Hey! We’re The Yum Recipes (And We’re So Glad You’re Here)

Three cookie-obsessed women, countless kitchen disasters, and one shared belief: the perfect cookie can change your entire day.

Our Purpose

I’ll never forget that rainy Thursday afternoon when my neighbor knocked on my door, tears streaming down her face. Her teenage daughter had just gotten her heart broken, and she desperately wanted to make her something special – but every cookie recipe she’d tried that week had been a disaster. Store-bought felt wrong. Boxed mixes tasted like cardboard. She looked at me with that defeated parent expression and said, “I just want to make something that shows her she’s loved.”

That’s when it hit me. Cookies aren’t just cookies. They’re hugs in edible form. They’re “I’m sorry” and “congratulations” and “you’re going to be okay” all wrapped up in something sweet and warm. But here’s the thing – most cookie recipes online are either impossibly complicated or disappointingly basic. There’s this huge gap between “professional bakery perfect” and “actually doable in your real kitchen on a Tuesday night.”

So we started The Yum Recipes right there in my slightly flour-dusted kitchen, with one simple mission: bridge that gap. Because everyone deserves to create cookie magic, even if their mixer is older than their teenager and their measuring cups don’t match.

Our Mission

Every single day, we’re in our kitchens testing, tweaking, and sometimes completely starting over (looking at you, Great Lavender Cookie Disaster of 2023). We test every recipe until it works for real people with real lives – you know, the ones who substitute ingredients because that’s what’s in the pantry, who bake at 9 PM because that’s when the kids finally went to bed, and who need recipes that actually turn out like the photos.

We’re not just recipe developers; we’re your cookie confidence coaches. When 200,000 families trust us with their special moments – birthday parties, holiday traditions, random Tuesday pick-me-ups – we take that seriously. Really seriously. Like, Sarah literally loses sleep if someone emails that a recipe didn’t work (which is why she responds to every single message personally).

We believe every home baker deserves to feel proud of what comes out of their oven. Whether you’re making cookies for the first time or you’re the designated family baker, we’ve got your back with recipes that actually work, tips that actually help, and the kind of support that makes you feel like you’re baking with your best friends.

Our Vision

Picture this: your kitchen becoming the place everyone gravitates toward. The smell of fresh cookies drawing neighbors over for “just a quick chat” that turns into an hour-long heart-to-heart. Kids actually getting excited about helping in the kitchen instead of just asking what’s for dessert. Holiday traditions that center around something you made with your own hands, creating memories that’ll last generations.

We’re working toward a world where homemade doesn’t mean “hours of work and questionable results.” Where cookie baking is therapy, not stress. Where every home kitchen can produce treats that make people’s eyes light up and say, “Wait, you MADE these?”

Honestly? We dream of a future where the phrase “store-bought cookies” makes people laugh because why would you ever need them when homemade is this easy and this good?

Our Core Values

Real Kitchen Testing First: If Hannah’s stand mixer from 2010 can’t handle it, or if it requires ingredients you have to special-order online, we don’t publish it. Every single recipe gets tested in regular home kitchens with regular equipment. Sarah’s 8-year-old oven runs hot, Lauren’s kitchen is the size of a closet, and Hannah has three different measuring cup sets because she keeps losing them. If our recipes work in our beautifully imperfect kitchens, they’ll work in yours.

Honest About Everything: We’ll tell you when recipes flop spectacularly (RIP to the 47 attempts at gluten-free snickerdoodles that turned into hockey pucks). We’ll warn you if something is actually challenging. We’ll share our shortcuts, our failures, and that time Lauren accidentally used salt instead of sugar and somehow convinced herself it was “artisanal.” Learning from our disasters saves you from making the same ones.

Family-Tested and Kid-Approved: Every recipe survives what we call “the family test” – will picky eaters try it? Can tired parents make it without crying? Does it actually taste as good as it looks? If Sarah’s cookie-skeptical husband asks for seconds, if Lauren’s nieces stop asking for store-bought, and if Hannah’s neighbor starts “dropping by” more often, then we know we’ve got a winner.

Accessible Always: We believe amazing cookies shouldn’t require a culinary degree or a kitchen renovation. We write recipes for real people using ingredients you can find at your regular grocery store, with techniques you can master without attending pastry school. Fancy is fun sometimes, but delicious and doable wins every time.

Community Over Competition: Your success is our success. When you email us photos of your gorgeous cookies, when you share your family’s new favorite recipe, when you tell us about the smiles you created – that’s what keeps us going. We’re not just recipe writers; we’re part of your baking journey, cheering you on from our flour-covered keyboards.

