Cocoa: for baking, not Chanel.

November 30 | Posted in Uncategorized

Cocoa: for baking, not Chanel.

Once upon a Thanksgiving Eve, I was in the kitchen. My mother-in-law had put me in charge of the desserts for Thanksgiving dinner, which can only mean one thing: LAUREN MUST OVERACHIEVE. Listen, I have to impress her somehow and it’s either baking or babies.

I had sent my husband to the store earlier that day, with quite a short list:

Butter (How can you bake without butter? You can’t.)
Cocoa
Eggs
Pecans
Powdered sugar
One pumpkin pie (Don’t judge me. I have never made a pumpkin pie before and had already planned to make cake and cookies; even Overachiever Baking Lauren has her limits.)

When Michael got home that afternoon, I put the groceries away and finished working. I didn’t venture back into the kitchen until about 7:30 that night, and when I did, I immediately started mixing up the dry ingredients for Pioneer Woman’s Chocolate Sheet Cake (remember, I made this once before and it was fabulous). It wasn’t until I got to the part about adding cocoa to the melted butter that I began to panic. I looked EVERYWHERE in my pantry and kitchen for the cocoa. It was nowhere to be found, and you cannot make a Chocolate Sheet Cake without cocoa. Lots of cocoa. Also, 4 sticks of butter, but that’s beside the point.

By now, it’s 8pm, the night before Thanksgiving. I have a bowl full of sugar and flour, already measured and mixed. Bowls and spoons and measuring cups are scattered precariously on the counters, my kitchen is a mess, and I have 2 sticks of melted butter in a pan on the stove. So I did what any woman who is desperate and has been married for two years and MUST IMPRESS HER INLAWS FOR THE LOVE OF THANKSGIVING would do. I sent my husband BACK to the grocery store.

Listen, my husband is a saint. He will rub my back for hours at a time and does the dishes almost every night. But every man has his breaking point. He put on a baseball cap and some shoes and walked out the door without saying a word to me. He may have even slammed it, a little.

Then I tweeted this:

Michael came back, decided to start speaking to me again, I finished the cake, and it was PERFECTION. See?

I began baking my cookies, then casually checked Twitter again. And WHAT TO MY WONDERING EYES SHOULD APPEAR, but a tweet from Ree herself!

Then I began to freak out. Shrieking and reading aloud. Texting people. Retweeting. Taking a screen shot and posting it on Facebook. I went a little overboard. But COME ON. THE Pioneer Woman TWEETED ME. Which practically means we’re friends. She’ll be inviting me to the ranch any day now.

Thanksgiving was great. My desserts were a success, especially the Sheet Cake. But the proverbial icing on the whole ordeal for me was, of course, my very own tweet from the Pioneer Woman.

A few days later (i.e. yesterday), I was rummaging through my pantry, looking for hot chocolate mix. And guess what I found, tucked away behind the marshmallows?

Another can of cocoa powder.

Let’s just keep this to ourselves and not tell Michael, shall we?

Comments on Cocoa: for baking, not Chanel.

From legalstyle:

hahahaha i love this post, lauren! such a good story!

From Amy --- Just A Titch:

I freaked out for you. OMG, I’d die. A tweet from PW or Dooce would MAKE MY LIFE.

From DebbieQ:

I stand in awe. And I squealed for you just a little bit.

From mandy:

I saw it happen live on twitter! It was very exciting. =)

(and I always find key ingredinents after stomping and slamming around complaining that I never have what I need to work with)

From Emily Jane:

Haha! Congrats! Great story (poor Michael!), and the cake looks fabulous :)

From Taryn M. Peine:

I saw that Lauren! I thought for a second you KNEW her! I would have died!

From Chelsea Hurst:

If you get invited to the ranch, can I come with you?? Please? PLEASE?? I got you tickets to her signing… and I’m making you her cinnamon rolls. And I’m you BF4EV. Please?

From Meghan:

Every time I put her book on the shelf in Borders, I sneak a look before the boss can catch me reading on the job. In short, I am way jealous right now.

From Jill:

WoW! I’m so jealous! I might have peed my pants. In reality I probably would have shown my husband, who’d have been like, “What’s the big deal. Who’s Pioneer Woman?”

From Samantha:

Poor Michael! The things we put our husbands through…

You’re practically a celebrity now by association. :) I would have been in awe if that happened to me!

From Kyla Roma:

Ah!! Okay that is SO cool!! Nicely done Lauren! And the cake looks amazing!

Is this from her site or her cookbook? I have been considering buying it but it seems like there should be a pre-requisite kool aid to drink before lol =)

From JennyMac:

Loved this story! Congrats on le tweet! And no need to tell anyone about the cocoa powder lurking in your cupboard either.

From Cio:

What’s the diff between a sheet cake and a regular cake?

also…………………………………………..
…………………………………………….
………………………………………………
……………………….don’t kill me for asking that question…

From Joe:

Ha, that is a great story with a better ending. Why does stuff like that always show up when you don’t need it? One of life’s ways to mess with us, I guess.

From Nora:

I love how you wrote this; so perfect, so sweet and so cute! I especially love the title and of course the fact that the Pioneer Woman tweeted you back! Well, and the fact that Michael is still talking to you and that the desserts were a success.

From LLecenia:

I stumbled your blog a while ago and try to visit it every day..just so you know, I find your writing style very light, funny and refreshing… were you an English major in college? have you considered writing professionally?

Any way, I thought I’d stop by and leave a short comment :)

From Julie D.:

I don’t think I would know about Pioneer Woman unless I lived in Chicago…sad isn’t it? She was here just before Thanksgiving for a book signing and the line was MASSIVE!!! And now I can say that I know someone she knows ;) I love reading about your life by the way! :)

From Kelly:

Ha! Of course there was cocoa in the pantry!

I just cleaned out our pantry and found FIVE containers of UNOPENED baking powder. Obviously, it has not been cleaned out since we moved in five years ago.

Congrats on the Tweet from PW. I heart her so much.

From steph anne:

Hahah, that is indeed awesome that she replied to you out of all the other replies she has probably received!

So it seems like our husbands are never happy when we have to send ‘em to the store… my mom does it to my dad all the time and I’ve kindly passed on the tradition and do it to Tyler now. Woohoo!