I got a few recommendations and did other side baking gigs while in college, and I was happy with the chance I got.

Baking was my way of relaxing. I loved the smile and people’s faces when they taste my cake or pie, and it gave me a strong push to come up with something better. I loved the compliments I get from mum and dad anytime I bake something extraordinary. They were proud I found something I love and could keep to it. 

Each time I bake, I feel a spark of joy in my soul. It felt like I was born to mix flour and make magic from it. I have other hobbies, no doubt, but none can compare to my love for baking. 

At the end of college, I took to another profession but will always bake whenever I got the chance. Baking will always be special to me, and I hope to pass down my skills to my children.

5 thoughts on “ Addicted to Baking – My Favorite Essay on Baking as a Hobby ”

HEY THATS REALLY NICE AND U ARE SAME AS ME I LOVE BAKING

love the essay your love of baking and mine is same

I love your story, appreciate you sharing it.

Yeah! The essay was wonderful, I’m fond of baking and your amazing essay.

BAKING IS THE BEST!!!

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Essay On baking is my hobby

Baking has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. From mixing ingredients to seeing the final product come out of the oven, the entire process of baking gives me a sense of joy and satisfaction. As someone who has been baking for years, I have developed an in-depth knowledge of the art and science of baking. In this essay, I will discuss the different aspects of baking that make it such a rewarding and enjoyable hobby.

The Science of Baking

Baking is not just about mixing ingredients together and hoping for the best. There is a lot of science involved in the process. One of the most important aspects of baking is understanding the chemical reactions that take place when you mix ingredients together. For example, when you mix baking soda and an acidic ingredient such as vinegar or lemon juice, you create carbon dioxide gas, which causes the dough or batter to rise.

Another important factor in baking is temperature. Different baked goods require different temperatures to cook properly. For example, cakes typically bake at a lower temperature than bread, and cookies require a higher temperature than either of them. Understanding these temperature variations is essential to achieving the desired results.

In addition to temperature, humidity can also affect the outcome of baked goods. High humidity can cause baked goods to become soggy, while low humidity can cause them to become dry and crumbly. This is why it is important to take the weather into consideration when baking.

The Art of Baking

While baking may involve science, there is also an art to it. This is particularly true when it comes to decorating baked goods. Decorating cakes, cookies, and other baked goods is a creative process that allows you to express yourself and showcase your artistic talents. Whether it is piping frosting onto a cake, creating intricate designs on a cookie, or simply sprinkling sugar or cinnamon on top of a muffin, decorating baked goods is an enjoyable and satisfying process.

The Importance of Quality Ingredients

One of the keys to successful baking is using high-quality ingredients. Whether it is flour, sugar, eggs, or butter, using the best ingredients you can afford will always yield the best results. For example, using high-quality butter in your baked goods will result in a better flavor and texture than using a cheaper, lower-quality butter. Similarly, using fresh eggs will result in better binding and rising in your baked goods.

In addition to using high-quality ingredients, it is also important to measure them accurately. Baking is not an exact science, but precise measurements are crucial for achieving consistent results. Using measuring cups and spoons and following recipes carefully is essential to ensuring that your baked goods turn out as intended.

The Joy of Sharing Baked Goods

Baking is not just about creating delicious treats for yourself – it is also about sharing them with others. Sharing baked goods with friends, family, and coworkers can be a rewarding experience that brings joy to everyone involved. Whether it is bringing cookies to a potluck or baking a cake for a friend’s birthday, the act of sharing your baked goods can be a meaningful way to show your love and appreciation for others.

Baking is a hobby that is both enjoyable and rewarding. It requires both scientific knowledge and artistic skill, as well as a commitment to using high-quality ingredients and precise measurements. Whether you are a seasoned baker or just starting out, there is always something new to learn about the art and science of baking. And when you share your creations with others, you can spread joy and happiness through the simple act of sharing delicious treats. So the next time you feel like indulging in a little baking, don your apron, preheat your oven, and let your creativity and passion for baking take over.

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Five Reasons Why Baking Is A Great Hobby

Author: Contributed Post

The art of baking goes back many, many centuries and is one of the oldest cooking methods known to humans. Fast forward a few thousand years, to our DVRs and Netflix queues filled with episodes of new and exciting baking competitions. What makes this specific method of cooking just so special to billions of bakers around the world? Well, here are five reasons why baking is a great hobby. 

1. Baking Is Relaxing

Baking can be relaxing when you really get into the motions of the process. Chopping, whisking, mixing, and sifting are simple, integral movements to baking that become comfortable and cathartic. Plus, it gets your mind off whatever may be bothering you and allows you to work out your frustrations – try punching a lump of dough a few times to release some pent-up stress! Of course, there’s nothing to cheer up a mood quite like the smile on a friend’s face when they see you’ve baked something for them!

Let’s not forget how scent is the sense most closely related to emotion. Certain smells and flavors in the kitchen can evoke memories of moments locked deep inside your memory.  So next time you think of a leisurely break or find yourself bored, look up some baking tips for beginners and allow yourself to get into baking and experimenting in the kitchen. It can be a genuinely relaxing hobby if you take the time to learn.

2. Baking Increases Creativity

Baking is a simple creative process at first. Combine a few ingredients together, and — VOILA—a dish is created. However, as you become more advanced with baking, you’ll get to be more innovative with your bakes. You will start thinking of different ways to make your creations more aesthetically appealing. Baking pushes you to try out different combinations of ingredients to enhance the flavor of your pies, tarts, and cakes, or different styles of sculpting and weaving to achieve different lattice-patterned pies .

Let’s not forget that, sometimes, baking makes you think on your feet to overcome obstacles like a small budget, inconvenient baking conditions, missing tools, or limited ingredients. Baking truly gets your creative juices running.

3. Baking Can Become A Method For Income

Another reason why baking is an excellent hobby is that it can become a source of extra money. It’s always an advantage to have a hobby you can monetize if need be. Plus, with baking, you can take advantage of any number of different avenues from which you can earn an income: bake sales, school fairs, selling to local stores, setting up your own shop, or even teaching classes. If you have excellent baking skills and can make tasty treats, then give some thought to transforming your hobby into a means of additional income. 

4. Baking Can Be A Rather Inexpensive Hobby

Unlike some hobbies, you can definitely bake on a budget. You don’t need to buy expensive, fancy gadgets or shop for extravagant, rare ingredients. In fact, most of the time, baking uses common, handy equipment that usually already resides in kitchen drawers.

With items such as measuring cups, wooden spoons, a whisk, baking pans, and just a little bit of arm strength and determination, you can bake close to anything. A combination of these is just enough for the simplest baking projects. Plus, in most cases, you can use generic baking ingredients like flour, leaveners, sugar, salt, flavorings, dairy, and spices. 

5. Baking Allows You To Expand Your Palate  

The possibilities and options for recipes are endless, especially in these modern days of the internet and high-speed web connections from Xfinity Internet . The simple nature of baking itself offers results in so many varieties—you’ll never get bored! Plus, there are always new things to learn. Uncover better methods for baking common staples like bread, cookies, and muffins by experimenting with different ingredients and techniques. Try researching for a fruit pie you’ve never tasted before! Or, switch up your favorite dinner with an interesting baked rigatoni recipe —after all, baking doesn’t have to mean more desserts!

There are plenty of ideas out there—let’s explore them together. 🙂

Don’t forget to find me on Instagram so we can keep in touch, and be sure to tag me in any photos you post of your peanut butter cup eclairs! I love to see your works of culinary art.

Take care guys! Until next time…

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5 Benefits of Baking as a Hobby

This post is all about the benefits of baking as a hobby.

Baking is a beloved hobby for many people, and for a good reason. Not only is it a fun and delicious way to pass the time, but it also offers a wide range of benefits for both the mind and body.

From improving creativity and problem-solving skills to reducing stress and promoting relaxation, baking can be a powerful tool for personal growth and well-being.

Tap into your creative side.

One of the most obvious benefits of baking is that it allows us to tap into our creative side . Whether you’re an experienced baker or just starting out , there are endless possibilities for what you can create in the kitchen.

From experimenting with new flavor combinations to decorating cakes and cookies, baking is a great way to express your individuality and explore your artistic side.

Not only that, but it can also be a great way to bond with others, whether you’re teaching your kids to bake or hosting a baking party with friends.

Improve problem-solving skills.

Another benefit of baking is that it can help to improve problem-solving skills . Baking requires a great deal of precision and attention to detail, which can be a great way to exercise the mind.

From measuring ingredients to adjusting the oven temperature, baking requires careful planning and execution, which can help to improve focus and concentration.

And when things don’t go as planned, it’s a great opportunity to learn how to troubleshoot and think on your feet.

Reduce stress and promote relaxation.

Baking can also be a great way to reduce stress and promote relaxation . The act of mixing ingredients and kneading dough can be meditative and therapeutic, helping to calm the mind and ease tension in the body.

And the delicious aroma of freshly baked goods can be incredibly soothing, helping to create a sense of comfort and warmth in the home.

Improve self-esteem and boost confidence.

In addition, baking can be a great way to improve self-esteem and boost confidence . Whether you’re making a delicious cake for a special occasion or just whipping up a batch of cookies for a rainy day, the sense of accomplishment that comes from creating something delicious can be incredibly empowering.

And sharing your creations with others can be a great way to build relationships and connect with others.

Stay healthy.

Furthermore, baking can also be a great way to stay healthy . While it’s true that baking can be an indulgence, it doesn’t have to be.

There are plenty of healthy baking options available, such as using whole wheat flour, natural sweeteners, and substituting ingredients with healthier options. Baking your own goods can also help you control the amount of sugar, salt, and fats that go into your food.

Baking is a hobby that offers a wide range of benefits for both the mind and body. From improving creativity and problem-solving skills to reducing stress and promoting relaxation, baking is a powerful tool for personal growth and well-being.

So next time you’re feeling stressed, bored, or just looking for something to do, why not grab your apron and head to the kitchen? You might just be surprised by how much you enjoy it.

Rachel runs a small bakery & cafe in her town, alongside her high school best friends. She's a former teacher who pursued the creative industry and later on discovered her passion for baking and photography.

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How to Start Baking as a Hobby: 12 Simple Steps From a Pro

Want to turn your kitchen into a sweet haven of delightful treats? Learn the art of baking and discover the magic of creating scrumptious goodies from scratch! Whether you’re a complete beginner or an occasional baker, our 12 simple steps will guide you through the wonderful world of baking.

In this article, we’ll not only cover the essential steps to kickstart your baking adventure but also provide valuable tips to troubleshoot common baking issues. Wondering why your cookies sometimes come out too crispy or how to achieve that perfect rise in your bread? We have your back with solutions to combat these issues and more. So, roll up your sleeves, preheat that oven, and let’s embark on a delightful baking journey together!

Start with Basic Recipes

If you’re looking to embark on a delightful baking adventure, you’ve come to the right place! Baking can be an incredibly rewarding hobby that fills your home with tantalizing aromas and your taste buds with scrumptious treats. Whether you’re a seasoned chef or a complete kitchen novice, starting with basic recipes is the key to success.

But what exactly do we mean by “basic recipes”? Well, think of classics like chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, or fluffy vanilla cupcakes. These recipes are simple, yet they lay the foundation for more complex bakes down the road. Starting with the basics not only builds your confidence but also helps you understand the core techniques that underpin most baking endeavors.

Gather Essential Baking Tools

Now that you’re ready to take your first step into the sweet world of baking, it’s time to gather your essential tools. Don’t worry; you don’t need a fancy, fully-equipped kitchen to get started. With just a few basic items, you’ll be on your way to creating delectable goodies.

First and foremost, you’ll need measuring cups and spoons to ensure accurate quantities of ingredients. A sturdy mixing bowl and a reliable whisk will be your allies in creating smooth batters and doughs. Of course, don’t forget a baking pan or two to bring your creations to life in the oven.

Additionally, having a reliable oven thermometer is essential to guarantee your bakes come out perfectly cooked. Parchment paper or silicone baking mats are also great investments to prevent sticking and make cleanup a breeze.

Get Quality Ingredients

When it comes to baking, the quality of your ingredients can make all the difference in the final outcome. While it might be tempting to grab the first bag of flour or sugar you see at the store, taking a little extra time to select the best ingredients will elevate your bakes to a whole new level.

Always opt for fresh, high-quality ingredients. Use fresh eggs, real butter, and pure vanilla extract to infuse your creations with rich flavors. When it comes to flour, choose the appropriate type for the recipe; all-purpose flour is a good go-to for most baked goods. For special treats, consider using higher quality flours like cake flour for lighter results or whole wheat flour for added nuttiness and nutrition.

Don’t overlook the importance of leavening agents like baking powder and baking soda. These are crucial for making your baked goods rise and achieve that perfect texture. Check the expiration dates to ensure they’re still active.

Lastly, when it comes to fruits, nuts, and other add-ins, try to source fresh and ripe produce. Incorporating top-notch ingredients will undoubtedly impact the taste and appearance of your creations, making them truly impressive.

