Welcome to the second installment of Cookie of the Month Club, where I’ll be concocting an inventive new cookie recipe every month. (And as always, you all will be the first to know about them.) To keep it fresh I’m going to organize the series into themed seasons. The season for the next few months: “United States of Cookies,” where I’m making cookies inspired by different U.S. states. Follow along to see if I develop one inspired by yours!

When I asked what should be the follow up to our first cookie in the “United States of Cookies, folks had so many great ideas for states and their unique flavors. I didn’t realize how many people would be upset, though, that I wasn’t planning on doing all 50 states. I had no idea this is what would get me canceled. Joking— I’m so glad folks are excited about this series, but I’m sorry I’m just one guy in his kitchen: If I did one of these every month for all 50 states, it would take four years. Even if I put out one cookie every week, it would take until … well, a year from now. And that would mean no other recipes, which I know you wonderful subscribers don’t want.

All that being said, many folks wrote in and said Boston Cream Pie Cookies for Massachusetts, this was already on my list admittedly, as a variation on whoopie pies. And when slotting it into my schedule, I knew June would be the perfect month for its publication. June, as I’m sure you know, is Pride month (in many locations) and Massachusetts was the first U.S. state to legalize gay marriage. I’m even more intent on spotlighting this after some recent national news: After two decades of increasing support for gay marriage, the percent of Americans who say same-sex marriage should be legal is either flatlining among Democrats and Independents, or falling amongst Republicans. And it’s no secret that after coming for abortion and affirmative action, the conservative justices, and several state legislatures, also desperately want a case that lets them overturn the landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which ruled the right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples.

That doesn’t even touch on the many other ways the states and our federal government are targeting LGBTQ+ people in other ways, aiming especially at trans people. But that’s why, even when it’s no longer cool for the corporations to change their logos to rainbow mode and do sponsorships with queer creators, we still have Pride. This one goes out to Massachusetts — which one day I’ll learn how to spell on the first try. It takes guts to be the first!

Landing on a base cookie and pastry cream formula for these Boston Cream Whoopie Pies was pretty straightforward. I wanted the cookie to be cakey and a little tangy — like a black and white, but with a higher loft. And I needed a lush pastry cream that would hold its shape as to not sploosh out. But the chocolate crown was eluding me.

I tested four toppings: One, a simple chocolate icing made with melted butter, milk, cocoa and powdered sugar. Two, a classic ganache comprised of chocolate and heavy cream. (This is how most Boston Cream Pies are made, but the original didn’t use it.) Three, a snappy melted chocolate coating, made snappier with the addition of coconut oil (I wasn’t going to make you temper chocolate). The icing was super chocolatey and stood up to the pastry cream, but was dull and ugly looking. The ganache was beautifully shiny and spread on like a dream — but lacked enough flavor to shine through. The snappy coating was a textural delight, but not great looking and I knew wasn’t close enough to this classic recipe’s roots.

The fourth test was a cooked chocolate fudge icing, sort of like how the one in my chocolate birthday cake starts. It checked all the boxes. The sugars get all melty to bring out the shine, butter keeps it tasting rich but not cloying, melted chocolate and cocoa combine to maximize their joint slay, and the mixture drips beautifully to evoke the classic look of the OG BCP.

Makes 15 whoopie pies

Ingredients

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This was not supposed to be the recipe for this week. In fact, these started as matcha crumble cake cookies, where chewy matcha-scented cookies were topped with a slightly-crisp-slightly-crumbly streusel topping. Then I brought them over to my trusty tastetester friends who said, “Damn, you’ve really been on a matcha kick lately. And you know what? They are right.

So in the spirit of trying to keep things fresh for you crowd, I thought about how I could pivot, eventually retrofitting the recipe to work with the OG crumble-topped cake: coffee cake. So if you were looking forward to the matcha cookies, you know who to blame. Don’t worry, I might post them one day.

In this recipe, soft, chewy cookies are swirled with a substantial cinnamon-brown-sugar swirl and topped with a super simple streusel. The sour cream in the cookie dough gives it the tang of a coffee cake and a tenderness that balances the final product right on the tight rope between chewy and cakey — not dense, not dry, but still a texture you can leave teeth marks in.

There are two keys to this recipe. The pictures above may seem like overkill re: the amount of streusel, but really to get a good coating you have to pack it on. I even found that pressing the dough balls down a bit to create a flat-ish surface helped the crumbles stick better. And don’t neglect the sides!

The second key is to swirl the cinnamon-brown sugar ripple way less than you think you need to. By simply moving your scoop or spoon through the dough, you will distribute it more than enough. Save a bit for before streusel-sprinkling so that if you find one or two dough balls that don’t have much swirl, you can go in and add a bit more to the top.

I swear, they smell and taste just like coffee cake — just in a richer, more portable format, making them perfect for breakfast, brunch and dessert.

Want more recipes like this?

Makes 13 to 14 cookies

Ingredients

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One of my favorite things to do is pick one of the hottest days of the year, walk into my lightly air-conditioned kitchen, and attempt to make puff-pastry while my oven is blasting at 400°F. Because of this, working ahead (or using store-bought put pastry) will work to your advantage. I recommend making the puff pastry the day before, or even the morning of. You can roll it out, cut it to the size of your baking dish, place it on a parchment lined tray, arrange any decorations on top, cover, and keep in the fridge or freezer until ready to use. Just don’t let cold pastry sit on top of warm filling for longer than a minute or so without it going directly into the oven, otherwise the butter layers in the pastry will melt and not puff up like we want. Alternatively, you can cool the filling down to room temperature before topping with the pastry, covering, and keeping in the fridge until ready to bake.

Thank you to Seremoni for sponsoring this recipe and post! When they reached out and asked if I’d make something using their Black Cod, I knew this was my chance to recreate a dish from a certain animation about a young witch who… brings people things… that I can’t name for legal reasons. Instead of herring and pumpkin, we’re making a very spring forward, herby cream filling with potatoes, leeks, spinach and peas and their Seremoni Grade Black Cod. There are plenty of reasons to support this brand if you love eating fish: they work with independent American fishermen. They are humanely harvested to reduce suffering using a centuries-old Japanese method called ike jime, which you can read more about here. And because of that, shelf-life is improved meaning more of the harvest is usable and doesn’t go to waste — big for sustainability.

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients

Rough Puff Pastry (see note)

• 18 tablespoons cold, salted butter cut into 1/2-inch cubes (255 grams)

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (324 grams)

• 1/2 cup ice-cold water (113 grams)

• 1 1/2 teaspoons white distilled vinegar

• 1 egg, whisked (for egg-wash)

Filling

• 4 tablespoons salted butter

• 1 pound potatoes, peeled and chopped into half-inch pieces

• 1 leek, washed well and chopped (only the white part)

• Salt

• Pepper

• 1 tablespoon minced thyme

• 1 tablespoon chopped dill

• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup white wine or chicken, vegetable or seafood stock

• 1/2 tablespoon whole grain mustard

• 3/4 cup whole milk

• 3/4 cup heavy cream

• 18 ounces Seremoni Grade Black Cod, skinned, deboned and cut into one-inch pieces

• 3/4 cup frozen peas

• 4 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and strained
  

Directions

1. Make the rough puff pastry (if not using store-bought). Add the flour to a food processor with the blade attachment then add in the butter cubes and pulse just until the butter pieces are broken up a bit but are still about the size of hazelnuts. You can also do this in a bowl with a pastry cutter or two knives.

2. Transfer the flour and butter mixture to a medium-size bowl. Whisk together the salt, water and vinegar until the salt has dissolved. Slowly drizzle half the liquid all over the flour and butter and fluff the mixture with a fork until combined. Repeat with about half the remaining liquid. Drizzle in the remaining water, focusing on just the dry areas, and fluff one more time. (You may need 1 tablespoon more or less depending on humidity, flour brand and how incorporated the butter is.) You should end up with a shaggy dough with very little unincorporated flour.

3. If at any time the butter becomes too warm, slack or greasy, stick the bowl in the fridge to cool off. Dump the dough onto a clean work surface and press into a rectangle about an inch thick. Pick up any unincorporated butter/flour pieces and press them into the top (a bench scraper helps here). Wrap the dough in a piece of plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours, however long it takes for the dough to get cold and firm.

4. Remove the pastry from the fridge and dust your work surface with flour. Complete a letter fold: Using a lightly floured pin, roll out the pastry into a long rectangle, about 4 by 12 inches. Using your hands or the bench scraper, pick up the top third of the pastry and fold it over towards you. Then take the bottom third and fold that over the top third. Pause to chill the pastry again, if necessary.

5. If the pastry is still cool, rotate the pastry 90 degrees so the seams are facing your left and right. Complete another letter fold. Press down the top of the dough gently, re-wrap in plastic, and return to the fridge to chill for another 30 minutes or so.

