Boujie Bites

08/27/2026

THIS. This right here is why I created The Spellbound Collection.

When I started developing these cookies, I wasn't just trying to come up with four really good cookie recipes.
I wanted to create an experience.

I wanted someone to make them for a Practical Magic watch party.

I wanted friends gathered around a table, the movie playing, maybe margaritas involved 😂, and four cookie flavors sitting there that actually belong with the night.

I wanted someone to bite into The Curse during that part of the movie and immediately understand why it's dark chocolate and raspberry.

I wanted the flavors, the names, the colors, the packaging — all of it — to become part of the experience.

And then I got this message today.

She's making the collection for her friends when they get together to watch the original movie before going to see the new one.

THAT'S IT.

That's exactly what was in my head while I was developing them. I literally had the soundtrack playing over and over while I worked. I may or may not have made my husband watch the movie with me more than once in the name of "research." 😂

And there's a bigger lesson here for bakers, too.

We're not always selling dessert.
Sometimes we're selling girls' night.
Sometimes we're selling movie night.
Sometimes we're selling nostalgia.
Sometimes we're selling the thing everyone talks about when they're standing around the table.
Sometimes we're helping someone turn an ordinary night into something they'll remember.

The cookie is simply the thing they can hold in their hand while they're having the experience.

That's what I wanted The Spellbound Collection to be.
And apparently...it worked. 🖤

Because when your customer tells you exactly how they plan to use something before you've ever told them how you hoped they'd use it?

You know you nailed the concept.

PS: THIS is what a description of my desserts looks like with AI putting it together. I didn't provide it@ my own pictures for this graphic so it worked from the description.

08/27/2026

08/27/2026

I sure didn't think that posting desserts, created to help bakers, would turn into a literal witch hunt, but here we are.

Let me be VERY clear about something.

This is not acceptable in my space.

I have openly said — many, many times — that I use AI as one of the tools in my business. I’m not hiding it. I’m not embarrassed by it. And I’m certainly not going to apologize for it.

And calling a business owner “lazy” because they use technology to make parts of their business more efficient tells me you really don’t understand how businesses operate.

Successful business owners delegate.

They automate.

They use software.

They hire accountants instead of doing their own taxes.

They use scheduling programs instead of manually posting every piece of content.

They buy templates instead of designing every document from scratch.

They use mixers instead of wooden spoons.

They use calculators instead of doing long division on a piece of paper.

And yes — in 2026, many of us use AI.

Allocating work to a process that can accomplish it faster is not laziness. It is literally business efficiency.

My time is a finite resource. Every hour I save on a task that does not require my personal hands or expertise is an hour I can spend developing recipes, testing products, teaching other bakers, serving customers, creating content, or growing my business.

And since my professional experience was specifically questioned, I'll address that too.

I've been doing photography and graphic design for more than 25 years. AI existing today does not somehow erase the skills I spent decades learning.

I know how to compose an image.

I know how to photograph food.

I know how to edit.

I know how to design.

And perhaps most importantly, I know enough about those things to know what I want a tool to produce and whether the result is actually good.

Using a tool doesn't negate the skill of the person using it.

But here's the bigger issue:

You are absolutely allowed to dislike AI.

You are allowed to run your business without it.

You are allowed to make every graphic yourself, write every word yourself, photograph everything yourself, and complete every single task in your business manually if that's important to you.

What you are not going to do here is belittle another baker, call her lazy, question her accomplishments, or imply that her business is somehow less legitimate because she chooses to operate differently than you do.

This community has never required everyone to bake the same way, price the same way, market the same way, or run their businesses the same way.

And I'm certainly not starting now.

Disagreeing is welcome here. Disrespecting people is not.

If someone's business practices aren't for you, don't use them.

But tearing another business owner down to make yourself feel superior about the way you choose to operate?

That has no place here.

08/27/2026

🔥 UNPOPULAR OPINION: The AI Witch Hunt : Y’all have GOT to stop accusing skilled people of using AI.

Seriously.

Every time somebody posts a beautiful dessert photo lately, someone is zooming in, picking it apart, and declaring:

“That’s AI.”

Why?

Because it looks too good?

I have been a photographer for more than 25 years.

I have been doing graphic design for more than 25 years.

The desserts you see in my finished photos are real desserts that I made and photographed.

Do I sometimes use AI to create or replace a background? Absolutely. Because setting up an elaborate styled shoot every single time I need to post something takes time I simply don't have.

Do I use AI to help edit my writing? Yep. Because unlike photography and graphic design, professional editing is not one of the skills I've spent 25 years developing. 😂

And I have absolutely no problem saying either of those things.

But this isn't really about me.

I see bakers doing this to other bakers constantly.

Someone posts an incredible cake.

“AI.”

Beautiful cookies.

“Those aren't real.”

A gorgeous product photograph.

“Obviously AI.”

At some point we need to ask ourselves:

When did someone else's talent become evidence that they're cheating?