Follow Recipes Carefully

Baking is both an art and a science, and precision matters. When you’re just starting, following recipes carefully is essential to understand the techniques and proportions involved in creating the perfect bake. Even seasoned bakers find value in adhering to recipes, especially when trying out new treats.

Read the entire recipe before you begin, so you have a clear idea of the steps and timing involved. Measure your ingredients accurately using the correct measuring tools. A slight deviation in quantities can alter the final product significantly.

Pay close attention to the order in which ingredients are added. Creaming butter and sugar, for example, is a fundamental step that impacts the texture of many baked goods. Also, observe the mixing methods; some recipes may call for gently folding in delicate ingredients, while others require thorough mixing.

Once your batter or dough is ready, don’t rush into the baking process. Preheat your oven as specified, and be mindful of the baking time. Ovens can vary, so it’s a good idea to keep an eye on your bakes as they near completion.

Start with Simple Baked Goods

As you delve deeper into the world of baking, you’ll discover a vast array of tantalizing recipes to try. However, it’s essential to start with simple baked goods before you tackle more complex creations. Simple recipes not only build your confidence but also allow you to grasp basic baking techniques that form the foundation of more intricate treats.

Classic recipes like cookies, muffins, and quick breads are excellent starting points. They usually require minimal steps and ingredients, making them perfect for beginners. As you become more comfortable with these basics, you can gradually venture into cakes, pies, and more challenging pastries.

Remember, every skilled baker started with these same simple recipes, honing their skills one batch at a time. So, embrace the simplicity, and let the delightful aroma of freshly baked goods fill your home.

Practice Patience

Patience truly is a virtue in the world of baking. While the idea of enjoying warm cookies or bread fresh from the oven might be enticing, rushing the process can lead to disappointing results. Baking is a precise art that requires time and attention to detail.

Whether you’re kneading dough, waiting for yeast to activate, or letting your cake cool before frosting, patience is key at every stage. Rushing through steps or cutting corners can negatively impact the texture and taste of your creations.

Additionally, some baked goods actually improve with time. Certain cookies become chewier, and flavors meld together in cakes and breads as they sit. So, resist the temptation to devour everything immediately, and allow your bakes to reach their full potential.

Furthermore, as you progress in your baking journey, you’ll encounter mishaps and minor failures. Patience is what will keep you going. Learn from your mistakes, and don’t be disheartened. With every attempt, you’ll grow more skilled, and your treats will become more exceptional.

Experiment with Flavors

Now that you’ve mastered some basic recipes and honed your patience, it’s time to have some fun in the kitchen! Baking is not only about following recipes but also about unleashing your creativity. One of the most exciting aspects of baking as a hobby is experimenting with different flavors.

Start by adding various extracts like almond, lemon, or coconut to your batters and doughs. These little additions can transform a simple vanilla cake into a delightful tropical treat or a plain sugar cookie into a zesty citrus delight.

Don’t be afraid to mix in different spices and herbs too. Cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and fresh herbs like rosemary can add unique dimensions to your bakes. Get adventurous with combinations, and you might stumble upon your own signature flavor.

Fruits, nuts, and chocolate chips are excellent choices for enhancing your baked goods. Blueberries, raspberries, chopped walnuts, and dark chocolate chunks are just a few examples of ingredients that can take your treats to the next level.

Remember, baking is all about discovering what you love, so don’t be afraid to experiment. Some combinations may not turn out as expected, but that’s all part of the learning process. Enjoy the journey of flavors, and who knows, you might just invent the next baking sensation!

Learn Baking Techniques

While recipes provide the roadmap for your baking adventures, understanding fundamental baking techniques will open up a world of possibilities. These techniques are like secret weapons that empower you to tackle a wide range of recipes with confidence.

One of the most crucial techniques is properly measuring ingredients. Precision matters in baking, so invest in a good set of measuring cups and spoons. Learning the difference between measuring flour by spooning it into the cup and scooping it directly can make or break your baked goods.

Mastering the art of creaming butter and sugar together is another valuable technique. This process creates air pockets that contribute to the light and fluffy texture of cakes and cookies. Similarly, knowing how to properly knead dough can result in soft and tender bread.

Understanding the role of leavening agents, such as baking powder and baking soda, is essential for achieving the right amount of rise in your bakes. Too little or too much can lead to flat or overly puffy results.

Additionally, learning about temperatures and baking times for different recipes will help you avoid overcooked or undercooked treats. Keep an eye on your oven, and make any necessary adjustments based on your specific baking environment.

Join Baking Communities

Baking is a joy best shared with others who share the same passion. That’s where baking communities come in! Whether online or in your local area, joining baking communities can be a fantastic way to connect with like-minded individuals, exchange ideas, and gain valuable insights.

Social media platforms, forums, and baking websites host thriving baking communities where enthusiasts from all over the world come together to share their experiences. These communities often offer a wealth of knowledge, from troubleshooting baking issues to discovering exciting new recipes.

Participating in baking challenges and contests within these communities can be a fun way to challenge yourself and showcase your skills. Not only will you receive feedback and encouragement, but you’ll also be inspired by the creative bakes of others.

If you prefer face-to-face interactions, consider joining local baking clubs or workshops. These gatherings offer the opportunity to learn from experienced bakers, make new friends, and even enjoy tasting sessions of various treats.

Being part of a baking community creates a sense of belonging and camaraderie. You’ll find that sharing your baking triumphs and occasional mishaps with others who truly understand the joys and challenges of baking can be incredibly rewarding.

Document Your Bakes

As you embark on your baking journey and experiment with flavors and techniques, it’s essential to document your bakes. Keeping a record of your creations serves multiple purposes and adds a personal touch to your baking hobby.

A simple notebook or a digital baking journal can be your best baking companion. Note down the date, the recipe you used, any modifications you made, and the outcome of your bake. Did the cookies turn out chewy? Was the cake moist and fluffy? These details will help you understand what worked and what didn’t, ensuring you can replicate successful bakes in the future.

Take photos of your creations before indulging in their deliciousness. Not only is this a fun way to show off your baking prowess, but it also allows you to visually track your progress over time. Compare your first batch of cookies to your latest ones, and you’ll likely see how far you’ve come!

In addition to recording your bakes for your own benefit, sharing them on social media or within baking communities can be a source of inspiration for others. Your successes might encourage someone else to try their hand at baking or explore new flavors and techniques.

Be Open to Mistakes

In the delightful world of baking, mistakes happen, even to the most seasoned bakers. It’s essential to remember that baking is as much about learning from mishaps as it is about celebrating successes. Embrace the occasional flop as an opportunity to grow and improve your skills.

When a recipe doesn’t turn out as expected, resist the urge to get frustrated or give up. Instead, take a deep breath and analyze what might have gone wrong. Did you measure the ingredients accurately? Was the oven temperature correct? Did you follow the recipe and techniques precisely?

Being open to mistakes allows you to troubleshoot and identify areas for improvement. Sometimes, a simple adjustment, like reducing the baking time or adjusting the amount of leavening agents, can make a significant difference.

Don’t hesitate to seek advice from fellow bakers in your baking communities. They may have encountered similar challenges and can offer valuable insights. Remember, even the most celebrated bakers have faced their fair share of baking blunders.

As you gain experience, you’ll find that mistakes become fewer and farther between. But even when they do happen, let them be a reminder that baking is an ever-evolving art, and there’s always something new to learn. So, embrace the journey, celebrate the victories, and learn from the mishaps!

Share Your Creations

Baking is not just about creating delicious treats; it’s also about sharing the joy and flavors with others. Whether it’s with family, friends, or your baking community, sharing your creations can be incredibly fulfilling.

After all your hard work and creativity, there’s something special about watching others savor the fruits of your labor. So, don’t hesitate to offer a batch of cookies to your neighbors or surprise your co-workers with a freshly baked cake.

Sharing your bakes is not only a gesture of kindness but also an excellent way to gather feedback. Everyone’s taste buds are unique, and receiving honest opinions will help you refine your recipes and tailor them to suit different palates.

Social media provides a fantastic platform to showcase your baking talent. Share your mouthwatering photos, along with the recipes and stories behind your creations. You might be surprised at how many people find inspiration in your bakes.

Final Thoughts

As we come to the end of our baking journey, let’s reflect on the joy and fulfillment that this delightful hobby brings. Baking is not just about creating tasty treats; it’s a beautiful blend of precision, creativity, and patience. Starting with basic recipes sets a solid foundation, while gathering essential tools ensures you’re well-equipped for your baking adventures.

Remember always to seek quality ingredients to infuse your bakes with the best flavors. Follow recipes carefully, for they hold the secrets to achieving the perfect texture and taste. Embrace the simplicity of baking as you start with straightforward recipes, and don’t forget to practice patience throughout the process.

As you grow more confident, experiment with flavors to add your personal touch to each creation. Learning baking techniques empowers you to tackle a diverse range of recipes. And don’t be disheartened by mistakes; they are stepping stones to improvement and growth.

Join baking communities to connect with fellow enthusiasts, share experiences, and discover new ideas. Document your bakes to track your progress and share your journey with others. And most importantly, be open to sharing your creations with loved ones or on social media, spreading happiness one delightful treat at a time.

May your baking adventures continue to bring warmth and sweetness to your life, and may the memories of your delicious creations stay in your heart forever. Happy baking!

Throughout our baking journey, many questions may have popped into your mind. Let’s take a moment to address some of the most common ones to ensure you have all the answers you need for a successful baking experience.

1. Why do my baked goods sometimes turn out dry or dense? Dry or dense baked goods can result from a few factors. One common reason is overmixing the batter or dough, which can lead to gluten development and tough textures. Additionally, using too much flour or not enough liquid can make your treats dry. Remember to measure your ingredients accurately and avoid overmixing to maintain a tender crumb.

2. How can I make my cookies chewy instead of crispy? For chewy cookies, use a higher ratio of brown sugar to white sugar in your recipe. Brown sugar contains more moisture, resulting in a chewier texture. Additionally, slightly underbake the cookies and allow them to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. This will keep them soft and chewy.

3. What can I do if my cake sinks in the middle? A cake sinking in the middle can be disheartening, but fear not! This issue is often caused by opening the oven door too early during baking or overbeating the batter. Be patient and avoid opening the oven until the cake is almost fully baked. To prevent overbeating, mix the batter just until the ingredients are combined.

4. Can I substitute ingredients in recipes? In some cases, you can substitute certain ingredients, but it’s essential to understand their role in the recipe. For example, you can substitute buttermilk with a mixture of milk and vinegar or lemon juice. However, substitutions may not always yield the exact same results, so proceed with caution and be prepared for slight variations in taste and texture.

5. How can I prevent my pie crust from becoming soggy? To prevent a soggy pie crust, consider blind baking it before adding the filling. Blind baking involves partially baking the crust before filling it. You can also brush the bottom of the crust with beaten egg white before filling it, creating a barrier that helps prevent moisture from seeping in.

6. What can I do if my bread doesn’t rise properly? Several factors can affect bread rising. Ensure that your yeast is fresh and active, and that the water used to activate it is at the right temperature (around 110°F/43°C). Let your dough rise in a warm, draft-free place, and give it enough time to double in size. If your kitchen is cold, consider placing the dough in a slightly warmed oven (turned off) to provide a cozy environment for rising.

7. How do I know when my cake is fully baked? To determine if a cake is fully baked, insert a toothpick or a skewer into the center. If it comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs clinging to it, the cake is done. Remember that baking times can vary depending on your oven, so keep an eye on your cake as it nears the end of the baking time.

8. How can I avoid my muffins from sticking to the pan? To prevent muffins from sticking to the pan, consider using muffin liners or greasing the pan thoroughly with cooking spray or butter. If you prefer not to use liners, gently run a butter knife around the edges of the muffins before removing them from the pan.

9. What should I do if my frosting is too runny or too stiff? Adjusting frosting consistency is easy. If it’s too runny, add more powdered sugar gradually until it thickens. If it’s too stiff, add a few drops of milk or water at a time until it reaches your desired consistency. Remember to mix well after each addition.

10. How can I store my baked goods to keep them fresh? To keep your baked goods fresh, store them in airtight containers or resealable bags at room temperature. Some treats, like bread and cake, can also be wrapped in plastic wrap or foil. For longer storage, you can freeze your baked goods; just make sure they are tightly wrapped to prevent freezer burn.

Hopefully, these FAQs have addressed some of the burning questions you may have had during your baking journey. Remember, baking is both an art and a science, and it’s perfectly normal to encounter a few bumps along the way. Keep experimenting, learning, and sharing your delectable creations with the world. Happy baking!

5 Items That Will Take Your Baking Skills to the Next Level

Susan Porter

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How To Start Baking As A Hobby: 11 Steps (Updated)

Last Updated on March 22, 2024 by Lori Walker

“Embracing the world of baking can provide a satisfying and creative hobby. The pandemic has sparked a rising interest in baking and cooking among people.”

According to a survey from Statista in 2022, almost 40% of US respondents still have this hobby, along with cooking, as their top choice.