6. Once the pastry is chilled, rotate the dough 90 degrees again. Complete a book fold: Roll out the dough to a rectangle about 10 by 16 inches. Fold one quarter of the pastry over on the short side, then fold the other three quarters up to meet it. Fold the pastry in half like a book so both raw edges are encased. Chill for 30 minutes. (If at any point the dough tightens up and is resistant to rolling, return to the fridge to chill for another hour.)

7. Optionally, repeat Step 6.

8. Make the filling. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the potatoes and leeks to the pan, season with salt and pepper, and cook until the leaks are translucent and the potatoes are softening up.

9. Add the fresh herbs and cook for one minute, then stir in the flour until all the ingredients are well coated. Continue cooking and stirring, scraping up the bottom of the pan, for another minute or so to cook off the raw flour. While stirring, pour in the stock/wine and mustard to deglaze and continue stirring until the mixture looks saucy and creamy.

10. While stirring, slowly stream in the milk and cream into the mixture. Bring the mixture to a boil then immediately turn down to simmer until very, very thick — even thicker than a thick shower; it’ll loosen up in the oven.

11. Fold the pieces of the Seremoni Black Cod into the cream and cook on a gentle simmer for 4 to 6 minutes, then remove from heat and stir in the peas and the spinach.

12. Roll out your pastry to a thickness of ⅛-¼ an inch. Use the top of your 2-quart baking dish to cut out a topper of pastry (it will shrink slightly in the oven). Use the remaining pastry to cut out decorations (like a fish!) and affix them to the top using egg wash.

13. Transfer the filling to the baking dish.

14. You can either wait for the filling to cool down to room temperature in the fridge, then top it with the pastry and allow to chill in the fridge before you’re ready to bake. Alternatively, you can add the still-warm filling to the baking dish, and assemble the pastry top on a parchment-lined half-sheet tray, freezing it before you top the warm filling, and then immediately baking.

15. About 15 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 400. Brush the pastry all over with egg wash. Bake the pie on the middle rack until the pastry is puffed and deep golden brown all over, about 35 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

Note:

• If you just want a pastry topping with no decorations, you can halve the rough puff pastry recipe, noting that the size of the rolled-out rectangles will decrease. If you make no decoration, you’ll have a lot of leftover pastry, which is awesome! Roll out the pastry and use what you need. Then wrap what’s left well with plastic wrap, place in a freezer bag and store in the freezer to use for more pot pies, pastries, tarts, homemade pop-tarts, etc.

• To save some time, you can prep make the filling in between your folds of rough puff pastry. Once cools down to warm, stick it in the fridge until ready to assemble.

One pain point of being a pro baking recipe developer (I have got to find a better job title) is the fool’s dream of baking for all your loved ones’ important events. Trust me, I want to be able to use my skills to celebrate them and show I care with a birthday cake, especially since I don’t have the best reputation for remembering gifts! I’m blessed with many close friends, but I can’t make one for each of them — I can’t even always do it for my immediate family — and that is stressful.

So at this point, those closest to me don’t ask — they would never even expect it from me because they’re that understanding. They know that while I bake all the time … I bake all the time. And despite what some people (not you guys, never you guys) still seem to think after four years of me doing this full-time, it is my only job! So baking for easygayoven can’t really take a backseat. It really is the horrific irony of turning one’s love of baking for friends and family into a career.

I’m flattered to be asked occasionally if I sell my bakes or if I’d make a custom cake for a stranger or brand. I don’t, and I probably wouldn’t (but hey, if you’re a brand or a stranger with deep pockets, shoot your shot!). Truthfully, I don’t know how cake sellers make it work. I admire them and they should all charge more :)

Truthfully, the baking of it all usually isn’t even the hardest part; it’s the transport. I once smuggled an intricately decorated birthday cake in a stockpot to the Poconos via car and train, using a sling of plastic wrap to lift it in and out. Now I use cake boxes. But any baker who has ridden with 10 pounds of melting sugar, butter and flour in the back of an Uber will tell you, it’s not for the faint of heart.

Considering all of that, plus my perfectionist streak, the whole thing takes a lot out of me. So when I have offered to make cakes for friends, it’s been for big events — and only if I have ample time that week. (I will still probably never make a wedding cake; Way too much pressure.) And of course when I do, I never let them pay.

But in April, two of my best judies, turned 30 — big! Their joint party needed a cake, so I volunteered to make one. The tax, apparently? I get to make a video and write a post about it. Keep scrolling for photos from the party.

It’s a good idea to split up the work when you’re making a more involved layer cake so I actually made the cake layers a day or two in advance, and wrapped them really well. This is an all-oil cake so it stays super moist and tender even after a day or two in the fridge. That’s because oil is liquid when cold, unlike butter. If this were a vanilla cake, I’d probably want to throw some butter in that fat ratio to make up for some flavor. I also love how the buttermilk and baking soda create a really nice dense crumb that holds up to the chocolate fudge icing.

I feel like there’s a dearth of frostings like the one featured in this recipe. Most chocolate frostings are either buttercream with melted chocolate and or cocoa powder mixed in which are great but not as thick and fudge as I wanted for this cake and/or they’re whipped chocolate ganaches, which can get really chalky and almost too rich for me. I wanted this to be like the fudge icing you get on a Texas sheet cake but that is glossy and buttery but holds its shape better.

Remember: increasing the surface area of a hot liquid will help it cool down faster, so if you want to speed things along, you can always pour the hot fudge onto a half-sheet tray or 9x13-inch pan, cover, and chill before transferring to a bowl to beat it.

This frosting looks slightly matte while cold, but once at room temperature turns glossy. It was the hottest day of the year so far (85°F) and my kitchen was still without AC, so if the piped decoration looks a bit… lax, that’s why. If at any point your frosting is getting too loose, you can always stick it back in the fridge to firm up for 10 minutes, beat it a few times with a rubber spatula, and keep frosting.

Makes one, two-layer eight-inch cake

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

• 1 cup olive oil (227 grams, see note)

• 1 1/4 cup light brown sugar (250 grams)

• 1 cup granulated sugar (210 grams)

• 4 large eggs, at room temperature

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (357.5 grams)

• 1 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder (84 grams)

• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher salt

• 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature (227 grams)

• 2 teaspoons instant espresso

• 1 cup hot water (227 grams)

Chocolate Fudge Frosting:

• 2 cups light brown sugar (420 grams)

• 2/3 cup natural cocoa powder (57 grams)

• 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher salt

• 1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream (283 grams)

• 1/2 cup light corn syrup (156 grams)

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon slices

• 16 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare two 9-inch round cake pans by greasing with butter and lining the bottom of the tin with a round of parchment paper.

2. In a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whisk together the sugar and oil, then mix in the eggs and vanilla. Sift in cocoa powder and whisk just until combined.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. With the mixer on low, alternate adding one-third of the flour and one-half of the buttermilk at a time, beginning with the flour, until both are gone.

4. Microwave the water until very hot, but not quite boiling, then stir in the instant espresso. With the mixer on low, stream in the hot liquid. Mix just until fully combined and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula to ensure everything is homogenous.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and tap it on the counter to pop any large air bubbles. Bake on the middle rack for 40 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly pressed and a wooden toothpick comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.

6. Allow the cakes to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then run a knife around the edges of the cakes to loosen them. Turn out the cake onto a wire rack to cool completely.

7. Make the fudge frosting. In a saucepan, pot or dutch oven at least 2 quarts large, stir together the sugar, cocoa and salt until combined. Add in the heavy whipping cream and corn syrup and cook over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is smooth, glossy, and just beginning to bubble around the edges. Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla. Add the butter, two tablespoons at a time, mixing until completely combined. Add the chocolate and whisk until melted, smooth and homogenous.

8. Transfer to a large mixing bowl (if you have a hand mixer) or the bowl of a stand mixer, cover the surface with plastic wrap and chill for three to four hours or until thick and firm. (To speed this up, stir the mixture a few times while chilling or, alternately, pour the hot fudge over a half sheet tray, cover and chill, then transfer to a large mixing bowl/stand mixer bowl.)

9. Once the cakes are fully cool, trim off the dome tops with a serrated knife to create a level surface for stacking.

10. With a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer with the beater attachment, beat the chilled fudge on medium-high speed until lightened in color and spreadable. It will take a bit to get loosened up — let it sit a minute or two at room temperature if it’s too thick.

11. Place a small dollop of frosting on your cake plate or board, and center the first cake layer cut side up. Cover the cake top in a thick layer of frosting, all the way to the edges. Gently place the second cake layer on top, cut side down.

12. Cover the whole cake with a very thin layer of frosting. (This is called the crumb coat as it traps all the crumbs.) Refrigerate for an hour so the cake can firm up, then spread on a top coat using almost all the remaining frosting.

13. Decorate the cake by piping on designs of any remaining frosting and/or sprinkling on nonpareils. Store in the refrigerator and set out at room temperature one hour before serving.

Notes:

• You can use canola, vegetable, avocado or any other neutral-tasting cooking oil in place of olive oil.

