The Problem with Pintrest

I love Pintrest! Let me rephrase that--I love, love, LOVE Pintrest!  I only got on a few months ago, but I have been hooked since I first laid eyes on it.  There are so many great ideas for anything & everything you can think of.  I actually have to give myself a time limit & force myself to get off when my time is up.  If I don't give myself a time limit, I could probably spend my entire day on there looking & repinning all the great ideas.  Along with all the great ideas, there are also tons of recipes on Pintrest.  Tons of scrumptious looking recipes.  When you click on the link, you always find the recipe (complete with step-by-step instructions & pictures).  They always make it look so easy.  So easy, in fact, that even a kitchen klutz like me could do it!  And there in lies the problem with Pintrest.  This website makes me think that I can do & make things that I actually can't.  Case in point:  A few weeks ago, I saw this delightful little recipe for cookie dough peanut butter cup brownies.  Yes folks...as the name suggests, they include my three favorite things in the entire world--cookie dough, Reese's peanut butter cups, and brownies.  And they looked so easy!  All you do is spray a muffin tin with cooking spray.  Then mash pre-bought cookie dough into the bottom of well...

Once that step is done, you place a Reese's peanut butter cup on top of the cookie dough...

Then whip up some brownie mix from a box & plop some on top of each well...

Throw it in the oven at 350 degrees for 18 minutes.  Voila!  Deliciousness!  Simple, right?  Any dummy could do it!  Wrong! Wrong!  WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY wrong!  This dummy could not do it!  After 18 minutes, my little creations looked like this...

It was basically cookie dough peanut butter brownie SOUP with a slight crust on top.  I threw them back in the oven for a few more minutes.  After that...still soup.  A few more minutes later...you guessed it--hot, steamy (yet delicious) soup!  I ended up baking them for a total of 32 minutes!  At that point, they were semi-set up.  I let them sit in the pan (because I had no other choice--there was no way to get them out) for a little while.  After that, they firmed up enough to almost get them out of the pan, but they were still just a gooey mess...

I should mention that there were a few that did turn out.  They are the square ones on the left plate.  After I filled up the muffin tin, I had extra of everything so I threw the extra stuff in a brownie pan that my mom gave me for Christmas.  It's supposed to be the best brownie pan in the world, and now I believe it really *has* to be the best brownie pan in the world because they were the only ones that turned out okay.  Here's how they looked from the side where you can see all three layers...

They did end up tasting delicious (How could they not?) even though most of them were a crumpled, gooey mess.

So that's the problem with Pintrest.  I am not a baker, and I never will be...despite what my mind tells me when I'm looking at these recipes.  We are all born with different gifts & talents.  Baking is NOT one of mine...neither is patience.  I would rather scrub toilets all day long than bake a batch of brownies.  That's how much I hate it.

So Pintrest, please stop tempting me with your lovely little links of baked goods that make me believe I have the abilities to make them.  I don't.  End of story.  I still love you & all your wonderful ideas and recipes.  I'll even still repin them from time-to-time, I'm sure.  Maybe I'll just have Mike make them for me from now on.  Hummmm...that's not a bad idea.  "Oh honey!!!"  --Lindsay