My Bakers Box is available in monthly, three, six or twelve month subscriptions. Boxes are $25 with significant discounts for longer term subscriptions. The same pricing applies to gift boxes with the difference being that the term does not renew. Boxes are shipped around the 15th of each month and you get an e-mail tracking notification letting you know your box is on its way.
This box comes in a plain cardboard box that is usually light enough to qualify for USPS first class postage. (An important detail not unnoticed by us shipping nerds!) Here's a first look at what arrived this month:
The first card has a recipe for Chocolate Toffee Popcorn on the back. With only four ingredients (popcorn, semi sweet chips, toffee bits and sea salt), this looks easy enough. The second card introduces the theme for the month and on the back, lists each of the items in the box with a brief description.
There are six small striped popcorn boxes. These won't hold a lot but I probably need them to limit my intake of the Chocolate Toffee popcorn.
My Bakers Box managed to find the ONE cookie cutter shape that does not already reside in my vast cookie cutter collection. This rectangular theater ticket cutter is about 4" long and will give a really nice easy-to-manage decorating surface.
There are two sheets containing 3 each of edible movie ticket images which are perfectly sized to match the cookie cutter. Since these really "make" the cookie, I am disappointed that there are only six of them. Who would make just SIX cookies?
All of the My Bakers Boxes that I've received have contained at least one little container of cute cupcake or cookie decorations. These are called "Bright Star Quins", tiny star shaped sprinkles in bright primary colors.
There is a package of Fondant DecoSheets or "wafer papers". These are pre-rolled sheets of fondant that are ready to go...just cut out the desired shape. There is an instruction sheet for using these that says they are a white sugar-free, edible and slightly translucent paper that is printed on with edible food safe ink. These are cut and applied on top of a firm icing using a light layer of corn syrup. I'm interested to try these but it would have been nice if MBB had included at least a couple of edible ink pens to go with these sheets. I guess these are intended for all the extra cookies that the six edible movie ticket images won't cover.
There are six red and white striped candy/nut cups which can also be used to make the popcorn cupcakes. They are oven proof and safe for baking. Again, there are too few of them for an average cupcake recipe.
I have mixed feelings about My Bakers Box. The concept is great. They are clearly good at sourcing really cute and creative baking and decor supplies. Where this subscription falls short for me is the lack of quantity. As fun as the themes have been in all the boxes I've received, there have rarely been enough supplies included to make even an average sized recipe of cookies or cupcakes or whatever. The boxes have a very "thin" feel to them. This month, there should have been at least a dozen edible movie ticket images and a couple of edible food pens. The $25 monthly price should have more than covered that.
Another problem I have with this subscription are the recipes. Probably like most MBB subscribers, I am inspired to make some of these recipes but often disappointed if and when I can find the suggested recipe. This month (for the first time), there was a recipe for the Chocolate Toffee Popcorn actually in the box. That's good! You usually have to search their blog (which is not easy to find) for at least one of the recipes. When I did that for the Popcorn Cupcakes, I found a recipe suggesting that you buy store bought cupcakes and icing (or just use your own recipe). Is that what subscribers are expecting? How hard would it be to include a nicely printed card with a scratch cupcake recipe? At least there is some semblance of a recipe for the cupcakes; I can find none at all for the movie ticket cookies....the featured item in this box! Of course, I can go dig out an old sugar cookie recipe....but if I have to do that, why am I paying for this box? (The information card does say the cookie recipe is on their blog, but as of today...eight days after receiving the box, the recipe is not there.)
At this point, the only way it makes sense to buy this box is if you sign up for a six or twelve month subscription, which brings the price down to a tolerable $19 per month. However, with the problems discussed above (which have been consistent over the past five months), I think the future of this subscription may be in jeopardy. Do your due diligence and be very careful about making a long term commitment.
Thanks for reading,
Cheryl
P.S. One other red flag is their cancellation policy which requires you to give 30 days notice to cancel. I don't know of one other subscription service that requires that.
Disclosure: Views and opinions expressed in this blog are
strictly my own. Product discussed in this post was purchased by Lone
Star Shopper. Post does not contain referral or affiliate links.
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