Ess Mick vs the baking soda

A little bit of a back story here.

Growing up, my mum told me (on many occasions, and still to this day she’s not convinced otherwise!!) that baking soda and baking powder are the same thing.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I hear you scream.

Wasn’t it obvious that they weren’t the same thing, especially when some recipes call for both baking soda AND baking powder?! Well yes, but no – my mum (whom I trusted!!!!) taught me something, so I believed her… Some were American recipes, so I thought maybe it was some lost in translation error???

Being the lovely, caring and generous person that I am (who also likes to blow her own trumpet!!); I bake for those I love (when time permits!). L-whack and his family feature in this category. And over a couple of months, earlier in L-whack & my relationship, I would bake cakes, cookies; muffins etc. (gotta get in with the in-laws!! Bribery works a charm!!).

So here I was, happily baking away and following the recipes (blueberry muffins, snickerdoodles) – but getting a bit confused with the finished product. Why does it have such a weird tang? Why can’t I taste the cinnamon? I thought maybe because I was using butter (which I never ate), maybe I’m just not used to the taste.

Being the lovely family that is the L-whacks, they were too polite to say anything bad. And L-whack didn’t want to hurt my feelings.

Until my birthday!! It all came out on the way to lunch at Miss Marples (prior to my vegan days!) – To be honest, I can’t remember the exact conversation, but it all came out that perhaps I needed to revise the recipes and re-think using baking soda!! There was much laughing and embarrassment – it was (and still kinda is!) a long running joke.

My nemesis

Why am I telling you this? To highlight my stupidity and to embarrass myself further? Maybe. But also because I attempted some Oatmeal cinnamon cookies the other day. And it called for both baking soda and baking powder. So Instead of 1 tspn of bicarb soda, I put in half and put 1 tspn of baking soda instead of ½.

And all I can taste is effing baking soda.