The Lazy Genius Podcast - #5: Lazy Genius Baking with Jamie Golden

Episode Date: May 31, 2016

Jamie Golden, co-host of The Popcast, joins Kendra to talk baking. They share tips to help you not wash dishes ever again, how to make cupcakes that will change your life, and how chafing helps you remember the difference between baking powder and baking soda. Where to find Jamie: Instagram: @jamiebgolden Twitter: @jamiebgolden The Popcast with Knox and Jamie Where to find Kendra: Instagram: @thelazygenius Join The Lazy Genius Collective and always be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. This podcast is hosted by Kendra Adachi and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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But Laura shopped on Amazon and saved on cleaning spray, countertop wipes, and fly traps. Hey, fruit flies, your baby boom ends here. Save the Every Day with Amazon. Hey, lazy geniuses. I'm Kendra Adachi, and you're listening to the Lazy Genius podcast. Here, we help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. This is Season 1, Episode 5, and my guest today, is Jamie B. Golden. You should know Jamie as the better half of the duo that hosts my favorite

podcast ever, The Popcast. Jamie and Knox are hilarious. I mean hilarious and give you all you need to know about each week in pop culture. But I am totally team Jamie. Sorry Knox. And she's here today sharing some awesome baking tips with us because she's a baker as well as one of the funniest podcast personalities ever. This conversation could have gone on forever and I'm so excited for you to hear it. I have a mic that I haven't quite mastered yet, which explains a lot of the problems in my life and not just like I'm used to things that I don't have to push a button or do anything. Great. And so now I have to. Anyway, do things. Do you get your couch? Do you get your couch? Oh my gosh. So I just called no. No, they're not even here. So I called the guy and I'm like,

so do you know when you're coming and apparently our car? couch wasn't ready and even though they said it was so he waited I don't know what that how can a couch not be ready like what do they need to do like what kind of emotional journey is the couch on that it's not ready it's and it only needed 20 minutes it's like I just need to get my face on I didn't understand what was going on so he waited for the couch and he's like I'm on my way I'll be there in 20 minutes so I told him well I'm going to get on a call and then if I don't come to the door right away it's because we'll like, just pause for five minutes and I'll let everybody to catch in and then I'll call you back whatever. So stupid. Anyway, hi. Hi. Thanks for doing this. This is so fun. No, I'm super pumped.

I thought we were meeting at nine. No, not in a bad way. My hair was still this and my face. I mean, I was no more dressed. Right. Than I was now. Mentally dressed. I was thinking Eastern time. Oh, right. No, but then I realized I gave you times in Eastern. But it, but it was, It's because you said you needed to leave at noon to pick your children at. Right. And I can push it later than that. So we're going to be, yeah, it's going to be fine. So you're probably like, hello, why did you give me 10 to noon?

No. When I clearly said, I have to. No. I didn't feel that way at all. Slash, I'm kind of, I'm kind of like a boss lady sometimes. So if I had to be like, sorry, Jamie, that's not going to work. I would have said it. So it's fine.

Okay. I'm not a good flatterer. I don't know how to. Oh, no. I don't know how to say things. Like, if I say something to you and I don't mean it, you're going to know. Right, right, right. Like I don't.

You don't wrap things in pretty. Right? No. I don't like it and I'm terrible at it. Like, both elements are terrible. That's funny. So it's fine. Which is why for me to say to you that the podcast is my favorite podcast.

That's a big deal. It's like. And that means a lot. A real big deal. Because I really. really, I really like you. Like, you've become like one of my online favorite people. Like I think, I wish we looked closer.

Yeah, for real. But I, that's a huge compliment. Like, some people say it and I'm like, you have horrible taste. So don't ever listen to pop culture. I have such good taste. I have impeccable taste. It was funny. Like, Knox and I talked about, he listened to, once I told him about you and your sister.

Yeah. I said, you need to listen to this. It's so funny. And he was like, he came back like the next episode and he said, it is so funny. we can never mention it again. Like, it's like, we can't ever talk about this podcast ever.

And, and that was such a compliment. Yeah, that's really, really nice. Yeah. Like, for real.

You don't care because we're like, well, I mean, it's all good. But obviously, we'll mention this for sure. But he said, he was like,

ah, they're so funny. They're so good. And I said, well, they're women. So it's not like, it's not like they're in competition.

He thinks everybody's, I was like, I was like, sync and PR is worried about us. So dial it back. Everybody has, everybody has their corner of the pool. Like it's, that used to be a thing for me though, is because I'm a super competitive person. And so yeah, it's like, well, they're already talking about this stuff. There's no, I can't talk about it either. And I just realized how stupid that is. Because like, if I got all of my information from Ira Glass, like, I would just turn into Ira Glass. Like, that's just not how life works. So,

But anyway, but I'm so glad that he liked it so much he doesn't want to talk about it. That makes me happy. That's huge. He'll say, like, oh, we can talk about that because no, but it's not going to impede on us. Right. But he's like, he doesn't, he worries that he's like, I don't want someone to think someone else is funnier than. I was like, well, there are plenty of people funnier than us, but it's okay. You're pretty, you're pretty funny, though.

I have to say that, okay, so I just discovered your podcast, like, it's so stupid. I really am so angry at my friends for not telling me about this sooner. They all knew about you. It's so dumb. But they just assumed that I knew and I didn't. And so it's just been a couple of months. Like, it hasn't been that long that I'm listening. So I've been like, like, like, consuming old episodes.

Like, I'm a starving orphan. Like, I just can't stop. We hate that too, by the way. We hate it because we're like, uh, we were so stupid then. Or we didn't care. Or we like, I laid down and recorded on the. the couch, like with the mic on my earbuds. Like, we didn't care. Yeah. So we keep saying we're going to put those episodes behind the paywall. Like, you're going to have to pay to listen to crap.

Right. You're not going to be able to just binge it. But, well, I'll, I will binge faster then before you make me pay to listen to right. But no, like, okay, so you know how people say, like when James Lipton does his interviews and he has his questions from the French guy. And one of them is, you know, what is your favorite sound? And, you know, you say things like, my baby laughing or, you know, whatever. Right. So top five sounds. One of them has to be.

Yeah. Knox's silent laugh at you. I mean, I want it to be a ringtone, but I couldn't hear my phone because it's silent. Yeah. But it's, I don't know what it is. But it's the best sound. And it's the most reaffirming thing. And what's the best part?

I wish people, I said, we need to do like a clip. of his weasy laugh is like he always does that like he always like goes off the side because he's trying to pull back from the mic and I go it's really my because when we started I was like he'll be the smart one I'll be the funny one right well he's the smart and funny one funny too right and I'm just the cotton candy who's like I don't know what's that and I was a little sad like that I wasn't smart or as funny as him but when I can get him to wheezy but it's just like shock Like, it's shock and all. Like, if I could, and I'm not even thinking about it, but I think when he does it, I was like, oh, yeah.

Like this autopsy photo thing, I really didn't. We later said, like, when we stopped the episode, I was like, you know, now that I think about it, when I said that at the dinner party that I liked autopsy. They all looked at me really weird, but like, not supportive like. And so maybe this is one of those things I should not have revealed. What's the account now? What's the tally on which one's weirder? Oh, it still has. him. It's because it's all women who are like, you have an eating disorder. Totally. Totally.

People are like, that sounds like me when I was 17 and trying to be a cheerleader and I weighed 80 pounds. And he said it so casually. Like, like it was such a normal thing. Like, of course you take a bite and then you spit it out. Why is that abnormal? He sent me an email. He sent me a tax. It was like, we are going to talk about this in a follow-up episode. And I was like, and I said to him, I said, you do. I'm like, it's weird, right? And he was like, I said, don't. It's sad that you're, oh, I I said we need to start a segment called Confessions with Knox and like listeners can admit their secret shame. Totally. I'm not ashamed. I feel like Tony Stark when he puts on the Iron Man suit and I split that out. I feel powerful.

I was like, well, you shouldn't feel powerful. Oh, it's just too good. It's too good. It is. It is too good. Oh my gosh. Okay. Well, I want to know like some things and I'm going to get old edit this and whatever.

No, never worried. I always trust everybody. I'm like, it'll work out. That'll be fine. So, like, how, because I want to talk about a million things, which is the problem, because we don't have time for that. Right. But I do want to, I want to ask you, like, because a lot of people know you from the podcast, but, like, you're a baker, too. Isn't that weird?

It's so great. But, like, I don't know if enough people, like, know the origin story of that whole situation. Right. And even if they don't or don't care, I care. I want to hear. Like, what's your, how did that get started? Like, have you always been a baker? What was the cake?