Meet Our Expert Team (The Humans Behind the Screen)

Sarah Whitfield – Cookie Therapist & Memory Maker (Plus Recovering Perfectionist)

Austin, Texas | sarah@theyumrecipes.com

I discovered my cookie superpower during the worst year of my life. After my dad passed away, I found myself stress-baking at 2 AM, trying to recreate the snickerdoodles he used to make me feel better as a kid. Turns out, baking became my therapy, and those late-night kitchen sessions taught me something powerful: cookies have this magical ability to connect us to memories, to comfort, and to each other.

For the past 8 years, I’ve been the “cookie lady” in my Austin neighborhood – the one everyone calls when they need something special for a celebration or just because Tuesday was rough. I’ve developed over 300 original cookie recipes (yes, I keep a spreadsheet because I’m that person), and I’ve learned that the best recipes aren’t just about perfect measurements – they’re about creating moments of joy.

My background in food science (University of Texas, 2009) helps me understand the why behind cookie chemistry, but my real expertise comes from thousands of hours of actual baking for real people with real lives. I’m the one who figured out how to make bakery-style cookies in a regular home oven, who developed our famous “never-fail” sugar cookie recipe, and who can troubleshoot pretty much any cookie disaster via email.

Fun fact: I still burn things regularly (last week it was a batch of chocolate chip cookies while I was perfecting a new oatmeal recipe), and I consider it part of the learning process. Perfection is overrated; delicious is everything.

Lauren Brooks – Cookie Innovator & Flavor Experimenter (And Fearless Kitchen Scientist)

Nashville, Tennessee | lauren@theyumrecipes.com

I’m the team member who asks “but what if we added…” to everything. My cookie journey started in culinary school (Nashville State Community College, Culinary Arts, 2012), but really took off when I started experimenting with flavor combinations that shouldn’t work but absolutely do. Like my now-famous maple bacon snickerdoodles that happened because I accidentally grabbed bacon grease instead of butter. (Best mistake ever.)

I spent 5 years as a pastry chef in Nashville’s restaurant scene before realizing that my heart belonged in home kitchens, not commercial ones. Restaurant baking is precise and beautiful, but home baking is personal and forgiving – and that’s where the magic really happens. I love taking classic cookie recipes and giving them unexpected twists that make people go “wait, what’s in this??”

I’m our resident technique teacher and the one who developed our signature “foolproof methods” for everything from perfect cookie dough consistency to achieving that coveted chewy-crispy texture balance. I also handle all our video tutorials because I genuinely love showing people that cookie baking isn’t as mysterious as it seems.

Current obsession: Finding the perfect balance of sweet and salty in every cookie imaginable. Last month’s experiments included pretzel-crusted chocolate chips and honey lavender shortbread with sea salt. Both made the permanent recipe collection.

Hannah Carter – Cookie Artist & Recipe Developer (Plus Professional Sweet Tooth)

Portland, Oregon | hannah@theyumrecipes.com

I believe every cookie should be a tiny work of art – not necessarily fancy or Instagram-perfect, but made with intention and love. My journey into cookie artistry started when I was laid off from my marketing job in 2018 and decided to turn my lifelong baking hobby into something more. What began as selling cookies at Portland farmers markets turned into a deep dive into recipe development and food photography.

I’m the team perfectionist (in the best way) – the one who tests recipes 15 times to get the texture exactly right, who spends hours figuring out why one batch of cookies spreads perfectly and another doesn’t, and who can spot a recipe problem from a mile away. I have a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Portland State (2012), but my real education happened in my kitchen through thousands of hours of baking, testing, and learning from failures.

I handle our visual recipe development and food photography because I believe that if we’re asking you to spend time and ingredients making something, it better look as gorgeous as it tastes. I’m also our secret weapon for troubleshooting – if your cookies aren’t turning out right, I can usually figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.

Cookie philosophy: Every recipe should tell a story, whether it’s comfort, celebration, or just “I wanted something sweet and amazing.” My favorite emails are the ones that start with “I made your recipe and…” followed by stories about family gatherings, first dates, or kids proudly taking cookies to school.

How We Actually Do This Work

Here’s what happens behind the scenes at The Yum Recipes: chaos, lots of taste-testing, and an embarrassing amount of spreadsheet organization.

Our Recipe Development Process: Every recipe starts with an idea (usually while one of us is eating cookies somewhere and thinking “I wonder if I could make this at home?”). Then comes the testing phase, where we each make the recipe at least three times in our own kitchens using different equipment, different ingredient brands, and different techniques. If all three of us get consistent, delicious results, it moves to the “real world” testing phase.

