Buy More Cheese (And Other Group Chat Wisdom)

A beige-week survival guide featuring lemony oven risotto, snack cakes, and a cookbook giveaway.

Friends, hi!

Oh, to be a fly on the wall of the text messages, voice notes, and absolutely unhinged third time around deep dives happening in my group chat lately. We are leaning hard into each other these days offering support, swapping links, and collectively trying to liven up what has felt like a very beige week.

So far, as a chat, we’ve agreed on the following:

– Get outside every single day, just freaking do it.

– Buy more cheese. Which… I feel like the best way to do this is with a trip to Trader Joe’s where we should also buy a bundle of fresh tulips.

– Let the dogs jump on the bed for a morning cuddle. Full disclosure, this one was my idea because the dogs are the sweetest and sleepiest in the morning.

– Pick one album and let it play all the way through the house each afternoon. I suggested I Swam Here.

Welcome to the chat. We’re taking your suggestions, too.

Below you’ll find a handful of links I’ve been texting to friends over the past few weeks: Substacks, recipes, a little comfort worth forwarding.

But first…. new on the blog: It’s Grey Outside, But These Recipes Are Pure Sunshine featuring this long forgotten Lemon Spinach Risotto that comes together in the oven!

And in case you missed it The Bakehouse Almanac, February 2026.

In reads I’ve loved and shared: The Great Re-Brand of Women in Their 40s from Geri Hirsch’s The In-Between which feels super spot on. Will say: this is the best decade.

We simply aren’t burning our broccoli enough but, thankfully, that feels like an easy fix: Burnt Broccoli Mac and Cheese from darn good by devon grimsrud

I love a list and this one feels both sweet and realistic: 20 Things I’ve Learned in 20 Years of Marriage from Amelia Wilson’s Happy on Purpose

I teared up at so many parts of this essay: Issue #127: an infertility update from Aliza Sir of Platonic Love

Made several versions of these Meyer Lemon and Apricot Jammers from Have a Little Something by Yossy Arefi for the last Bakehouse Texas bakery pop-up and this recipe is an absolute keeper and new staple at the bakery. They flew off the shelves just as fast as they came out of the oven.

The Woman Who Was “Fine” Until She Wasn’t by Dr. Mary Claire Haver felt very close to home.

If you’re sneaking in one last King Cake before Ash Wednesday, the answer is this Easy One-Dish King Cake.

Today we get to spend a little time with the absolutely delightful Jennifer Lee, whose new cookbook Simple Snack Cakes is exactly what it sounds like (and exactly what we need).

Jennifer is a baker and recipe developer who understands something very important: cake doesn’t have to be a three-layer event with a frosting thesis. Sometimes the very best cake is the one you stir together in a single bowl, bake in an 8×8 pan, and slice into on a Tuesday afternoon while the kettle whistles.

I’m so thrilled Jennifer shared some of her world with us today in this fun interview (and yes, there’s a giveaway involved, because snack cake should absolutely be shared)!

What was the “aha moment” recipe while writing this book?

The “aha moment” recipe for me while writing this book is the biscuit recipe. I remember making and tasting the warm, tender biscuit and feeling a moment of bliss. And also thinking to myself, I can’t believe that was so easy to make.

Biscuits are a comfort food for me and I love that this recipe comes together in just a few minutes with very few tools and minimal clean-up. Normally, biscuits are made in large batches, require freezing and grating butter, using a rolling pin, laminating the dough and more. I don’t think many people would think that you can make a biscuit without butter, without all these tools, and that you can prepare a biscuit dough in less than a minute.

And that really is what this book is about. My goal was to write a book of recipes that can bring joy or comfort to people, and to be able to do so with minimal effort, steps, and ingredients.

If your cookbook had a playlist, what three songs would be on it?

A Spoonful of Sugar (Mary Poppins movie), The Great British Bake Off (Theme song), What’s Inside (Waitress musical)

What’s one ingredient you’re evangelical about?

I do a lot of baking, so vanilla is an ingredient I feel strongly about. It’s amazing what a few drops of vanilla can do. Adding vanilla is a great way to make a low sugar dessert taste sweeter. It adds flavor to something that may taste bland. It can balance out tartness, enhance other flavors, mellow out bitterness and more. It also adds a lovely scent to food and also non-food items.