Like, how did it start for you? Well, it's so funny because I'm obviously, I'm a cake pop baker. And so I post cake pops on social media all the time. But it's so funny because people will still, I mean, I've been, it's been my job for two years. Right. And people will still go, where do you find all these cake pops to post? And it's like, they're in my kitchen. Like, what do you think?

You think I'm just obsessed? Like, this is not cat videos. This is like, I'm making me. Come on. You have a cake pop obsession. Yeah. They're just like, wow, whoever's making these is amazing. It's like, thanks, sort of.

Weird. Anyway, what happened was I had, I was always, I always had jobs in marketing. Okay. And I quit my job about a little over two years ago. And I had, I'd love to bake forever. Okay. I made cupcakes once in college. And my roommate said, these are really good.

go, yeah, I didn't have water. We didn't have, we didn't have, we didn't have, we did. I mean, we had water, but our city water, the water we had in our condo that was owned by, no kidding, a Russian mobster in Atlanta. He, the water was really sketchy. Got it. So I said, I didn't want to use water, so I used milk, but all we had in the fridge, and I don't even know why we had it. I think it's because I had a roommate who liked to dip things in her buttermilk. Like, she liked to eat things with buttermilk or drink buttermilk late at night, which is a very southern weird thing. I've never, I grew, I've been, lived in North Carolina my entire life. I've never heard of dipping things in buttermilk.

Here's the problem. You're too close to the Mason Dixon. You got to go deep Alabama, Georgia to really get to the weird, like, kooky south, right? And you put ketchup on everything? Sure. But not, but that's like, that's, everybody does that. That's like, yeah. No, my best friend's husband, he dips.

hot dog buns in buttermil. Wow. I mean, my mind is kind of, okay. All right. I'm trying to process this. So obviously I'm a culinary expert.

Right. They were so good. And so then I was like, oh, well, I could make things. Let me try. And so it just,

I loved to be, and it was really, you know, it was the encouragement I got from her because I actually don't like sweets. I like cheese fries and nachos. And, but because I got affirmation

and I'm a long time. people pleaser. I was like, oh, that felt good. Let me do that again. Let's make more people like me because of the way I feed them. Plus, my mother nurtured me with food growing up. My mom once, she was supposed to come to my house. This was recently, she was supposed to come to my house on a Saturday with my dad and help with some stuff around my house. And she ended up getting sick and couldn't come. And so when my dad showed up at the door and he's very stoic and not a talker, and he showed up the door and he had a sausage biscuit. And he handed it to me and I said, what is this for? And he said, your mom felt bad that she couldn't come. So she sent

a biscuit. So she really does like in replacement. I can't be there. Yes, here's a cake. Like, here's some fudge. I feel bad. So she does it. And so I have followed. So I started baking and I made cupcakes forever. And then I met online, not really like we do with online people. Sure. I met Bacorella. And Bacorella was a football. I know. She was a blogger who is still a blogger who really invented cake pops. did. She's like the queen. She is the origin story of cake box. He is the origin story. I know. And what's great is she never has sold them. She just creates cookbook. I mean, she's doing it right for real. Sure. Sure. But I thought, ah, that's even any tinier canvas that I can't mess up. So let me try that. And so after about, because people will tell me they make cake pops and they're super hard. And

and it's because they're tricking you. All those videos you're watching on Facebook, those tasty videos, they're tricking you because they're telling you wrong and not giving you the tips that you need. But once I made, I said, once you make like $8,000, it's going to be so easy. So easy. But just stay committed, moms. If you're trying to make after school snacks for your kids, it'll be. Keep having children until you like, listen, it's not a quota for sure because you'll be like, you know what, I've had one more baby.

Toddlers love cake pops. Like I can do it. So that's, and so when I quit my job, I left my job kind of not knowing, what was next. I did it kind of as a leap of faith. And because God was telling me to quit my job. And but he didn't tell me how to pay my mortgage. And so I looked at my life and go, what can I do to make money while I'm looking for a job? And I was doing that as a hobby. And so I said, oh, well, maybe I could do this. And so I started a cake pop business out of my home. And it ended up, it was so funny. Like, I was like, this is just till I get like a 401k job or a job with like

vacation days. And what happened was I could pay all my bills with it. I was like, oh, like I could do this for a, like I could really do this for a living. And so now I still do. So I have a little business where I make cake pops. I love how, okay, so this is being recorded. I don't know when this is going to be released because I'm like just recording a bunch of interviews and we'll edit them when I'm, I don't know, awake in the middle of the night because the baby's crying or something. So I don't know when this is coming out, but we were recording this during Holy Week.

Yes. And my favorite thing that you said in the email was like, I'm so sorry, I've been so busy. Apparently people really need cake pops during Holy Week. I know. Nothing says the resurrection of Christ like cake on a stick. And it has. Like I've gotten so many people are like, we cannot celebrate. Can you make a tomb?

Can you make a tomb? No, I can't. I can't make a tomb. See, that feels really weird to like, I don't know, like to celebrate. celebrate Jesus by eating his death. I guess that's what communion is, but it feels wrong with cake. I mean, it's really quintessential Monday Thursday, right? It's last supper.

I do at Christmas make a nativity scene that's out of cake pops. And people are always like, we don't eat the Jesus. It's false. We eat the sheep first and we eat Joseph like in a second. But like, we really do feel bad about eating Jesus. It's so good. I know. I'm like, eat Jesus.

Jesus is cool with it. Oh, man. So good. Okay. So there is the, it's so fun when something that seems, I don't know, speaking as someone who also tried to start a baking business, I could not pay my bills with it. I think it was just because it was a little too complicated in slash. I only did it once a month. You can't really, you can't really pay your bills with like five hours once a month. That's not really how life works. Wouldn't it be great though if you could?

Oh my word. It would be so awesome. The dream. But those kinds of things, like I understand me like, I felt stupid. It was like, no one's going to do this. Like, no one's going to care about this. But when they do, it's so fun. And I know that like what you're, because what you're doing, I see those pictures. And I'm like, she is not getting enough for those.

She needs to charge more for those. Because those are the fly as cake box I've ever seen. And I know what it means to bake. Like, baking is no joke. baking is this it's so I wasn't even prepared for mentally how ridiculously stupid baking it's so stupid it's so because baking just has no forgiveness right like cooking has so much forgiveness so much and I'm not a cook either like I I cook not at all like to the point that one time I was I was going to make fried green tomatoes because I'd had them at a restaurant I was like I could do that sure like right and really like to be

clear. I use my stove top. I have a gas stove. I use my stove top to cook hot dogs. Like just so they're like, ooh, it's like they're grilled. They taste better that way. They taste better that way. But I don't ever cooked your buns and butter. What? Okay, so here's what you do. I'm about to change your life. Oh my gosh. So you cook, especially if you're cooking just like for, you know, you're not cooking for like 12 people. Yeah. You get one skillet that can fit hot dogs and buns, however many you're going to eat. Okay. And you start cooking your hot dogs and do the things and they get sizzly and brown or whatever. But then, like, when they're just getting close to being done, you put a, like, a dollop of butter on the other side of the pan and you put the bun down in it and it like fries the top of

the bun and it gets like crunchy. Oh my gosh. And perfect. And then you just, and then you have a blissful hot dog experience and you'll never go back. You'll never go back. Like I, I just, now I'm all, I mean, I'm glad we're going to keep talking, but all I'm going to think about is I got to make a hot dog with that the bat button. I'm so excited. It's a game changer. We used to work with the high school youth group at our church for so many years. And so we would always have teenage boys at our house. And they eat a mess of food. And we, my husband is a school counselor. He's a middle school counselor. So we have like $10. So when the kids would come over and, you know, I want to like feed them. Like that's so fun. They're hanging out for hours or whatever. And so

that was kind of the go-to. It was the hot dogs with the fried bun. And they were like, this is the best hot dog I've ever had. 100%. Now, granted, you know, it's not like they have, I was about to say, it's not like they have very sophisticated palettes.

I'm giving them a hot dog. Like, I'm not expecting much. You don't need to have a sophisticated palette to enjoy the hot dog, but they really are a game-taker. I can't wait for you to try it. See, I like tips like that because I, when I decided to make fried green tomatoes,

I bought tomatoes. I like, I wrote down a recipe that I found and like went to the store, store and bought those things and then put, but I'm really bad. It's since I don't cook every day. I mean, I'm really just eating to survive sometimes. And what I decide will sustain me is probably not the wisest thing at this age, but

I like forgot that I had the green tomatoes. So several days later I'm sitting on the couch. I was like, oh my gosh, I have green tomatoes. I can make fried green tomato. I was so excited. And so I went in the kitchen and then I was really bummed and I called my mom and and I was like, well, I was going to make fried green tomatoes. But I I guess I didn't buy tomatoes, green tomatoes. And she's like, what do you mean? I said, well, all I have is red tomatoes.

