The Birthday Cake Experiment

Some of you might remember when my boyfriend made chocolate chip cookies a few months ago.  We had so much fun baking together and writing the post that we’ve been planning on trying a new recipe since then.  Like last time, I really wanted to choose a recipe that a non-baker would be likely to attempt at home.  Classic birthday cake was an obvious choice.

11:55 am. Pat gets all of his ingredients ready.  He’s arranged them in the order he’ll need them.

Pat here.  I also taped the recipe to one of the cupboard doors.  I have no idea why Jessie had never thought to do that before. Read the rest of this entry »

Peanut Butter Fudge

I began baking in college, but it was after I graduated and had a real kitchen that I started baking a lot.   Inevitably when I meet a new person and start talking about baking they say, “I could never make all those treats.  I’d eat them all.”  I understand why people say that.  I love sweets too, but it would be impossible to eat two dozen cookies, a cake, and twelve muffins all in the same week, all by yourself.  It’s just too much food.  When you bake a lot you need to have friends, family, or coworkers to give all of the food to.

That’s where my office comes in.  I’m very lucky to work in an office that has between 30 and 50 people in it everyday.  That means that I can put out whatever I’ve baked the night before and it will be gone in less than an hour.  And no matter what it is, and no matter how bad I think it has turned out, everyone is so nice and thankful.  And it makes me want to bring them more sweets.  This recipe is the first thing I ever brought into work.  Everyone raved.  I never told them that there was Velveeta in the fudge.  At the time I’d only worked there for 3 months.  I thought they would be disgusted and think I was a weirdo.  This week I made it again.  And I told everyone was in it.  And they ate it anyway.  And raved.

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Gingersnap Truffles

This Wednesday was over 80 degrees in New York City.  So naturally my mind wandered to no-bake desserts on my bike ride home.  I do bake over the summer, but definitely less, so I’m always on the look out for tasty no bake desserts.  Another great thing about no-bake desserts is that they’re very accessible for people who don’t bake very often.  When me and Pat did the cookie experiment it really got me thinking about how expensive baking can be if you don’t have all of the ingredients in your pantry already.  This recipe only contains 3 ingredients and doesn’t require any special equipment.

This is all you need.

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The Cookie Experiment

My boyfriend doesn’t cook.  Or bake.  When I met him he didn’t have any butter or salt in his apartment.  Honestly he’s totally clueless about food.  Awhile ago I got this idea that it would be funny if he tried to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch (they’re his favorite dessert and he constantly nags me about not making them often enough).  He’d follow a recipe with no help from me, and we’d see what happened.  Given that he’s shown absolutely no interest in helping me cook, I was surprised when he excitedly agreed.

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