This season of Great British Bake-Off, my brilliant sister came up with the idea of a weekly betting pool to guess who is star baker and who is eliminated. On Sundays we convene in Zoom to rehash what happened that week.

We bet nothing and win nothing beyond the thrill of guessing right, yet we’ve had such a fun time every week! I’m far more invested and interested in the show every week, literally cheering when my pick for star baker proves right (this is extremely rare, although odds get better as the season progresses). And, as Colleen intended, it gives us all something to gather around.

All that to say, these last nine weeks, we’ve watched GBBO with much greater avidity than usual. That much exposure seems to inspire some of us into the potentially foolish belief that anyone can bake these recipes.

So, when my friend Teresa suggested we try making chouxnuts, I thought, why not? How hard can it be?

Long story short (I know; too late!), the answer is: hard.

That didn’t stop us from having a fun time trying, though. Here’s what our failed chouxnuts attempt looked like.