So, how to start baking as a hobby? Here’s our quick beginner’s guide. 

Table of Contents

11 Steps To Start Baking As A Hobby (Beginner’s Guide)

1. start with basic baking equipment.

As a beginner, you may be wondering about the cost of buying the tools and utensils needed. But in reality, you don’t have to spend so much money at once.

Of course, high-quality ovens are expensive, but you won’t have to spend too much after having that. You can start with basic tools like a mixing bowl, wooden spoon, whisk, measuring cups or spoons, and cake pans.

Find out if it is okay to use a baking pan on the stove here .

2. Prepare All The Ingredients 

The next thing to do after preparing the tools is to start gathering all the ingredients mentioned in the recipe. Baking always demands accuracy, and missing a single ingredient will create a failed product.

Carefully read your recipe and ensure that you have sufficient quantities for wet and dry ingredients. You don’t want to miss an ingredient after starting the mixing process.

Find out if you can bake goodies using I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter here .

3. Always Weigh The Ingredients 

It is more accurate to weigh ingredients such as sugar, salt, baking powder, and flour than use cups or other volume measurements.

“Measure baking powder precisely, as too much can create a bitter or dry result, or cause the cake to rise up and fall back down, making an unsightly dip in the surface.” – Mary Berry, Chef and Food Writer

Inaccuracy in baking often leads to a dense or small cake with a cracked top.

4. Start With Simple Recipes

As a beginner, starting with simple recipes is the best option. You may want to be creative immediately, but you must familiarize yourself with the tools and ingredients first to understand the basics of baking. 

For instance, baking cookies are simple, delicious, and versatile, making them a famous holiday food [ 1 ] . You can also choose simple recipes like Banana Muffins, Red Velvet Cupcakes, or Fudgy Brownies.

Find out whether the cupcakes should be flat or dome-shaped here .

5. Learn the Art of Cracking Eggs

Although egg is one of the wet ingredients, you will have to crack it in a separate bowl. It will help you determine if the egg is fresh and has no spots. 

Mixing a spoilt egg into a prepared cake batter will ruin the entire batch. It can also prevent eggshells from adding to the mix. 

6. Separate the Wet and Dry Ingredients

Separate the wet and dry ingredients needed in your recipe. Mix wet ingredients like water, milk, butter or oil, yogurt, sour cream, or vanilla extract in one bowl. 

In another container, combine the dry ingredients, such as all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, yeast, or baking powder, until they fully combine. 

This step aims to minimize the formation of gluten strands by cutting down the stirring time of the flour after it becomes wet.

Find out if vanilla and lemon blend together here .

7. Preheat The Oven

Pre-heating allows the oven to reach its peak temperature so you can bake the batter within the specified time. However, some people skip this part and only turn on the oven right before placing the mix.

The problem is that when the oven reaches the right temperature, the raising ability of the yeast and the tension formed during the shaping process has already expired [ 2 ] .

You might also like to read about the difference between a water bath and a steam bath here .

8. Combine The Ingredients

After ensuring the eggs are fresh, combine them with the wet ingredients in a single bowl. Incorporate a healthy ingredient like a zero-calorie sweetener into your dry mixture. 

Then create a hole in the middle of the dry mix and pour the wet ingredients with eggs. Mix until everything blends well.

Read: 4 Simple Steps To Make Oil-Based Food Coloring

9. Oven Time

You are now almost done with your baking process. At this point, make sure to use some butter or non-stick spray to grease your baking pans before placing the dough.

Baking recipes usually state approximate oven time values due to reasons like temperature and equipment differences. Keep checking your cake batter to avoid overcooking or undercooking it.

Read: How Long Does It Take To Bake Jumbo Cupcakes?

10. Cool It Down

Cooling down the cake or cupcake is an important step that beginners overlook. You can not simply decorate while the cake is still warm because it will mold itself and become lopsided.

Wrap the cake layers with cling film and leave it in the refrigerator for at least two hours.

Read: How Much Time Does It Take For An Oven To Cool Down?

11. Decorate

The last and most fun part is the decorating process. You can get creative and be imaginative in many ways with decorating your baked goods.

After chilling the cake, you can add icing, glaze, or whipped cream and create a drip or naked cake. You can also put sprinkles, fruits, cookie crumbles, and toasted nuts on top for a more exciting presentation.

Find out how you can prevent the sprinkles from bleeding here .

Tips Every Beginner Baker Should Master

• Prepare the right equipment and familiarize yourself with the necessary tools.
• Don’t skip pre-heating the oven as the recipe indicates.
• Prep baking pans, ensuring you grease them before placing them in the oven. If you skip this step, your dough might stick to the pan and ruin its form.
• Take note of using accurate measurements of both wet and dry ingredients.
• Follow the recipe instructions carefully. Although it is tempting to get creative immediately, as a beginner, avoid substituting ingredients or changing their order.
• Don’t rush baking time, and consistently check the food. Leave the baked goods inside the oven for at least five minutes and let them continue to cook using the remaining heat.
• Let it rest and cool completely. Don’t hold back, and be creative with your decoration.

Read: 10 Baking Recipes Using A Great Deal Of Butter

Can baking be a hobby?

Yes, you can start baking as a hobby, where you can be creative and decorate cakes and cupcakes based on your preference.

But what is the distinction between cooking and baking ?

Is baking easy to learn?

Yes, baking is easy to learn if you spend enough time and effort familiarizing yourself with the recipe and tools.

Is baking an expensive hobby?

No, baking is generally an inexpensive hobby if you’re only doing it for fun. However, it will cost you too much if you prefer luxurious tools and expensive ingredients. 

How long will it take to learn baking?

It will take at least a year to learn baking. It will also depend on how much time you spend practicing and learning the critical points. 

Let’s Sum It Up

Baking is a sweet and creative way of expressing yourself through making delicious baked goods. You can do it to make a congratulatory gift to a friend or a sweet treat during a family gathering.

Making your cakes can also help you save money rather than just buying already-made goods.

We hope you have a good baking start!

References:

• https://www.purewow.com/food/baking-recipes-beginners
• https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/jan/28/do-i-really-need-to-preheat-the-oven-kitchen-aide 
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• Steam Bath vs Water Bath In Baking: What’s the Difference? - March 23, 2024
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Related Posts:

• What is the Difference Between Cooking & Baking?…
• Steam Bath vs Water Bath In Baking: What's the Difference?
• How To Make Oil-Based Food Coloring: Full Guide
• Can You Use A Baking Pan On The Stove? Explained
• Do Vanilla & Lemon Go Together? Answered
• How To Prevent Sprinkles From Bleeding: Answered

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My Passion For Baking

I have always felt that “passion” is a really strong word. Who can actually feel something so strongly to do something? According to dictionary.com, there are quite a few different definitions for passion but the following definitions are that that I am discussing for my context, as quoted from dictionary.com, passion is:

“1.  any   powerful   or   compelling   emotion   or   feeling,   as   love   or   hate. 2.  a   strong   or   extravagant   fondness,   enthusiasm,   or   desire   for   anything”

Being untalented in most things, I am extremely surprised to know and feel when I actually developed a passion for baking.

Like many other things, I weren’t successful at all ( no shame 😔 ). I was really bad at sport, and the only things I can excel in is at academics. Even in my co-curricular activities ( CCA ), symphonic band then in secondary school, I definitely didn’t excel in being a tubist although my hard work and diligence were definitely recognized.

But here comes the difference . When I failed in baking, I feel an inner sense of motivation to improve myself and succeed. Even should I succeed, with my friends and family acknowledging my success, I want to continuously improve myself and never give up. 😊 I will always be thinking about what I to bake next, how am I going to improve my skill of baking.

Even with limited time now during my service as a full time National Serviceman ( NSF ), leading to me having a really short two days during the weekends to catch up with my hobby, I am going to use this time wisely to dedicate a huge portion of it into baking ( and now, this blog!) . This is simply because I don’t want to stop progressing. I can’t wait to keep improving and mastering this skill.

Time waits for no one!

Yet this passion might actually be harmful . It plunged me into a career dilemma in choosing between something unconventional, and something that I know will definitely provide me with security.

Today, I am going to post the two images that I captured of my acknowledged essay on my passion of baking in a writing competition.

This writing competition was organized by the Think, Write Learning Centre in conjunction with SG50 to provide a glimpse into the next chapter of Singapore’s narrative. It is a writing competition for the youth of Singaporeans with a five topic questions provided. The one I have selected is ” What do you value most? “.

I am definitely not the perfect writer, scoring a C in my General Paper in JC2 and also scoring a B during my O Levels. English was never my strongest subject.

However, when I actually write about something I enjoy, it suddenly comes naturally to me. I do not need any extra effort because I am writing from my heart.

In this essay, I have expressed my struggles deciding my future career path between the mainstream jobs in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers that are possibly more lucrative and secure and also baking (because of my passion).

Witnessing the rapid rise and fall ( turnover rates ) of cafes in neighbourhood areas that I frequented, I am extremely worried about my personal success should I choose the path of being a baker.

So why have I started this blog? Another reason is because this is my first step out of inertia. I have decided to give this career path a try even though I am an amateur baker who is only here because of my hobby. I am NOT  going to give up without even trying in the first place.

Without further ado, here is my essay ( two images ).

Being in a pragmatic society where many people choose to pursue conventional careers that can possibly secure a “better” future, I won’t deny that I am not influenced by the mindset. Starting out a baker can be very challenging.

Currently, having four years of university and one year in National Service still ahead of me, I have ample time to think. A compromise between passion and reality that I can think of is probably that I work a mainstream career ( that I still enjoy of course ), while keeping baking as a hobby. There are endless possibilities afterall and I will consider my choices thoroughly and decisively.

Also, for all the NSFs of Singapore out there or people having the same situation, don’t give up on your hobbies during NS! Take this time while you’re in NS and having not as much academic pressures ( unless you’re retaking examinations or taking up new tests ), to develop a new skill or a continue to nurture your hobby! Do what you enjoy and explore skills that you have always wanted to pick up! Just so that you know, I can always help with baking 😝.

I always believe that every step counts, and here is my first baby step. May more steps progress me towards a happier me! 😺

From, – Bakeomaniac, Javier!

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7 reasons baking should be your new hobby, it's beautiful and delicious, what's not to love.

I'm obsessed with baking. Just a little.

Some of my earliest memories involve helping my sister in the kitchen. Sometimes our creations turned out well, we made cookies, cupcakes, even Boston cream pie. Sometimes we weren't so successful, just ask anyone in our family about the chocolate souffle, or the chocolate scrambled eggs as that infamous dessert became known.

Since then I've learned to make all kinds of cookies, cakes, cupcakes and more. Baking has become my favorite hobby, and I think it could just become yours too.

1. You learn to be creative

I don't just mean creativity in the artistic sense, although that's coming up. I'm talking about ingenuity, working around obstacles. Baking can throw some interesting challenges at you. Missing ingredients, missing tools, inconvenient conditions. The other day I stuck my bread dough in the car because I needed somewhere warm to let it rise. I've had to substitute for ingredients that I didn't have or didn't really want. I've learned that pureed tofu can replace eggs in mousse or no bake pies. I've learned to make my own buttermilk with milk and lemon juice or vinegar. Learning to work around obstacles helps with more than just baking too.

2. You get used to burning yourself

If you bake often enough you are eventually going to bump into a hot pan or grab a pan you forgot was hot. My worst burn came from grabbing a pan using an oven mitt that had a hole in it. I was very proud of myself for not throwing the entire pan of cookies across the kitchen.

3. It's fairly inexpensive

Now, this depends on the kind of baking you do. If you buy every single fancy gadget and all kinds of specialty ingredients it's going to add up quick. But you can make great stuff without any of that. A mixing bowl, some measuring cups and spoons, a wooden spoon, a wire whisk, and a few pans are enough for most projects. You don't have to be fancy with your ingredients either. In almost every case you can use generic ingredients and nobody will be able to tell the difference (the biggest exception to this is chocolate, you need good quality chocolate).

4. It's delicious

How many other hobbies produce something both beautiful and delectable?

5. You can express yourself

Baking may not be a traditional form of art, but I believe it is an art nonetheless. You can make things that are elegant, whimsical, and just plain incredible. People have made life sized cars out of cake, and have you seen the way that melted chocolate flows down the side of a cake? Or the way buttercream swirls to form a rose? Beautiful.

6. It's relaxing

I don't think there's any better way to work out frustrations than by kneading out dough or mixing up batter. When I'm stressed out or anxious whipping up a batch of cupcakes or some cookies is the perfect remedy. It gets my mind off of whatever's bothering me and provides comfort food at the same time. I tend to bake a lot more during finals week...just ask my neighbors.

7. You can make other people happy

I think this is my favorite part of baking. I like it when people like the things I make. I like it when my mom brags about how my chocolate cupcakes are the best. Or how my dad asks for homemade pizza every week or tells me that this is my best creation yet. Particularly right after I moved into the dorm baking also helped me make new friends. I wandered up and down the halls handing out cookies and cupcakes. Without that tray of goodies in front of me I never would have had the guts to knock on the doors of total strangers, which is exactly what I did.

