So last week I was looking over the girl’s shoulder while she was reading her email, and she got this message from Amazon saying she would really like this cookbook. She hit delete, but I was like, Wait, that looked like a good book!

So she undeleted it and we looked at it on Amazon. She was like, Jones, if you want to learn to bake I have many wonderful cookbooks, and I was like, But I want to make these Bakeshop Classics!

So she ordered it for me.

Yesterday was Sunday and it was supposed to rain all afternoon even though it didn’t rain at all, so we decided to make a recipe. I wanted to make a fancy one but she said we needed to start simple since it was my first time. So we made the Butterscotch Blondies on page 15, even though ours weren’t butterscotch at all.

Munch Munch has spent months with the girl’s cookbooks but had never seen her bake, and Sketch was interested in the process, so those guys came into the kitchen to watch.

We started by getting out all of the ingredients. Aldi didn’t have Heath bars like the recipe asked for so that is why our blondies had no butterscotch. We used a chocolate bar with pretzel pieces in it instead.

First we needed to melt some butter. The girl told me if I chopped it up it would melt faster.

Then it was my job to stir it while it melted on the stovetop.

While the butter cooled we measured out the dry ingredients like flour and brown sugar. Brown sugar is so neat because it holds its shape until you smash it.

In a separate bowl we combined the butter, eggs, and vanilla.

Then we poured the wet into the dry and I had to stir it.

Once it was completely mixed, I took a taste to see what the dough was like. I didn’t think it was very sweet but the girl told me not to worry, the end result would be good.

Then I had to squish the dough into the pan that the girl lined with foil, which she said was a pro trick to getting the bars out neatly for cutting.

Next I had to put the semi sweet chocolate chunks and the chopped up candy bar on top of the dough and press it all in.

Before we put it in the oven Sketch and Munch Munch came over to admire my work.

We baked it for 25 minutes like the book said but it still jiggled in the middle, so the girl put five more minutes on the timer twice until it seemed solid. Then she took it out of the oven and it smelled amazing.

We all posed for a photo with the finished blondies to commemorate my first bake.

I was so proud that we stood around talking about the experience for a while. Then the girl put the blondies in the freezer until they were hard as a rock.

It was my job to cut them into squares, but the knife was so heavy that I didn’t think I could do it. Then the girl showed me how to hold it for maximum leverage and I got the job done.

We put the bars on cute little plates, and they turned out fancy like I wanted! Then we all tried one and they were chewy and sweet.

Baking turned out to be so fun! I can’t wait to try another recipe from my new book!