And she said, why would you buy red tomatoes if you were going to make fried green tomatoes? I said, I don't know. I don't know why I made that mistake. And she got it before I did. And she's like, well, Jimmy, you need no, green tomatoes become red tomatoes. I went, no, what? When?

Why? She's like, Jamie. And she really was like, shame me, Beth. I go, no, no, no. We, wait, wait, green apples don't become red apples. This is an excellent counter argument. Right. And I started going through all the things that had multiple color. I was like, yellow onions don't become purple onions. True. Or red onions. She was like, I hear you, but still, green onions. Still wrong. It's become red tomato. So I was devastated. And then I was like, I'm not going to cook for another year. Right. Like that's my one attempt. It's a big setback. But baking is so precise. And so. And like, it's just those eggs and that flour and that butter, they just do not. They don't play at all.

I'm just rolling my eyes so much because it's I've committed it's like being committed it's being in a committed relationship with someone who annoys a crap out of you but they do think but the end result like they're they're just like so sweet at the end of the day or I don't know there's something about it that it's worth it I guess no it's like it's like the friend you know who constantly calls you and leaves voicemails just to like leave voicemails or they text you kay like they respond to everything with kay and you're like acceptable I hate you like why are you like but then when they come over it's so different they're like they bring you like hey i bought you this whole season of i brought you i was out and just i bought you this whole

season of house of cards on dbd i'm like oh right we're super nice you're super nice like i'll keep you for now yeah no it's it's such a weird relationship which is why um i was i'm really excited to talk to you about baking just even if it's like what like If it's just one thing that, I was going to say, like, it could be just something as simple as putting your hot dog buns and butter, but that's not really baking. That's just trying to be like Polidine. That's just magic. Did you know, random, I worked for Pauline? I wrote for Pauline.

Did you work at, like, her plantation weddings? She catered them? No. I was before the plantation wedding days. And when they found out, like, I wrote three articles. They contacted me and they were like, we're trying to get guest, you know, writers, whatever. I wrote three articles. My photos sucked.

I know that's why they didn't keep me because my photos were atrocious. I didn't know how to take pictures of food. I was like, okay. Like I took, it doesn't matter. It's fine. But she bought me a computer essentially. Like what I made bought me a computer. But then when I found out that she was like a terrible racist person, I was like,

should I keep the computer? Like I feel really bad. Like this is like on the back. This is on the backs of slaves. This MacBook. You really felt that right. But it's funny. You kept it, didn't you?

I'm using it right now. It's been a great computer. Blood money. Okay, so anytime someone says Paula Bean, I'm just reminded that my computer is a blood money. Right. Your blood money. That's so brilliant. No, so like I really did.

I'm so excited to talk to you just about baking things because I have found, like you said, you paid 8,000 cake pops and now you know how to do it and it's easy. Right. And there are things that when I see other people baking, I'm like, no, no, no, sweetheart. What are you doing? Either they're making it way too complicated. Right. or they're making, taking shortcuts in the absolute wrong way.

Like, you can't, in order to soften your butter, you can't melt it, sweetheart. Like, you can't do it. You won't get a, that's why your cookies look like crap. Like, you can't do that. Yes, because there's such a chemistry. But I think once you know it, you go, okay, well, because forever I would be that person. I'm like, let's just heat this mo up in the microwave. And it'll be kind of melty.

And, of course, that's what makes all your cookies greasy or your cakes heavy or Right. But I realize like, oh, yeah, measuring is important because I think to me that's one of the bigger mistakes people make is they don't measure accurately or they don't, you know, they don't put the glass jar down on the counter and let the liquid settle and then look at it and see, is it really on the line or am I looking at it in an angle? So that's important. Like measuring is important. And then like you said, everything, like it really needs to be, unless it says a recipe calls for it, everything needs to be. be at room time. Because the eggs, you use a cold egg, you're going to get those, if you make a cake or you make brownies, they're going to get those cavernous holes that when you cut the cake, you're like, why is it not? Why are there holes? It looks like cheese. Yeah. Yeah. And so then it's going to be drier. But I will say a quick way, because I'm infamous for not remembering to pull the eggs out. I can always remember better. I always forget eggs. I don't know why it's so hard to forget to pull out the eggs. I know. But the good news is that what I do to quick,

warm up eggs is I just put eggs in a bowl of warm water for about 10 minutes. Got it. Not boiling because that's a different egg. Right. We don't want egg salad cake. That's one time I made a cake and I didn't, I didn't follow the order of what things when and when, which is crucial with baking. You know, dry has to be usually separate from wet ingredients.

And so always follow the instructions of the recipe. But I didn't. And so I put the eggs in before I put the hot. hot water and that the it was for crust and I I don't know if you have ever tried to put almost boiling water on top of eggs but then your pie tastes like scrambled eggs 100% because the eggs don't almost they don't mix in and so I learned like oh this is super right so to put this in a go so it's kind of like people who are listening and they're like oh baking is no it's I see here's the thing I want people to enjoy baking because I really think that most anybody

can do it. But if you go into it where you're, you're like, oh, yeah, it'll be fine. It really won't. Like, you have, it really won't. Your intuition is wrong. Right. My intuition used to be like, well, baking powder can sub for baking soda. That's fine. Same difference. Like, those are the same difference. You're not, or I would, well, I don't have enough eggs. So I'll just use one less. It's fine. Like, it's, I mean, I'll just, I'll, I'll, like, add a little water or whatever, like, to cheat. I would always try to cheat. And so you kind of have to go, you, There are definitely some things you can cheat. Sure.

But knowing that, okay, like, I want to make this the best experience and have the best little kind of yummy thing. One tip I give people always is buy a cheap oven thermometer because I moved into this house and I had a gas stove. And everybody was like, oh, my gosh, you're going to love having a gas. Well, if you're a baker, you actually don't like. It's the worst. I have one now and it's so bad.

Oh, hold, please. Yes. Couch. There we go. That's so funny. I was so disappointed that I only got to hear. hear the accent and not see the accent. Sorry, I really should have, like, I should have tilted the, dang it.

That was my, that's my fault. That's on you, that's on me for preventing me from the British goodness. Because he really, he's so handsome. But like, when I need him to get out of my house, and he's a talker, like, when I was paying him on the deck and he's like, what does your husband do? Oh, my friend does something like that. Where do they work? And I'm like, I love that you want to have conversations.

Right. And usually I would be so happy to just listen and talk about anything. Yeah, let's just have a cup of tea and let's do it. It doesn't matter. He's like, he's like, it's probably hit in 50, salt and pepper. Okay. Five o'clock shadow. A solid six four.

What? I know. I would look really good next to that. I would like a great next to that. See, here's the thing is I think he knows he would look great next to all things, all things. All things. That's tough. I like the one that's like, what?

I'm handsome. I didn't know. That's right. He knows. He knows. That's tough. Because when they know, they drive a Hummer. That's what happens.

It's not great. Well, here's the thing he was telling me when I bought the couch months ago in the room. And I thought it would take, I knew what couch I wanted. And when I went in there, I was like, this is going to take two minutes. Like, this is no problem. I was here for almost an hour because it was just like, he was just like having a conversation. And, but he like, so I said, I guess you're from England. And he said, he's like, yes, I've lived in London.

And then I moved to Tokyo. And then I moved to, lives in Paris. And now I'm here. I'm in Greensboro, North Carolina. Right. This is one of these things is not like the other. Like, it was so weird. Like, you must leave that out when he goes to Paris.

He doesn't include Greensboro. But, you know, we're like High Point Furniture Market. Like, that's, we're next to the same. that does the furniture market. So there's a lot of like furniture is a thing around here, but it just seemed like that that list does not make any sense. Anyway. Well, good.

I'm glad you got a new couch. We got a new couch. It's so pretty. Okay, couch is here. And now we can get back to baking tips. That's so funny. Okay. So we were saying how you put eggs in.

We were talking about like how you can't cheat, but there is things. Oh, the oven thermometer. Okay. So your tip is. to get an oven thermometer because you got a gas stove. That's what I have, too. And gas stoves are the worst. Gas stoves for baking.

