Dining in the Next Normal: A Young Home Baker Joins the Blossoming Home-Based Food Business Trend with Yana Banana's Goodies

We've witnessed numerous heroes during the quarantine as well as the emergence of home-based food businesses led by home bakers that bring their own tasty offerings of positivity and good vibes, fresh from their own home kitchens, to your table. And when a young and talented fourteen year-old baker joins the fray, you just know there's something special and sincerely homespun with her offerings at Yana Banana's Goodies...

A mom and daughter family venture, Yana Banana's Goodies joins the rising ranks of home-based food businesses in the quarantine offering comforting and indulgent fresh-baked treats like Ensaymada, Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies and Moist Dark Chocolate Cake. The young and enterprising Yana goes back to her favorite baked desserts, sharing these cherished recipes from their family kitchen to your home. The quarantine may have isolated us from our daily routine, but the creativity and resilience of the community always finds ways to share some sorely-missed optimism in the form of home-style fresh-baked treats to warm both the palate and body. It's a promising trend, one of the few bright spots in a prolonged quarantine, that's here to stay.

Dining at home became the new normal, changing our usual habits and making us miss that restaurant experience. The quarantine made the kitchen the center of activities for families, and once again everyone gathered at the kitchen preparing family meals together. It also sparked the rise of food deliveries and home-based food businesses around the country as homes adapted to the new normal. In a recurring scene played out in various home kitchens, a family's love for baking ignited an idea that led to Yana Banana's Goodies and their initial offerings of Ensaymada, Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies and Moist Dark Chocolate Cake. It's ventures like this that breathe life back to the community, bringing both hope and renewed comfort in the form of a fresh-baked ensaymadas, cookies and chocolate cakes. And what's even more amazing is that a young fourteen year-old baker is behind this latest and promising entry to the growing number of home-based food businesses.

There's just something real and authentic when a meal or dessert comes from a family kitchen. Yana started her own adventures in the family kitchen helping out her mom prepare cookies during the holiday season and even attended cooking classes at the ages of five and seven. Yana's interest in baking began, like many of us, with her immediate love affair for baked sweets. And who can blame her? In time, she's perfected her very own cookies, chocolate cakes and cheesecakes by the age of twelve. With the prolonged quarantine still in effect, offering her baked treats to a community yearning for some comforting flavors seemed like the perfect time. Together with her mom, Yana rolls out the baked creations she loves with Yana Banana's Goodies. You can say it's one of many inspiring and positive notes during the quarantine. 

Yana Banana's Goodies offers three flavors for their specialty ensaymadas. A sampler of Yana Banana's Goodies' specialty Ensaymada in Ube, Cheesy and Queso de Bola variants is the perfect way to get acquainted with her creative baking style. The individually wrapped ensaymada comes in an attractive box that makes it perfect for gifts to keep us connected with loved ones during the quarantine. All you have to do is send a quick PM or DM via Facebook and Instagram or call 0917 822 2062 and your box of indulgent treats are well on its way to your doorstep or loved one anywhere in the metro. 

The ensaymadas by Yana Banana's Goodies are pillow-soft, draped in a layer of cheese. A popular staple for afternoon snacks with a freshly brewed cup of coffee or extra thick Spanish chocolate and the holidays, the traditional pastry is quite tedious to prepare and bake. A holdover from a shared colonial heritage with Spain, the ensaymada is so much embedded in the local culinary mainstream that its mere presence on the home dining table is enough to bring a nostalgic vibe. The long process includes creating a soft brioche draped in rich and silky smooth butter topped with cheese. It's the texture that's difficult to recreate, and Yana Banana's Goodies executes it perfectly. The Ube Ensaymada (P 330-6 pcs/P 660-12 pcs) is easily identified by a purple spot at the top of the soft brioche... 

A slice further reveals the sweet purple yam filling, adding an indulgent layer of deep nutty sweetness with each bite of the Ube Ensaymada followed by the rich notes of cheese. It's flavors like this that adds a warm yet indulgent vibe to any home. And the soft yet dense texture completes the experience.    

Not overly sweet, one can still enjoy the distinct layers of flavors from the creamy cheese and buttery brioche made even richer by the purple yam filling. The size can be deceptive, as each brioche is densely packed and compressed staying moist even when stored in the ref. And like anything made in a home kitchen, each ensaymada gets a generous serving of butter and cheese. It's an inventive spin on the classic ensaymada with the purple yam adding a uniquely local twist.