As I wrote in a previous post, this recipe was the product of a recent “free-will” tear I’ve been on lately. (By the way, I’ve now spent like $150 more on sewing supplies. Does anyone have any good starter projects?) Half the time, the hardest part of developing a recipe is getting started — especially on a recipe you aren’t sure will even work in the end. Some recipes, like these buckeye cookies, are pretty surefire; I know, despite however many tests I have to do, that they will turn out eventually. Others, like this caramel cheddar snack mix, could have very well been buried in the recipe graveyard next to my “salt and vinegar potato chip” cookies.

But with this recipe, I didn’t drag my feet on starting because I didn’t treat it like my normal developing process. I didn’t write anything down or do loads of research — I just got into the kitchen and started working because I was genuinely curious and thought the experiment would be fun! Of course, after that I had to test and tweak until it was right, but at least the hard part, starting, was over. This is just one battle in the war of my creative process — analysis paralysis, imposter syndrome, writer’s block — and one I hope other creatives are inspired by. Sometimes the easiest way to get back to work is to treat it like anything other than work.

There are two black goos that make this recipe what it is. First black sesame seeds are ground up and sweetened to create a paste that is steeped in the hot custard base, imparting a earthy, nutty flavor. Then, Oreo cookies are ground up (in the same, unwashed food processor bowl) along with some other ingredients to create a smooth, sticky ripple that is folded into the ice cream.

Small amounts of xantham gum, corn syrup and honey prevent the formation of large ice crystals, keeping everything creamy and making the ice cream easy to scoop. You can find xantham gum at any baking specialty store, online, or if you’re lucky, the baking aisle of your grocery store. (I actually found some at Michaels.) But because I know it’s pretty uncommon, you can omit it in a pinch.

This recipe does require some kind of ice cream maker — whether it’s a KitchenAid freezer bowl attachment, a machine with a freezer bowl, or a machine with a compressor. A good stand mixer freezer bowl attachment is pretty affordable as are machines with freezer bowls (and people online are always selling both at steep discounts). Most people, unless they are ice cream connoisseurs making batch after batch, don’t need a machine with a compressor (which are bulky and expensive — so why do I have one?).

Want more recipes like this?

Makes 1 quart of ice cream

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And we’re back with another edition of EGO Recommends! These posts include a mix of stuff I’m reading, watching, listening to, using, consuming; silly and serious; superfluous and practical.

It’s been a few months since the last “Recommends” post so this one is lengthy.

Product: Centella Sunscreen

Again, no one asks for my skincare routine, but my IG crush @dermarktologist recommended this K-Beauty sunscreen brand that is SPF 50, leaves no white-cast, doesn’t sting my eyes, and isn’t $1 million. The link above is affiliate, so if you use it to buy, there’s a chance that I might see a tiny, near negligible amount of money from it.

Youtube: Interior Motives
The premise is simple but genius. Viewers submit their (sometimes absolutely batshit insane) rooms and host Ben Mara and his comedian guests have to identify the habitant’s gender, location, age and sexuality.

Reading: Two Pieces from Food Power-Couple Ham and Sohla El-Waylly
One, a few months old at this point, featuring Sohla lambasting the New York Times for their jaw-dropping treatment of her. The other, from Ham, about why it’s nearly impossible to make even great new restaurants work in New York City.

Hot Dish with Sohla

sorry about your cookies

There are few users on reddit who love to hate me. Yes, I lurk there. Although I overwhelmingly receive nothing but support and positivity, those few voices are the ones that ring out. I search out their comments and read them on repeat. They all say the same thing I’ve heard all my life, that girl must be difficult…

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6 months ago · 6234 likes · 724 comments · Sohla El-Waylly

Ham's Substack

The Math Doesn’t Work

I have a game I play when I walk past a closed restaurant in New York City. I try to guess how long it lasted. Butcher paper on the windows, a faded sign, a phone number that now connects you to a nail salon. How long did someone’s dream survive in that space before the city quietly swallowed it whole…

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3 months ago · 1231 likes · 62 comments · Ham El-Waylly

Reading: Two Pieces by Derek Thompson
Listen, I wouldn’t call myself Abundance-pillled, but Derek Thompson has a way of taking the half-ideas that tumble around in my head, things I have a feeling about but can’t name or prove, and writing something that actually addresses them. Here are two pieces on his Substack I recently loved, and I’ll just include the most distilling quote from each to entice you.

Derek Thompson

Everything Is Television

A spooky convergence is happening in media. Everything that is not already television is turning into television. Three examples…

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8 months ago · 2616 likes · 36 comments · Derek Thompson

“94 percent of YouTube views come from 4 percent of videos, and 89 percent of TikTok views come from 5 percent of videos.“

Derek Thompson

The End of Thinking

This is an expanded and revised version of an essay that originally ran in The Argument, an online magazine where I am a contributing writer…

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8 months ago · 1685 likes · 122 comments · Derek Thompson

“I decided that the article I would write wouldn’t be about technology taking jobs from capable humans. It would be about how humans take away their own capabilities in the presence of new machines”

Social Media: Two Very Different Makers

@TheDoorknobGirl makes crafting videos with funny, but also eerie, voiceovers that mix charm with a sense of existential unease.

I go to Youtube shorts when I want to tap into my handy side and watch tile-grouting videos — and on one of those scroll-binges I found these guys. You know those annoying problems you have with everyday objects that almost seem too dumb to fix, like a pen clip that doesn’t bend far enough or wine keys that you have to adjust halfway through opening the bottle? This manufacturer takes the time to fix them — and they make pretty engaging videos about the process.

Music: ELIO
I got really into ELIO last year — and they have a few songs you’ve probably heard before, such as “Jackie Onasis”. “Lucky October,” “Sugar, Baby,” and “I Got the Boy” are all some recent faves.

Music: Robyn, Sexistential
Swedish pop icon returns for her first album in eight years, and it’s pretty much a no-skips.

Music: “Outbound” by After
TikTok proves it is a music marketing powerhouse since I’ve started streaming this song from a relatively unknown (to me) band after hearing it backtracking this Panera nostalgia fan-edit. The song also exudes early-aughts singer-songwriter nostalgia for me and I’m excited to listen to more of their music!

@afterjlw14aSong is outbound by After #2000smusic #2000snostalgia #2000score #millenial

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Television: This 60 Minutes special on Havana Syndrome
If we didn’t live in hell; if the 24-hour news cycle wasn’t focused on the dumpster fire of this presidential administration; if social media could look up from their Summer House obsession, this absolute bombshell of a a story might have made a bigger splash than it did.

Reading: They Found Banksy, I Guess?
Another story that, if our algorithms, cable channels, and brains weren’t totally pickled, might have been a bigger deal.

Reading: An Article that Expanded My View on NYC’s Housing Crisis
If you live in NYC, you care about housing policy — or at least you should —because it’s the reason your rent is astronomical. This interview was a response to a study that Hell Gate (which I subscribe to!) featured and I think is a pretty good primer on the debate between those who believe more rent control and tenant protections is the solution, and those that believe that simply building more housing (no matter the consequences) is more important.

Reading: An Insane True Crime Story about Surrogacy
Okay, let’s be honest, I listened to this article as a podcast on The New Yorker’s website. It centers on a wealthy LA couple who had dozens of children through surrogacy — and the bizarre situation that lead to many of the surrogate mothers trying to get them back.

Youtube: A Mini-Doc Exposing The Shadowy Boys Cub that Runs Our Country
The doc — on a real secret society of elites (judges, billionaires, presidents) and their weird little camping trips — again had me asking, Why aren’t we talking about this more?? It’s a good reminder that the term “conspiracy theory” only makes sense if it’s just a theory; If it’s proven, then it’s just called a “conspiracy”.

And you can read more about it below.

Deeper States

At The Grove, A Summertime Party For Wartime Elites

This Article Originally Appeared In Responsible State Craft…

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3 months ago · 29 likes · 8 comments · Dan Boguslaw

If there’s one thing I know about the easygayoven subscriber base it’s that you all. love. cookies. Those recipes are consistently the ones you all like, subscribe for, and make — and in the survey I sent out a few months ago, you overwhelmingly said you wanted more. And I understand why! I try my best to create fun new twists on the form that are approachable but still impressive.

Because of that, I’m introducing a new monthly series, Cookie of the Month Club, where I’ll be concocting an inventive new cookie recipe every month — and as always, you all will be the first to know about them. To keep it fresh I’m going to organize the series into themed seasons. The season for the next few months: “United States of Cookies,” where I’m making cookies inspired by different U.S. states. Follow along to see if I develop one inspired by yours!

Those familiar with easygayoven lore will know that I spent the first 18 years of my life in Ohio, the “Buckeye State.” You probably know the word Buckeye as it relates to the mascot of The Ohio State University (I could lose my high school diploma if I don’t write it like that) — paying homage to Ohio’s native buckeye tree, which became the official state tree in 1953.