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19 lessons i'll never forget from growing up in a small town, there have been many lessons learned..

Small towns certainly have their pros and cons. Many people who grow up in small towns find themselves counting the days until they get to escape their roots and plant new ones in bigger, "better" places. And that's fine. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought those same thoughts before too. We all have, but they say it's important to remember where you came from. When I think about where I come from, I can't help having an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for my roots. Being from a small town has taught me so many important lessons that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

1. The importance of traditions.

Sometimes traditions seem like a silly thing, but the fact of it is that it's part of who you are. You grew up this way and, more than likely, so did your parents. It is something that is part of your family history and that is more important than anything.

2. How to be thankful for family and friends.

No matter how many times they get on your nerves or make you mad, they are the ones who will always be there and you should never take that for granted.

3. How to give back.

When tragedy strikes in a small town, everyone feels obligated to help out because, whether directly or indirectly, it affects you too. It is easy in a bigger city to be able to disconnect from certain problems. But in a small town those problems affect everyone.

4. What the word "community" really means.

Along the same lines as #3, everyone is always ready and willing to lend a helping hand when you need one in a small town and to me that is the true meaning of community. It's working together to build a better atmosphere, being there to raise each other up, build each other up, and pick each other up when someone is in need. A small town community is full of endless support whether it be after a tragedy or at a hometown sports game. Everyone shows up to show their support.

5. That it isn't about the destination, but the journey.

People say this to others all the time, but it takes on a whole new meaning in a small town. It is true that life is about the journey, but when you're from a small town, you know it's about the journey because the journey probably takes longer than you spend at the destination. Everything is so far away that it is totally normal to spend a couple hours in the car on your way to some form of entertainment. And most of the time, you're gonna have as many, if not more, memories and laughs on the journey than at the destination.

6. The consequences of making bad choices.

Word travels fast in a small town, so don't think you're gonna get away with anything. In fact, your parents probably know what you did before you even have a chance to get home and tell them. And forget about being scared of what your teacher, principle, or other authority figure is going to do, you're more afraid of what your parents are gonna do when you get home.

7. To trust people, until you have a reason not to.

Everyone deserves a chance. Most people don't have ill-intentions and you can't live your life guarding against every one else just because a few people in your life have betrayed your trust.

8. To be welcoming and accepting of everyone.

While small towns are not always extremely diverse, they do contain people with a lot of different stories, struggle, and backgrounds. In a small town, it is pretty hard to exclude anyone because of who they are or what they come from because there aren't many people to choose from. A small town teaches you that just because someone isn't the same as you, doesn't mean you can't be great friends.

9. How to be my own, individual person.

In a small town, you learn that it's okay to be who you are and do your own thing. You learn that confidence isn't how beautiful you are or how much money you have, it's who you are on the inside.

10. How to work for what I want.

Nothing comes easy in life. They always say "gardens don't grow overnight" and if you're from a small town you know this both figuratively and literally. You certainly know gardens don't grow overnight because you've worked in a garden or two. But you also know that to get to the place you want to be in life it takes work and effort. It doesn't just happen because you want it to.

11. How to be great at giving directions.

If you're from a small town, you know that you will probably only meet a handful of people in your life who ACTUALLY know where your town is. And forget about the people who accidentally enter into your town because of google maps. You've gotten really good at giving them directions right back to the interstate.

12. How to be humble.

My small town has definitely taught me how to be humble. It isn't always about you, and anyone who grows up in a small town knows that. Everyone gets their moment in the spotlight, and since there's so few of us, we're probably best friends with everyone so we are as excited when they get their moment of fame as we are when we get ours.

13. To be well-rounded.

Going to a small town high school definitely made me well-rounded. There isn't enough kids in the school to fill up all the clubs and sports teams individually so be ready to be a part of them all.

14. How to be great at conflict resolution.

In a small town, good luck holding a grudge. In a bigger city you can just avoid a person you don't like or who you've had problems with. But not in a small town. You better resolve the issue fast because you're bound to see them at least 5 times a week.

15. The beauty of getting outside and exploring.

One of my favorite things about growing up in a rural area was being able to go outside and go exploring and not have to worry about being in danger. There is nothing more exciting then finding a new place somewhere in town or in the woods and just spending time there enjoying the natural beauty around you.

16. To be prepared for anything.

You never know what may happen. If you get a flat tire, you better know how to change it yourself because you never know if you will be able to get ahold of someone else to come fix it. Mechanics might be too busy , or more than likely you won't even have enough cell service to call one.

17. That you don't always have to do it alone.

It's okay to ask for help. One thing I realized when I moved away from my town for college, was how much my town has taught me that I could ask for help is I needed it. I got into a couple situations outside of my town where I couldn't find anyone to help me and found myself thinking, if I was in my town there would be tons of people ready to help me. And even though I couldn't find anyone to help, you better believe I wasn't afraid to ask.

18. How to be creative.

When you're at least an hour away from normal forms of entertainment such as movie theaters and malls, you learn to get real creative in entertaining yourself. Whether it be a night looking at the stars in the bed of a pickup truck or having a movie marathon in a blanket fort at home, you know how to make your own good time.

19. To brush off gossip.

It's all about knowing the person you are and not letting others influence your opinion of yourself. In small towns, there is plenty of gossip. But as long as you know who you really are, it will always blow over.

Grateful Beyond Words: A Letter to My Inspiration

I have never been so thankful to know you..

I can't say "thank you" enough to express how grateful I am for you coming into my life. You have made such a huge impact on my life. I would not be the person I am today without you and I know that you will keep inspiring me to become an even better version of myself.

You have taught me that you don't always have to strong. You are allowed to break down as long as you pick yourself back up and keep moving forward. When life had you at your worst moments, you allowed your friends to be there for you and to help you. You let them in and they helped pick you up. Even in your darkest hour you showed so much strength. I know that you don't believe in yourself as much as you should but you are unbelievably strong and capable of anything you set your mind to.

Your passion to make a difference in the world is unbelievable. You put your heart and soul into your endeavors and surpass any personal goal you could have set. Watching you do what you love and watching you make a difference in the lives of others is an incredible experience. The way your face lights up when you finally realize what you have accomplished is breathtaking and I hope that one day I can have just as much passion you have.

SEE MORE: A Letter To My Best Friend On Her Birthday

The love you have for your family is outstanding. Watching you interact with loved ones just makes me smile . You are so comfortable and you are yourself. I see the way you smile when you are around family and I wish I could see you smile like this everyday. You love with all your heart and this quality is something I wished I possessed.

You inspire me to be the best version of myself. I look up to you. I feel that more people should strive to have the strength and passion that you exemplify in everyday life.You may be stubborn at points but when you really need help you let others in, which shows strength in itself. I have never been more proud to know someone and to call someone my role model. You have taught me so many things and I want to thank you. Thank you for inspiring me in life. Thank you for making me want to be a better person.

Waitlisted for a College Class? Here's What to Do!

Dealing with the inevitable realities of college life..

Course registration at college can be a big hassle and is almost never talked about. Classes you want to take fill up before you get a chance to register. You might change your mind about a class you want to take and must struggle to find another class to fit in the same time period. You also have to make sure no classes clash by time. Like I said, it's a big hassle.

This semester, I was waitlisted for two classes. Most people in this situation, especially first years, freak out because they don't know what to do. Here is what you should do when this happens.

Don't freak out

This is a rule you should continue to follow no matter what you do in life, but is especially helpful in this situation.

Email the professor

Around this time, professors are getting flooded with requests from students wanting to get into full classes. This doesn't mean you shouldn't burden them with your email; it means they are expecting interested students to email them. Send a short, concise message telling them that you are interested in the class and ask if there would be any chance for you to get in.

Attend the first class

Often, the advice professors will give you when they reply to your email is to attend the first class. The first class isn't the most important class in terms of what will be taught. However, attending the first class means you are serious about taking the course and aren't going to give up on it.

Keep attending class

Every student is in the same position as you are. They registered for more classes than they want to take and are "shopping." For the first couple of weeks, you can drop or add classes as you please, which means that classes that were once full will have spaces. If you keep attending class and keep up with assignments, odds are that you will have priority. Professors give preference to people who need the class for a major and then from higher to lower class year (senior to freshman).

Have a backup plan

For two weeks, or until I find out whether I get into my waitlisted class, I will be attending more than the usual number of classes. This is so that if I don't get into my waitlisted class, I won't have a credit shortage and I won't have to fall back in my backup class. Chances are that enough people will drop the class, especially if it is very difficult like computer science, and you will have a chance. In popular classes like art and psychology, odds are you probably won't get in, so prepare for that.

Remember that everything works out at the end

Life is full of surprises. So what if you didn't get into the class you wanted? Your life obviously has something else in store for you. It's your job to make sure you make the best out of what you have.

Navigating the Talking Stage: 21 Essential Questions to Ask for Connection

It's mandatory to have these conversations..

Whether you met your new love interest online , through mutual friends, or another way entirely, you'll definitely want to know what you're getting into. I mean, really, what's the point in entering a relationship with someone if you don't know whether or not you're compatible on a very basic level?

Consider these 21 questions to ask in the talking stage when getting to know that new guy or girl you just started talking to:

1. What do you do for a living?

What someone does for a living can tell a lot about who they are and what they're interested in! Their career reveals a lot more about them than just where they spend their time to make some money.

2. What's your favorite color?

OK, I get it, this seems like something you would ask a Kindergarten class, but I feel like it's always good to know someone's favorite color . You could always send them that Snapchat featuring you in that cute shirt you have that just so happens to be in their favorite color!

3. Do you have any siblings?

This one is actually super important because it's totally true that people grow up with different roles and responsibilities based on where they fall in the order. You can tell a lot about someone just based on this seemingly simple question.

4. What's your favorite television show?

OK, maybe this isn't a super important question, but you have to know ASAP if you can quote Michael Scott or not. If not, he probably isn't the one. Sorry, girl.

5. When is your birthday?

You can then proceed to do the thing that every girl does without admitting it and see how compatible your zodiacs are.

6. What's your biggest goal in life?

If you're like me, you have big goals that you want to reach someday, and you want a man behind you who also has big goals and understands what it's like to chase after a dream. If his biggest goal is to see how quickly he can binge-watch " Grey's Anatomy " on Netflix , you may want to move on.

7. If you had three wishes granted to you by a genie, what would they be?

This is a go-to for an insight into their personality. Based on how they answer, you can tell if they're goofy, serious, or somewhere in between.

8. What's your favorite childhood memory?

For some, this may be a hard question if it involves a family member or friend who has since passed away . For others, it may revolve around a tradition that no longer happens. The answers to this question are almost endless!

9. If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?

We all have parts of our lives and stories that we wish we could change. It's human nature to make mistakes. This question is a little bit more personal but can really build up the trust level.

10. Are you a cat or a dog person?

I mean, duh! If you're a dog person, and he is a cat person, it's not going to work out.

11. Do you believe in a religion or any sort of spiritual power?

Personally, I am a Christian, and as a result, I want to be with someone who shares those same values. I know some people will argue that this question is too much in the talking stage , but why go beyond the talking stage if your personal values will never line up?

12. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Even homebodies have a must visit place on their bucket list !

13. What is your ideal date night?

Hey, if you're going to go for it... go for it!

14. Who was/is your celebrity crush?

For me, it was hands-down Nick Jonas . This is always a fun question to ask!

15. What's a good way to cheer you up if you're having a bad day?

Let's be real, if you put a label on it, you're not going to see your significant other at their best 24/7.

16. Do you have any tattoos?

This can lead to some really good conversations, especially if they have a tattoo that has a lot of meaning to them!

17. Can you describe yourself in three words?

It's always interesting to see if how the person you're talking to views their personal traits lines ups with the vibes you're getting.

18. What makes you the most nervous in life?

This question can go multiple different directions, and it could also be a launching pad for other conversations.

19. What's the best gift you have ever received? 

Admittedly, I have asked this question to friends as well, but it's neat to see what people value.

20. What do you do to relax/have fun?

Work hard, play hard, right?

21. What are your priorities at this phase of your life?

This is always interesting because no matter how compatible your personalities may be, if one of you wants to be serious and the other is looking for something casual, it's just not going to work.

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Challah vs. Easter Bread: A Delicious Dilemma

Is there really such a difference in challah bread or easter bread.

Ever since I could remember, it was a treat to receive Easter Bread made by my grandmother. We would only have it once a year and the wait was excruciating. Now that my grandmother has gotten older, she has stopped baking a lot of her recipes that require a lot of hand usage--her traditional Italian baking means no machines. So for the past few years, I have missed enjoying my Easter Bread.

A few weeks ago, I was given a loaf of bread called Challah (pronounced like holla), and upon my first bite, I realized it tasted just like Easter Bread. It was so delicious that I just had to make some of my own, which I did.

