FINALLY....MY VERY OWN EASY BAKE OVEN!!!!

I think I was about 6 years old when I remember seeing a commercial for Easy Bake Oven.  I knew I wanted it for Christmas.  My mom told me that it was too advanced for my age and maybe when I was older.   But back then I loved to bake and I was hoping that even though she said I needed to be older that maybe Santa wouldn't have heard her requirements and just maybe he would bring me one.  Nope, Christmas morning I got a Blink it doll, where you pull her string and her eyes blink and then change colors.  Don't get me wrong, I loved that Blink it doll, she was great fun, but she wasn't an easy bake oven.  

The following Christmas I didn't lose my desire for that Easy Bake oven.  I still wanted one.  But once again, even now that I was 7 years old, my mom felt it was still too advanced.  That year I settled for a Johnny Bench Batter Up.  (I loved baseball as much as I loved baking). 

When I turned eight years old I was positive that easy bake oven was coming!  I was sure of it.  I mentioned that I hoped I got it, and my mom never said "it's too advanced for you".  So this was going to be the year.  I would go to bed at night dreaming of what I would bake first.  I couldn't wait.  Yes this was going to be the best Christmas ever.  This was my year! ...........Christmas morning came and.....no this was not my year.  There wasn't any easy bake oven under the tree.  I am not sure what happened.  I got some wonderful gifts for Christmas, and the last thing I wanted to do was seem disappointed.  My parents asked if I liked my gifts, I told them I did, and not trying to sound upset I said,  "I was hoping Santa maybe would have gotten me an easy bake oven".  My mom said that she was hoping too, but she thinks Santa must have ran out of them that year.  Well my neighbor Susan was one lucky girl--she got an easy bake oven.  And if Santa ran out, she must have gotten the last one because her house is right next to  mine and surely if he had anymore I was definately next.   Susan asked me if I wanted to come over and play with her easy bake oven.  It was the next best thing!  We baked brownies and cakes and it was tons of fun. If it's possible to gain 10 pounds from the 1/4 inch chocolate frosted cake it yielded....we did it!!!

Then a very strange thing happened the following year.  It must have been some sort of "off" year.  Because for the very first time in 3 years --an Easy Bake Oven wasn't at the top of my list.  My mom even asked if I wanted one.  Was something happening to me?  What was wrong with me?  This definately would be my year...but for some reason I felt quite ambivalent. This was the most important gift I desired over the past 3 years...and now all I really wanted was a Style Barbie Head where you could curl her hair with--get this---a plastic curing iron.  You could also apply lipstick which you then could also wear yourself!!!  Nope...no easy bake oven for this gal, bring on the Barbie Head.  And Santa got this one right!  I loved that Barbie head....although I was slightly confused why that plastic curling iron curled Barbie's hair but not mine.  I guess I wasn't born with copper metal highlights that easily bend and hold curls in place.  Oh well...it was still wonderful fun!.

So then I turned 10 years old.  , I still loved to bake.  But something wonderful happened, my mom allowed me to use the oven in our kitchen.  And I had become a bit sneaky in that double digit age.  You see after my parents went to bed, my brother Joe and I sneaked downstairs and held baking contests.  You could say we were competing for Iron Chef before it ever was a "thing".   We would glance through out cookbooks and each of us would pick something to make and then we would taste and see who's was the best.  My brother is now a professional chef, and I like to tease him and say that I always won those competitions and that's why he had to go to cooking school.  So I never really needed to get that easy bake oven afterall, because as long as I didn't get caught, I had my mom's oven.  And that oven made quadruple the size of the cakes the easy bake oven did!

Years later when I was working at the Rosie O'Donnell show I was producing actress/singer Vanessa Williams.  In my pre-interview I remember  asking her what her favorite childhood toy had been (working at Rosie we were always on the search for interesting stories...those little golden nuggests).  Vanessa told me that she absolutely LOVED her easy bake oven.  It was her favorite gift she ever received...and get this...she still had it!  I had her bring it to show Rosie. And when she did, all those wonderful childhood memories and love for that toy that I never got came flooding back.  It was truly the best gift I never ever got.

And 45 years later, I still love to bake and still have a desire for my own easy bake oven...but on a grander scale...and guess what I finally got it!  I have a Blodgett Oven and wow is it amazing.  I can bake 500 cookies at once!  It's our Cook n Craft Academy commercial oven, and all I can say is WOW...This Easy bake oven was worth waiting for...even if I did have to wait since my childhood!!!!

I got to try it out for the very first time last night.  I baked 150 salted Caramel chocolate chip cookies.  I was practicing a recipe for an event coming up this Saturday in Loudon.  It's the CASA 5K run/walk and Jeff Harris was kind enough to invite us to pass along some of our goodies.  So I hope you will stop by and say hello, and enjoy the fruits of my very own EASY BAKE OVEN!!!!!