Joy the Baker

Five Ways To Bake Like A Grown-up

by 85 Comments

Hot Fudge Sundae Cupcakes

I’m so bad at being an adult.

But… I’m super great at pretending to be a reasonable grown-up.  I mean, seriously.  I somehow pay my taxes and have car insurance… but I eat brownies for dinner and write a blog for a living.  Most days I need adult supervision.

Grown-ups get in pickles.  Sticky situations.  I know.  I’ve been in my fair share..  Luckily I know how to bake my way out.  It’s a skill and a gift… and I’m sharing.

Note:  perhaps the following examples are based on personal experiences.  Perhaps.

Double Note:  Hot Fudge Sundae Cupcakes are bomb.

Oatmeal Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies

What to bake for your parents when you stop by their house, unannounced, with a truckload of dirty laundry to wash in their machine: Oatmeal Chocolate Pecan Cookies.

You get away with such blatant laundry abuse because your mom used to do the same thing to her mother.  Tell Mom it’s the circle of life  if she tries to give you a hard time.  Circle of Life…. there’s no fighting The Lion King.

Dark Chocolate Brownies

What to bake for your brother when you forget his wife’s name:  Dark Chocolate Brownies.

Actually… you should feel extra bad because his wife’s name is basically the same as your own mother’s name.  How could you forget that!?  Tacky.

Brown Sugar Bacon Waffles

What to bake after a night of drunk texting people you shouldn’t even be sober texting… and your mom: Brown Sugar Bacon Waffles.

I mean…. I’m just guessing here.  It’s not like this has ever happened to me.  Except that one time… and then maybe that other time too.

Ugh.

Rice Pudding

What to bake when you’re matched with your ex-boyfriends best friend on an Internet dating site.

Oh Lordy.  You’re gonna need some Rice Pudding.

Pudding soothes the awkward.

Pan Dulce

To avoid writing out bills, I always find that whipping up some yeasted sweet bread fills up my time.  You might consider it.

Pan Dulce.  Time consuming and delicious.

But bills must be payed eventually.  Adulthood is annoying like that.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. leti

    this is a seriously funny post! as always, but I mean really joy, the dating site predicament is sounding so familiar. hmmm. time for some dulce de leche. dulce cures all. not cancer, or even hunger, but everything else…i swear ;)

    Reply

  4. Noreen

    I have several of those “adult”-type things calling my name!! Ugh!! Makes me want to call for my Mommy!! Maybe I’ll just bake instead and continue to avoid.

    Reply

  5. Candice @ Notes from ABroad

    I agree with everyone who says adulthood is over-rated.
    I do like having brownies for breakfast though .. or drinking Coke instead of coffee on a hot morning. ( I grew up in the South, I am allowed !!) I also get to take my dog to lunch and have a Bloody Mary instead of eating. So I guess I will continue to do the Adult thing.
    About your brother.. he married a girl with the same name as his mom ?
    Why should you feel bad, you don’t call your mom by her first name do you? Unless his wife’s name is Mom, you are forgiven :D

    Reply

  6. Kim

    Adulthood is highly overrated… dark chocolate brownies, oatmeal chocolate pecan cookies (and everything else on this page) on the other hand can never be overrated. Yum. Thanks for continuing to inspire us to indulge.

    Reply

  9. Ethan

    I heard of a “friend” who would visit his parents 400 miles away from where he was living and he’d sometimes (or always) put his dirty clothes in the trunk of the car just in case he had a moment or two to do some laundry. I mean, in my “friend’s” defence, the washer/dryer was right there and it didn’t need tokens!

    Reply

  13. Gen

    I agree that when you’re a grown up you can have brownies for breakfast AND dinner if you want to! And actually, I’d love to have ine of these cupcakes for dinner!

    Reply

  15. Margaret

    Joy,

    I go to your blog whenever I need a food-ogling fix or a down-to-earth reminder with a sense of humor that I am not the only one with foibles and flaws. I currently live in South Korea where ovens are a rarity, so I mostly just drool over the pictures and bookmark them for when I am back in the US with a proper oven. Your posting about being an adult made me think of this cartoon:
    http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-why-ill-never-be-adult.html

    Keep up the good work!

    Reply

  17. Kareene

    I unfortunately don’t have that kind of relationship with my mom. And I don’t have a brother who’s married… but I have two boys, a husband and lots and lots of friends and I love to bake for them ! A couple of your awesome recipes will be happily welcomed around my house ! Thanks for the recipes and the life experience on your blog site ! :)

    Reply

  19. Meg

    As always, can’t wait to try your recipes!
    As an adult, I have a job. That job is teaching little children things like letters and colors and sharing and whatnot. I’d like to try cooking with them this winter when we can’t get outside. Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions? The kids cookbooks I find are just way to boring and everyday for my tastes.
    (no allergies to worry about, though we do have some kids that are allergic to peanuts/nuts, eggs and wheat if you’d have any ideas I could pass on)

    Thanks!

    Reply

  21. Elizabeth

    I really needed a good laugh today! I love your website and have tried many of your recipes. I am glad that you blog for a living.