But the OSU mascot everyone knows, Brutus Buckeye, is actually modeled after the nut of the tree: dark brown on the outside with a revealed circle of tan. And if you’ve ever lived in Ohio, you’ve probably had the eponymous confection inspired by the nut: a fudge-like peanut butter center (almost completely) covered in chocolate. I actually made some with the leftover filling from testing. Don’t look too close.

Similar to their namesake, these cookies will have centers of peanut butter filling encased in a rich, chewy chocolate cookie. I’ve actually decided to give you two different ways to make the filling: traditional and alternative. The traditional version resembles the way normal buckeye filling is made: peanut butter, powdered sugar and butter, just in a slightly different ratio so they spread better in the oven. This filling has a fudgier, sweeter, dense texture that holds its shape. The alternative uses peanut butter, butter and white chocolate to create a filling that is creamier, has more peanut flavor and is less sweet. I liked both for different reasons, but if you want the more nostalgic version, definitely go with the traditional. (See visual comparison above.)

Want more recipes like this?

Makes 16-18 cookies

Ingredients

Cookie dough

• 12 tablespoons salted butter, melted (170 grams)

• 1 cup dark brown sugar (210 grams)

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar (55 grams)

• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt

• 1 large egg

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder (50 grams)

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (227 grams)

Peanut butter filling (traditional)

• 1 cup smooth peanut butter (270 grams)

• 8 tablespoons salted butter, at room temperature (113 grams)

• 1 cup powdered sugar (113 grams)

• 3/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt

Peanut butter filling (alternative)

• 1 cup smooth peanut butter (270 grams)

• 4 ounces white chocolate, chopped

• 4 tablespoons salted butter (56 grams)

Directions

1. Make the peanut butter filling. For the traditional filling: In a medium mixing bowl with a hand mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the peanut butter, butter, powdered sugar and salt until they form a very thick paste.

2. For the alternative filling: Heat the peanut butter, white chocolate, butter and a pinch of salt in the microwave for about 30 to 45 seconds, or until the butter is liquid and the chocolate is starting to melt. Stir until smooth, cover and refrigerate until firm.

3. Dole out as many 1-tablespoon portions of filling as you can, placing them on a parchment lined plate, trying your best to make them round. Freeze until firm.

4. Make the cookies. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the melted warm butter, sugars, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk in the vanilla, egg and cocoa powder until smooth.

5. Dump in the flour and fold together with the wet ingredients using a rubber spatula, stopping just when the last streaks of white disappear.

6. Dole out around 16 to 18 balls of dough, about 2 scant tablespoons each (I used my 1.5 ounce scoop but under-filled it.) If the dough is too slack, chill the dough, covered, for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.

7. Wrap a portion of peanut butter filling in each dough ball, forming the dough around the filling but leaving a half-inch or so of filling visible. Chill the dough balls, covered, for at least an hour.

8. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two half-sheet trays with parchment paper. Chill the dough balls again, covered, for 15 minutes in the freezer or 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

9. Place 6 cookies on a tray and bake on the middle rack for 7 minutes, then rotate the tray and bake for 7 more minutes. Allow to cool on the sheet for 4 or 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough balls.

If you’re online at all, you know that “exercising free will” has become a meme of sorts — whether it’s folks posting about leaving their desks to get a Wendy’s Diet Coke (so crazy!) or just acting bizarre in public to get a reaction from strangers. What free will is — and if it even exists — is the subject of heated debate, but the idea is clearly compelling to people in this cultural moment. You could probably chalk this up to the way much chance, serendipity, kismet, or spontaneity has been sucked out of our lives thanks to increasingly small social circles, work-from-home, the phone-laptop-headphones bubbles we all travel in when we’re out and about, the increasing cost of third spaces, and a growing culture of over-optimization.

As a response to this, even I’ve noticed myself becoming less rigid about what it means to be productive, avoiding stopping to ask myself, is this the most efficient or best way to do this?

This weekend, instead of doing what I usually do on Saturday mornings (watch RuPaul’s Drag Race recaps on the couch) I felt a force moving me to the kitchen. This is unusual only because, if I’m not “working” on a given day, I usually don’t conduct food experiments for fun — which sucks! But on that morning, I thought it would be fun to transform some of the heavy cream and black sesame paste in my fridge (I knew would soon go bad) into some black sesame-Oreo ice cream.

I paused while I had a bunch of the ingredients balanced in my arms, is this the best use of my time today? Then I thought, what if you just did what makes you happy today? Reader, I rarely think about that. I wasn’t even going to post about the process, but when I did, you all went berserk over on my IG Story. So I’m taking that as a sign you want the recipe — and also that some of the most interesting work can come when I’m just putzing around.

Another example? I recently bought a sewing machine. I didn’t think about it for long, I just didn’t want to keep shelling out for alterations on my clothes and got the impulse to hit “buy”. This is out of character for me for many reasons. 1) I’m pretty cheap, which might explain why I think this machine will pay itself off in a few hems. 2) I don’t like when I have to store an appliance I don’t use often. 3) I am patient zero of analysis paralysis — I will spend months deciding on what drapes to buy. I’ve never sewed before, and up until recently, I didn’t have an interest in it. But I’m excited to learn something new because, once I monetized my little baking habit, the one hobby I had went poof. Since then, I’ve kind of been hobby-less for five years (unless you count going to the gym as a hobby, which...)

Most days, I take the bus home from the gym. But the other day — even though I was exhausted — I decided it was such a nice day that I should just walk the 35 minutes back to my apartment, which I never do. And you know what? It didn’t take me that much longer than waiting around for the bus — and it felt great!

Yesterday, I got so stressed out about finding a new barber. (Remember that thing about analysis paralysis?) Since I moved, I can’t make it to my old one as often and, for me, finding a new one takes recommendations from other gay guys in Brooklyn, having to develop a relationship with the new stylist, not to mention facing increasing prices. I decided it would be better (and also maybe a little fun) to just cut it myself. Yeah, it’s reckless, yeah, my bathroom now looks like Cousin It exploded, yeah my hair… does not look great! But I freed myself from the paralysis, at least for another three weeks or so.

(As I write this, I wonder to myself, Is the experience I’m describing actually mania? Or is this how everyone feels when the temperature is above 60 for a consecutive week?)

Whether these are examples of me exercising my free will or not, I don’t think it really matters. They are more-so examples of me listening to my impulses; not the base ones that signal you’re tired or you’re hungry — the ones beneath those that whisper wouldn’t it be cool if we painted the office Shrek green?

I attended a board game night this weekend and one of the partygoers asked me what made these matcha lemon bars different from regular lemon bars. I replied, without any irony, “The amount of matcha in them.” This may have been a you-had-to-be-there moment but I couldn’t. stop. laughing. about. it. Every few minutes, someone would ask a new question about how much matcha was in each batch and I, through tears, would say, “The ones that are more green… those have more matcha. The difference between the batches is the amount of matcha.” Okay, you definitely had to be there.

The only thing you need to know is all the board game players that night agreed that the amount of matcha in the final recipe was perfect. There’s matcha mixed into the shortbread crust, blended into half of the curd (then marbled with the lemon-only curd), and if you’re a real fiend for the green stuff, you can even sift some on top at the end.

This recipe packs a unique flavor and visual punch — but only takes about 45 minutes in active time to make. The bars genuinely taste like a $9 matcha-lemonade from the most Williamsburg coffee shop you can find — and I can say that because I recently left Williamsburg.

Makes about 16-20 squares

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Are monkey breads too 2016-BuzzFeed-heyday coded? Even if they are, I’m not letting that stop me from publishing this recipe. And you shouldn’t let it stop you from making it for Easter or for whatever you have going on this weekend.

The recipe starts off with pureed cooked carrots folded into a supple, enriched dough. The carrots, along with some warms spices, lend it that traditional carrot cake flavor and color. Then there’s the cinnamon sugar coating between each piece of dough, as well as the morsels of cream cheese that are wrapped inside them, that really make this showstopper sing.

Then things take a turn from the traditional with some salty, buttery toffee sauce that gets poured onto the monkey bread bottom-side up right when it comes out of the oven, and then over the top once it gets turned out.

This recipe is the perfect centerpiece for a brunch where you want to impress — or just a slow morning of your family picking pieces off one by one. If you don’t have a bundt pan, you can also bake it in a large cast iron skillet, two cake tins, two loaf tins, or a 9x13-inch pan. If you’re really crazy and out there, you could even try adding a cup or so of raisins to the dough — or sprinkle the top with toasted chopped pecans.

Serves 12 to 14

Ingredients

Carrot bread

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I’ve had crepe cakes on the brain. Last week, I was fighting with a black sesame crepe cake that I’m just not sure will ever see the light of day. I was working on a cream cheese filling for that recipe when, halfway through, I thought, this would be way better with blueberries. I started thinking about blintzes, the Eastern European Jewish dish comprised of a creamy filling wrapped in a thin pancake and baked, often topped with a berry sauce. This blueberry crepe cake became a play on that delicious breakfast/brunch fare — and to take it over the top, lemon juice and lemon zest flavor the crepe batter and cream cheese filling.