The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients

2 tsp active dry or instant yeast 1 cup lukewarm water 4 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup white granulated sugar 2 tsp salt 2 large eggs 1 large egg yolk (reserve the white for the egg wash) 1/4 cup neutral-flavored vegetable oil

Instructions

• Combine yeast and a pinch of sugar in small bowl with the water and stir until you see a frothy layer across the top.
• Whisk together 4 cups of the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
• Make a well in the center of the flour and add in eggs, egg yolk, and oil. Whisk these together to form a slurry, pulling in a little flour from the sides of the bowl.
• Pour the yeast mixture over the egg slurry and mix until difficult to move.
• Turn out the dough onto a floured work surface and knead by hand for about 10 minutes. If the dough seems very sticky, add flour a teaspoon at a time until it feels tacky, but no longer like bubblegum. The dough has finished kneading when it is soft, smooth, and holds a ball-shape.
• Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place somewhere warm. Let the dough rise 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• Separate the dough into four pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a long rope roughly 1-inch thick and 16 inches long.
• Gather the ropes and squeeze them together at the very top. Braid the pieces in the pattern of over, under, and over again. Pinch the pieces together again at the bottom.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment and lift the loaf on top. Sprinkle the loaf with a little flour and drape it with a clean dishcloth. Place the pan somewhere warm and away from drafts and let it rise until puffed and pillowy, about an hour.
• Heat the oven to 350°F. Whisk the reserved egg white with a tablespoon of water and brush it all over the challah. Be sure to get in the cracks and down the sides of the loaf.
• Slide the challah on its baking sheet into the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through cooking. The challah is done when it is deeply browned.

I kept wondering how these two breads could be so similar in taste. So I decided to look up a recipe for Easter Bread to make a comparison. The two are almost exactly the same! These recipes are similar because they come from religious backgrounds. The Jewish Challah bread is based on kosher dietary laws. The Christian Easter Bread comes from the Jewish tradition but was modified over time because they did not follow kosher dietary laws.

A recipe for Easter bread is as follows:

2 tsp active dry or instant yeast 2/3 cup milk 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 cup white granulated sugar 2 tbs butter 2 large eggs 2 tbs melted butter 1 tsp salt

• In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, salt, and yeast; stir well. Combine milk and butter in a small saucepan; heat until milk is warm and butter is softened but not melted.
• Gradually add the milk and butter to the flour mixture; stirring constantly. Add two eggs and 1/2 cup flour; beat well. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.
• Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
• Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into two equal size rounds; cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll each round into a long roll about 36 inches long and 1 1/2 inches thick. Using the two long pieces of dough, form a loosely braided ring, leaving spaces for the five colored eggs. Seal the ends of the ring together and use your fingers to slide the eggs between the braids of dough.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place loaf on a buttered baking sheet and cover loosely with a damp towel. Place loaf in a warm place and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes. Brush risen loaf with melted butter.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Both of these recipes are really easy to make. While you might need to have a day set aside for this activity, you can do things while the dough is rising or in the oven. After only a few hours, you have a delicious loaf of bread that you made from scratch, so the time and effort is really worth it!

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5 Reasons to Start Baking as a Hobby

If you’re looking for a new hobby or just want something to do at home that is creative, relaxing, and gives you the chance to make something great, baking is a great option. Baking is a favourite hobby for many people whether they grew up helping out in the kitchen or became more interested in food later in life. If you want to try something new this year, here are some great reasons to give baking a try. 

Be More Creative

Baking at home gives you the chance to be more creative in your life in many ways. Not only can decorating the cakes and other baked goods that you create give you the chance to be more artistically creative, but you’ll also have the chance to be more creative in terms of working around obstacles. When you’re baking, you might often face some interesting challenges that you can use creative thinking to get around, like finding substitutes for ingredients that you don’t have at home or how to save money by making your own versions of things that you need. 

It’s Not Expensive

How much you spend on your baking hobby will depend on the type of baking that you do. Of course, there are plenty of great baking tools and gadgets to make your life easier that you can find at this cook shop Hitchin ; however, the fact is that you certainly don’t need to spend a lot of money to get started with baking and most people can get into it using basic ingredients and tools that they already have in their kitchen. To get started, all you need is a mixing bowl, some measuring cups and spoons, a whisk, wooden spoon, and some cake pans. 

It’s Relaxing

If you are having a stressful day, spending some time in the kitchen can be a great way to wind down and relax. Whether you’re mixing up batter or kneading out dough, it can certainly become a great way to work out your frustrations and take your mind off whatever is bothering you. 

You Can Make Great Gifts

When you know how to bake, you’re never short of ideas that you can make the people in your life happy with. Whether you want to congratulate a friend on an achievement, take something to a birthday party, or make something to cheer up a family member going through a tough time, there’s nothing better than a handmade baked good to show how much you care. Cupcakes, cookies , and birthday cakes rarely fail to make people happy, and knowing that you’ve made it with them in mind makes it even better. 

It’s Delicious

Finally, baking is a delicious hobby too! Whether you want a sweet treat after a long day, a cake to celebrate an occasion or simply want to try something new, there’s no need to search the shops for it when you have the skills and tools you need to make it yourself at home. 

If you want to try a new creative hobby this year, baking is a fun option to consider. 

5 Creative Hobby Ideas To Explore This Coming Year

The Benefits Of Gardening as a Hobby

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Essay on My Hobby Cooking

Students are often asked to write an essay on My Hobby Cooking in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on My Hobby Cooking

Introduction.

Cooking is my favorite hobby. It’s like an art where ingredients are my colors, and the dish is my canvas.

Why I Love Cooking

I love cooking because it allows me to be creative. I can experiment with different ingredients to create new flavors.

Benefits of Cooking

Cooking is not just fun, it’s also beneficial. It helps me understand nutrition and improves my organizational skills.

In conclusion, cooking is a hobby that brings joy and knowledge. It’s a skill that I can use throughout my life.

250 Words Essay on My Hobby Cooking

Cooking, a creative and therapeutic process, is my hobby. It is a world filled with flavors, textures, and aromas that invites exploration and innovation. It has been my playground where I experiment, learn, and occasionally fail, but never lose.

The Art of Cooking

Cooking is an art form that requires a keen sense of taste and a scientific understanding of ingredients. It involves precise measurements, understanding the chemistry of ingredients, and the effect of temperature, making it a blend of science and art. This amalgamation of disciplines is what makes cooking so intriguing to me.

Exploring Cultures

Cooking allows me to explore different cultures without leaving my kitchen. From the spicy curries of India to the delicate sushi of Japan, each dish tells a story of its origin, and recreating them is like living that story. It broadens my understanding of diverse cultures and their culinary traditions.

Therapeutic Benefits

Cooking is therapeutic for me. The process of chopping, sautéing, and simmering is a form of mindfulness that helps me unwind. It’s a productive escape from the rigors of academic life, providing a sense of accomplishment when I see the joy on the faces of those who taste my dishes.

In conclusion, cooking is more than just a hobby for me. It is a creative outlet, a cultural exploration, and a therapeutic activity. It allows me to express myself, learn about the world, and bring joy to others. As I continue my culinary journey, I look forward to discovering new recipes, techniques, and cultures.

500 Words Essay on My Hobby Cooking

Cooking is not just a mundane chore; it’s an art, a therapeutic activity, and a creative outlet. As a college student, my hobby is cooking, which allows me to explore various cultures, improve my skills, and bring joy to my friends and family.

Cooking is an art form that stimulates all our senses. It involves the careful selection of ingredients, the precise measurement of quantities, and the delicate balancing of flavors. It’s a creative process that allows me to experiment with different recipes and ingredients, creating unique dishes that are a reflection of my personality and taste.

Exploring Cultures through Cooking

One of the most intriguing aspects of cooking as a hobby is the opportunity it provides to explore various cultures. Each cuisine has its unique ingredients, techniques, and flavors. By cooking dishes from different cultures, I can travel the world from the comfort of my kitchen. It enhances my understanding and appreciation of the diversity and complexity of our world.

Cooking as a Therapeutic Activity

In the hustle and bustle of college life, cooking serves as a therapeutic activity. The process of chopping, stirring, and sautéing can be incredibly calming and meditative. It allows me to focus on the task at hand, diverting my mind from academic stress and providing a much-needed break. The satisfaction of creating a delicious meal from scratch is a rewarding experience that boosts my mood and self-confidence.

Bringing Joy to Others

Cooking is also a means of expressing love and care for others. There’s a certain joy in seeing the smiles on my friends’ and family’s faces when they taste my dishes. It’s a way of bringing people together, creating memories, and strengthening relationships. It’s not just about the food; it’s about the shared experiences and the connections formed around the dining table.

Improvement of Skills

Cooking as a hobby has also helped me improve various skills. It has honed my organizational skills, as it requires planning and preparation. It has improved my time management skills, as each component of the dish needs to be timed perfectly. It has also enhanced my problem-solving skills, as cooking often involves troubleshooting, such as adjusting the seasoning or rescuing a sauce that’s too thick.

In conclusion, cooking is a hobby that offers numerous benefits. It’s an artistic expression, a cultural exploration, a therapeutic activity, a means of bringing joy to others, and a tool for skill development. As a college student, it provides a welcome respite from academic pressures and a creative outlet that enriches my life. Through cooking, I can share a part of myself with others, creating delicious dishes that bring people together.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on My Hobby Travelling
• Essay on My Hobby Singing
• Essay on My Hobby Painting

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

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Home | Life | Hobbies

Baking is My Hobby

• Updated July 25, 2023
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Everyone has interesting hobbies like cooking, reading, plays badminton and more. I also have an interesting hobby. My hobby is baked a fresh cake. I made this activity a hobby because it was my dream to open my own bakery shop. It also makes me being a creative person in baking any pastries and cakes. This is because I will try new recipes or cook using own creativity in order to create a new taste that everyone will loves it. I hope this hobby will enable me to open my own business in future.

Getting the opportunity to get up each morning and do what you love may not appear to be a great deal of work, yet transforming a preparing side interest into a suitable business will take a ton of aptitudes past the kitchen. Try not to be afraid to ask for help when you need it, and just keep remember that you will gain proficiency a lot about running a small business on the job, and that is alright.

For the individual who loves baking, figuring out how to start a baking business from home is a great method to merge a hobby with a career. Like different organizations, a home-based baking business requires a great deal of research and planning to start. In any case, you will require extra permits, inspections, and marketing strategies before being permitted to make a sale. There are a few interesting points when starting a baking business from home. Choose what types of food you want to sell and how. A variety of baking-related business choices like catering and baked pastries. You can concentrate on specific niche markets, for example, providing food weddings or baked goods sold through nearby coffeehouses or stores.

When setting up a business, passion is one of the best inspiring elements. At the point when you are energetic about a business you currently doing success, and achievement is your main center. This means you will make unremitting attempts to make the products your target clients need. You will try to give the best client care and keep your current clients faithful to you and at the same time satisfying customers needs and wants. Passion for the baking business itself is important, and proficient baking means quick, productive, and consistent. Week after week, you execute a similar formula over and over. If you accidentally use plain flour instead of cornflour, it is possible to discard products worth hundreds of ringgits. Hard work, making the same baked goods over and over again can be boring. That is why you need a passion for doing something because passion can turn the things you love to do into a profitable business.

• How to Start a Baking Business from Home
• How to Start a Home-Based Bakery
• How to Start a Home Bakery
• 7 Mistakes To Avoid When Starting Your Online Food Business
• Why Start a Bakery at Home?

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Essays About Hobbies: Top 5 Examples and 9 Prompts

If you are writing essays about hobbies, check out our guide with helpful essay examples and exciting writing prompts!

Nurturing our hobbies can unleash our most creative selves, allowing us to be productive and filled with a satisfying sense of personal achievement. Devoting some time to our hobbies is the best escape from the anxieties and burnout in our academic or professional lives. It can easily brighten a dreary day or a lazy mood. 

However, with our daily grind, many of us fail to have enough time for our daily hobbies. Many instead look forward to weekends when they can afford to while away their hours, be engrossed in what they love doing the most, and leave the world behind. 

Read below our round-up of essay examples and prompts about hobbies to stimulate your motivation to write.

5 Essay Examples About Hobbies

1. people share the hobbies that changed their relationship with work: ‘it has truly been mind blowing’ by faima barker , 2. the modern trap of turning hobbies into hustles by molly conway, 3. is watching tv a hobby an argument settled once and for all by hobbyask, 4. the big impact of a small hobby by john donohue, 5. google’s sergey brin is totally obsessed with high-adrenaline exercise by madeline stone, 9 writing prompts on essays about hobbies, 1. your favorite hobbies, 2. how to make time for your hobbies, 2. most affordable hobbies, 3. why busy people need a hobby, 4. how hobbies cultivate health and wellness, 5. new hobbies to try out, 6. helping children choose  hobbies, 7. sharing similar hobbies with friends or family  , 8. how hobbies build self-esteem, 9. being bullied for your hobbies .

“Hobbies are subjective – one person’s enjoyment might be another person’s idea of boredom – but no matter what brings someone happiness, hobbies and interests outside of work are the ultimate acts of resistance against capitalism.”