    Reply

  22. Christine

    What about when your mom gives you her washer/dryer and then asks to come over and use it? Yeah…it was weird for me too.

    Reply

  25. Princess

    The good thing about being a grown up is that you CAN have brownies for dinner (and/or breakfast or lunch) and there’s no one to scold or stop you. The rest is not as glamourous as we thought it would be as children. Love your recipes and sense of humor. Keep it coming!

    Reply

  30. Susannah

    Hey, I did the drunk texting thing the other night! But it was worse! I was drunk calling. And drinking cosmos. Alone. At a bar. Your post has made me feel much better. Thank you for that! : )

    Reply

  31. Liska

    I like to be an adult in evenings – nobody tells me: Wash yourself and go to bed. Oh! Maybe sometimes :) Joy, have I told you I love your sense of humor? Yes, yes, one million times (at least!).

    Reply

  34. I Love Lola

    I just got me a spanking new KitchenAid today, one I’ve been saving for for ages *beams* (it’s mighty pricey where I live in Europe) So I come to your site and tell myself Imma use the KA to make the very thing that you would have posted on your latest post and now I’m flustered! You put a few recipes up. How do I choooooooose? Tell me Joy, just tell me ONE recipe I should try to inaugurate Lola. Yes I’ve named my mixer. I await with bated breath.

    Reply

  37. Chantelle

    I once baked a batch of cupcakes for co-workers flavoured with “remorse” as an apology. I had ditched out sick the day before because I was too hungover to function…and we had all been drinking the night before so I know everyone else was in pretty much the same condition as me.
    They helped make things better :)

    Reply

  38. SugarFoot Designs

    These all look amazing and very grown-up!! I was wondering if you had ever tried your hand a caramel apples? Your thoughts on how to keep caramel from sticking to plastic bags when you give as a gift??
    Love your blog!!
    Marianne

    Reply

  39. Awn

    Joy, I was once matched with roommates. ROOMMATES. Out of eHarmony’s 91,276 matching criteria, they didn’t once think about addresses. Awkward once I realized what had happened. Too bad I didn’t have the rice pudding recipe then.

    Reply

  40. April

    What? Drunk texting? Never! The worse is it’s all there in mind blowing detail to review the next morning…definitely need to keep that waffle recipe on hand for those instances.

    Reply

  41. Ali @ Three Baking Sheets

    Hi Joy.

    So. I’ve seen your page listed on countless “Blogs I Love/Follow/Worship” lists on other people’s blogs so it’s been on my mental checklist for a while now. I finally got around to making my first visit yesterday…and man. I really like it here. It’s not so much the pictures (incredible, btw) or the recipes (all nom-worthy, of course) – it just “feels” nice here. Very chill. It’s the type of blog that don’t want to start reading until I’m perfectly situated in my computer chair, wearing my comfy after-work pants and with a Belgian ale in a tulip glass in my free hand.

    Brown sugar bacon waffles would make a great hangover breakfast for the day after my husband’s birthday next week.

    Reply

  44. Kelsey

    I seriously loved this post, but the stand out was the awesome Lion King reference! Kudos on excellent use of a Disney movie to drive your point home.. oh, and on this blog, because it rules.

    Reply

  51. Katrina

    I didn’t know you wrote this blog for a living! I guess that explains why it’s laid out so well. I’m so glad you do it though – new posts make me a happy girl.

    Reply

  54. Avery

    Would you believe me if I said I literally baked some Oatmeal Chocolate Pecan Cookies LAST NIGHT to bring home to my parents today?? I guess great minds think alike.. weird! :) However, all my laundry is clean. Hopefully that counts for something.

    Reply

  58. Nicki Woo

    am avoiding adult, to the best of my abilities. will pay bills when necessary, but refuse to act like a full out grown up. I teeter somewhere between middle school and high school.

    Reply

  62. Em

    The one that got me was being matched with the ex’s bff. (Hey, maybe you were in the right neighborhood and just at the wrong address?) Although I realize, this may not have been about you but about another person. ;)

    Seriously? That stuff happens to me too. Ack.

    Reply

  63. Michelle

    Okay, I’m hooked on your blog. It’s 8AM here in good ol’ England, my little ones & I woke up 30 min. ago, I’ve changed their nappies, made ’em some toast, plopped them in front of the tv (bad mummy! good cbeebies progs so I don’t feel that bad), and here I am on your blog. Love your style and your grub. Now, would you mind sending your cupcakes over the pond?

    Reply

  66. Jessica @ bake me away!

    Adulthood is overrated. I mean, so many kids just want to grow up, and I just want to go back to being a kid. That said, I’m still not sure what I want to be when I grow up.

    I should make pan dulce. Wasting time with baking is one of my favorite things!

    Reply

  69. Stacy

    Your life sounds so interesting and hilarious… with just a dash of awkward. Or two! :-) All appear to be delicious and effective ways to deal with the stress of “adult” life. Bleh!

    Reply

  72. x3Baking

    The pan dulce remind me of Rotiboys. They are a Mexican bun with a coffee topping. These buns are sooo good. You should try them out one day. :) The Hot Fudge Sundae Cupcakes are so cute.

    Reply

Trackbacks

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Scroll Up