For the batch I shot for these photos and videoed for my socials, I didn’t add the gelatin to the blueberry filling, and you might be able to tell that the blueberries oozed out a bit too much, leading to a final product that was delicious, but didn’t cut easily with a fork. (I also didn’t allow it to set for the full three to four hours.) That’s why I added in that tiny bit of gelatin, so the layers wouldn’t slide off in sheets when you went to cut it, and so that the striations we worked so hard for would be neater. If you omit the gelatin, it won’t be the end of the world and it will still taste and look great.

I realize this isn’t the most streamlined recipe. It’s a lot of components and you will use many of your dishes and utensils. You’ll also be spending about an hour cooking the crepes. I’m just trying to level with you.

But take it as a meditative opportunity — it can be pretty relaxing once you get into the groove of it. As for the cream cheese and blueberry filling, those come together in 10 to 15 minutes. You can make this recipe easier by simply replacing the blueberry filling with your favorite berry preserves or jam — it just might not hold together as neatly.

(Serves 8-10)

Ingredients

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The platonic ideal mac ‘n’ cheese has long been the subject of heated debate. Everyone prefers one format over the others: creamy and cooked solely over the stovetop, baked with a breadcrumb topping, or structurally beefed up with some eggs whisked into the mixture. It can be a personal, emotionally charged topic. In many families, bringing an over-baked dish of the stuff to a potluck or Thanksgiving can ensure you never get asked to make it again.

Sadly, many homemade macaroni and cheese recipes turn out soupy, gritty and split, or even worse — dry. A few years ago, I set out to make my dream version: bouncy, springy noodles, a creamy but flavorful cheese sauce, baked under a blanked of crusty cheesy breadcrumbs.

After publishing this recipe in 2023, making it for a few Thanksgivings, and re-testing it recently, I’ve some tweaks to it and re-pubbed it below. More importantly, I’ve also distilled all the best mac ‘n’ cheese intel I’ve learned in the process into the following tips.

1. Selecting Pasta Shapes (This Could Get Ugly.)

You already know which pasta shapes belong in mac ‘n’ cheese. Medium-length, tubed pasta works best. Obviously, regular elbow macaroni is classic, and at this point, is vintage enough to be cool again. I love using cavatappi. They’re like if elbows had like ten more elbows. One of my favorite macs in the world was at a now-closed Lubo House in Norfolk, VA. It was loaded with gorgonzola and used gemelli — an underrated shape in the mac world. A wildcard choice: radiatori!

Rotini and fusili are passable, but kind of on thin ice for me. For some reason, in my mind, penne and rigatoni just doesn’t belong with mac ‘n’ cheese. Long shapes like spaghetti — or short shapes like ditalini, farfalle or orecchhiete — are a no.

2. Be Choosy about Cheesy

Some cheeses are better for melting than others, and a big factor in meltability is age. Hard cheeses like parmesan are aged for a long time (more than a year) which reduces their moisture and changes their texture, leading to that crumbly, grit we know and love. As that happens, the flavor becomes deeper and more complex as enzymes and microbes develop and “help transform lactose into lactic acid and build other amino acids,” according Wisconsin Cheese.

Another byproduct of the aging process: gradually, some of the proteins in the cheese break down. This “matrix” of proteins is responsible for holding the oil in place, maintaining the emulsion. So when the cheese melts, the degraded matrix can’t hold onto as much oil, and the fat separates out. This is why the mouth feel of aged cheeses isn’t as creamy, and it’s also why hard cheeses don’t melt as well as soft cheeses. And the more separated oil that is introduced to your sauce, the thinner it will be.

On the other hand, soft and semi-soft cheeses such as some cheddars, American cheese, or fontina are usually only aged for a couple months. They have developed some flavor, but they haven’t lost as much moisture, they’ve maintained their protein structure, and they will still stay creamy when melted. You can use hard cheeses like parm and gruyere in mac ‘n’ cheese — they are absolute flavor bombs! But varieties like these shouldn’t make up the majority of cheese if you want a creamy sauce.

I give exact quantities for the types of cheese in my recipe, but use that more as a guide to adjust to your flavor preferences. I realize buying four or five different types of cheese is a lot of money; there’s no reason you couldn’t do this with 2 or 3 different cheeses in the sauce (for example, cheddar and American). You can also forgo the parm in the breadcrumb topping — or just top the mac with a layer of more cheddar. I recommend having a good balance of cheeses — soft, semi-soft, semi-hard and hard — across different components of mac ‘n’ cheese. Here is a non-exhaustive list:

For the sauce:

• Fontina: earthy, grassy, melty

• Cheddar: a good balance of solid, sharp flavor as well as a creamy texture. It’s why it’s a classic for mac ‘n’ cheese!

• American: mild, but ultimate meltability thanks to sodium citrate (see below)

• Gorgonzola/Blue: pungent, soft, creamy, tangy

• Gruyere: rich, nutty — great for flavor but doesn’t melt super well

For layering:

• Gruyere: powerful flavor

• Muenster: very stretchy, mild

• Mozzarella: stretchy, melty, fresh

• Jarlsberg (or other Swiss style cheeses): these melt into beautiful, stretchy strands but don’t dissolve into the sauce as well as I was hoping. Layering them in between layers of the sauce-y noodles would be a good way to incorporate the cheese pull and Swiss flavor.

For breadcrumb topping:

• Parmesan

• Parmigiano Reggiano

• Romano

• Asiago

• Grana Padano

3. Shred Your Own Cheese

Absolutely do not, under any circumstances, use pre-shredded cheese from the bag. The shreds are coated in a powder that dries them and prevents them from sticking to each other, which also prevents them from melting and dissolving into the sauce. (One exception would be if you’re just using that cheese for the topping or layering.)

Avoid a gloppy mess by shredding your own cheese. I like to get my cheese shreds small so that the cheese melts faster, meaning I don’t have to overheat the béchamel (see below). It also means I don’t have to over-stir the cheese sauce, which can cause the sauce to split.

4. Don’t Count out Velveeta!

Listen, no one is above Velveeta. American cheese, like Kraft singles, gets a bad rap because it’s ubiquitous — and not super interesting. However, it has a secret weapon that makes it a boon to all cheese sauces (nacho, fondue, etc.) not just the mornay sauce of mac ‘n’ cheese. “Sodium citrate is an extremely common emulsifying salt that is used to keep the cheese creamy as it melts,” J. Kenji López-Alt writes in Serious Eats. You can learn more about the actual molecular science in this article.

If you’ve ever had mac ‘n’ cheese that’s oily or gritty, it was probably split. I talk more about why that happens in other tips, but the great thing about sodium citrate is it prevents splitting — a.k.a. keeps things emulsified (creamy). Of course, you can buy sodium citrate from many online retailers in this day and age, making it easy to turn almost any cheese into a smooth sauce, but I know many people don’t want to order a special ingredient online that they’ll rarely use and will collect dust in their pantry. The great thing is, Velveeta and other American cheeses already contain sodium citrate (as well as other emulsifying ingredients) so even dropping in a Kraft single or two, will help keep your sauce emulsified — without bringing a noticeable flavor.

5. Watch Your Temper(ature)

When I was developing my ultimate mac ‘n’ cheese recipe, I spent test after test kicking myself wondering why my cheese sauce kept splitting. Almost every time, it was because of temperature. Your béchamel doesn’t need to be ripping hot to melt cheese, especially if you are using the right kind of cheese and its in small enough pieces. I have found the happy temperature zone for the béchamel, before the cheese is added, is about 150°F. Any cooler and you’ll be standing over the pot waiting for the cheese to melt forever and you might just end up over-working it, causing it to split. Any hotter and the oils from the cheese will be expelled, leading the emulsion to break and turning your thick, luscious sauce into soup.

This also means being patient. If you’re cooking in a Dutch oven, the residual heat from the cast iron will probably be enough to melt the cheese, so just give it time. I usually add the cheese off the stove, but if you need, stick it over the still-hot burner to use up some of that heat. If that’s still enough, I turn the burner to the lowest it will go and stir for just a minute or two. And if your sauce still has some bits of visible cheese floating around, that’s okay! It will melt in the oven, or even better, turn into a gorgeous melty strand when a spoonful of hot mac is lifted out of the dish.

6. What if My Sauce Splits?

Okay, so somehow after following all these tips your sauce still broke and became curdled and grainy. I have been able to at the very least get sauces to thicken back up using an immersion blender (don’t use a regular blender unless it has a vent on top.) I could still detect some graininess in the sauce, but you could try it in a pinch.

Bonus: Layer in Cheese

And that’s why I tuck a layer of cheese shreds, usually gruyère or muenster (the ultimate stretching cheese) to add a little bit of texture and flavor interest and to achieve the aforementioned gorgeous melty strands.