Three professionals from different parts of the world share how they have discovered new hobbies during the pandemic. These new finds have allowed productive and mental health breaks from the monotony and burnout of work, changing their lives for the better. 

“What if we allowed ourselves to devote our time and attention to something just because it makes us happy? Or, better yet, because it enables us to truly recharge instead of carving our time into smaller and smaller pieces for someone else’s benefit?”

A woman at a wedding is genuinely proud of her achievement of sewing in pockets on her dress. But that’s only until she realizes she hasn’t made a dime. As hobbies-turned-hustles steadily rise, it offers people a potential doorway to quit their jobs. However, it also dampens how others feel about their hobbies when they don’t commercialize them.

“…The nay-sayers regularly cite television as not being a true hobby because it doesn’t require any creative input or a sense of progress; essentially, you sit back and let the TV do its magic while you enjoy without any thought.”

With obesity and inactivity associated with watching TV, some people refuse to classify the activity as a hobby. They argue that watching TV is not even a productive pursuit. However, as hobbies are defined as things that make us feel relaxed and happy, they can still count as a hobby and could even be mind-challenging as other hobbies if we choose the right content. 

“Drawing had helped me survive another very dark period of my life, earlier. Could it now be helping me to stay healthy?”

A former news editor finds a safe space in drawing again – this time with more regularity after losing a job. Trapped in a dark period, Donohue shares his story of how drawing helps relax his mind, citing several studies to support the mental health benefits one can reap from art activities and hobbies.

“He spent so much time on his various physical activities that his father once asked him if he had chosen any advanced courses of study. ‘Yes, advanced swimming,’ was Brin’s famous response.”

The essay features Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin and puts the spotlight on his love for sports. Gathering observations from Brin’s colleagues and even his trapeze coach, the article inspires people to maintain sports and find new ones to be their hobbies even amidst their busy lives. 

In this essay, talk about how you discovered this hobby. Did you choose it on your own, or is it something your parents encouraged you to do? Next, recollect the happy thoughts you have when doing your hobbies. Then, look at how this positive energy spills over to the other aspects of your life and your outlook on your ambitions. Finally, write about the important life lessons you learned from taking up your hobbies. 

Pursuing your hobbies might seem nearly impossible when you have a loaded schedule. However, even the most organized of us can find challenges in squeezing in some me-time with hobbies. So, try to challenge your readers to strictly give up a few hours a week to commit to what they love doing. Then, encourage them to engage in their hobbies with friends and family who share similar interests to make the most out of their free time.

There are several hobbies out there that don’t cost you much but could still be as fun. It would depend mainly on a person’s preference, mindset, and budget. So, list some low-cost hobbies and creative ideas on how people can spend less while getting the best experience out of a hobby. 

Hobbies are the first thing that goes out of the window in the schedule plan of the busiest people. But working too hard for a long duration can create a monotonous life. Workers are left questioning their sense of purpose when this happens and may fall into depression. For your essay, convince your busy readers to spare some time and turn their attention to passion and away from profit. Talk about the more excellent value that can be reaped from the fulfillment of hobbies. 

Research studies have shown that hobbies help us achieve clarity, relaxation, and a recharged mind and body. So, gather a few recent studies enumerating the physiological and mental health benefits of consistently engaging in a hobby. Then, help your readers take the small steps to add their hobbies into their daily or weekly schedule.

Are there passion projects or activities you’ve meant to do but abandoned long ago? It may be a hobby that sparked your interest years ago that you’re reconsidering trying out. Write about what factors first drew you to this hobby and how you intend to try it out. Then, provide your ultimate criteria on how you would know if this hobby suits you well. Finally, encourage people to overcome their fears of attempting something new. 

Encouraging kids to take up their hobbies can help them break away from their long screen time. But, more importantly, hobbies enable children to be productive and hone their mastery of a certain craft early. For this prompt, write down recommendations from child behavior experts on how parents can effectively direct their children’s energy to more worthwhile things such as nurturing a hobby. 

Having common interests can strengthen the bond of friendship and family. Write about hobbies you and your best friend or family members do together. Talk about how often you gather to enjoy your hobbies. Then, reminisce on the most memorable memories you’ve had while doing what you love to do.

Taking part in a hobby gives us the impression and confidence that we can be masters of our craft. Unfortunately, it’s an achievement we often deny in our professional or academic circles, leaving us pressured to push ourselves to our limits. For this prompt, research further on the scientific connection between engaging in hobbies and advancing your self-esteem. 

Some of us have eccentric hobbies that get the attention of bullies. Sadly, because of bullying, many tend to give up these hobbies to find something more “socially acceptable.” Write about how people can focus on doing things that spark joy in them. You might also want to check our guide on essays about bullying to add suggestions on how to stand up against a bully. 

If you’re interested in learning more to improve your writing, check out our essay writing tips ! You can also check our general resource of essay writing topics .

Yna Lim is a communications specialist currently focused on policy advocacy. In her eight years of writing, she has been exposed to a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, web hosting, agriculture, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy and international trade. A former journalist in one of the top business papers in the Philippines, Yna is currently pursuing her master's degree in economics and business.

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Cooking as a Hobby | Top 15 Cooking Hobbies Ideas And Reason

How to start cooking as a hobby? Cook Hobby isn’t pretty much getting ready for meals; it’s a captivating hobby that transforms everyday substances into pleasant culinary creations. For children less than ten or 13, the kitchen will transform into a paranormal place where they may explicit their imagination and expand a deeper ardour for Cooking as a Hobby. As we move into the fascinating global of Hobby about cooking pastimes, this piece will discuss 15 a laugh thoughts that make the kitchen into a playground for aspiring chefs.

Is cooking a hobby? How to get into cooking as a hobby?

• Can cooking be a hobby? Absolutely! Hobbies are activities we revel in doing in our unfastened time, bringing us pleasure and delight. Cooking, with its mix of creativity and scrumptious effects, perfectly suits the definition of a hobby.
• Baking cookies, assembling homemade pizza, or combining ingredients is all wonderful ways for kids to express themselves via food.

Why is cooking our hobby? Cooking as a Hobby

Cooking Hobby isn’t always simplest a chore, but also a glad and enlightening pastime.​ The feeling of feat grows as young chefs explore with flavors, textures, and techniques. Cooking becomes more than just getting ready food; it turns into a loved activity that enables one preserve a relaxed temperature and revel in time with loved ones.

How can I enjoy cooking as a hobby?

Is eating a hobby? Enjoying cooking as a hobby is as simple as finding the method amusing. Start with clean recipes, involve a grown-up for steering, and steadily explore more complex dishes. The key’s to have a laugh experimenting, including non-public touches to recipes, and relishing the delicious effects. The kitchen is a canvas, and every dish is an possibility to create something precise.

Hobby Cooking

Within the world of cooking, there are various exciting pastimes to discover. From baking delectable desserts to grilling savory delights, the options are countless. Learning to create colorful salads, experimenting with unique cuisines, and learning the artwork of unique cutting are all part of the various international Cooking as a Hobby.

How do I write about cooking in Hobbies?

When expressing your interests, certainly mentioningI love cooking!” is an amazing g beginningTo add a personal touch, percentage unique elements of cooking that bring you joy. Whether it is crafting elaborate desserts, experimenting with new substances, or trying numerous recipes, showcasing your specific cooking pastimes provides flavor to your self-expression. Is cooking a good hobby for a CV?

Absolutely! Cooking as a Hobby is not pretty much making delicious food; it reflects various treasured capabilities. The capability to comply with recipes, creativity within the kitchen, time management, and a sense of obligation are all attributes that employers value. Including cooking as an interest in your CV can set you aside, highlighting characteristics that extend beyond the expert realm.

Is preparing food an activity or a hobby?

Hobbies cooking is a satisfying mixture of each. It is an hobby as it includes arms-on participation, and it is a hobby as it brings pride and satisfaction. Cooking is an exciting hobby that allows people to express their creativity and receive satisfaction from the process, unlike regular chores. It’s no longer only a chore; it is a completely satisfied pursuit.

Benefits of Cooking as a Hobby

Cooking as a hobby benefits are:

• Yummy Rewards : The joy of tasting and sharing delicious creations.
• Family Fun: Hobby cooking collectively fosters stronger family bonds.
• Learning Skills: Exploration of the latest components and learning kitchen tools.
• Proud Chef Moments: The satisfaction of making dishes that others love.

Exploring Cooking as a Hobby for Kids

Baking Bonanza

Baking opens up a world of sweet opportunities. From cookies and cupcakes to pies and bread, the pleasure of mixing, measuring, and witnessing the transformation within the oven is unparalleled.

Creative Cupcake Decorating

Elevate baking to an art shape with the aid of exploring the sector of cupcake adorns. From colorful frostings to safe-to-eat decorations, let creativity run wild.

Pizza Party

Design your mini-pizzas! Start with dough and test with numerous toppings.. This no longer only complements culinary talents but additionally turns dinner into a creative pastime.

Fruit Fusion

Create colorful and wholesome fruit salads. Experiment with specific culmination and textures, or maybe add a drizzle of honey or a sprinkle of cinnamon for a in addition burst of taste.

Garden-to-Plate foodie hobbies

If you’ve got a garden, encourage youngsters to develop herbs and veggies. Harvesting and utilizing fresh vegetables in recipes gives cooking a fun and instructive element.

Theme Nights

Explore different cuisines through subject nights. From Mexican fiestas to Italian pasta events, every subject matter night introduces new flavors and cooking strategies.

Mastering the Grill

Grilling is not just for men. Teach kids how to grill by showing them how to marinate and then flip burgers or kebabs..\ It’s a ability they are able to supply into adulthood.

Dessert Science Experiments

Turn the kitchen right into a technology lab with dessert experiments.It is a delicious method to blend amusement with analysis, from creating fizzy sherbet to creating edible slime.

Using food painting exploration, turn meals into works of art.​ Use colorful vegetables, end outcomes, and different safe to eat devices to create amusing and visually appealing plates.

Cooking Challenges

Introduce pleasant creative food hobbies in traumatic situations. It could be a family making ready dinner or a solo challenge to create a dish the use of specific components. It adds an element of exhilaration to the kitchen.

Muffin Tin Meals

Experiment with portion control and creativity by getting food ready in muffin tins. It’s a playful manner to present an entire lot of dishes.

Homemade Ice Cream Adventures

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We have just been told by a well-placed informant inside the Kremlin that the Soviet Union is not the economic power our intelligence analysts have long thought it was.

Throughout the Reagan years, our experts have assumed that Soviet growth averaged slightly over 3 percent yearly. That is a vital statistic: we then put a price each year on what we know the Soviet military machine cost, and get what we hope is a clear idea of what percentage of its economy Moscow is devoting to armament.

That's just about the most important intelligence number of all. In the 70's, a ''Team B'' of outsiders was brought in by the C.I.A. to challenge the conventional wisdom, and doubled the previous estimate to 13 percent in the Soviet Union. That laid the basis for our own increased defense spending, which now amounts to 6 percent of our gross national product.

In a little-noted passage of his long speech last week to his Central Committee, Mikhail Gorbachev made a stunning revelation that kicks our estimates into a cocked hat.

He pointed out that during the Brezhnev years, economic growth had been artificially hiked by the sale of oil at high prices (the U.S.S.R. is the world's largest producer) and the accelerated sale of vodka (Soviet spending on alcohol may have reached 10 percent of total output, compared with less than 2 percent of ours).

''If we purge economic growth indicators of the influence of these factors,'' said Mr. Gorbachev, ''it turns out that, basically, for four five-year periods there was no increase in the absolute growth of the national income and, at the beginning of the 80's, it had even begun to fall. That is the real picture, comrades!''

No doubt the current Kremlin leader is trying to make the present bad economic picture look better by saying the old days under his predecessor were really much worse. But we should allow for the possibility that, concerning the 80's at least, Mr. Gorbachev may be telling the truth.

If that is the real picture, comrades, we have to do some fast reassessing of our own. During the 80's, as the price of oil has been cut in half, and the Soviet gulping of booze has been restricted, the total Soviet output is not likely to have risen much, if at all, from what Mr. Gorbachev says was its falling state in 1980.

Here is what that new assessment leads us to deduce: the Soviet economy has been stagnant (or possibly declining) for seven years - most definitely not growing steadily at the over-3-percent rate per year our analysts had been assuming. That means our assessment of total growth of about one-fourth in this decade has been egregiously mistaken. That supposedly seven-foot giant turns out to be closer to five feet tall, same as he was in the Brezhnev years.

Apply that new assessment to arms control. The way we estimate Soviet arms expenditures is by simple bean-counting, mainly from satellites, and that total is not affected. What does change is the percentage of the output devoted to arms; if it was 14 percent by the old assessment, it must be an unbearable 20 percent in the new reality Mr. Gorbachev reveals.

Thus, under pressure to reduce arms spending, he seeks treaties; forced to cut losses, he announces withdrawal from Afghanistan and may offer to reduce subsidies in Central America; faced with the prospect of having to match serious Star Wars spending, he rails at the idea of strategic defense.