For baking. Sove tops are fantastic. Right. You want an electric stove. Gas stoves are like, nothing gets brown. Nothing gets crisp. It's the worst. You have to constantly turn it.

I'm like four minutes later. I got to turn it again. It's just too. But my oven, when I bought this house, when I had the home inspection done, the guy was like, um, this oven is putting out a lot. lot of carbon monoxide. And I went, really? And so his suggestion, of course, was buy a new oven, but I just bought a house. Like, I've bought the roof and the walls. Like, I don't have money anymore to buy it. So I just bought a carbon monoxide detector and hid it by it. And I tell people all

the time, I sleep really well in this house. So it's just the right amount of carbon monoxide that I sleep super great. Did you know, like, do you realize how much of a lazy genius you actually are. That is such a, like, no, I'll just get a detector. It's no problem. It's a lot of work to go buy an oven when I can just buy a carbon monoxide detector from Amazon two-day prime. And you don't have to go leave your house. I didn't have to put on pants yet again. That's my whole life. How do I not put on pants? This is the goal. To make this happen. Totally. So yes. And so knowing that your oven is, my oven is it actually is 10 degrees too hot. So that impacts like, and so a lot of people don't know.

They're like, oh, I just assume it's telling the truth. No, your oven is probably a liar. Totally a liar. Yeah. So you do, it's helpful to know. And oven thermometers are super cheap, like dollar general cheap. Right. Same goes, honestly, for your fridge and freezer sometimes.

It's like, that stuff isn't, you know, you're like, why do my, why does my cheese keep molding so fast? Right. It might be because your fridge is lying to you. Like, that's why, I don't know what the, um, what the like health department baking small business requirements are in Alabama. Yes. But here, there aren't a lot of them. They're actually really cool about stuff,

but you have to have thermometers and all the things because that's right. It's like, please don't kill people with bad eggs. Right. So I have to, yes, I keep it at 41 degree. And like, thankfully my fridge is great. I will tell you the story once I had a party,

just to really reiterate how a bad cook I am or how little, I had a party and you know, you always want to be friends with at least one person who will stay after and help you clean up. Totally. Like you can't just be friends with extroverts who are in the driveway talking still. But you need the one person who's like really is just obsessed with cleaning your kitchen. And see, that's when, if you do have all the extrovert friends, that's when you leave all your windows open. If it's dark outside, you leave back all the lights on in your house, open all the windows so they can watch you clean up. Maybe one of them will feel guilty enough that they'll come back in.

Yeah, like, oh, wow, Jamie is sweeping. Right. And look how hard she seems to be using that broom. Like, it's so intense. She's furring her brow. Maybe we should go inside and help her. That's right. And so she was helping put stuff away.

And I saw her, like, you know, wrapping stuff with, you know, plastic wrap and putting it in the fridge. And she put, like, some cheese on the top shelf. And I was like, oh, no, no, don't put it on the top shelf. And she's like, oh, why? And she was like, oh, it's warmer up there. Right. She's like, because I was like, because of the light.

So we, you know, the light goes off. And I went, really? And I wish I could tell you I was 19 when we had this conversation. I was 29. It was 29. Single for a reason sometimes I think. And I was like, wow. And so it like opened up obviously a whole new shelf to me in my head. So I was like, I didn't even know that the light. Although, according to real simple, which I no longer get because they made me feel stupid and like I didn't have enough money for anything. Like, who gives their, who can afford to give their mailman a $40 Christmas present? That's bonkers. No way. I don't even, like, the only time, the only time my mailman has received, and I'm so grateful. Like, it's, it's a, like, I wouldn't want that job. I'm so glad someone has it. I need to get my bills and, you know, my entertainment weekly.

No, send him email postal workers. Yeah, no. It's so good. Like, I, I really appreciate them, but I have never given them any sort of gifts. until this past Christmas, a friend of mine, I was having a really bad day, and she texted and she said, I left you something in your mailbox to make your day better. It's like, so nice. Like what is? And she was a new friend. Like we hadn't even really hung out before.

It was really sweet. So I go out to the mailbox and it's empty. Uh-oh. And I texted her and I was like, this feels weird. There's nothing there. Like I felt like being like I was ungrateful, but I didn't want to be. be like, oh, thanks for, she didn't tell me what she gave me. Yeah, like, be please.

Where's my stuff? Right. I was so confused. And I was like, there's nothing in the mailbox. And she went, wait, wait, what? I just left you cookies. And she left, and she left a note that said, oh, I wish I could remember the note. But it was, it was like a, it was kind of an inside joke.

But it was like, it was a really personal, sweet sort of thing. Uh-oh. Next day, there's a note in my mailbox. Yeah. From my mail carrier. Thank you for the cookies. Oh my gosh. And it said something about like we're BFFs, like cookies.

Oh, wow. Like it was like a really personal note. Like you're now the emergency contact for your mail carrier. And so what am I going to say like, oh wait, but those weren't for you? I can't say that. No. But then I, so I just, do I say like, you're welcome or so it's just been a really awkward relationship with my mail carrier since then?

Because he thinks your best friends. Right. And you are not best friends. We are not best friends. That's fine. I gave my mail carrier and my garbage guys. I gave them all cake pots. And the milk carrier, he actually had to bring me a package on the day that I put them in the box.

I said, oh, I put cake pops in the money. He's like, oh, I have celiac disease. And I was like, oh, well, this is the best news ever. I was like, well, just take the cake pops. Like, you don't, this is not a situation where you need to let us know your weird dietary thing. Like, I'm sorry that you have celiacs. It's a real thing and that you don't get to. But you know someone who will eat them?

Like, give them to it. Yeah, like there's got to be somebody. Like, put them in the next bell box you're going to. Like, just put them in there. Just say, thank you. That drives me nuts. I'm sorry. Whatever.

Okay, so real simple told me to buy my mail carrier a $40 Christmas present. And they also told me that there are zones in your fridge that are different temperatures. And like, this is how you should put stuff in your fridge. It's those bucket drawers, isn't it? Like they're supposed to, it says veggies and I'm supposed to put veggies in it. If it's labeled, apparently there's a reason. But they make the veggie drawer really big and the cheese drawer is not big enough. Thank you very.

I'm like, there's nothing truly right now if we open my fridge. There's zero things in my veggie drawer. Right. And there are eight different types of cheese. Totally. As it should be. Right. This is the way of the world.

But apparently there's like truth to it unless they just needed a way to make us feel badly about our organization for our life. Like, oh, wait, your fridge is also not organized well. You know, that's how I feel. Yeah. There's a door that closes. It's not supposed to be. And the light even goes off.

We just learned. There's not even a light in there. Even though I will give you a lazy tit for, because that's so many. That's why I love lazy genius because I'm like, these are my people. Because I put press and seal, you know, the press and seal, like crap. Yeah. I put that on the refrigerator shelves. So smart.

And then when I quote clean, I just pull up the press and seal and put down another layer. You just changed my life. Seriously, it's so great because fridges are hard to clean. Such a beast. I hate them. They're horrible. And so you feel like you have to pull everything out. It smells.

You're like, now my cheese is going to smell like Mrs. Myers. And she's great. I get it. But she's not that great. No, she's not that great. Yeah. That's such a great. You've done cleaning in literally like 17.

seconds. Yes, I'm the laziest cleaner. Like, I keep in my shower a bottle of no white shower cleaner so that when I take a shower, I just spray the walls. Like, I never clean my shower in any kind formal way. I, the reason I know that we are the same in this is, so we have been living in construction for so long. And I'm surprised we don't all have like some sort of like lung problem because of all the drywall desks that's been in the house. Well, I'm not going to clean. I don't clean anyway, but I'm definitely not going to clean when everything's going to be covered in a layer of stuff in five minutes. So we, the construction was done just a few days ago. I scheduled a house cleaner to come so that I didn't have to do it. My husband got home like the

next morning. He comes out of the bathroom and he's like, our shower looks really different. It's like, yeah, babe, it's clean. It's what professionals call sanity. And then I just realized, like, he thought maybe I had like, like, that afternoon, like switched out the base of our shower. Like, I had gotten new ceramic. Like, you got it installed. Someone just came with a sponge. Did you put in tile?

Like, what happened? No, someone just came with a sponge. It's cool. That's all. That's the perfect thing. don't clean your house. There are people who want to make a living. I want to honor their commitment to their work.

I will give up anything. I'll give up fresh vegetables in order to pay a cleaning person to come. Praise him. Yes. Totally. Okay. So let's try to knock out some baking, like lazy baking tips or just helpful baking tips. Okay.

