Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

It’s the start to every one of my favorite recipes. For as long as I can remember, I have been setting the oven and following a recipe to make desserts. From baking Christmas cookies with my aunt and grandma to helping my mom with my siblings’ birthday cakes, it always starts with those six words.

Baking has been my family’s way of showing love for generations, always starting when the kids are little and wanting to help out. So naturally, when I was little, I wanted to help out too. My first job was mixing in the ingredients.

Slowly, as I got older, I was given harder jobs. Instead of mixing the ingredients, I was cracking the eggs, then I was measuring the ingredients and putting the pan into the hot oven, and eventually taking it out too. It then turned into me following the recipe with my mom standing off to the side, ready to help out when needed. Eventually, the “Mom, I want to make cookies. Is that ok?” Turned into “Mom, I’m making cookies.” And now it’s even my mom saying, “You’re making cookies, what for?”

The answer to that question is often just because or for a last minute surprise of a sweet treat for my friends. For me, baking is just something I do in my free time and gives me a way to stop stressing about things and take a break to enjoy the process and the final product.

Because I enjoy the process so much, it makes it really easy for me to offer to bake something for family dinners, hanging out with friends or even bringing them to school for a class party or event. It has also become my way of showing love, just like the rest of my family.

Due to this love and the fact that I have a hard time saying no, anytime I am asked to make something, I always say yes. This was what first got me into making cake pops, which quickly became a favorite among the people around me and myself. But no matter what sweet treat I have in my clear container that my friends and family have come to look forward to, it was made with love by a girl who enjoys giving them out and seeing the smiles on people’s faces.