(Okay, it’s technically five cheeses)

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

Breadcrumb topping

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese finely grated (optional)

• Salt

Mac and Cheese

• ½ pound cavatappi or other tubed pasta

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (25 grams)

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (42 grams)

• 1 cup whole milk (227 milliliters)

• 1 cup heavy cream (227 milliliters)

• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/4 teaspoon ground mustard

• 1/4 teaspoon paprika

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

• 4 ounces cheddar cheese, finely shredded (1 heaping cup)

• 4 ounces Velveeta or other American cheese, chopped into tablespoon-size pieces

• 4 ounces gruyère cheese, finely shredded (1 heaping cup)
  

• 4 ounces muenster cheese, shredded (about 1 cup, for layering)

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F and move one rack to the second highest position.

• Make the breadcrumb topping. Heat the butter in the microwave just until melted. Pour over the bread crumbs and mix together with a fork until the crumbs are totally coated in butter. Mix in the parmesan and a hefty pinch of salt. Set aside.

• Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta until just before al dente. Drain and set aside.

• Make the roux. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, melt the butter on medium-low heat, then dump in the flour. Continuously stir the butter and flour for a minute or so until the raw flour smell has faded and the roux has darkened in color.

• Combine the milk, heavy cream, paprika, ground mustard, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a liquid measuring cup. Drizzle the liquid into the roux a little at a time, whisking to break up any lumps. Once the roux and the liquid are combined and starting to thicken, add more liquid. Repeat until all the liquid is added.

• Keep stirring until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Do not let the mixture begin to bubble — remove from heat once it reads 150°F on an instant read thermometer. If the mixture is too hot, it will split when the cheese is added.

• One handful at a time, add in the Velveeta, sharp cheddar, and gruyère, stirring in between each addition until combined. If the mixture’s temperature drops too much, you can return it to the stove on the still-hot burner or over the lowest heat (even on the smallest burner) to encourage more cheese to melt. (Again, overcooking the sauce at this point will cause it to split.) If some of the cheese strands are not totally dissolving, that’s okay. It’s better to have a few strands of unincorporated cheese in an emulsified sauce than a gritty, split soup.

• Off the heat, add the pasta to the cheese sauce, and fold together. Then, fold in the shredded muenster just until evenly dispersed but not dissolved.

• Pour the mac and cheese into a greased 9×9-inch tin or 2-quart baking dish. (Alternatively, if your sauce-pan is oven-safe and big enough, you can just bake the mac and cheese in that.) Level it off, and sprinkle on the breadcrumb topping.

• Bake on the second highest rack from the top for around 20 minutes, or until the edges are bubbling and the top is turning golden brown.

• Allow to cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

A major problem bakers run into when adding fruit flavor to cookies, cakes, and more is dealing with extra moisture. Fruits are comprised of mostly water — and when you’re making quick breads like banana or pumpkin bread, that’s a boon. Fruit and vegetable purees (or grated flesh like zucchini or carrot) not only bring flavor and color, but they’re also great at holding onto their water during the bake and keeping the finished product moist for a long time.

But sometimes, there’s too high a ratio of water to actual flavor. Recipe developers chase after pumpkin cookies that are chewy, not cakey, but still taste like pumpkin. But chewy cookies require low moisture, so we’ve figured out that you need to remove some of the moisture from the pumpkin by cooking it on the stovetop or oven-roasting it. Fruit flavors can also be more diluted than we want them to be after adding them to a mixture like, for example, buttercream. That’s why, in my lavender blackberry chocolate bars, we cook down the blackberry puree, concentrating its flavor before adding it to the buttercream.

In October 2024, I published a recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies made famous in my circle by a friend who grew up eating and making the recipe (which came to her from a family friend). They are so simple — elegantly so. Everything comes together in one bowl. There’s no browning butter. There’s no dough chill-time. You don’t have to cook the pumpkin down — and it uses exactly one can. You don’t even need eggs!

When I promoted them on social media, likely more than 100 people commented saying that they grew up with cookies similar to these, or that their family member had a recipe like it. That makes total sense — these types of family recipes usually share one or two common points of origin like a magazine or cookbook, and then get passed down and changed over the years. Regardless, it’s still one of the most popular recipes on the blog and on here because it’s so simple — and so good.

Some people, however, lamented at the fact that these were “cakey” cookies and wondered if there was a way to make them flatter and chewier — which, for me, completely defeats the purpose. I love flat and chewy cookies like any other self-respecting foodie influencer, but these are supposed to be cakey!

All that being said, an vision popped into my head a few weeks ago of a banana cookie that resembled the dome of a banana nut muffin. I wondered if I could replicate the look and feel of the pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe with mashed banana, and after several tests, it worked. (Spoiler, it was not as easy as replacing the pumpkin puree with banana.)

Makes 16 cookies

Ingredients

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Settling into my kitchen over the past few weeks has been, dare I say, fun. I want to make it a lean, mean machine that functions as a studio just as well as it does the place where I air-fry Trader Joe’s spicy chicken nuggets. I’m all about highs and lows, baby. I’m thinking about how I want to show it to you all, and I’m also working on ways to show you how I’m organizing it (and all my baking stuff) as well as how I’m stocking my pantry and refrigerator. Until then, read on…

Support Our Anti-ICE Cookbook Zine

I’m contributing a recipe to Fiery Recipes to Abolish ICE, a cooking zine that includes 10 spicy recipes from 10 different food writers. Watch my the video I made for my recipe, hot honey pepperoni pretzels, below! You have until February 28 to order a copy, and you can read more about it here.

Tell Me What You Want from easygayoven!

Thank you very much if you were one of the folks who filled out the surveys I sent out last week. Your responses are really going to help me give you more of what you want out of this newsletter. If you didn’t get a chance, and want to share, here’s the survey for free subscribers, and here’s the one for paid subscibers.

This recipe is inspired by creations of two other great food creators. First, the peanut butter shaken espressos made internet-famous by Reilly Meehan. Second, the Maple Sea Salt Latte Tart from Audrey Leonard (@redcurrantbakery) that I couldn’t get out of my head for months!

Peanut butter is a powerful flavor. It’s great at playing off of fruity and acidic ingredients like chocolate or jams, but it can tend to overwhelm whatever it’s paired with. That’s why there’s less PB in this filling than you might think, but the flavor is still undeniable.

Getting the coffee flavor to come through was another story. I tried to just use instant coffee, which is great because it’s super strong and dissolved quickly without adding more water to the custard. However, the flavor can be pretty one note. Then I tried mixing actual brewed espresso into the custard. This was a non-starter because, next to the peanut butter, I couldn’t taste the coffee flavor at all. Doing what I’ve done in other coffee recipes, I decided to coarsely crush some dark roast coffee beans and steep them in the cream. That did the trick. We got all the freshly brewed coffee taste and you could still detect it despite the overpowering peanut butter. I’m also giving you the option to add even more coffee flavor by adding a bit of instant coffee to the custard.

Okay, let me quickly explain something I learned during this recipe R&D. Espresso powder, ground espresso, and instant coffee/espresso are not the same thing. And many people online are confused by this. Here are the differences as best I can tell from my research. Ground espresso is just ground coffee beans, which has a very fine texture as required by the espresso method of making coffee. Espresso powder is a specialty food/baking ingredient that is used in baked goods like brownies or cakes, or even sometimes in meat rubs, that is made from espresso grounds that have already been brewed, dried and then pulverized. Instant coffee/espresso is made from a special liquid coffee extract that is either spray or freeze-dried to create tiny granules. These granules are no longer coffee bean grounds and completely dissolve in water. Now you know!

I was trying to be cute here and do a little stripe design with some finely ground coffee and two things went wrong: 1) the parchment strips stuck (???) to the filling and peeled off the top when I took them off. 2) The coffee beans were gritty (I should have known, dumb mistake.) Next time I would use stiffer straight edges to make the stripes so the tart’s surface wasn’t disturbed — and I’d just sift instant espresso/coffee powder, which has a better flavor and no gritty texture.

A note on pan sizes:

I made this in a 10-inch tart/quiche tin, 2 inches deep, with a 7.5-cup capacity. If you don’t have one of those, you have some options. Using a smaller or shallower tart pan will still work, you’ll just have extra crust/filling and you’ll need to bake the filling for less time — more like 25 to 30 minutes, but use the visual cues I give over that time range. Alternately, a 9 or 10-inch springform pan would work in a pinch, or even a pie dish — which just wouldn’t produce as neat slices.

Makes one 10-inch, 2-inch deep tart

Ingredients

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I want to start off by thanking you for being a paying easygayoven subscriber! You are truly what keeps this operation moving, and a huge reason why I can rely less on branded/sponsored content to keep the business afloat. And I know your inbox real estate is valuable so I appreciate you letting me in a few times a month.

I promised myself that in the Ne…

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I know it’s hard enough to keep up with all the recipes out there on Miss Piggy’s internet, let alone all the recipes easygayoven has racked up over the years. That’s why I like doing these occasional roundups to dredge up great recipes from the past that you may have missed or forgotten about. In this post, you’ll find perfect offerings for impressing your SO, impressing your Galentines, or impressing yourself with just how much you can put away alone on your couch.