The Real World Test: We send recipes to our volunteer testing team of 25 home bakers across the country – different skill levels, different kitchens, different dietary needs. Only recipes that get consistently successful results from our testers make it to the website. This process usually takes 2-3 weeks per recipe, and yes, it means we develop far fewer recipes than some food blogs, but every single one works.

Our Failure Documentation System: We keep detailed notes on every recipe failure because they’re just as educational as the successes. That spreadsheet of “recipes that didn’t make it” has taught us more about cookie science than any textbook. Plus, our failures often lead to unexpected discoveries (see: Lauren’s bacon grease incident).

Continuous Improvement: We update recipes based on reader feedback, seasonal ingredient changes, and new techniques we discover. When you email us that you substituted something and it worked great, we test that variation and often add it as an official option.

Why Trust Us? (Fair Question!)

We actually bake these recipes: Unlike food blogs that develop recipes once and move on, we continue making our published recipes regularly. Sarah still makes our classic chocolate chip cookies every week, Lauren’s been perfecting the same sugar cookie recipe for three years, and Hannah makes our brown butter snickerdoodles for every family gathering.

We answer every single question: Check our comment sections and emails – we respond to everyone, usually within 24 hours. If you’re struggling with a technique or having issues with a recipe, we don’t just send you to Google. We troubleshoot with you until you’re successful.

Our reader success rate speaks for itself: Based on reader surveys and feedback, 94% of people who follow our recipes exactly get successful results on their first try. For those who don’t, we work with them personally until they do.

We’re constantly learning: We attend baking workshops, read every new cookbook that comes out, and experiment with new techniques constantly. Lauren just completed an advanced chocolate work class, Sarah’s studying sourdough sciences, and Hannah’s deep-diving into gluten-free baking chemistry.

We put our money where our mouth is: We use affiliate links for products we actually own and use daily. If we recommend a mixer or a baking sheet, it’s because we’ve used it for months or years, not because someone paid us to mention it.

Our Community (That’s You!)

You’ve transformed The Yum Recipes from a simple recipe blog into something we never imagined – a supportive community of bakers who celebrate each other’s successes, troubleshoot failures together, and share the joy of creating something delicious from scratch.

Your Impact on Our Recipes: Seriously, you shape everything we create. When dozens of you asked for egg-free options, we developed our amazing vegan cookie collection. When readers kept requesting “bakery-style” cookies, we spent months figuring out how to recreate those thick, chewy textures at home. Your comments, emails, and requests directly influence our recipe development.

The Stories That Keep Us Going: Lisa in Michigan who makes our peanut butter cookies every Sunday for her elderly neighbors. James in Florida who learned to bake using our tutorials and now runs a small cookie business. Maria in California whose daughters finally bonded over making our decorated sugar cookies together. These aren’t just feel-good stories to us – they’re reminders that what we do matters.

Your Success Photos: When you tag us on social media or email us photos of your cookies, we literally do happy dances in our kitchens. Seeing our recipes come to life in your hands, in your kitchens, with your families – that’s the best part of our job.

Our Promise to You

We Test Everything Obsessively: Every recipe gets made at least 10 times before publication – different altitudes, different ovens, different ingredient brands, different skill levels. If it doesn’t work consistently, we don’t publish it.

We Write for Real Kitchens: Our recipes work with regular grocery store ingredients, standard home equipment, and normal human attention spans. No hunting for specialty items, no equipment that costs more than your car payment.

We Admit Our Mistakes: When we mess up (and we do), we fix it immediately and tell you about it. Recipe corrections get posted within 24 hours, complete with explanations of what went wrong and how we fixed it.

We Keep Learning: Baking science evolves, techniques improve, and we stay on top of it all. Our recipes get updated when we discover better methods, and you’ll always know when and why we made changes.

We Support Your Success: Every email gets a personal response. Every question gets a thoughtful answer. If you’re struggling with one of our recipes, we troubleshoot with you until you succeed. Your success is literally our job.

Let’s Stay Connected (We Actually Read Our Emails)

For Recipe Questions & Baking Help: contact@theyumrecipes.com
We respond to every single email, usually within 24 hours (sometimes sooner if it’s an urgent baking emergency). Sarah personally reads and responds to recipe questions because she’s slightly obsessed with helping people succeed.

Follow Our Daily Baking Adventures:
📧 Email Newsletter: Weekly recipes + behind-the-scenes kitchen stories
📱 Instagram: @theyumrecipes (daily baking fails and wins)
🎥 YouTube: The Yum Recipes (technique videos and kitchen tours)
📌 Pinterest: @theyumrecipes (all our recipes, perfectly organized)

Mailing Address:
The Yum Recipes
1234 Baker Street
Austin, TX 78701
Yes, we really do read physical mail, and yes, Sarah has been known to send handwritten recipe cards in response to especially sweet letters.