Back in February (which personally seems like a decade ago), I shared my thoughts on the demands and judgment of the internet reader in Order up: one recipe, hold the narrative.

Recently, one of our most-loved cookbook authors, Dorie Greenspan wrote about Joanne Chang's Maple Blueberry Scones for the New York Times. The comments on that article are enough to make one lose their faith in humanity (as if we need another reason).

First, we have this:

Anyone who knows Dorie or Joanne, knows that they do not have a snobby bone in their bodies. Secondly, if you are going to make scones and can't use your own judgment as to how to get around the stand mixer instructions, move onto another recipe.

I make hundreds of baking recipes a year and while I have a stand mixer or two, oftentimes I just don't want to deal with using it. I'll use a hand mixer or a dough whisk and I have never had a fail - yet! Should you follow a recipe? If you are a novice baker, yes. If you are unsure about the directions, maybe the recipe isn't the one for you - especially if you don't want to MacGyver it.

I don't always follow a recipe verbatim. If I don't have an ingredient, I substitute - Google is your friend. One of my pet peeves and I have a ton, is when people don't use their common sense. Recently, someone asked about what they could do since they didn't have a particular icing tip for the filling of a cookie. I suggested that they either use a smaller tip or an offset spatula because it wasn't one of those cookies that the filling was decorative to the outward appearance to the cookie and these were not going in the display case of a patisserie.

If you look at further comments on that article there are enough to make a sensitive person such as myself reach for a bottle of vodka. "I don't like maple." "I don't have whole wheat flour." And those two examples are some of the nicer comments. For the love of Julia Child, find another recipe or google substitutes if you don't have crème fraîche. There are times when you don't have to share with the class.

Maybe I'm just COVID hungover or maybe I'm just a pain, but can't we all just get along? Especially in this trying time. There are a million recipes for scones why pick one particular recipe apart and make someone feel like they are forgetting a whole class of people. Bakers have baked for centuries without a stand mixer or food processor, and maybe alternative instructions could be offered. But may I suggest turning away from something that we don't like especially when it is something as innocuous as a scone recipe. Let's save our energy for the bigger battles - the battles that bring something greater to humanity.