Apply that no-growth, one-fourth-smaller fact to economic diplomacy. It explains why the Russians finally settled the old Czarist debt for a dime on the dollar, paving the way for a recent $77 million Soviet bond issue. That's also why the Kremlin will be seeking entry into the International Monetary Fund, GATT and the World Bank at the next meetings (in West Berlin) this fall. Soviet Communism is starving for capital.

Our European allies are rushing to lend Moscow money and to subsidize pipelines, while accommodationists here want to offer the Russians most-favored-nation status on trade. Commerce and State Department detenteniks await only vague ''economic reforms'' to end our opposition to Soviet entry into Western credit markets.

Here is a genuine issue to toss at the candidates in our election. In light of what the Soviet leader admits is ''a very serious financial problem,'' should U.S. policy seek to finance our adversary? Or should we ''stress'' Moscow now, as it surely would do to us if the roles were reversed?

Or should we use this moment of admitted Soviet economic weakness to put an irrevocable, verifiable, behavior-modifying price on every concession we confer?

Hugo Dewar Archive    |    ETOL Main Page

The Moscow Trials

(march 1962).

This article was first published in Survey , No. 41, April 1962, pp. 87–95. Prepared for the MIA by Paul Flewers.

AT the twenty-second congress of the CPSU, N.S. Khrushchev once again raised the question of the “great purge”, this time in open session and with more detailed references to individual instances of Stalin’s persecution of his opponents. Khrushchev did not directly mention the three great Moscow trials, but the whole tenor of his reply to the discussion on the party programme made it clear that these trials were frame-ups. His remarks on the Kirov assassination alone were sufficient to demonstrate this, since the Kirov affair was the king-pin of the entire structure of these trials.

The assassination, 25 years ago, of Sergei Mironovich Kirov – Secretary of the Leningrad party organisation and member of the Politbureau – was the signal for the merciless repression of all Stalin’s known, suspected or potential opponents in the party. The range and thoroughness of this action was matched by the domestic and international propaganda campaign that accompanied it: for the Stalinist objective was not merely the physical destruction of all those who might conceivably constitute a rallying point for opposition within the party; not merely the creation in the USSR of an atmosphere of terror in which self-preservation should become the overriding consideration for each individual; it was also the complete moral annihilation of the leading figures of the Russian Revolution. Only Lenin would remain untouched, a great messianic figure; and by his side would rise the figure of Stalin, his sole true disciple. Consciousness of the past history of the Russian Revolution was to be erased from the mind of man and a new history was to take its place, the Stalin legend.

The campaign launched for this purpose – which may truly be termed a brain-washing campaign – was on a colossal scale. Its highlights were the three great Moscow trials in August 1936, January 1937 and March 1938, when almost the entire Bolshevik “old guard” was found guilty of organising the murder of Kirov, of wrecking, sabotage, treason, plotting the restoration of capitalism, etc. And it was precisely the defendants at these trials who, with their self-accusations, their abject penitence, their acceptance and praise of Stalin’s policies, showed themselves as eager as the Stalinists to support this campaign. Never before in history had there been a conspiracy of such dimensions, conspirators of such former eminence, and at the same time conspirators so uniformly anxious to attest the unrighteousness of their cause and the utter criminality of their actions.

At once sordid and deeply tragic, combining the grim reality of apparently normal juridical procedure with the lack of any evidence against the accused other than their own nightmarishly unreal confessions, these trials shocked the liberal conscience of the entire world. Yet it was, strangely enough, in Great Britain, a country proud of its tradition of liberal thought and action, that the most influential voices were raised in their defence.

Thus A.J. Cummings, then a political columnist of considerable standing, although admitting to some difficulty in accepting the guilt of all the accused, wrote of the first trial that “the evidence and the confessions are so circumstantial that to reject both as hocus-pocus would be to reduce the trial almost to complete unintelligibility”. (News Chronicle , 25 August 1936) The Moscow correspondent of the Observer also wrote (23 August 1936) that: “It is futile to think that the trial was staged and the charges trumped up. The government’s case against the defendants is genuine.” Sir Bernard Pares ( Spectator , 18 September 1936) likewise expressed the view that:

As to the trial generally, I was in Moscow while it was in progress and followed the daily reports in the press. Since then I have made a careful study of the verbatim report. Having done that I must give it as my considered judgement that if the report had been issued in a country (that is, other than the USSR) without any of the antecedents I have referred to, the trial would be regarded as one which could not fail to carry conviction ... The examination of the 16 accused by the State Prosecutor is a close work of dispassionate reasoning, in which, in spite of some denials and more evasions, the guilt of the accused is completely brought home.

These statements were made use of by the Anglo-Russian Parliamentary Committee in presenting to the public its summarised version of the official report (itself not verbatim) of the first Moscow trial. Its account of the second trial (compiled by W.P. and Zelda K. Coates) was introduced by Neil Maclean, MP, with a preface by the Moscow correspondent of the Daily Herald , R.T. Miller, and contained two speeches by Stalin, “in that simple and clear style of which Mr Stalin is such a master”, as Maclean put it. Maclean in his introductory foreword asserted that:

... practically every foreign correspondent present at the trial with the exception, of course, of the Japanese and German – have expressed themselves as very much impressed by the weight of evidence presented by the prosecution and the sincerity of the confessions of the accused.

In the course of his preface Miller wrote that “the prisoners appeared healthy, well-fed, well-dressed and unintimidated”; that “Mr Dudley Collard, the English barrister ... considered it perfectly sound from the legal point of view”; and that the accused “confessed because the state’s collection of evidence forced them to. No other explanation fits the facts.” [1]

Leaving aside Mr Collard, whose well-known political sympathies might explain his easy acceptance of surface appearances, it is clear that none of these commentators had the slightest understanding of the political struggle raging in the Soviet Union; a struggle of which these trials and those that had preceded them from 1928 onwards (which these gentlemen had apparently totally forgotten) were a reflection. Nor could any of them have really made a serious study of the official report. The circumstances of the time made many politically conscious people desire above all to think the best of the Soviet Government, and the views quoted above, deriving in part from this very desire, in part from sheer ignorance, were very welcome to the Stalinists. If they did not wholly convince, they at least helped to lull suspicion.

*  *  *

The most outstanding and the most influential supporter of the Stalinist campaign in the country was D.N. Pritt, an MP, a KC, and formerly president of the enquiry set up to investigate the proceedings of the Reichstag fire trial. Pritt entered the campaign with an article in the News Chronicle (27 August 1936), later reprinted in pamphlet form, The Moscow Trial was Fair (with additional material by Pat Sloan). He then expanded his analysis and argument in a booklet of 39 pages entitled The Zinoviev Trial (Gollancz, 1936). In this he first of all suggests that the bulk of the criticism of the trial emanated from the extreme right-wing opponents of the Soviet government. Still, he admits that much of it was made in good faith and came from “newspapers and individuals of very high reputation for fairness”. However, he goes on to imply that these critics had not, as he had, really studied the whole of the available evidence, but had relied upon incomplete reports. Moreover, they had not his advantage of being an eyewitness of the trial and a lawyer into the bargain. Having established in the reader’s mind that all criticism coming from sources hostile to the Soviet regime is ipso facto baseless, and having made plain his own geographical and professional superiority to the “fair-minded” critics, he argues that:

It should be realised at the outset, of course, that the critics who refuse to believe that Zinoviev and Kamenev could possibly have conspired to murder Kirov, Stalin, Voroshilov and others, even when they say themselves that they did, are in a grave logical difficulty. For if they thus dismiss the whole case for the prosecution as a “frame-up”, it follows inescapably that Stalin and a substantial number of other high officials, including presumably the judges and the prosecutor, were themselves guilty of a foul conspiracy to procure the judicial murder of Zinoviev, Kamenev and a fair number of other persons. (pp. 3–4)

The most general and important criticism of the trial, Pritt says, is that it was impossible to believe that “men should confess openly and fully to crimes of the gravity of those in question here”. (p. 5) In fact, of course, the critics” difficulty was not to believe that “men” should confess to “grave crimes”, but that these particular men should confess in that particular manner to crimes so contrary to everything known of their very public political pasts, so contrary to their known political philosophy, and so manifestly incapable of achieving their alleged objectives. For among those 16 accused there were, as Khrushchev has now obliquely reminded us, “prominent representatives of the old guard who, together with Lenin, founded “the world’s first proletarian state”. ( Report on the Programme of the CPSU , Soviet Booklet No. 81, 1961, p. 108) These were now transformed, in the words of the indictment, into “unprincipled political adventurers and assassins striving at only one thing, namely, to make their way to power even through terrorism”. ( Report of Court Proceedings: The Case of the Trotskyite-Zinovievite Terrorist Centre , People’s Commissariat of Justice of the USSR, Moscow 1936, p. 18)

Pritt himself, however, does not appear to be wholly at ease about the lack of evidence adduced other than the confessions, for he suggests that the Soviet government would have preferred all or most of the accused to have pleaded not guilty, for then the “full strength of the case” would have been apparent. As it was, “all the available proof did not require to be brought forward”. (p. 9) He assumes the existence of this proof; he writes that we cannot possibly know “what further facts there were in the record that were not adduced at all”. Not, that is, whether further facts were available, but what facts.

Although there is constant mention of facts, Pritt never gets down to a consideration of verifiable factual evidence adduced in alleged corroboration of the confessions. The closest he gets to giving an example of this is when he refers to an alleged conversation between two of the accused in which “a highly incriminating phrase was used”. Each of the accused denied using it, but each said that the other had. Pritt found this highly significant. He does not explain why the accused should have shied at admitting the use of “incriminating phrases” when they had already confessed to capital crimes.

Pritt claims to have reached his conclusion on the basis of a careful study of the official report of the trial. Surely, then, he must have been aware that, when it was not simply a question of “incriminating phrases”, conversations about conversations, but of concrete facts, some very glaring discrepancies were exposed, such as, for example, the flatly contradictory evidence of two of the accused, Olberg and Holtzmann, and the alleged meeting at a non-existent hotel.

It hardly seems possible that a man of Pritt’s professional training could have failed to see that the whole structure of the confessions simply did not hang together. He did not even notice anything strange in the tale of those two desperadoes Fritz David and Bermin-Yurin, who, after spending two and a half years preparing a plan to kill Stalin at the Congress of the Communist International, decided, when it came to the point, that they could not shoot “because there were too many people”!

For Pritt “anything in the nature of forced confessions is intrinsically impossible”; it was “obvious to anyone who watched the proceedings in court that the confessions as made orally in court could not possibly have been concocted or rehearsed”; and not even the keenest critic had been able to find a false note (pp. 12–14). The picture he gives of himself is that of an utterly credulous bumpkin. Any reasonably objective student of Soviet politics must have been aware at the time that this trial and those that followed were frame-ups. It did not require Khrushchev to admit that “thousands of absolutely innocent people perished ... Many party leaders, statesmen and military leaders lost their lives”; that “they were ‘persuaded’, persuaded in certain ways, that they were German, British or some other spies. And some of them ‘confessed’.”

For the Moscow trials were all of a piece with those that had preceded them: the Shakhty trial in 1928; the Industrial Party trial in 1930; the Menshevik trial in 1931; and the Metro-Vickers trial in 1933. [2] No student of these trials would fail to see that they served a definite political purpose and that justice had been perverted to this end. The very occurrence, previous to the Moscow trials, of exactly similar confession trials – with all their “technical” failures (attempted retraction of confessions; an accused going insane; long dead men named as conspirators, etc) – should have been enough to raise doubts in the mind of the most prejudiced. But the supporters of Stalin clearly did not want to see the truth. [3]

Here, as elsewhere, it was the paramount task of the Communist Party to “sell” the trials. For this purpose, in addition to public meetings throughout the country and articles in the Daily Worker and other periodicals, a stream of pamphlets was published. The Moscow correspondent of the Daily Worker , W.D. Shepherd, wrote two pamphlets in 1936: The Truth About the Murder of Kirov (31 pages) and The Moscow Trial (15 pages). In 1937, two leading English communists, Harry Pollitt and R. Palme Dutt, wrote The Truth about Trotskyism: The Moscow Trial (36 pages), and in 1938 R. Page Arnot and Tim Buck dealt with the third trial in Fascist Agents Exposed (22 pages). Supplementing all this there were the so-called verbatim Reports of the Court Proceedings (published in English by the People’s Commissariat of Justice of the USSR), and the abridged version of the official report of the August 1936 trial, published by the Anglo-Russian Parliamentary Committee. This does not, of course, exhaust the list of published matter issued directly or indirectly by the Communist Party in defence at the trials. Party contributors to the Left Book Club publications naturally also supported the campaign. In this respect JR Campbell’s Soviet Policy and its Critics (Gollancz, 1938, 374 pages) and Soviet Democracy (Gollancz, 1937, 288 pages) by Pat Sloan, are notable.