One of my favorites is parchment paper. Right. For all the things. Everything that you're doing. So you put it on your cookie sheets when you put down. dough. Obviously, you can use it to like, I don't, I might get in trouble with you for this one. I don't do the whole like round cake pan. I don't do the whole butter it and then flour like flour and then butter it and butter it like 17 times. It's so annoying. I cut a circle of parchment

paper. I spray with cooking spray. Put a circle of parchment paper and spray again. And it works fantastic. Like there's no reason to do this whole like flower shimmy dance to try to get the whole thing covered. But parchment paper I use on, yeah, like cookie sheets. And then when you are baking your cookies, you know, A, you don't have to clean the pan. Which is a gift. The whole goal for me in baking is figuring out how few dishes I can use and or wash. It's something else here now. Something new.

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You just slide the whole sheet onto a cooling rack. It's perfect. You don't have to wash the cooling rack. like and you can P.S. you can reuse the parts of paper. You really can't. I never knew that until someone was like, I was at someone's house and we were baking cookies with their kids and she like took the, she rolled up the.

Roll it up. And I went, are you a hoarder? What's happening? Can you really do that? And she's like, oh yeah, you can totally do it. She's a baker about for her living to you. And I was like, wow. And here's the best way because sometimes they're like, you know, like crumbs or like

a drop of butter or something, you know, like they might have like a tiny, tiny film. And so what I do, because at first I would just roll them, but then the both sides of the paper would get kind of rose. So then when you put it on, like there wasn't a clean side. And so then you'd end up having it was annoying. So fold it in half first, dirty sides together. Yes. Then roll. And you're all set.

That's brilliant. So good. I will say for cupcakes, same concept, because I really do hate to wash pans. So that's why I use parchment paper. And cupcakes, so my solution for cupcake, because. I find that cupcake pans are the worst to wash because they, you drop batter and then that stuff is just burnt on because it's obviously in a weird spot. And so I will put a piece of foil on the cupcake pan and then stab a knife into all the holes and then just push that foil back and put the baking

cup in there. So you're never going to get, stop it. I know. I love foil. Foil is my favorite thing. The planet. I get through so much. I buy it like, I know they're like, like, wow, you buy a lot of toilet paper and foil at Sam's Club. It's like, well, that's all I buy here, but I do love foil. Wasn't that the thing that didn't Peewey Herman have a giant ball of foil? He did. Yeah. You could add that. Yeah. I should keep that in the backyard as a fixture. For sure. I don't know why I'm not doing that. That's really good. That I've never thought about that, but that's why I hate. Yeah. I don't like washing. So bad. They just take up a lot of room in your sink and in your dishwasher. And like it's just. And in your soul. Like there's something.

Really like when I stay and generally most recipes you're not going to make just like 12 cupcakes. You know, you're going to dirty a couple of pans. Yeah. Or they get extra dirty because you baked in them twice and you didn't clean them in between baking, which is a real problem. So like I'll just stare at it. It would have been washed by the time I finished angrily staring at it. Yeah.

And thinking about how it hurt me. Like why are you so unkind to me? Like I'm just. Plus you're emotional. So you're going to eat an extra cupcake. she's like, well, I'm going to eat extra one because I feel bad. I'll show you. With cookies, my tip is like once you make your cookies on your great parchment paper

and you put them in because you're probably not going to eat all of them. I will say even though I love salty foods, there are a couple days a month that may be related to my uterus that I want all the cookies. Every single one. I want all of them. But if you're not going to eat all of them, then you put them in, you know, a plastic container or a cookie jar or whatever. Put a piece of bread in that cookie jar.

or that plastic container, not just to be like, I put a piece of bread in here. But bread, especially if it's good bread, like it's new bread, it will keep the cookies moist. It will. Even though I don't like that word. It's a worse word. But it'll keep them. It's effective in certain situations. The thing I do, because I'm the same way, like, if they're in a container, bread or no bread, it doesn't matter. If they are, if it's, if I can reach for them, In the amount of time that I think cookie and it's in my hand, it will get eaten. Like there's not. So what I do generally is I'll just do the whole like scooping the raw dough onto a sheet pan that's covered in part of the paper and freeze the dough balls and then put them in like a big gallon freezer bag and put those in the freezer so that I can bake two like who bakes two cookies.

Like that's stupid, a stupid example. I'll bake eight cookies. But then you've got like cookies all the time and it's just so nice. That's a great idea. That's one of my favorite things to do. So I have like so many cookies in my freezer. That's which is the cookie dough bowl. Which is brilliant.

That's not sad. Like that's what you want in your, you don't want pesky vegetables and fruit taking a space in your freezer. True story. I was cleaning out my freezer because that's what you do, I guess, when you're in your third trimester as you do things like clean out your freezer. Yes.

So dumb. And I didn't have room for everything kept falling out. Every time I would open the freezer, things would fall on me. And I legit threw away a bag of baby corn to make room for the bags of cookies. Wasn't that stupid. Like, we get it. We get it. We understand why you're doing that.

This is the way it goes. Okay, so do you have any, what about like, okay, so we talked about how measuring is important. Yes. But we didn't say anything other than measuring is important. Right. Do you have any, like, measuring sort of tricks? Well, when you measure, so like if you're measuring dry, like you should have dry measuring versus wet measuring. There's a difference, guys.

There is. You can't measure flour in a glass pitcher. You cannot do it. You can't do it. When you do use flour or confection or sugar or anything that's like powdery, like the cake flour or things like that, you should always spoon the flour into the measuring cup rather than stick your measuring cup in the bag. because you're bound to get like 30% more flour because you've packed it. Right. Whereas brown sugar, you want to pack into your measuring cup.

Right. So always spoon and then level off with like a knife, like a butter knife. Like just not the curve side, the straight side. And if the metal on metal makes you want to die. Yes. This is when I'm really glad I'm married to a Japanese man because we have lots of chopsticks. For sure. I actually keep, I'm going to put everything in a jar person.

Yeah. So we have like this little corner shelf and I just have all these glass jars. And so our flour is in jars or like big plastic baking things. And I just have wooden chopsticks in all of the containers. So it's already there and you just kind of level it off and you don't lose your teeth when you hear the metal on metal. That's true. I forgot about the special needs people who are like metal on metal. Like my teeth are currently hurting.

Like your eye and pain. Thinking about the possibility. You need a cookie. And then obviously with liquids you want to measure in a glass and not. look at it, don't look at it from the top, right. Like, don't, you have to, because I'm so bad about that. I'm like, wow, that's a quarter cut

more than I needed. Why is it weird? Or if you look at it from above, like, if it's on your counter, and you're like, oh, it's at the line. And then when you come down on its level, yeah, it's like half or double or I don't know, I'm not good with science. It's one of the two. It's too much.

It's too much or too little. It's wrong, is what it is. It's wrong. It's not going to work. And you're going to be sad because you're like, why is this. dry. Like, this makes me sad. And you'll have worked hard because baking again, we said, it's a commitment. It is. But you'll have worked too hard in that. I will say one cheat. And I get a lot of angry looks about this, but this is my favorite lazy thing. I'm excited. Um, is I think a lot of people are too afraid. Like, they're like, if I'm a baker, I can't use box mixes. Oh. And I think that's silly. So silly. It is. Especially if you are making, um, cupcakes to send a school.

or you're giving them as a gift to the mail carrier to express your love for him. Or if you're going to have them a couple of days, you're not eating them. And my best tip is take any box mix. It doesn't matter, even though Duncan Heinz is the best. So if you're looking for which is the highest quality, it's always going to be Duncan Heinz. I stand by that. I trust you. You stupid slut, Betty Crocker.

You're not the best. So Duncan Heins is the best and most expensive for that reason. But if you will sub the water, whatever it calls for it doesn't matter. matter if you will sub that with a cup of buttermilk. 100% and then add an egg. Right. And you will be profoundly overwhelmed by what an amazing baker you are. It's true.

It's so true. There's so much moisture. There's so much fluffier. And they're really good and people won't know. Now you need to make your icing always from scratch. But you can take that little container of cream cheese frosting that Duncan Heinz makes and those cookies you have in the fridge when you're those mothers out, just put a little layer of frosting, make a double-dusy. Don't have to go to the mall.