Just because you don't know how to take a photograph like that doesn't mean someone else doesn't.

Just because you don't know how to edit a photograph or create a professional graphic doesn't mean someone else can't.

And just because someone's work is so polished that it could be AI doesn't mean you get to dismiss the years they spent learning how to make it that good.

Honestly, that's a pretty incredible backhanded compliment when you think about it.

“Your work is so good I don't believe a human could have made it.”

Thank you, I guess? 😂

But here's the part I think we really need to examine:

What are we so afraid of?

What does another baker being exceptionally talented take away from you?

Nothing.

Someone else's beautiful photography doesn't make your desserts less delicious.

Someone else's decorating skills don't make yours less valuable.

Someone else's graphic-design abilities don't diminish your business.

And someone being better than you at something isn't an attack on you.

Maybe instead of immediately looking for a reason their work can't possibly be real, we could look at it and think:

Damn. They're really good at that.

And maybe even ask how they did it.

We talk constantly about supporting other bakers.

This is part of it.

Stop tearing apart people's work looking for evidence that their talent isn't real.

Stop assuming that because something is beyond your current skill level, it must be beyond human skill altogether.

And please stop using “AI” as an accusation.

There are incredibly talented bakers, photographers, designers, decorators and artists in this industry.

Sometimes the explanation really is that simple:

They're just that damn good.

08/27/2026

For a while now, I've been struggling with a question.

**What exactly am I supposed to teach you?**

Do I teach you cake pucks?

Cookie pies?

Stuffed cookies?

Seasonal boxes?

Market ideas?

Business strategies?

Because here's the problem...

I don't actually believe there's ONE dessert every home baker should be selling.

Something that's everywhere in my town might be completely new in yours.

Something that doesn't sell for me might be exactly what YOUR customers have been waiting for.

And the more I thought about it, the more I realized I don't want to be the person telling you:

**"This is what you need to sell."**

I want to be the person who can say:

**"Here are the possibilities. Let me show you how to make them, how you could sell them, and how you could turn them into money. YOU decide what belongs in your bakery."**

And that realization has turned into something I've been working on between baking, filming, moming and all the other things lol.

It's called **Bakers Insider.**

This isn't going to be a library I fill once and walk away from.

It's going to be a community I'm actually IN.

A place where I can keep bringing you the recipes I'm developing, seasonal product concepts, flavor ideas, selling strategies, pricing ideas, marketing angles, tools, experiments and the things I see happening in the baking world that make me think:

**A baker could make money with this.**

Some you'll use.

Some you won't.

Some might become the thing your bakery becomes known for.

And that's exactly the point.

Because one of the very first collections coming to Bakers Insider?

✨ **SPELLBOUND.** ✨

Four bakery-style cookies inspired by a little Practical Magic...

**Midnight Margaritas.
The Curse.
Amas Veritas.
The Aunts.**

Four completely different flavor experiences, developed and tested as a collection you can turn into a limited-edition cookie flight just in time for a certain movie we're all waiting for. 😉

And Spellbound is really only the beginning.

Because I finally stopped trying to decide what ONE thing I should teach bakers.

**I'm going to teach you everything I can.**

Then you get to decide what you turn into your next bestseller.

**Bakers Insider is coming.** ✨ Join the list for early access here:
https://stan.store/BoujieBites/p/something-big-is-baking

08/26/2026

I need your eyes for a second.

Looking ONLY at these four together...

Do you prefer:

A — Exactly as they are: 2 drizzled + 2 not

or

B — Drizzle all 4

Don't overthink it. 😂 I want your immediate visual preference!

A or B?

08/26/2026

Sometimes I develop something for one recipe…and immediately realize it has **WAY too much potential to stay there.** 😂🍁

That happened today.

I made a **Maple Bourbon Filling** while working on one of my fall recipes, and OH. MY. GOODNESS.

Creamy white chocolate.
Warm maple.
Just a little bourbon flavor in the background.

And the second I tasted it, my brain started going:

Brown butter.
Pecan.
Toffee.
Apple.
Caramel.
Pumpkin.
Espresso.
Chai. 👀

There are SO many directions you could take this.

So even though I didn't develop it for a cookie pie, I decided my **Cookie Pie Academy** members needed this one in their recipe toolbox.

It's officially been added to the classroom as a **bonus filling recipe** today. ❤️

Because sometimes the best part of recipe development isn't just creating the dessert you planned.

It's accidentally creating the thing that makes you want to create **ten more.** 😂

08/26/2026

We are so sad about Dolly. I love that 100% of these sales go to the Imagination Library! If you are headed to the Dollywood Parks or Sevierville in general, please stop by this amazing bakery!!! Tell her Boujie sent you!!!

To honor Dolly today ~ 100% of all Butterfly Bread sales will be donated to her Imagination Library.

08/25/2026

Ok. I've dropped 2 sneak peeks into my newest collection...

If you think you know what it is leave your guess as a gif below!