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A Year After Getting Run Over, This Maltese Woman Turned Her Sorrows Into A Business Of Indulgent Bakes

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Everyone has got their own surreal stories connected to 2020. For one Maltese woman, she’s had to learn to walk again after a hit-and-run accident and, as the pandemic added another layer of intensity, find silver linings in decadent, home-made bakes.

Charlotte Hamberger’s life was turned upside down in January 2020, when she was caught in a shocking hit-and-run that left her with serious leg injuries.

“I was out on a night out with some friends in St. Julians. I was just talking to a friend and all of a sudden my left leg was underneath a car,” the 23-year-old told Lovin Malta.

She fell to the ground in shock and a second later, her right leg was under the car’s back tire.

“I was in complete shock and I can’t remember much after that. I was coming in and out of consciousness. All I remember is being surrounded by my friends who told me I’d be ok.”

Hamberger broke several bones in both legs and was wheel-chair bound for months.

But just as she learnt to walk again, COVID-19 struck and Malta was in lockdown. Amid idle boredom and a slow recovery, she found solace in perfecting the ultimate comfort food: brownies.

“It was an anxious, idle moment of my life. One day, I decided to bake brownies and post them on a blog I made called charlies.eats.”

They were an instant hit.

“I pushed through my anxiety and just started posting more and slowly slowly, I started getting requests for orders,” she said.

“I got tons of messages for my recipe. So I thought, what if I sold my brownies? Would people really be interested in that? I asked my followers, and it turns out they were.”

And thus, charlies.eats transformed from a food blog into a home-grown business for all things sweet.

A year on since the accident, Hamberger dedicates most of her time in the kitchen: rolling out her best-seller chocolate brownies and a whole line of creations: classic cookies, pull-apart cinnamon rolls, over-the-top doughnuts and bespoke cakes. It’s a one-woman baking fiasco.

Besides a source of income, her passion for sweet treats has helped her get out of the rut she found herself in.

“Honestly, it made the days when I felt like falling apart and giving up just a bit better. It made me want to continue working on getting better and stop feeling sorry for myself. It’s like, these things happen, it’s a part of my life but I won’t let it define me.,” she added.

“It’s made me get out of the comfort of my room and find new experiences even in the worst of times.”

Check out charlies.eats creations here!

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Sam is a journalist, artist and writer based in Malta. Send her pictures of hands or need-to-know stories on politics or art on [email protected].

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