How many resonance structures does carbonate have? 3. What year was the Treaty of Burlingame signed? 1868. What is the derivative of a natural log function? 1/x. Who wrote The Devil and Tom Walker? Washington Irving. What does one do with 51/2 quarts of caramel corn? I’ll get back to you on that.
As finals week comes to a close, I do not look back fondly on my arduous hours of studying, or my marathons of memorizing. Instead, I must look ahead to piles of baked goods rising on our kitchen counters, threatening to collapse at any moment in an avalanche of carbohydrates. In those dark hours of cramming, I became a baking machine. As my computer sang the incessant tune of a thousand review videos, I cheerfully mixed up a pan of walnut bars, two pans of coconut caramel candy, a mind boggling amount of caramel corn, and a pan of kale chips (because something had to be healthy).
In case you couldn’t deduce, I’m a stress baker –one of the few who, when handed lemons and doesn’t make lemonade, but lemon meringue pie. When presented with a difficult situation, the first move of a stress baker? Check the pantry. While this may sound counterproductive to studying, I found a way to change my study habits to account for my insatiable need to bake. Thanks to the modernization of the Appleton Area School District I was able to keep lecture videos piping along through my baking. After four hours of Chemistry lecture videos on Thursday, my Mom could tell you the hybridization of any element in the same plucky voice of my Chemistry teacher. Despite my good intentions, I may have gone overboard.
While my friends and I eagerly await the results of our finals, I’ve started parceling off the fruits of my study sessions. It seems that my baking has the same calming effect on others as it does on me. Instead of stress bakers, my friends are stress sweet-tooths. We have a perfect symbiotic relationship.
Toasted Coconut Candy
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
- Spread shredded coconut in a shallow pan lined with parchment. Place the pan in the a oven at 325o, toast coconut until brown (about 10 min)
- While the coconut is toasting, melt butter and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and heat mixture to 240o. Pour butter mixture over toasted coconut so that it spread evenly
- Once the candy has cooled, break it into pieces and store until stress reliefis required.
Did I mention that I also helped my mom cook two pots of soup? 
These videos were my constant companion throughout my hours of baking, we’ll see if the studying paid off 
This toasted coconut candy is my personal favorite, a guaranteed de-stressor. 
I’ve already divided these walnut bars among my hungry, stressed friends. 
Not pictured: the two other pans, twice as big as this one, filled to the brim with caramel corn. 
We’ll see if my report card looks this good
