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Karina Aronson

Citing the all powerful Wiki, a dumpling is “pieces of cooked dough. . . often wrapped around a filling.” So using our cupcake batter as our tasty, crusty dough and our delicious, fresh (and definitely not squishy) fruits as our delectable filling, we decided to make some truly innovative dumplings.

Why did we decide to do this?

SH: To be honest, I have no clue. I don’t know how to bake. I was just there for the experience and the free food.

SK: It was my ingenious idea. I take all the credit. 😀 

KA: I’m still really confused as to why we did this. However, I was along for the ride (and to make sure nobody burned my kitchen down)! 

SY: We’ve spent so long critiquing other people’s food and cooking skills that we felt it was our turn to flex our own kitchen creations. I think we decided to start with baking because cooking is a little advanced for us.

How did you expect this process to go and how did it actually go?

SH: I expected it to be rough, harsh, and absolutely horrid. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that bad, mainly because Karina did all the baking. I cracked one egg, was proud of myself, and called it a day after that. ALSO SALLY DID NOT PULL ANY WEIGHT EITHER SO SHE CAN’T EVEN BE CRITIQUING ME (see comment below).

SK: As expected Karina was our overlord. She barked orders to us and we scurried like mice to execute them (well, only some of us pulled our weight — *cough, cough Sam*). Trusting Karina’s supreme judgment and vast wealth of fancy food knowledge, we did good?

KA: Unfortunately, I had exceptionally low expectations. I watched Sophia crack an egg horribly wrong and then I took over. 

SY: I definitely didn’t expect it to go smoothly, since Karina is the only baker in the bunch and she can’t control us three crazies. Needless to say, it was definitely a wild ride from top to bottom.

How would you describe this experience in three words?

SH: nom nom nom

SK: *squish*, *crunch*, *splat*

KA: chaotic, sticky, buttery
SY: messy, spicy, sugary

How were the cupcakes?

SH: Great. Probably got diabetes from eating so many of them.

SK: Absolutely delectable. Except for ones we baked fruit into — those were soggy and leaked all over my hand.   

KA: Kinda hard ngl. However, the buttercream and copious amounts of sprinkles made it much better. 

SY: I’m one of those people where if it’s sweet enough, it’s edible. As long as I smeared enough of Karina’s lemon buttercream frosting on the cupcake and didn’t think too hard about it, the cupcake tasted yummy!

What would you change about the experience if you had to do it again?

SH: GET RID OF IT (“it” as in the monster that is Sally King).

SK: Get rid of the SamSamShabam.
KA: I wouldn’t allow Sam and Sally to convince us that strawberries in the cupcake batter aren’t gross. (Yes, I am a hater.)
SY: I’m not a baker so I don’t know how exactly to do this, but I wish the cupcakes weren’t so dry and muffin-y. Also I wish Sam and Sally didn’t ram gigantic strawberries into the tiny holes we made in the cupcakes.

What was your most valuable takeaway from this experience?

SH: That Sophia can’t crack an egg.
SK: Karina makes bomb buttery frosting — would highly recommend it!
KA: Cracking an egg is a life skill. 
SY: I can’t crack an egg.