Some of the recipes are for paid subscribers, but some of them are for everyone (the bottom three are all free and on easygayoven.com.) And if you still can’t find the right one for you, feel free to peruse the EGO Recipe Index, which is organized by category and location, and tells you whether or not the recipe is paywalled.

Salted Caramel Rice Pudding

This is pretty easy, feels like a dessert at a fancy restaurant, and you can make it a day or two in advance!

Mini Chocolate Lava Cakes

I was so proud when I developed these because I know most people don’t own ramekins, but they probably have a muffin tin — which is how you bake them. To make my recipe for lava cakes for two (in ramekins) see this video.

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Don’t let anyone tell you red velvet cake is just bland, red chocolate cake — it’s much more than that!

I’m writing to you from my new kitchen — that I can’t wait to show you the moment it’s ready. That’s right, folks, easygayoven HQ has moved. We’re still in Brooklyn, but no longer in Williamsburg. I know Williamsburg gets a bad rap for being more like a mini-Manhattan the further you go toward the water. It’s the butt of every tech-bro-consultant-slop-bowl-lunch joke (deservedly so). But the neighborhood is obviously more expansive than that, especially the parts that haven’t been corporatized yet. I really liked living there for four years and I’m going to miss it.

So why am I moving if I liked it so much? One, someone bought our apartment building and, after telling us we could stay, reneged and said we had to GTFO because they wanted to gut the place and put in a walk-in shower so they could, I assume, jack up the rent $2,000. I probably would have stayed there for another year with my roommates (yes, I don’t think they ever appeared on the channel but I had two roommates). But two, this was the kick in the pants I needed to go out on my own (and, in a city like New York, I could finally afford to do it.) Three, the one-bedrooms there are expensive as hell!

I’m going to miss my big, bright kitchen, even with all its quirks. (Leaky windows, blasting furnace that heated the whole apartment, at one point mice — we got rid of them!) which was a one-in-one-thousand find. Most NYC apartments either have galley kitchens or some kind of internal set up. Needless to say, they’re usually small — giving more precious space and legally required windows to living rooms and bedrooms. That’s also why I had to be very picky when finding my new apartment, since the EGO operation relies heavily on a great working space.

I was looking for a kitchen with at least two windows, big enough to fit my island worktop (yes, it goes where I go), that would ideally have southern exposure, and none of those rinky-dink ovens that you can’t even fit a half sheet tray into. And, reader, well, I got it! I know it sounds like I take this too seriously, and sure, plenty of creators have a great filming and recipe testing system without these things, but it was important to me not just logistically, but also creatively — and I try to remember that at least some of what I do here is art, or at least creative.

If you have been anywhere in a 30-yard radius of me for the past 4 months, you have heard me drone on about this journey so thank you for listening, I’ll find something new to whine about now. I’ve been slow to get back to developing new recipes because, when I moved in, I had no gas or electric — and therefore also no wifi. Before you say anything, I had put in requests for transfers on all of these services before moving. I’ll just spare you and say, getting someone to come out and replace your meter after a huge snow storm that left thousands of New Yorkers without power … not easy! Two days ago, a whopping four days after I had moved in, I finally got all three functioning at once.

And that’s what you missed on Glee!

I had a lot of passion fruit puree, fresh passion fruits, and coconut shreds lying around after my ultimate birthday cake. I wanted to use them up before the big move, so this was the last recipe I developed and shot in my old kitchen. Awww.

This passion fruit cream filling is just cooked over the stove, and because of the lower ratio of acidic lemon juice, it’s a bit looser and needs a longer chill time to hold its shape.

I wanted to use coconut cream for the topping but it didn’t work at all. This may have been because I didn’t use a dedicated can of coconut cream, opting to use the cream at the top of a can of coconut milk I had. It just didn’t have enough fat content and viscosity, so it never whipped up. But then I figured I would rather just have you use the three egg whites (that you separated from the yolks that the filling uses) to make a creamy meringue topping. (I don’t like having spare egg parts sitting in my fridge, either!) If you try whipping up some real coconut cream, sweetened with some sugar, let me know!

The fresh passion fruit rivers running down the ravines of meringue are optional because speaking from first hand experience, I know how hard it is to find. A toasting all over with a kitchen torch really takes it over the top.

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Okay so we’re technically a week out from my birthday, but I promised myself that this year I would develop my dream birthday cake. I decided that, even if I was late, I should just do it anyway. I suppose this isn’t my forever dream cake, though, I just haven’t been able to stop thinking about doing some kind of passion fruit chocolate number lately. Besides, my dream birthday cake has long been Beatty’s Chocolate Cake, popularized by the Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten.

The final iteration of this cake turned out a little different from what I planned. I bought sweetened shredded coconut to fold into the cake layers, and then forgot to put it in. I also bought coconut milk to sweeten with sugar and brush on the cake layers as a soak, but then I forgot to do that, too. I trekked into manhattan to buy $17-worth of passion fruits to put the seeds and pulp on top of the passion fruit curd filling for the filling. Guess what I forgot to do while assembling.

I only have one 8-inch cake pan that I really like and I couldn’t just use it for both layers because you kind of need to bake this batter right away. Ingenuity struck (for once) when I took an 8-inch baking ring that I’ve had lying around forever and placed it on a lined quarter sheet tray. It worked nearly as well! It’s important to cool chiffon cakes upside down so their delicate structure doesn’t collapse under the weight of gravity. This is also why we don’t grease the sides of the tin: so that the cake can climb up the tin walls in the oven and has something to hang on to while cooling.

Here’s the thing, though. Because I employed a chiffon cake method, I’m actually glad I didn’t use the shredded coconut mix-in, as I now think that could have been disastrous. I have a feeling those shreds might have sliced into the precious the precious air pockets of my whipped egg whites, popping them and sinking my beautiful sponge. Along with a bit of baking powder (it’s not cheating) the meringue is the main leavener of the cake. Alternatively, what if the coconut just weighed the feathery light crumb down? I’d have to test it again to know, but I think the milk soak will bring enough of coconut flavor and the perfect amount of moisture I was needing.

As for the passionfruit curd, it is delicious: tangy, bright, floral, with just enough butter to set it and keep it creamy. If you can find it at the store, frozen seedless passionfruit puree works perfectly for the curd, but I had trouble tracking down the refrigerated pulp with seeds. From some cursory research, it seems like it can be found at some Latino or Thai markets, or you can order it online. In the end, i couldn’t find any in-person and that’s why I had to go buy the whole fruit at the most confusing store ever: Eataly. It was worth it to top the cake with the bright orange pulp studded with pretty seeds, but it would have been more worth it if I could have also remembered to drizzle it onto the curd filling as well.

I knew I wanted a creamy, shiny coat of milk chocolate frosting adorning this cake. The richness and ….. well, milkiness, tame the sour passion fruit so they sing in harmony.

So, yes, I’m going to give directions for the milk soak since I believe the cake — which is perfectly spongey but otherwise plain and not as rich as a sponge cake, for instance — needs it. But feel free to omit any of the refrigerated fresh pulp and just use the seedless passion fruit puree in the freezer section for the curd.

This is absolutely a recipe that can be broken up and completed in several days, although you could also do it in one. The passionfruit curd, cake layers, and milk soak can all be prepped days in advance, as long as they are wrapped/covered well and stored in the fridge. The only think that should be made day of is the frosting as it doesn’t come to room temperature well once whipped and chilled.

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Well, yesterday was my 31st birthday. I treated myself to a fat breakfast burrito from Ceremonia Bakeshop and my friends took me out to dinner at the 126-year-old iconic Italian restaurant Bamonte’s, which has been on my list since I moved to Williamsburg. For the prices, I’m sorry to say the food was mid, but the company was anything but.

As if that weren’t enough, I also signed a lease on a new apartment! Our long national nightmare is over. If you have ever looked for real estate in New York City, you, like me, wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy. Thank you for being patient as I take a little time off of easygayoven to deal with IRL matters this month. And if you’ve been following along with this journey, thank you for not unfollowing me on Instagram as I begged for leads. In upcoming posts I’ll talk about where I’m going and what I’m going to miss about the current place I’ve called home for four years. Until then, I’ll be packing.

January is a weird time to be a baking recipe developer/Substack-er. People are going Whole 30 and swearing off sweets and carbs. People’s wallets are reeling after the holidays (Rocket Money ads are plastered to all my screens right now) so people are cutting back on subscriptions. Resolution season means that people are curbing their screen time, so they’re not really seeing to what recipes are being posted anyway. More generally, it seems like no one has a sense of what flavors to lean into after our taste buds have been blown out by sugary cookie boxes and decadent dinners.

