Teaching others to bake is a noble endeavor we place much importance on at the Home Baking Association. Baking education takes shape in Family and Consumer Science classrooms, Youtube tutorials, and our favorite cookbooks. However, the meteoric rise of foodies sharing their love of baking through social media sites like Instagram and TikTok is worth taking notice. (Have you looked up #BakeTok or #Bakestagram lately?)

With so many bakers to choose from, inspiration is readily available 24 hours a day, even if you’re a newbie in the kitchen. So with that in mind we went in search of bakers with recipes and tips suitable for beginners. A twenty-two year old Canadian baker by the name of Michelle Ko really stood out to us.

Michelle Loves to Bake

Under the moniker Michelle’s Belly, Michelle Ko has been posting how-to videos and content sharing her love of baking with the world for the last year. Featuring bear-shaped pizza, fluffy strawberry cake, s’mores cookies and so much more, Michelle’s tutorials are highly accessible and pleasant to watch. Check out some of the screengrabs from her TikTok account below… if they don’t inspire you to start baking, nothing will!

In celebration of National Bakers, Crafters and Makers Day on January 21st, we are featuring Michelle’s Easy S’Mores Cookie recipe. This recipe is easily customizable, with an allowance for limitless flavor combinations.

Easy S’Mores Cookies

This makes 6 cookies

3/8 cup Melted butter
1/4 cup Brown sugar
3/8 cup Granulated sugar
Egg 1
1 1/4 Flour (all purpose)
1/2 tsp Baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup Chocolate chips
1 tsp Vanilla extract
6 large frozen marshmallows

Directions:

Melt the butter (microwave is ok)

Mix in brown and white sugar

Mix in egg and vanilla extract, whisk until smooth

Mix in flour, baking powder, salt, additional flavors as listed above, and other toppings of choice (ex. nuts)

Wrap the dough (will be slightly sticky) and refrigerate for at least an hour

Divide the chilled each dough into six equal pieces

Flatten each piece, place a frozen marshmallow in the center, and wrap the dough around the marshmallow leaving a small area visible

Place on a lined cookie sheet, leaving a couple inches of space in between the cookies

Bake at 350 degrees (preheated) for 13-14 mins

Optional: Add any additional toppings when the marshmallow is still warm

Check out more of Michelle’s recipes on Youtube! Keep up the good work, Michelle. We love the recipes you are sharing.