Butternut Bakery

Jenna Barnard / Scottsdale, Arizona

From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week, Jenna Barnard is an advertising coordinator, sending emails, fielding phone calls, conducting meetings, and hustling like the rest of us. But come the weekend, her world transforms into a frosting-coated wonderland. Jenna once dreamed of opening a bakery, but as life and luck would have it, that dream transformed into something a little more accessible for her busy schedule: her blog, Butternut Bakery. Her baking style is punctuated by playfulness and nostalgia. She’ll revamp the bright Betty Crocker strawberry cake mix of her childhood into a homemade rendition where all that is pink is fresh strawberry. Her cookies come equipped with both a fiesta of sprinkles and a smattering of crushed Golden Oreo cookies, and she stuffs her velvet-crumbed brownies with candy like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

In fact, Jenna admits she’s currently on a “stuffing” kick—as in everything from cookies to cake should get stuffed with filling, like funfetti cookies bursting with buttercream. Recently, Jenna discovered she is sensitive to gluten and dairy, so expect more allergy-inclusive recipes on the blog, like her gluten- and dairy-free Almond Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, packed with almond butter and almond flour. Allergy-sensitive or not, you’ll always feel the same way when visiting Butternut Bakery: like a kid in a candy shop. 

Must-Bake from the Blog: “My Chocolate Chip Banana Bread because you can’t go wrong with the classics. It wasn’t even going to be a recipe on my blog, but it went viral with my followers, so I had to share it.”