a very small oven
i bake cookies and madeleines out of my home kitchen in oak park, il, one saturday morning at a time. it started as a way to use up brown butter and turned into a porch with a penguin sign on it.
every month there's a new menu of eight. you order a box, i bake exactly what's ordered, and it's on the porch by ten. no storefront, no shipping, no leftovers, which is how i like it.
the longer stories, the test batches, and the recipes i'm happy to give away live on the substack.
how a saturday works
the rules of the porch
saturdays only
one bake a week, saturday, starting around 7am. orders open on the 1st of the month and close thursday at 9pm before each bake. miss it and there's always next week.
40 boxes, no more
that's the oven's limit, not a marketing thing. when the count hits 40 the menu says so and i stop taking orders, even from my mom.
everything from scratch
brown butter browned that morning, curd made the day before, nothing from a tub. it's a cottage food kitchen in oak park, which is a formal way of saying my actual kitchen.
text me, really
running late, allergy question, want to swap a cookie? text. i'm usually covered in flour but i read everything, and i'd rather know.
what's in the kitchen
made in a home kitchen that uses wheat, dairy, eggs, nuts. here's what each thing on this month's menu contains.
lemon piecontains wheat, dairy, eggs
brown butter chocolate chipcontains wheat, dairy, eggs
matcha mochicontains wheat, dairy, eggs
earl grey shortbreadcontains wheat, dairy
matcha strawberry madeleinecontains wheat, dairy, eggs
earl grey orange madeleinecontains wheat, dairy, eggs
brown butter madeleinecontains wheat, dairy, eggs
lemon poppyseed madeleinecontains wheat, dairy, eggs
made in a home kitchen under illinois' cottage food law · contains wheat, dairy, eggs · full allergen list on every item
the small print, out loud
questions people ask
if yours isn't here, text me. that's genuinely the fastest way.
when do orders close?
thursday at 9pm before each saturday bake. i shop friday morning for exactly what's been ordered, so i can't squeeze anything in after that. orders for the following saturday open as soon as that one closes.
when and where do i pick up?
megan's porch in oak park, saturday between 10am and 1pm. you pick a one-hour window at checkout and i text the address friday evening. boxes are labeled with your name and wait in a cooler for 30 minutes after your window ends. after that, text me and we'll sort it out.
can i change my order?
yes, until the thursday 9pm cutoff. open the link in your confirmation text, edit the box, and the new one replaces the old. after the cutoff the flour is already measured, so swaps come down to what's left on the tray.
do you ship?
no. these are best within a day or two and i don't trust a box truck with a madeleine. porch pickup only, for now.
is anything nut-free?
not safely. a few items don't have nuts in them, but everything is made in one home kitchen that also uses nuts, wheat, dairy and eggs, so i can't promise anything is safe for a serious allergy. the full list for each item is just above.
how do i pay?
card or apple pay when you order, or venmo on the porch. one honest note: this site is a preview, so “paying” doesn't charge anything yet. it saves your box and shows you the confirmation so you can see how it'll work.
can i order a lot?
a little. a couple of boxes is fine through the site. for dozens, a party, or an office, email me a few weeks ahead and we'll plan a bake around it. details below.
need more than a box?
cookie tables, office fridays, a very small wedding. i can do dozens with three weeks' notice. a big bake means i skip the regular saturday that week, so email early with the date, the headcount, and what you love. you'll get a quote, a pickup time, and probably a follow-up question about lemons.