You can have it in your own house. It's such a, it's such a, there is a food truck in my town. And it's like a dessert food truck. And it's people love it. It's great. I'm not saying like, how dare she? But she's capitalized on the fact that people don't realize they can do the stuff in their own house. Like she, she, this is the truth. She buys cookies from Costco. Okay. She buys ice cream. from Costco. She puts ice cream in between the cookies and sells it for like $5 a piece. Wow. And I'm like, guys, did you know, and people are, you know, like standing in front of the chocolate. And I'm like, they're like planning their Instagram photo, like, creating it because they're like, this is gourmet. And I'm thinking, I mean, props to her. Oh, yeah. Props to her. I do not

begrudge anyone making a living on people being stupid. But like, it's just, it kind of makes me like, it makes me a little crazy. So I'm like, guys, you know you can just buy this stuff and do this at home. Like, it's called a spoon. Like, you just put ice cream in between two cookies. It's not that hard. It's not hard. But I think, and I forget sometimes, I can be kind of a jerk about it because I forget that not everybody thinks the same way. Not everybody thinks like I think. What? Which is really sad. That's new information. I didn't know that. But like, it's taken, I'm 34 and it has taken me 34 years practically to realize that like, oh, wait. I'm just one person. People can have different opinions.

It doesn't mean that they're stupid because they don't think about things the way I do. It's okay. But I still am working on that in terms of stuff like this. Yes. Like I heard your interview with Jamie Ivy on her podcast and how you talked about making whipped cream. Oh, yeah. And I don't think people understand that whipped cream is like you just whip cream. Like that's all it is.

is you take cream and you beat the heck out of it until it's fluffy. Yeah. And I don't get vanilla from like a, like, I don't get vanilla from a Mexican woman who has, like, made it under her hut for 30 years. Like, McCormick. McCormick makes great. Great vanilla. Yeah.

You don't have to make your own, like, I know it's easy to make. And you can. You can make your own vanilla extract. You can. And kudos to all those people curating that photo for Instagram with their vanilla being stuck in a jar. And their vodka. With their vodka, letting it sit in the cat.

having their kid doesn't like a type of jerky what is that kudos to them but mccormick makes a delightful vanilla extract totally that is just perfect but yeah like you can make you can make heavy whipping cream and just whip it and it is yeah i mean you're it's not great for your health health wise what is though no it's why i have to it's why i have to sleep in my workout clothes sometimes so i'll wake up and go yes work out i should do it and that's a great that's another great tip, if you're not looking for love and have a like a gentleman caller and you're single like me and you're like, one side of the bed is your MacBook and one side of the bed is you. Right.

Then it's perfect to sleep in your workout clothes. And you just wake up and you're like, I'm ready. Back to the Duncan Hines, the whole cake, use buttermilk and add an egg. One thing that I have found, and this might be my own personal taste, I feel like at least most recipes, baking recipes, don't have enough salt. Yes. And so that could be another thing. Box mixes might be a little different because typically store-bought things, pre-mix things skew a little more salty. But if you're making any sort of baking recipe, almost always you need to add more salt.

So like, I'm not good at math. So like if they call for like a half a teaspoon of salt, I don't double it because that could get a little intense. But I might like half it, like do 50 more percent. So like three quarters of teaspoon. That's good. That's smart. Same thing with vanilla. think people generally put quite enough. There's not enough flavor to me. Like everything's like,

oh, this tastes like a good cookie. The cookies and the cakes that kind of set things apart are just that extra little hair of salt that makes everything sing, just that extra little bit of vanilla or that extra little bit, like adding like instant espresso powder to something chocolate to kind of make the chocolate sing. Like, there are just little flavor bombs that you can do that I feel like a lot of people don't always take advantage of. Yeah, because I know when I'm making a chocolate cake where I don't use buttermilk, like if I'm making cake pops in their chocolate, I will in the morning, I know I'm doing that later in the day.

And so I will, when I brew my coffee, I'll brew an extra cup. Totally. And then just let that get to room tent. And instead of the water that would be called for my recipe, I use a brewed cup of coffee. And people worry, they're like, you're not going to taste coffee at all. You just taste chocolate. The chocolate just rises up in a really beautiful way as opposed to you. And people will be like, you're the best.

You're the best mom in the class. You're the best friend in the book club. Like, everyone. And you don't have to tell them. You never have to tell them. You never have to tell them. It's kind of to me, and I don't know, I know how you feel about Tom Hanks. I don't know how you feel about Morgan Freeman.

So I'm a little scared about what I'm about to say. He's the voice of God. He is. Okay, good. It's like you could put Morgan Freeman in the crappiest movie ever. And the movie is automatically. great. Like, it's Morgan Freeman.

That's how I feel about things like that. Like when you add that little flavor bomb, it just, it just elevates what was there into something so much better. Like if you hear, isn't he like a voice of a GPS now? Didn't they use him for? I feel like if they've not, like Tom Tom is missing out. Like that's perfect. I think that's like a new thing that someone hired him.

And then I saw a Hillary. paid for by Hillary Clinton campaign commercial and it's Morgan Freeman's voice. And so you were suddenly like, and I was like, uh, Hillary, hello Hillary. Can we be friends now? Like, I think I might. And granted, we don't have to talk about politics because I hate everything. Sure. About them right now. Um, but like, yeah, it was really funny how automatically Morgan's voice made me consider, oh, Hillary's my girl. It's a brilliant move. It's like, wow, I am, I am for, I'm for her. I had no idea.

I was for her, but I am now. Look at me now. Look at my shirt that I just bought online with an $80 donation. Wow. Okay. So tell me your thoughts on salted versus unsalted butter because this is a question I get all the time and I would love for people to hear from your voice. Yes.

So first of all, don't ever use margarine sticks. Like, don't do it. Like, just spend the extra 50 cents per stick or 25 cents. per steak for having good better. It will change everything. If you're going to want to put better on your steak, like that's what makes a steak taste better is you put a tablespoon of, and that's what restaurants do.

You're like, why does the restaurant steak sandwich? It's bathed in better. And one thing that makes baking great is high fat content. Totally. Like all the people who are like, I'm going to eat health air. No, you should just stop eating. Like I had somebody order cake pops once because their child had an egg allergy. And I was like, your child should just give up sweet.

Because eggs are super important. And these kick pops were very tough to make. This whole tablespoon of flaxseed with a tablespoon of water as a substitute for egg is a farce people. Yeah. All of you people who are like, this doesn't have any flour, butter, or eggs in it. It's amazing. No, it's not. It's called an apple is what you're eating.

You're so hungry that you will believe anything tastes good because you're not ever eating better. When I was making, I'm sorry, when I was making sugar boxes, I had someone asked me, do you have paleo options? And I literally emailed back, yeah, you can eat a banana. Like, no, because that's not a real thing. It looks like hunger games where cavemen would have eaten it. Like, I didn't ship to them then. So there's no paleo option. No, it's just so bad. Okay, so fat, fat is important. Fat is important. So even butter, like I will look for butter that 75% are higher fat content. It will usually say it on the package. And most, butter and it will say that. So that's a good sign because the more fat, the better for your baked goods.

But I use always unsalted for everything I bake. I use salted butter for cooking. Right. Right. Because salt usually is always better in. Now, if a recipe calls for salt and all I have is salted butter, I will then reduce the salt in the recipe. I will take some very, very much. I will take some very rarely do I find myself in that situation because I really, but adding salt through your butter is not the ideal way to do it. Because a lot of the butters also have, it's not like there's one common amount of salt per stick of butter and salted better.

Like it's all different. So you could get kind of, especially if you follow my advice is like, a lot of baking recipes don't have quite enough salt. And if you use salted butter, like you're serving people like chocolate potato chips. It's not a real thing. No.

And it's not. It's not good. So always look for the unsalted. Right. Better. And then what about, so you said that you used to think that you could just exchange baking soda and baking powder. Right. And we know that's not true.

No, that is not true. So let's enlighten people very quickly about the different jobs of baking soda and baking powder. Do you know the different jobs? Right. I feel like I know what baking powder does really well. And then a baking soda, I feel like I kind of know, but I just trust that it knows so I don't have to know. Okay. So, okay, so here's what I know. Okay, so baking powder is about lift. Right. Right. So that's why you see it mostly in cakes. You don't see a lot of baking powder and cookies. No. Generally. Right. So powder's about lift. My understanding about soda is soda is about two things. It's about color. Oh, yes. That's good. Baking soda helps things brown more. Right. And it's, and there's, it's not an up. up spread. It's not a lifting spread. It's an outward spread, which is why they're in cookies.

