Rainey - Three Ingredient Baking

How is that even POSSIBLE? Im hoping thats the thought thats going through your head right now. What on earth can you bake using only three ingredients?

Most of you probably picked this book up out of curiosity or complete and utter disbelief. If you were given it as a present, someone clearly thought youd be intrigued. Either way, I bet youre wondering whats coming next. So, let me start by introducing myself.

My name is Sarah and I love to bake. Im not a professional chef, I dont run a cake shop and Ive never appeared on The Great British Bake Off although I wish all three of those things were true. Nope, Im just a writer, whose passions in life are scribbling about food, baking at all hours of the day and night and eating pretty much everything I lay my eyes on.

Ive been baking since I was a toddler, flour-caked hands tugging on apron strings in my grandmas tiny kitchen in Northern Ireland where I grew up. Grandma Arthur Kay, she was called is the reason I bake. She made scones so good they could make you cry, cakes that were fluffier than a cloud, buttery biscuits that melted in your mouth.

She taught my mum, another brilliant baker, who honed her skills at Le Cordon Bleu cookery school (the same place that trained the late, great Julia Child) and brought me, my sister and my brother up on hearty, home-cooked food.

As for me? My only real claim to baking fame is that I once made a cake for Mary Berry and she said it tasted pretty good. So why have I written a cookery book? Well, let me take you into the weird and wonderful world of three-ingredient baking and I guarantee youll be as hooked as I am

Three-ingredient baking harks back to the cookery customs of the past: mouthwatering, nourishing, comforting goodies whose taste isnt compromised by counting calories or cutting out sugar.

Step back in time to 2013, when a Japanese food blogger called Ochikeron (whose name translates as hilarious) uploaded a video for three-ingredient baked cheesecake a simple dessert made from eggs, white chocolate and cream cheese to her YouTube channel.

Without the conventional ingredients (no butter, sugar or flour), it didnt sound like it would work, and if it did turn into something resembling a cheesecake, surely it couldnt taste like one? But Ochikeron proved us all wrong.

Viewers tested her recipe and were flabbergasted. It didnt just work; the cheesecake was downright delicious. The video went viral, racking up eight million views and turning Ochikeron into a culinary sensation overnight.

From the moment I saw that video, I was obsessed. If you could make a cheesecake by no means an easy dessert from just three everyday ingredients, what else could you whip up from a few things stashed away in the back of your fridge?

I started scouring every recipe book, website and Instagram page I could find for three-ingredient baking ideas. I looked into the history of three-ingredient baking, which dates back as far as rationing in Britain in the forties, and spans as far afield as Africa, Asia and Australia. Ingenious home chefs, it seems, have been looking for shortcuts for decades, swapping standard baking ingredients for clever substitutes that do the job of several and taste better than one.

I came across scones made from lemonade, biscuits from peanut butter, cakes made from chocolate milk and crpes from cauliflower. I rummaged in the attic and found old family recipes for shortbread and potato farls, Mars bar sauce and soda bread. I rediscovered my favourite ways of making fudge, toffee, honeycomb and macaroons.

I magicked muffins out of ginger beer, mousse out of water, ice lollies out of sherbet. I lived, breathed and ate three-ingredient baking, fed it to my very patient husband for almost every meal and plied my family, friends and colleagues with it.

For almost two years, I went on a journey one of love, laughter and most certainly lbs. I wrote hundreds of recipes, tested them repeatedly, adapted them and adopted some I found along the way. And I put all the important lessons I learned between the covers of this book

First, modern recipes tend to include an awful lot of ingredients. If youre a novice baker, not a baker at all or you simply dont have all day to make a Victoria sponge, its pretty off-putting to pick up a recipe containing 27 obscure and expensive ingredients, most of which you cant pronounce, let alone find on the shelves of your local supermarket.

This book is, as the name suggests, the exact opposite. Ive been really strict on this: each recipe contains exactly three ingredients, no more and no fewer. Theres no extra seasoning, fiddly decorations or hidden extras; even water counts. There are serving suggestions, sure, but most of these are swaps and not annoying additions. So if youre reading this feeling a little overwhelmed by baking, I promise this book is as un-scary as it gets.

Second, most of these recipes are quick and easy to make. There are a couple that take a little more time (like my slow and steady banana bread but thats sort of in the name) and youll need to know a few basic techniques, like whisking and folding, but beyond that, it really is straightforward. Theyre perfect for children, adults, experts, amateurs, students, first-timers, old-timers anyone, really, who wants to give three-ingredient baking a go.

Third, this is not and I cannot emphasize it enough a healthy baking book. If you want chia seeds, cacao nibs and lashings of avocado, look away now. Yes, some of my recipes are low in sugar, gluten-free and raw but Im making no claims about their health benefits or nutritional value. Theres more than enough of that to go around in the food world right now.

In my eyes, baking is an indulgence; its not something you should eat all the time, nor is it something you should consume in huge quantities (though I do find this second part tricky). Its a gooey, sticky, stodgy, oozy luxury and thats what this book is all about.

I might as well admit it now: my brownie recipe contains a whole jar of Nutella. I use an entire packet of buttery, calorie-laden pains au chocolat doused in cream to make a pudding. And dont even get me started on the fat content of my Oreo fudge.

So, if that sounds like your sort of thing, youve come to the right place. Three-ingredient baking harks back to the cookery customs of the past: mouthwatering, nourishing, comforting goodies whose taste isnt compromised by counting calories or cutting out sugar. But that doesnt make it old-fashioned. Because at the same time, its convenient, efficient and good value for money perfect for busy people on a budget, students or anyone trying to feed a young family.

I am indebted to the many food bloggers, YouTubers and recipe authors whose brilliant baking ideas have inspired and instructed me while writing this book. I credit you all with reigniting my love of baking and with reminding me that it is an alchemy like no other, in which unassuming raw ingredients are transformed into things of beauty. Any bursts of creativity in here I dedicate to you; all the mistakes are mine alone.

Before you get started, Ill leave you with this thought. Three, it is often said, is a magic number. So use this book to rediscover what that means. Try new things. Experiment. Get your hands dirty. Make mistakes. Sift flour all over your kitchen floor and get bread dough stuck to the ceiling. Bake with friends. Bake for friends. Bake first thing in the morning and in the middle of the night. Be bold. Be hungry. Make people happy.