Short recipe videos from Anna Kate Huneycutt, a high school senior who has baked since seventh grade. Each recipe takes a few ingredients and very little time, and the bloopers stay in.
Plenty of people would love to bake and never start, or try once and give up.
New bakers don't know which recipe to try first, what to buy, or what the dough is supposed to look like.
When a recipe flops, people feel like they can't bake. They stop trying and buy cookies at the store instead.
Nobody should feel bad about missing on the first try. Every good baker has a flat batch somewhere in their past.
I'm Anna Kate, and I bake to not feel like a moron.
I used to freak out because I'd forget if it was 2 tablespoons or 2 teaspoons. I still double-check every time, because I'm so afraid of messing up.
I've been baking since seventh grade. One time I put baking powder in my cookies instead of baking soda, and they came out completely flat. You just start over until it turns out right.
After tests, cheer practices, and girl drama, I bake. So come a little closer.
I sneezed into the sugar. I took an energy drink break in the middle of the cookie dough. I made a mug cake in honor of the Queen of Country herself. I kept all of it.
“When I follow a recipe and it tastes good, I invite my friends over and they think I'm useful and cool. When I bake trash, I don't tell them. And you don't have to tell yours either.”
These studies look at cooking in general, and baking is one kind of cooking. They show strong links between cooking and a better life, though not proof that baking alone causes each result.
1,158 young adults
People who rated their cooking skills as very adequate at ages 18 to 23 cooked more meals with vegetables and ate fast food less often 10 years later.
Project EAT, Utter and colleagues, 2018
Before age 18
Adults who learned to cook as kids reported more cooking skills, more confidence and better diet quality than people who learned later.
Lavelle and colleagues, 2016
23 trials
Across 23 randomized trials of kids' cooking programs, the result that showed up again and again was more confidence and know-how in the kitchen.
van der Horst and colleagues, 2024
12 months later
Teens ages 12 to 15 in a New Zealand cooking program felt better right after it, and their cooking confidence was still there a year later.
Create-Our-Own Kai trial
Lower stress
In a small pilot study, adults' anxiety and cortisol levels dropped after baking. It had no control group, so treat it as a promising start.
Pratt Institute baking pilot, 2019
41% lower risk
Adults over 65 in Taiwan who cooked more than five times a week were 41% less likely to die over the next ten years than those who never cooked, after accounting for their health.
Chen and colleagues, Taiwan, 2012
10,978 older adults
In Japan, adults over 65 who cooked from scratch at least once a week had a 23% (men) to 27% (women) lower risk of dementia over about six years.
Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study, 2026
Pick a recipe and pull out what it needs. You probably have all of it already.
Bake along with my video, one step at a time. Pause it whenever you need to.
Eat what you made, or share it and become everyone's favorite person.
These recipes are super simple, and they use things almost everyone keeps in the kitchen.
Watch the video, then bake along with the recipe card.
“This recipe is super duper simple, and it's so good for just an after-school snack.”
Mix everything in one bowl, roll the dough into little balls on parchment paper, and bake at 350° for about 12 minutes. Press a fork across the top first if you want them to look cute.
The dough should hold a cookie shape. If it's runny, add a little more sugar: these are cookies, not a cake.
“Nothing says ambition like a chocolate mug cake.”
Stir everything together right in the mug, drop in a few chocolate chips, and microwave for about 2 minutes.
This batter should be liquidy, because it's a cake. Read the spoon twice: tablespoons and teaspoons are not the same thing.
Coming next: chocolate chip cookies.
That's what you find out after the first batch. Every recipe you finish makes you feel more accomplished, and soon you have a short list of treats you can make any afternoon.
Feeling unproductive and not knowing what to bake.
Productive, with simple recipes ready to go.
The free recipe guide has both recipes, the mistakes I made so you can skip them, and what the dough should look like at each step.