So it's like, so if you think about soda kind of makes things spread out, baking powder helps things. So if I drink a lot of Dr. Pepper, I'm going to spread out. Right. And if I use baby powder, my spirits will be lifted when I'm running and short. This is maybe not the best way to remember it. Or it could be the perfect way. to remember. You'll never forget it. Never forget it ever. Chafing versus Dr. Pepper. But this is why. So like people have different tastes and preferences in terms of like textures of cookies and how, you know, like you like thin and crispy or you like really tall and fudgy and chunky and that kind of thing. And so one thing I have found when I am like coming up with a recipe or adjusting one that's already

there is if I use, I'll use like the baking powder that's called for because that's really you do want to have, I mean baking soda that's called for in the cookies because you do want them to kind of spread out. But if you want there to be a little lift, add like a quarter teaspoon of baking powder. And it does help it a little bit. Same goes if you cook those cookie dough balls I talked about straight from the freezer. They stay lifted a little bit because it takes more work for them to spread out because they're frozen. I love that. So that's really helpful.

Tell me really fast. What's your, have you done the whole like if you're making cupcakes or muffins? the whole like start your oven at 425 for a couple of minutes to get a quick rise and then drop it. Do you do this? Yes, I have done this because I like, I want my muffin tops to be high. Super dumbing, right? Yeah. Yeah.

And so if your oven's a little hotter when it starts, it pushes, you know, the batter really quick. And then obviously, and that's another reason why room temp is so important because you don't want it to be cool at all the batter. And so I will do that. My other, my other tip for cupcakes, this is just, this is not, this is horrible, but you're going to love it. I can't wait. So if you get many candy bars, any kind of mini candy bar, so mini Reese's, like many Reese's cups, or if you get many snickers or whatever you love, Hershey Kisses. I'm on board already. Right.

And you take out the cream corn in your freezer and you put in those, breathe those frozen things. Okay. You make any battered thing. So it can be brownies or it can be cupcakes. And then take that frozen candy bar out and put it in the middle of your batter, of your, of your cupcake 10. Yeah. So put that and cover it. Make sure it's covered back up with batter.

So you bury it. Okay. Yeah, just bury it. It will be the most heavenly thing. Because if it's frozen, it's never going to lose its shape in the baking process. If you put it in at room temp, it's going to kind of get gooey. And that's not bad either. Like, don't get me wrong.

Like a melted snickers is as good in a browning as a frozen stickers. But it'll hold its shape. So when you bite into it. So I make a Snickers cupcake, like a chocolate cake, caramel frosting, and then just throw a mini snickers in the middle of it. And people are always like, you are like a food network star. And I'm like, no, I just have things in the freezer that work really well in the middle of a cupcake.

I'm trying not to cry. It's so good. How delicious that sounds. Because there's something, here's one thing I found that I love to encourage people who don't think that they can bake or they don't bake much or they bake just the same thing. And I kind of bake the same thing. I'm like, I like chocolate chip cookies. I kind of don't want to always waste my time on a cookie that I'm like, it has 17,000 ingredients. And yeah, it tastes good.

But if given that or chocolate chip cookie, I'd rather have a chocolate chip cookie. Yeah, chocolate chip shortbread. It does. Every time. Like I've never, I've made shortbread one time. And it sucked because the whole time I was like, these aren't chocolate chip cookies. And I'm sad about it. You're sad.

So it's like, what's the point? But one thing that I think is so great, the more you bake. Because when you said like chocolate cake and a Snickers, I was like, yeah, dude, of course. But then when you said caramel frosting, it's like you start to hear and find comments. combinations of flavors that just make you go, what just happened? And it's so fun. Do you own the book, The Flavor Bible? No. Okay. I'm going to, I encourage everybody to buy this book for everything. If you feel like you have at least a little bit of creativity in the kitchen, if you are solely like, please don't make me look away from my recipe, even for the two seconds to stir the food that the recipe is making.

then maybe you're not ready for it, but the flavor Bible is not a cookbook. It is a compilation of a million ingredients for everything, I mean everything, like all the vegetables, all the fish, and it's an alphabetical order. And basically, so if you're like, I want to make chocolate cake, but I don't want to just make like just chocolate frosting or just vanilla frosting. I don't know. You look up chocolate. Perfect.

Underneath it is a list of all the foods that go with chocolate. and they are bolded or have like little asterisks next to them varying degrees of like but this is like mega combination so of course peanut butter is like all caps with like a million asterisk next to my favorite um but it's so fun to it's sort of just like jogs your memory a little and you look through and you go oh i never really thought about chocolate and you know like you think about chocolate and orange but then you might go and you think like oranges and strawberries and strawberries Like the flavor of orange and strawberries really, really good. So, like, I did a chocolate cupcake with fresh strawberry buttercream and then orange sugar, like orange zest with, like, a turbanato sugar.

So I have, like, a little texture on the top. And it was like, it was like chocolate and spring had a baby. And it was so good. But I wouldn't have thought about it if I wasn't just sort of funny through my flavor Bible. I would have just stuck with one. Exactly. So that's why I'm like, I would highly encourage. I'm getting it. Yes. No, I want to have that. Because I'm always interested in Paula Dean, speaking of your racist computer, I, I, one time I saw her do a recipe of like how to spruce up stuff. And so her tricks, and I do this all the time for brownies because I love peanut butter, like peanut butter. And really, I'm just going to put the chocolate chips in the peanut butter jar and eat it directly into my mouth. There's no other way to do it. I don't need to bake anything. But if you're making brownies, any brownie, it doesn't matter what kind of brownie you're making. You can put it in a muffin tin, like make the brownie.

brownies in a muffin tin so that you have some serving control, which might be nice, depending on who you are as a person and how you eat your feelings. But then take peanut butter chips. I love peanut butter chips. And just put them on top of the batter when you're about before you bake. And then you're going to have a lovely layer of peanut butter on the top of your brownies. That's a great idea. Yeah. And it's just something who doesn't want to keep like, it's a good reason to be like, we have to have these chips in the pantry. Exactly. Basically, that's, That's the whole point of baking. There are two points of baking.

You make friends. Yes. And it's just an excuse to keep like 17 different kinds of chocolate in your house. So much. Somebody did say, why do you have a bin of, well, because I have a 25 pound bin of white chocolate, you know, milk for pay pops. And they're like, but you want, let's, hey, you want a snack? Let's just melt some of this. Put up over some pretzels.

Because pretzels by themselves are the most ridiculous thing. They're disgusting. I don't know why they exist in the world. Yeah, but you put some white chocolate on those modes and then watch a little Netflix. You've had a good day. If you do, I like the big pretzel sticks. Yes, the rods. Dip the rods.

There you go. Dip them in the white chocolate and then roll them in mini chocolate chips, like actual dark chocolate chips. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stop it. I have all that right now. I'm very excited about what's happening after we hang up. Butter hot dogs. Butter hot dogs.

I'm going to, okay, so if people wanted to know inside scoop, what am I having for lunch. I'm having better hot dog buns. For dessert, I'm having a pretzel rod with white chocolate rolled in many chocolate chips. Totally. Oh, my word. Okay. So I want to keep just talking about all the things because you're just so easy and fun to talk to. But I have to like be a person and go take care of my children. So as I say with an eye roll, I know. It's so dumb. So but I did want to ask you. And I don't remember if I told you this before. So if I didn't and you don't have answers, it's fine. It's okay.

But can you tell me in your life right now? Tell me something. Sorry. Tell me something you love, something you need, something you hate. Okay. Something I love. Something I love right now, no, I'm going to go out of order. Something I need right now is good coffee beans.

Oh, yeah. As a baker, you're often doing long hours. I have some days where I work. I'm on my feet for 10 hours baking and then some days I don't leave the couch. So it's great. It's a good lifestyle. I encourage people to adopt it. But I, when I was growing up, my parents drank Folgers coffee and they never drank any other kind of coffee.

Right. So when I went to college, my friend took me to like a coffee place, like where they served just coffee, which was so new and so different. And I got a cappuccino. And that was the first thing ever ever I had coffee in a different way. what is this magic? And now my life is different. And I like grind my own beans and I have five different ways to make coffee. I mean, I still use a drip mostly.

But finding a coffee bean that you love that and I love, I've learned, I like some matron beans. And so I'm really, and it sounds like a diva thing. But the difference between having good coffee, like my dad, who again, 30 years on Full-Dress coffee came to my house one day. I just made a cup. He smelled it. It was like, can you make another cup for me?

sure. And he tasted it and he was like, what, what, what is? The key was stumbling. This man of stoic leader of our family. It's like, why, why does it taste like this? Right. It's like, because, and it didn't have any sugar. I was able to give up sugar in my coffee once I found a bean. I loved or a type of bean. I no longer even have to put sugar in my coffee, just milk. Right. So it's really good. So that's one thing I need. Good coffee beans. Good, good coffee beans. That's good. Super important. I like that.