The bulk of this material eschews any attempt at reasoning and concentrates on invective in the verbal knuckleduster style typical of the Stalinist school. Campbell’s book is a much more ambitious effort in that he admits knowledge of the Dewey Commission [4] , quotes from its proceedings, and also uses quotations from Trotsky’s writings, albeit within strict limits. Thus he quotes Trotsky’s words:

Why, then, did the accused, after 25, 30 or more years of revolutionary work, agree to take upon themselves such monstrous and degrading accusations? How did the GPU achieve this? Why did not a single one of the accused cry out openly before the court against the frame-up? Etc, etc. In the nature of the case I am not obliged to answer these questions.

Here Campbell stops and comments: “But if there is no answer then a most important element in the case of the Soviet government is upheld.” (p. 252) He does not follow the quotation further, which runs:

We could not here question Yagoda (he is now being questioned himself by Yezhov), or Yezhov, or Vyshinsky, or Stalin, or, above all, their victims, the majority of whom, indeed, have already been shot. That is why the Commission cannot fully uncover the inquisitorial technique of the Moscow trials. But the mainsprings are already apparent. ( The Case of Leon Trotsky , pp. 482–83)

A very striking illustration of the Stalinist technique – low cunning, contempt for the truth, contempt for the reader’s intelligence – is to be seen on page 213 of Campbell’s book in his quotation from Trotsky’s The Soviet Union and the Fourth International . He begins in the middle of a paragraph:

The first social shock, external or internal, may throw the atomised Soviet society into civil war. The workers, having lost control over the state and economy, may resort to mass strikes as weapons of self-defence. The discipline of the dictatorship would be broken down [5] under the onslaught of the workers and because of the pressure of economic difficulties the trusts would be forced to disrupt the planned beginnings and enter into competition with one another. The dissolution of the regime would naturally be thrown over into the army. The socialist state would collapse, giving place to the capitalist regime, or, more correctly, to capitalist chaos.

And on this, Campbell writes: “This was more than a prophecy. It was the objective of the conspirators.” The very next paragraph in Trotsky’s essay begins: “The Stalinist press, of course, will reprint our warning analysis as a counter-revolutionary prophecy, or even as the expressed ‘desire’ of the Trotskyites.”

Campbell’s book is a long diatribe against “Trotskyism” and of its 374 pages there is hardly one on which the name Trotsky does not appear. Since this was written after the third Moscow trial, he has caught up with the Soviet scenario, successively developed with each trial. The crimes of the accused are now “only a culminating point in the struggle which Trotsky and his followers have been waging against the Bolshevik party since 1903”.

One of the curiosities of this period is the book written by Maurice Edelman from the notes of a Peter Kleist, entitled GPU Justice (1938). [6] According to Edelman, Kleist was “by no means a communist”. Efforts to convey an impression of objectivity are evident. The book dispenses with the usual Stalinist bludgeoning invective and affects a dispassionate, disengaged attitude, but its phraseology and tone are unmistakably pro-Stalinist. The Soviet Union is a classless society; the GPU is simply a police force like any other (only superior, of course); it is a misconception to consider it a secret police; if you are innocent no one can make you guilty; talk of GPU torture is Polish fascist slander; he, Kleist, is treated considerately, without brutality, and, therefore, so is every other suspect. There are many little touches designed to bring out the humanity of Kleist’s captors. The Lubyanka and Butyrki prisons are depicted as rest-homes, where lengthy discussions (reproduced apparently verbatim) permit Stalinists to defend Stalin and Trotskyites to expose themselves as avowed wreckers and saboteurs in collaboration with the White Guards. The book could obviously only have been written by someone with a very clear idea of the party line, and at the same time someone anxious to appear non-partisan. The cloak of non-partisanship is worn pretty thin, however, by the author’s efforts to defend and extol, not merely “GPU justice”, but almost every aspect of Soviet life, including the forced labour camps. Finally, in an appendix, Kleist on the Moscow Trials , all pretence of impartiality is dropped. There one reads: “Why do they confess? was the typical journalistic question, and no one, except the communist papers, supplied the obvious answer: ‘Because they were guilty.’” (p. 211) In this section the stock Stalinist arguments are put forward by Kleist himself and not, as in the main narrative, through the mouths of others.

To these arguments he adds one of his very own. It gives the appearance of having been inserted to show that in spite of his total agreement with the party line, he is nevertheless by no means a communist. For he says that, the GPU having established the guilt of the accused, they were “at this point quite conceivably offered remission of the death sentence”. This, he argues, “would account for the fluency of the confession and for the calm with which the majority of the prisoners heard the sentence of death” (p. 217). Apparently, Kleist regards this kind of double-crossing as a mark of the humanity of GPU justice.

His final sentence is worth noting:

In the years which have passed since this my release , the bursting into flames of the Spanish-Fascist rebellion, the risings and intervention of the Nazis in Austria and the promise of intervention in Czechoslovakia, have convinced me that whatever bewilderment is felt outside the Soviet Union at the unearthing of these Fascist conspirators, Fascist conspiracy in conjunction with Trotskyist conspiracy does exist and that its extirpation, so far from endangering the USSR, marks another peril avoided. (p. 218)

Leaving aside the peculiar logic of this passage, attention is drawn to the words emphasised. The book was published in 1938. Kleist was released in April 1937. Thus, no “years” could have passed since his release. The reader may work out for himself the chronology of the events to which he refers, all of which he says took place after his release.

The verdict of the British press was in general unfavourable to the Moscow trials. Among the dailies the Manchester Guardian stood out as their sharpest critic. In addition to its own editorial comment, it published cables from Trotsky rebutting the evidence and attacking Stalin’s policy, earning what is probably the rarest praise ever bestowed by a revolutionary on a “bourgeois” newspaper. “I know full well”, Trotsky telegraphed from Mexico (25 January 1937), “that the Manchester Guardian will be one of the first to serve the truth and humanity.” Typical of the Manchester Guardian ’s attitude was its statement of 28 August 1936: “He [Stalin] surrounds himself with men of his own making [7] and devotes all the power of the state to removing those who, however remotely, might become rival centres of authority.”

Nothing as bluntly condemnatory as this came, however, from The Times . Indeed, in 1936 and 1937, its attitude might justly be construed as favourable to Stalin. The trials, it thought, reflected the triumph of Stalin’s “nationalist” policy over that of the revolutionary die-hards. The conservative forces, with the overwhelming support of the nation, had now demonstrably gained the day. On this single point it was curiously at one with Trotsky himself, who wrote in an article in the Sunday Express (6 March 1938) that: “From beginning to end his [Stalin’s] programme was that of the formation of a bourgeois republic.” It was only with the 1938 trial that The Times expressed doubts as to the general trend of affairs in the Soviet Union. On balance one cannot say that The Times saw very clearly in this matter. [8]

The labour press was naturally in agreement with the views expressed by the Socialist International and the International Federation of Trade Unions (Louis de Brouckère and F. Adler on behalf of the LSI, and Sir W. Citrine and Walter Schevenels on behalf of the IFTU sent telegrams of protest on the occasion of each of the trials). Writing on the second trial in Reynolds News (7 February 1937), H.N. Brailsford said that it left him “bewildered, doubtful, miserable”; pointed however to the confessions – “If they had been coerced, surely some of them ... would have blurted out the truth”; referred then to the conflict of the evidence with known facts, and concluded: “In one Judas among 12 apostles it is easy to believe. But when there are 11 Judases and only one loyal apostle, the Church is unlikely to thrive.” In the Scottish Forward , Emrys Hughes” witty, ironic articles bluntly exposed the trials as “frame-ups”.

On the other hand, however, it was the communists alone who maintained a campaign consonant with their objectives. There can be little doubt that they did finally succeed in diverting the attention of left-wing opinion and those others whom they courted from the essential issues raised by the trials, and in persuading a very large body of public opinion that Stalin’s policy was right.

In this task they received powerful support from the New Statesman and Nation , which reached an audience not in general susceptible to direct communist approach. This journal gave an exhibition of dithering evasiveness and moral obtuseness rarely displayed by a reputedly responsible publication. The 1936 trial, “if one may trust the available reports, was wholly unconvincing” (28 August 1936). At the same time:

We do not deny ... that the confessions may have contained a substance of truth. We complain because, in the absence of independent witnesses, there is no way of knowing ... When we hear that so close and trusted a friend of Stalin as Radek, is suspected ... we are compelled to wonder that there may not be more serious discontent in the Soviet Union than was generally believed.” (5 September 1936)

An article on the second trial, Will Stalin Explain? (30 January 1937), stated that “the various parts of the plot do not seem to hang together”; but the confessions could not be doubted because that would mean doubting Soviet justice; on the other hand, “to accept them as they stand is to draw a picture of a regime divided against itself”. If there was an escape from this dilemma, would Stalin please tell them what it was?

In the absence of any answer from Stalin to this complaint, the journal had to be, and apparently was, satisfied with matters as they stood. For after the verdict it asserted that: “Few would now maintain that all or any of them were completely innocent.” (6 February 1937) Reference is made to a letter from Mr Dudley Collard (the letter noted earlier in this article) and the comment made: “If he is right, we may hope that the present round-up and the forthcoming trial will mean the final liquidation of ‘Trotskyism’ in the USSR, or at least of the infamous projects to which that word is now applied.”

The third trial again demonstrated the New Statesman and Nation ’s remoteness from reality and indifference to the moral issues raised: “The Soviet trial is undoubtedly very popular in the USSR. The exposure of Yagoda ... pleases everyone and seems to explain a great deal of treachery and inefficiency in the past.” But: “the confessions remain baffling whether we regard them as true or false, and the prisoners as innocent or guilty. There has undoubtedly been much plotting in the USSR.” (12 March 1938)

True or false; innocent or guilty: one could take one’s choice – what was important was that the confessions were baffling. Even more baffling were the mental processes by which an otherwise humane and intelligent man could write in a manner at once so callous and so superficial.

This type of confusion and refusal to face facts dominated the thinking of many left-wing intellectuals and the left wing of the labour movement during the 1930s. The experience of the great Russian purge destroyed no illusions, taught them nothing. And even today it is doubtful if there is a full appreciation of the profound effect those events had on Russian society and the men who lead it.

1. A member of the Fabian Society, Mr Collard performed the same service for the second Moscow trial as Pritt had done for the first (see D. Collard, Soviet Justice and the Trial of Radek , 1937). In 1936 he sent from Moscow a long telegram of protest against the appeal for mercy addressed to the court by Adler and Citrine. Yet in the New Statesman of 6 February 1937 he stated that “English reports of previous trials induced in me certain misgivings as to the genuineness of the charges”.

2. There were 53 accused at the 1928 trial – far too many for its proper staging. Right at the beginning it was announced that one, Nekrasov, had gone mad. Two other accused tried to withdraw their confessions during the course of the trial, giving a sickening glimpse of the preliminary investigation’s “rehearsal” horrors. At the next trial, in 1930, one Osadchy was brought into court under guard to give evidence as a member of the “conspiracy”. Osadchy had been one of the state prosecutors in the 1928 trial. With each trial the staging “improved”, but in the very nature of such trials perfection was impossible. Even at their “best” they could only deceive those suffering from what Ignazio Silone called the disease of juridical cretinism. It is worth noting that at the third Moscow trial the State Prosecutor, Vyshinsky, himself called attention to the connection between all these trials. ( Report of the Court Proceedings in the Case of the Anti-Soviet Bloc of Rights and Trotskyists , Moscow 1938, pp. 636–37)

3. It is worth recording that Moscow University recently conferred on D.N. Pritt the honorary degree of Doctor of Law. During the ceremony Academician Ivan Petrovsky, Rector of the University, praised Pritt as an “outstanding lawyer and selfless defender of the common people”.

4. See The Case of Leon Trotsky and Not Guilty (Secker and Warburg, 1937 and 1938).

5. The original reads: “The discipline of the dictatorship would be broken. Under the ...”, etc.

6. Recommended in Philip Grierson’s Books on Soviet Russia, 1917–1942 (1943) as “sober and matter-of-fact narrative; an admirable corrective to more sensational writings” (p. 125).

7. Among them, of course, N. Khrushchev, who, speaking from the roof of Lenin’s tomb to a parade of 200,000 workers after the 1937 trial, said: “By lifting their hands against Comrade Stalin they lifted them against everything that is best in humanity, because Stalin is the hope, Stalin is the expectation, Stalin is the lighthouse of all progressive humanity. Stalin, our banner! Stalin, our will! Stalin, our victory!” ( Daily Telegraph , 1 February 1937)

8. “Stalin’s policy of nationalism has been amply vindicated. Russia has made much industrial progress, social conditions are improving.” ( The Times , 20 August 1936) “Today the Russian dictatorship stages what is evidently meant to be the most impressive and terrifying of its many exhibitions of despotic power ... The customary overture has already been played by the Soviet press ... howling for the blood of those whom it denounces, in the grimly proleptic phrase, as “this Trotskyist carrion”.” ( The Times , 2 March 1938).

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Last updated: 17 February 2023