I’ve heard at least one of these sentiment echoed by a few fellow food creators recently (the wellness girlies, however, are doing just fine). Besides citrus season, which is just getting going around this time, there isn’t a lot of fun seasonal produce to work with. February has a monopoly on chocolate recipes, obviously. And I certainly won’t be making “healthy” bakes just because it’s January — sorry. My mantra, when it comes to making baked goods with less sugar, less butter, or less processed ingredients has long been: It’s not a salad.

That’s why, at the start of every year, I have been leaning into one ingredient: peanut butter. It’s earthy, comforting, and when baked into something, takes off the saccharine edge. After back-to-school season, it takes a back seat during Orange and Brown Food Season (my loving name for the pumpkin-spice time) and over the holidays. That is, unless you’re someone who likes peanut butter kisses — I don’t. Because of that, it just feels like a welcome return.

That being said, don’t let this stop you from making these cookies all. year. long. I wanted peanuts and peanut butter to be absolutely pouring out of every orifice of this cookie. (Sorry.) I’ve had two bags of Reese’s peanut butter chips withering away in my pantry. Because I’m trying to clear out before my move, combined with my January peanut butter fixation, I knew that now was the time to make the ultimate peanut butter cookie.

This cookie has more peanut butter than flour in it. It stays creamy and chewy — not chalky, as so many peanut butter cookies can end up. I wanted these to be big, like the kind of cookie you’d get at the mall. They just look better, and feel more special, especially with roasted peanut halves studding the whole top surface of the cookie. That being said, I also give directions for making them the medium-size of my typical cookie recipes. A sprinkle of flakey sea salt after baking takes them over the top, in my professional opinion.

Please use creamy peanut butter spread for this recipe — not the grainy, “natural” kind you can make at home or crunchy grocery stores. To be even more clear, I’m talking about the type, such as Jif or Skippy, where the oil doesn’t separate out so you don’t have to mix it. You have every right to go off script here, but just know the cookies might not turn out the same.

Makes 9 large cookies or 15-16 medium cookies

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The end of the year does not inspire much reflection in me — I’m usually too busy! However, now that we’re in 2026, instead of ideating resolutions, I’ve been thinking of something I’m really happy I started doing last year. None of my resolutions has ever stuck around more than a few weeks, which is why I try to not make them, let alone announce them. (Some research even suggests that if you tell someone else your goal, you might be less likely to achieve it.) I’m a pretty calcified person. Creating new patterns in my social life, diet, work ethic, etc. is difficult for me. I’ll probably never be someone who makes his bed in the morning. No matter how many times I try to build that habit, it just might not happen. So I don’t even have any resolutions this year, private or otherwise. (I just need to find a new apartment by the end of this month!)

A habit I am proud to have stuck with all of last year is a regular practice of lifting weights. I’m not really going to talk about how often or what I do, not that anyone has ever asked for that, lol. I feel comfortable talking more about this now because … I already did it! And I’m not planning on changing anything about it so I don’t think I’m self-sabotaging my own goals, either.

I hate to say this, but lifting weights has become such a part of my weekly routine that: 1) I don’t have to convince myself to go to the gym 2) I don’t have to agonize over fitting it into my schedule (this is easier because I work for myself) 3) I actually *shudder* look forward to it most of the time 4) it genuinely improves my mental wellbeing. It has been nice to be able to track my progress linearly instead of all of the various, sometimes nonsensical metrics I use to determine success with my job. It’s almost like a video game. There’s solace in knowing exactly what I need to do and not having to overthink it. When my mind is chaotic and I can’t get anything done, unplugging (as much as my too-online brain will allow) and focusing on my silly little tasks at the gym typically helps.

Finding a way to achieve a goal — or even just creating a new habit — let alone one that also tricks you into enjoying it and putting it on an almost-autopilot, that’s something I didn’t think was possible for me. I resisted this specific type of exercise for a long time, after trying so many others. My main rationale against it: I just didn’t think I was *that* kind of guy. The idea that I would ever touch a barbell was just so foreign to me. I was tying way too much identity to a place, a workout, a body type — a straight, jock archetype.

And it’s not like that feeling came from nowhere. Growing up, and well into my college years, the body standard for young gay guys was thin. Now, the pendulum has swung and it’s much more popular to just get jacked. If you’re like me, you likely bowed out or were shamed out of most sports by the time you left high school. If you don’t have the right body type, many workout spaces can be actively hostile to you, especially if you’re a woman. And especially in today’s political climate, there’s an increasingly slippery slope between getting more protein and going full MAHA. People can’t even be interested in building muscle without getting raw milk videos flooding their Reels page.

When I went full-time with easygayoven in 2022, I started running, which I hated. I’d suffer through 30 minutes of it, multiple times a week, even though afterwards my brain would admittedly feel great. I was happy that I had developed a habit and stuck with it, but eventually I realized that I was working against what my body wanted. My knees hurt, my hips hurt, my ankles hurt. Running is not kind to anyone’s joints, and as a big guy, I was putting a lot of pressure on them. I couldn’t run as fast or far as I wanted to, even after two years of regular training. I began paying $125 a month in the winter months just to use my gym’s *treadmill* and nothing else. (Do not contact me for financial advice!)

So at the start of last year, maybe a little bit before that, I stopped running and started lifting weights. I didn’t think of it as a goal or a resolution, just a shift from doing one thing to trying something else. I had no idea what I was doing. I spent a lot of time watching Youtube tutorials the night before a gym day, or clandestinely next to a piece of unknown equipment, to try and teach myself. My gym offers free personal training sessions, but I was too anxious to use them. This was supposed to be a semi-private journey and I was afraid that any negative experience would turn me away from an already precarious new practice. My greenness probably embarrassed me a few times, even though I know that most people are not watching and do not care. I’m still learning, and there are still exercises I won’t try yet because I’m too nervous. And that’s okay! I have let the fear of being a beginner stop me from doing too many things for too long.

I’m not even trying to offer advice here, but I think a few factors made this change stick for me. One, the positive feedback loop is excellent. Chemicals in the brain go woo-woo when you exercise and eventually that makes you want to do it again. I enjoy making progress, my mental health is steady, and, vainly, I like how I look. Two, unlike running, I don’t absolutely hate my life while I’m lifting. I’m working with my body and mind instead of against them. Lastly, and I think most importantly, I took this change at my pace, privately, with low pressure, instead of concocting unrealistic goals, getting overwhelmed, then throwing in the towel.

This is just my personal journey and is not prescriptive whatsoever. No matter what your plans are, please go easy on yourselves as we enter Whole 30 and Dry Jan season. There is pressure from all sides to start something new or accomplish more or be better — and I’m sure we all could be making changes that would benefit our lives — but keeping your head above water right now is also valiant enough. If you are making a change, good luck, but just remember you don’t have to make any goals or resolutions if you don’t want to. January is a shitty month to try and overhaul your life anyway.

The recipes you all gravitated towards the most in 2025 were mostly one of two categories: A few weird little spins on cakes, but overwhelmingly, fun cookie flavor combinations that shouldn’t work, but still do. And in case you’re curious, the most popular recipe this year, which blew all of these out of the water (by a factor of 2x) were the mango white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.

Let’s take a look back at them, in chronological order, starting with January.

I doubted myself when I was pouring powdered cheese out of the mac and cheese box packets, but I’m glad I listened to my gut!

It’s like a banana bread that’s fancy enough to serve for dessert at a nice restaurant.

This was lots of fun to make and eat — my goal in life is to “confetti” every baked good.

I didn’t think many people would make this, but you all struck while the rhubarb was hot!

I’ve basically been working on this brownie recipe on and off for years, so I was glad to 1) publish a version that was more streamlined with even better results 2) hear how much people loved it online.

The It Girl this year!

Another recipe where I was pleasantly surprised by its reception! This is an example of a “doing it for me” recipe, where I don’t really expect it to pop off. I had no idea it would be so popular.

Making a s’mores cookie that actually tasted like a s’more has long been a KPI here at EGO. We cracked it with this recipe.

One of the last recipes of the year, which made it into my cookie boxes!

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Which was your favorite recipe of this year? Doesn’t have to be on this list! Let me know in the comments.

I’d love to start off by saying THIS IS OUR 100TH SUBSTACK POST!!! Okay, it’s our 101st, but I missed the actual 100th post and one of the those 100 was just a sale announcement, so I’m counting this one as Big 100. What a great sendoff to an absolutely bat shit year. Thank you for being here — and there’s more to come in 2026!

When I posted my Aperol Spritz Rainbow Cookies on Instagram and TikTok earlier this month, I asked if the audience wanted other booze-inspired rainbow cookies, such as espresso martini or negroni. The response was an overwhelming yes, and you guys had so many other good ideas: limoncello, paper plane, hugo spritz… I could go on.

The espresso martini variation seemed extremely primed for New Years Eve, so I decided to put a rush order on these and get one last recipe in under the wire for this year. I hope you have time to make them — and if not, Valentines Day is just around the corner.

To learn how I like to bake all the layers at once, take a look at my “Frankenpan” set up from my Aperol Spritz Rainbow Cookies earlier this month.

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