The Cheesy Ensaymada (P 270-6 pcs/P 540-12 pcs) is probably the most common representation of the local pastry but Yana Banana's Goodies really lays on the cheese and butter with this one, just as any proper ensaymada should be. It's this rich blend of cheese and butter that brings a lavish richness to the palate, perfectly finished by the dense and moist buttery brioche. Cheesy it definitely is, and I'm loving each and every bite. 

The Quezo de Bola Ensaymada (P 330-6 pcs/660-12 pcs) is the most traditional variant in Yana Banana's Goodies line-up. The bold yet fragrant aroma of quezo de bola is the first thing you'll notice followed by its deep yet subtle salty notes after a bite. Layers of rich buttery hints and the soft, moist texture of the brioche completes your experience. Each bite triggers fond memories of childhood holiday family feasts, taking you back to simpler times way before Covid 19. And when your palate can take you to another place and time with just a bite of the specialty ensaymadas by Yana Banana's Goodies, then another day in quarantine isn't so bad.

Get all three rich and flavorful ensaymada variants by Yana Banana's Goodies, and your breakfast or afternoon snack at home is transformed to an elegant and memorable experience. Yana Banana's Goodies scores high on my list with these specialty ensaymadas. 

Cold, rainy and cloudy mornings in the quarantine are brightened up almost immediately when you warm some of these ensaymadas by Yana Banana's Goodies in the oven...

...for another perfect start to get you through another day in the new normal.

And there's more. Yana Banana's Goodies also offers Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies and an indulgent Moist Dark Chocolate Cake to an already impressive portfolio of fresh-baked products. Each product is elegantly packed reflecting young Yana's attention to detail for her lavish offerings. Let's open it up...

Chocolate and oatmeal come together for another creative combination with the Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies (P 100-6 pcs/P 200-12 pcs) by Yana Banana's Goodies. Thick and chewy with the nutty sweetness of oatmeal and chunks of chocolate chips make this another must-try treat from Yana Banana's Goodies.

And once you start, you just can't stop. The contrasting texture of the cookies, soft and chewy with the chocolate chips and oatmeal weaving its own playful mouthfeel with each bite adds to the whimsical character of these cookies. You can almost feel the youthful exuberance of the fourteen year-old baker with her unrestrained use of bold and indulgent notes with each bite. And that's how you make a cookie...

And you can tell we enjoyed these cookies, just follow the crumbs at home leading to the Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies by Yana Banana's Goodies.

When one more bite leads to another, you are once again a child from those countless and memorable summers enjoying the simple pleasures of a cookie. And you can relive that with the Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies by Yana Banana's Goodies.

Pair your Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with some milk for the ultimate in comforting combos and just go with the flow. There's a whole lot of love that goes into these cookies, baked fresh from a family's home kitchen. And that's what makes Yana Banana's Goodies special, more so in these uncertain times. 

Then, there's the Moist Dark Chocolate Cake packed in an elegant tin can. Packing cakes in tin cans were a trend some two years back, but now we see some practical function to this tightly sealed packaging in light of the global pandemic. And for Yana's luscious Moist Dark Chocolate Cake, the tin can is the perfect vessel to keep it moist.

This, by far, is the most indulgent creation in the repertoire of Yana Banana's Goodies. The Moist Dark Chocolate Cake (P 200 Small/P 380 Regular) just melts in your mouth releasing deep, rich notes of dark chocolate for an indulgence like no other. This one's for serious chocoholics as layers of sinful chocolate are packed in a can and dusted with cocoa powder for that lavish finishing touch. The Moist Dark Chocolate Cake is best enjoyed when you store it in the ref immediately after its delivered. This keeps the cake moist and firm as the decadent notes settle at its flavorful peak. I opened up my can the next day, and it had the perfect texture making it easier to slice. Like slicing through butter, one can see the intricate layers of chocolate with each slice. Each bite becomes a celebration of chocolate in its purest and most decadent form. And it all comes packed in a tin can from Yana Banana's Goodies. It really is an impressive showing for the fourteen year-old home baker, from her classic Ensaymadas to her Chocolate Chip Cookies and this Moist Dark Chocolate Cake. 

As we slowly transition to the new normal, enjoying some comfortingly familiar flavors at home becomes a cherished link with the past before the pandemic. Home bakers are now part of a long list of heroes bringing a taste of home lovingly prepared in their family kitchens to your table. Here's a toast to our medical heroes from all fronts and home bakers, heroes all, in the new normal.

For more on Yana Banana's Goodies, call 0917 822 2062 for orders. You can also visit their Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/Yana-Bananas-Goodies and their Instagram at @yanabananas.goodies for more information and updates.

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