Margarita Danielyants

Zack De Piero
Writing 2
4.13.15
WP1: Dessert Recipes
Desserts are for the most part universally recognized as something people enjoy
consuming regardless of demographics. For every sweet-tooth candy lover out in the world, there
exists a delicious recipe to satisfy any craving pertaining to sugar. If the recipe also happens to
involve chocolate, its a win-win situation because baking goods and chocolate are never a bad
combination. Dessert recipes brownies in particular seem to be a popular choice when it
comes to baking, and are fairly easy to follow regardless of age or skill. Brownie recipes serve as
a way for people to experiment with ingredients, make fun new things, and most importantly,
enjoy the delicious end product.
Three recipes will be examined in the following work, each one coming from a different
food blogger BromaBakerysSarah,LeCrmeDeLaCrumbsJessica,andTiffanyfrom
HowSweetItIs.Thethreeentriesarevariationsofyourregulargooey,chocolatygoodnesswith
aspecialtwistfromtheauthor.Thatbeingsaid,althoughtheentriesfallintothegenre,share
similarconventions,andrhetoricalfeatures,eachonehasauniqueelementthatdistinguishesit
fromallotherbrownierecipes.
Recipes are sets of instructions that are typically used to create a specific dish. They
provide ingredients and their measurements and guide you with step-by-step instructions in order
to make things easier. The authors specifically provide these recipes so that the public can have
access to them.
Normally, one would not look up a recipe unless they encounter the need to create a
particular dish, such as in the case of brownies. But the reason that recipes like such exist at all is

so that baking enthusiasts or people with a sweet tooth would be able to recreate them. In fact,
the authors of all three different brownie recipes that have been reviewed insist that everyone
must make their brownies. Whether it is Sarahs chocolate chip cookie, Jessicas better than
crack, or Tiffanys rocky road smores, recipes are not typically geared toward a narrow
audience, especially since there are so many different variations of what they could be. Instead,
they serve a wider crowd of not just baking enthusiasts but also, people who love sweets, or
people who are just interested in trying something new.
The circumstances that caused all three of the recipes to be written are similar: the
authors experimented something new with a regular brownie recipe and realized that the product
is far more superior to the original so they decided to share them. I really dont have any words,
other than you must try them. They will change your life, said Jessica, creator of the better
than crack brownies. A similar theme also ran through the other two blog entry recipes, with
each author claiming that their brownies turned out amazing and absolutely irresistible. So
irresistible in fact, that they had to give a portion away or else they would end up inhaling the
entire batch. Broma Bakerys author Sarah Fennel claimed that she had to give almost all of
them away, because [she] could. not. stop eating them!
As can be seen in the previous paragraph, recipes are usually not written in a formal
format of follow a strict syntax. They are typically composed using casual language that doesnt
include and exclusive jargon, which as described in Murder! Rhetorically Speaking as the
terminology used by those in a particular profession or group (Boyd, 89). This is especially
evident in the smores recipe whentheauthorusedperiodsinunconventionalplacesthatwere
notindicativeofasentenceending,butinsteadtoemphasizehowgoodsomethingwas.

Apart from a brief introduction of the dish and the ingredients list, what really makes a
recipe a recipe is the list of instructions on how to prepare the dish, whereas genres that are more
complicated, such as research papers have multiple points that they should hit before being
considered research papers (Dirk, 256). Following the theme of informality, writers of dessert
recipes in particular, also tend to have a humorous and upbeat tone crackingjokes,making
sillyanalogiesorevensometimesoversharingwhichissomethingthatisnotoften
encounteredinacademicwriting.
A similar scheme is found in all three of the recipes reviewed has been how the authors
have structured the recipes. All of them started off with either saying how intrigued they were by
the recipe or by swearing that it is absolutely amazing and delicious. While one writer claimed
they are truly oh-my-gosh-so-good-I-could-cry. Really, I shed a tear, another wrote,
They will change your life. This seems to be a running thread in many recipes, not just those
involving dessert brownies. Along with claims that sounded alike, the authors also lightheartedly
warned their readers about how their brownies will change your waistline or some sort of other
humorous statement about gaining weight from eating too many sweets. Blog authors and writers
of dessert recipes such as the brownie ones often use the techniques mentioned in order to catch
the eye of readers and make their recipe sound appealing and worth baking. One might think that
saying that the brownies will alter your physique would be a bad thing, but in fact it just makes
the audience believe that not only are the desserts worth creating, but also worth saying sorry,
hips and being okay with it.
Most recipes also include photos depicting the ingredients, preparation and end product.
The conventions of dessert recipes dont simply stop at mentioning ingredients and process.
Pictures provide further help in creating the described food: action shots capturing the chef in the

act of mixing batter, or decorating the dish are common as can be observed in the chocolate
chip brownies post. Very often these photos are taken with a nice camera, which can take indepth close ups of the foods, and have especially nice lighting. These visual aids have become a
fairly common occurrence, and for no bad reason, they definitely make the cooking process for
the audience easier to grasp.
Not all recipes are the same however. Dessert recipes usually have more of an upbeat
tone with more humorous remarks, while savory recipes tend to be more serious. Recipes also
vary in length and complexity, as well as minuscule things such as the way photos were taken, or
the order in which the instructions go. Some recipes have more ingredients, some less, which is
what determines how lengthy or difficult they will be. The three brownie recipes all share a
common goal creatingbrowniesbutvaryintheamountoftimeneededtoprepareandthe
ingredientsrequired.Thereasonwhythebrownierecipesaresimilarisbecausealthoughsome
ingredientsvary,itwouldbeimpracticalfortheauthorstodeviateandmakethelayoutofa
recipedifferenttheaudiencewouldntbeabletounderstandit.
Withoutstudyinggenre,peoplewouldnotbeabletotellthedifferencebetweenOpEds
andmoviereviews.Inthecaseofbrownierecipes,weknowthattheyarerecipesbecausethey
arewritteninacertainway,justlikeanyothergenrewouldfeatureitsownuniqueaspects.
Notbeingabletotellthedifferencewouldresultinterriblemisunderstandingsandconfusion.
Theimportanceoflearninggenreisessentialbecauseitcomesdowntoaidingpeoplessurvival.
Peopleallovertheworldrelyonreadingpiecesfromdifferentgenresonadailybasis;without
beingawareofgenresandtheirdifferenceswesimplywouldnotbeaswellroundedasweare
becauseallthewrittenpieceswouldhavetoexplicitlyspecifywhichgenretheypertainto.