One thing I love right now is I, gosh, I love so much. My whole life is loving everything. That's one of the things I like about you. I'm excited about so many things. And I'm excited about most things all the time. I love, right now I love binging TV shows. So when you're a baker, I just have an iPad set up in the kitchen. And all I'm doing is watching television.

So you can be on your feet for 10 hours if you get to watch all of a season of a TV show. And so some shows that I'm loving right now are at Daredevil on Netflix. So good. So good. I mean, I want to hold that blind man's hand so badly. Let's help him cross the street, Jamie. Oh, my gosh. I would stand with him in the rain.

I love him. So Daredevil. And I like kind of lighthearted, like fun stuff. So I love the show Broad City, which is not suitable for Jamie's mom. But I love it. It's a great show. It's so good. I have just, I'm in the middle of Game of Thrones. It took me a long time to get there because I was not attentive. I have an ADD disorder. I'm a survivor of ADD. And you have to pay attention when you watch it. You have to pay attention to the credits of that show. I mean, it's like from start to finish. It's really, that's, that's, I stopped watching it for several reasons, but that was one of them is like, I don't know who these people are talking about. Like, I can't keep up with all these people. and half of them are naked all the time.

And so I don't even really have like out like costumes to go by. Like they all look alike. There's so many white people. They all look alike when they're pale. They don't have clothes on. And they all have beards or long hair. Like it's not. Yeah, it's weird.

It's weird. But I really do love it. And I love, listen, one of my favorite shows on TV right now is Jane the Virgin. I've heard great things. I haven't seen it. Oh, my gosh. It is a delightful television show that's smart. and clever and great storytelling.

And it's like a weird soap. I feel like it's a callback to my days of our lives obsession. Nice. But I love it. And so, and then what was the third one? Something I hate. I really do hate right now because we're in this political season that's very toxic on many levels. I'm going to be honest with you.

I hate Facebook users who post about politics. and then are surprised that the comments get away from them. And I love when they come in at the end, when their aunt, who doesn't know their friend from high school, have now called each other, a-holes in this threat, that they come in at the end and it was like,

guys, I didn't know this was going to happen. Like, I was just trying to tell you how much I love Ted Cruz. Like, I'm sorry. Like, you're a horrible human. Right. Like, how do you not understand how the internet works?

Right. This is basic, basic internet math. Like I wish Facebook had an algorithm that if you type in into a Facebook status, any politician's name, that it comes up and goes, are you sure? Like, do you remember how your uncle is? They, I wish it was that smart. I feel like Mark Zuckerberg could do it.

I feel like he probably could. No, that's so true. I mean, I think that's probably one of the reasons why, other than the whole, like, politician part of it, why presidential race, this particular presidential race is so hard is because like I don't, I don't even get on Facebook anymore because that's what it is. It's like, I've even had people like, don't leave any comments. I'm going to say this, but no one is allowed to leave comments. I love that. And I'm like, first of all, there's not like a lock and key. Yeah. Like people are going to still say things. And people who have opinions want to type them right then.

Right. They do. And so, but even like even so, I don't know, it's, I totally am with you. That's one of the things that I hate the most about this whole thing is that people don't expect to be disagreed with. Like, they're so surprised when someone disagrees with them. I know. So what I do now is if my friends do it, like, and I really do that. I think they're shocked that I do this. But anytime they write something, I will then text them personally. Here's how I feel about this.

Or being weird. Why are you even writing this on Facebook? Right. This is dumb. But I'm going to text you why I think you're done for Facebook. And so my poor friends are like, you think it's going to go right? Do I? Do I think it's going to go awry?

you, the minister of a small Southern Baptist church in rural Alabama, writing something liberal, you think I think this is going to go right? Like, you just go look. It probably already has. And to those people who you're like, oh, I don't post stuff like that. But yet you go on a thread and respond to someone you don't know at all. You're just as bad. Yeah.

Like you can't do it. Like you can't. Let's be happy. We just need to love each other. Oh, my word. Everyone just like act like Jamie and love all the things. I know. I love all the things.

and I'm excited about everything. That way, when I do say I love Jesus, it's not on the back of gun owners or evil. Like, I'm not trying to like, because that's a little bit the best part of Holy Week. All the people that are like, Jesus loves you all. I mean, not the Democrats, but like, well, you said he didn't love Democrats, so he probably doesn't love everybody. What are you saying? Yeah, don't try to double. See, then you try to double down with like, oh, but it's, here's an Easter Lily that I have in my house.

A picture I took. What? No, I remember what you said. Oh, it's so good. That's a great list of things. Well, like, I mean, it feels dumb. Like, thanks for doing this. Yeah.

Thanks for doing this. Like, I'm so glad. The idea that someone would want to talk to me because I freelance and work at home alone. I always love it. Like, yeah, let's stop baking and talk to people. Well, are you baking anything today? Do you have orders, Holy Week orders today? Holy Week orders.

Lots of Jesus on the crop. No, I do have a standard. I won't do Jesus on the cross. I won't do body parts. So, and I get asked for both of those, weirdly, equally, probably. Just so funny. It's funny. I'm making today specifically, I'm making beach balls.

Okay. Which is weird. It's for spring break, like have fun on spring break. Oh, that makes sense. What that's for. Okay. And I am making a set of Kimmy Schmidt inspired. So a little pop culture nod.

Someone ordered them for their friend and they're so excited that Kimmy Schmidt is coming back. It's like two weeks, right? It's in two weeks. And so they wanted to order and have them sent to her. So I'm practicing them today. Pino Noir, obviously, a bottle of course, of course. Great.

So it's going to be super fun to me. Oh, what a great friend that is. Can you, can you hook me up with this person? No, let's meet them. Let's become real life friends with them. Because that's always my, when somebody ordered a lost cake pops. And I just said, do you know that I, because I didn't bake cake pops when lost one out the air. And I was like, this is.

such magic for me to get to be able to do this when I would have wanted to do it then. So I took it more seriously than I've ever taken any order that I've ever had. It's the funniest. That's one of the things when I found out you did cake pops. And then I saw that you did some pop culture ones. I was like, oh my goodness. Because I know what that, like, even if you don't get to eat them. It's just coming up with the ideas. Like, yes. The eating is, it's like not even secondary. It's like fifth dairy. It's like, who cares. But it's coming up with like making like the button. You know, like I'm going to turn to cake pop into the, into the button, the numbers button, or like, whatever it. Like, that was the most fun

thing that I miss the most about making sugar boxes is just coming up with the ideas. Like, make Kimmy Schmidt stuff. Okay. Yeah. Like, you got about it. It's so fun. Yeah, let's be Americans. I will make Russian flags and guns. That sounds great. Oh, it's just too fun. It's too fun. Okay. Well, happy beach ball cake pop making. Yes. Thank you so much. It's so fun. And I'm going to encourage you to encourage Knox that you guys do need to have some sort of like, just do one episode of just all of his silent weasy laughs. Like that's the whole thing.

It's just a clip show. Like this whole 60 minutes. Yeah. It's just leading into his weasily laugh. It's a, it's a treasure. It is such a treasure. Yeah. But it is a treasure.

Oh, my word. Okay. You are also a treasure. Jamie Goulden. Oh, my word. This is so fun. Okay. Well, I'll talk to you whenever I talk.

to you again. I know. Yeah. And you'll have, you'll produce a person. The next time I see you, the person will be outside your body. I praise him for that. Exciting. It's very exciting. Anyway, all right. All right. Take care. Okay. Bye. See ya. Thanks guys for listening. You can find Jamie on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook at Jamie B. Golden. That's Janie with an I. And of course, listen to the podcast. Like right now, it's brilliant and should be in everyone's you. We will be back next week with Chad Smith, aka husband to the nester, talking about raising kids. He's got a great perspective. You will love hearing. And if you enjoy listening to this podcast, thank you. As always, please consider subscribing and leaving a review if you haven't

already. It means the world. Thanks for being part of the lazy genius collective. We'll see you next week. Have you ever felt like you are living just a B or B plus life? It's so dangerous to live that. More dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life? Because when you're living a B or B plus life, you don't change it. You think it's good enough. Is it? I'm Susie Welch.

I host a podcast called Becoming You. People think, okay, an A plus life is not available to me, but there is a way. We are all in the process of becoming ourselves. Listen to Becoming You wherever you get your podcasts.