My name is Randi (The Muffin Lady) and I will be your guide for baking and cooking scrumptious, everyday treats and foods in higher elevations.

I first developed an appreciation for fresh baked goods as a little girl in my Grandmother's kitchen just on the county line of Philadelphia. I used to climb up on her counter and watch her add and mix ingredients, taste a little and then add a few extra spoonfuls of this or that. As the years went by, I continued in her tradition and would often be requested to bake up cookies and treats by my Mother's friends and family.

Upon graduating from high school, I moved to Colorado for college. Upon moving out of the dorms and into a house with friends, I soon found that I had to make adjustments to many treasured recipes, for they never seemed to work right up here. My cookies would be flat, muffins would sink and be raw in the middle, some cakes came out of the oven looking like a pool sucking out all the from the center. Still a teenager myself, and in school, I asked a science professor WHY. That was the day I learned that in higher elevations, the air pressure is much lower, the air is much drier, and that in bake goods the hot air balloon effect takes over. By this I mean that many baked goods will rise rapidly and then sink just as rapidly as a hot balloon does if the heat is turned off. So I began playing around, calling my Grandmother regularly and finally figured out what adjustments needed to be added or decreased to get the desired shape and height of my treats

I continued to bake and come up with new recipes while finishing college and earning 2 graduate degrees. My degrees are in Education and Psychology; I taught and counseled at-risk and mentally ill youth for almost 2 decades. I always bribed my students with fresh baked goods to get their work completed. Life was good, until one day in 1991 when it sort of changed.

Without going into much detail, I was informed that my body was shutting down rapidly; I had a rare disease and brain tumor. Well there went my days as a teacher and counselor, due to liability issues. So on advice from a friend, I began baking and selling my goods around Evergreen, Colorado . To my delight all really like this, even the experiments and it was an employee at the local Post Office that began calling me The Muffin Lady, so I went legal with the name.

Years later I decided that it was finally time to answer years of questions as to how to bake at high altitude, what are the adjustments and can I have this or that recipe. So again, on advice from a friend I sat down, put my heart on each page and wrote a cookbook. Boy was it fun too, you see knowledge is not for hoarding it is for sharing.

Needless to say since that time, I have won 2 awards for my book, a First Place EVVY Award though Colorado Independent Publishers Association and the next was quite an incredible shock. Not knowing exactly what contest I had entered my book into, In February 2005, my book was awarded, Best First Cookbook in the World, by Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. This award is the Oscar of the cookbook industry. Isn't it amazing what your heart can do when put to use, I think so, for that is how I bake and write, straight from the heart? Ok the palette come in a bit too, for it must taste good too.

This site is for the purpose of sharing. It does not matter what kind of baked or cooked good you want to make, for over the years I have picked up some knowledge for how to alter recipes to meet low fat, low cholesterol, diabetic friendly and if need be wheat free diets, in addition to traditional fattening treats. However there is a special ingredient that goes into each and every item I bake It is a very easy to add, doesn't cost a cent and it is my I hope that you add it too. You see, LOVE added to all good things, makes them just a little bit better!

Click HERE to see The Muffin Lady Live!

My Grandmother's best words of advice were...


"If it doesn't work the first time, then try and try again."

Happy Cooking and Baking!

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Randi-The Muffin Lady