If someone cooks just one recipe from your book to understand you as a person, which should it be?

My flourless Nutella cake. The recipe developed for the cookbook is a quicker, simpler version of the first recipe I ever had go viral. The cake helps describe me in a lot of ways.

• The cake is chocolatey and I love chocolate.

• It’s sweet but not super sweet, which is how I prefer my desserts (and describes the sweetness level of most of the desserts you’ll find in my cookbook).

• The original viral version I created was a completely unique idea at the time, which is the type of recipes I enjoy creating. While I will also share my versions of popular or classic recipes, I love thinking outside of the box and trying to make creative and unique desserts.

• The recipe also has just 3 ingredients, which showcases another characteristic in my cooking and baking– I am always trying to figure out if I can simplify or reduce the ingredient list in a recipe because I love quick and simple recipes.

What’s a mistake you hope readers make at least once (Because we all know learning something the hard way is most memorable.)

Leave out an ingredient from the recipe. Baking is a science, and using a specific ingredient is often essential to the success of a recipe. I think the best way to learn how important a certain ingredient is and what an ingredient really does for a recipe, is by leaving it out of the recipe.

One of the biggest mistakes I see when people are making a recipe, is that they will replace or leave out an ingredient because they think they know what that ingredient is providing for the recipe and then the recipe fails because that ingredient was there to provide many things for the recipe. For example, I’ve seen people reduce sugar from a recipe because they want to make it less sweet, without realizing that sugar also adds moisture, creates structure, changes texture and more.

I loved baking ever since I was a kid, but my mom did not do a lot of baking, so we didn’t have many baking ingredients in the house. My mom would just tell me to substitute with what we had on hand. As you can imagine, this ended up with disastrous results. But, I also learned so much along the way about ingredients and how they function in a recipe.

What kitchen tool deserves more respect, and which one do you think is wildly overrated?

I think a silicone spatula deserves more respect. It is my most used kitchen tool. It’s non-stick and heat-resistant, which means it’s great for stirring, mixing, flipping, and cooking. It can also gently fold batter, scrape the sides of bowls, smooth and spread mixtures, and frost cakes – it really does it all.

Fill in the blank: People think I’m ___ in the kitchen, but actually I’m ___.

People think I’m organized in the kitchen, but actually I’m a mess.

If you could hand-deliver this cookbook to one person (living or not), who would it be and what would you want them to cook first?

If I could hand-deliver this book to one person, it would be my grandfather. He passed away before I published my first cookbook and I often regret not being able to share the moment with him. He was always the biggest champion of my achievements and the first person I wanted to share my accomplishments with. He had very particular food preferences, but he was always willing to try anything I made because I was the one making it.

I wouldn’t have him cook one of my recipes, but the first recipe I would cook for him would be the Honey Swirl cake from my cookbook because it is similar to one of his favorite cakes that I used to make for him.

What’s your most controversial food opinion (The one that gets you yelled at on the internet?)

I don’t think desserts need frosting. I know! It sounds crazy. But I’ve never really enjoyed it. When I started out baking, I would serve my desserts without frosting and people were not happy. So now I almost always include frosting recipes for my desserts, but when I’m making the dessert just for myself, I never make it with the frosting.

When you’re not eating your own recipes, what are you absolutely guilty-pleasure ordering for takeout?

I have so many! Even though I cook a lot, I also order take-out a few times a week so I can experience different foods, which usually inspire more recipes, and also because I just love to eat. I especially like ordering Japanese, Chinese and French food.

What do you hope someone feels (like, truly feels) when they cook from your book for the first time?

Happy! What I always hope with my recipes is to bring people happiness. The recipes in this book are meant to be simple and tasty. So, I hope that the recipe comes together easily for the person making it and the final outcome is as delicious as they expected.

We’re celebrating the release of Simple Snack Cakes by the lovely Jennifer Lee with a sweet little giveaway! One winner will receive a copy of her new book!

Just answer this question in the comments: 🌿 What’s one ingredient you’re evangelical about? (Jennifer says vanilla changes everything.)

Giveaway ends Thursday, February 18.
Open to U.S. residents only. Winner will be contacted via Substack message.

Be well, friends!

xo Joy