It's The Great New Zealand Bake-Off!

It's no wonder people are bulk-buying flour with all the delicious recipes circling the internet these past weeks.

Chelsea Winter's lockdown loaf has got people whipping out their aprons and oven mitts. Aunty Winnie's dusting off the old metal hand beater, while the good guys from Fresh Choice are splitting the industrial-sized flour bags into grams and ounces for sale trying to meet demand.

I hear some supermarkets still have some 10 and 20kg bags in stock for all the super keen Betty Crocker's out there (to share with your neighbours' hint, hint).

We've got cakes and biscuits, muffins and loaves, pastries and pies. There are quiches, custard squares, sponges and scones, and let's not forget the beautiful Kiwi lamington in all its glory.

If I'm honest, all these homemade treats take me back to my childhood. It's no secret I was a chubby little chubster who loved food and my grandmother made the best shortbread and sultana bran muffins I have ever had in my life. True story.

There wasn't anything that couldn't be resolved with a cup of tea and a shortbread biscuit. She didn't live far from us so one of my older sisters and I would often toddle off down the road to her house just to see if she had something in the oven.

The memory of that warm sweet smell of the shortbread cooling on the stove still lingers. It's quite amazing how the human brain works, offering physical feelings with distant memories. I now associate home baking to happiness and safety, and I feel that each time I bake.

Muffins aren't just muffins, they're a representation of my grandmother's love and care. Shortbread isn't just shortbread, they represent comfort and safety. It's no wonder then in a time of such uncertainty and anxiety that many of you, like me, are reaching for the rolling pin and getting our bake on.

And bread tastes so much better fresh from the oven and made with love. I have a feeling some of you are going to emerge from this pandemic ready to compete to be New Zealand's next top baker, and I'll be ready to taste all the shortbread.