Cloudy Kitchen’s sunny future

What began as a fun thing to do has evolved into a thriving business showcasing recipes to her more than 300,000 social media followers. Adrienne Matthews speaks to Nelsonian Erin Clarkson about her rapid rise in the food game.

Erin Clarkson counts her lucky stars that as a child growing up in Nelson she was encouraged by her parents to “make a mess in the kitchen” from an early age. An early photo taken by her father shows her in a bright red pinny taking pikelets from a pan to a baking tray. “We were a classic New Zealand family who made everything from scratch,” she says. Long holidays spent with her grandparents meant endless baking. “I got to learn all the good biscuit tin recipes like shortbread, tan squares, chocolate chip cookies and louise cake.”

Meeting husband-to-be Richard was a defining moment. The couple met two months before he moved to New York to undertake a Master’s degree in Product Design at the School of Visual Arts. Two years later Erin was on the plane and starting a brand-new life in the Big Apple. For the first two years in the city the couple worked at establishing Richard Clarkson Studio, Richard’s avenue for designing and selling his intriguing hand-crafted lamps with their nod to all things sky, stars and celestial. Erin found herself homesick for New Zealand and began baking in the mornings for morning tea and lunch. “We were working our butts off,” she says, “and it was comforting to get my hands back in the flour and butter and making familiar recipes.”

She began to post photos of her efforts on the couple’s studio Instagram page before Rich encouraged her to start her own blog. “Initially I just thought my family and a few friends would be interested, but other people began to find it and started asking for recipes,” she says. What began as a fun thing to do has now transformed into a full-time business for Erin with over 315,000 followers on Instagram. “Rich built me a great website and things really took off from there,” she says. “I certainly never started out with the idea that it would become my job.”

Recently the busy couple have returned to Wellington to live. “New York was fun until it wasn’t,” explains Erin. “Being confined by the pandemic to a small apartment was very stressful. Richard Clarkson Studio was well established and we have good distribution outlets in the United States and the time had come to be back near family.” While Rich continues his design work, Erin continues baking up a storm that is attracting attention from all around the world.

Dad

Erin cooking up as storm in her younger days. Having decided early on to make baking her niche, Erin tries to post a new recipe every week. Having trained as a geologist she is obsessed with testing each one. “I am known for having accurate, reliable and consistent recipes which has been a big part of my success,” she says. “Americans like to follow recipes that have cup and spoon measurements, but I insist that everything is weighed out. There is too much variation in size. An American cup, for example is 240mls whereas a New Zealand one is 250mls.” These days computer and social media work takes up most of her time. “I have a desk job with baking as a bonus,” she laughs. “When you look at a website you don’t see the colossal amount of work that goes on behind the scenes to help make it work properly and attract visitors.” She has also had to teach herself photography as good quality images are vital to the success of a site.

Since her experience in the last few years in New York, Erin has been working on creating recipes in smaller batches. “I might make a slice in a loaf pan or a batch of six muffins,” she says. “Many people love the act of baking but don’t always have others to give it to. Scaling back recipes is not as easy as halving them. There is always the issue of egg maths,” she laughs. “Halving an egg is not straightforward so I do the work for them and make sure that if they follow my instructions the recipe will turn out exactly as it should.” Most popular recipes include Erin’s cookie ones, macarons, a focaccia that doesn’t require kneading and a burger bun. Time in the USA also provided her with a passion for fruit pies. “I can’t understand why we don’t make better fruit pies here,” she says. “We have such excellent dairy products and an abundance of fruit. They have become another of my baking obsessions.” All her hard work in the kitchen and in front of a computer screen has to make Erin a living, and it does through the sponsored content on her website and devising recipes around company products. “A vanilla extract company might ask me to develop a recipe using vanilla which they then use for promotion. That is my main income stream,” she says. “Back here in New Zealand, Rich and I have the opportunity to continue working in the areas we are passionate about while still connecting with people all around the world,” says Erin. “It doesn’t get much better than that.”

Erin Clarkson

ABOVE: Squiggle slice, no knead foccacia. BOTTOM: Apple hand pies, brookies.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

By Erin Clarkson

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies come together in the time it takes to preheat the oven. Chewy on the inside and crispy on the edges, these cookies have massive chocolate puddles, and these no mixer, no chill time cookies will become your new favourite!

Prep time: 15 minutes | Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 150g unsalted butter, cold from the fridge is fine • 100g light or dark brown sugar • 60g granulated sugar • 1 large egg • ½ tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract • 150g all-purpose flour • ¼ tsp baking powder • ¼ tsp baking soda • 3g (1 tsp) salt • 220g dark chocolate, chopped, plus about 150g additional for the tops of the cookies (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350°f / 180°c. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper. Place the butter in a medium saucepan, and place over medium heat. Cook until the butter has melted, and then continue to cook, swirling the pan often and stirring with a whisk, until the butter foams and turns golden brown and nutty - this should take 3-4 minutes. Weigh out 110g of the brown butter into a medium bowl and leave to cool for 15-20 minutes so that it does not scramble your eggs. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar to the bowl with the brown butter and mix to combine. Add the egg and whisk well for 1-2 minutes, or mix using an electric mixer, until the mixture has lightened in colour and has thickened. Add the vanilla and mix well. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix to combine with a rubber spatula until there are some flour streaks remaining - this is to ensure you do not over work the dough. Add the chocolate and mix to incorporate with a rubber spatula. Scoop 6 cookies (about 55g per cookie dough ball) using a 2 Tbsp cookie scoop onto the prepared baking sheet. If desired, flatten each ball of dough, press more chocolate pieces on the top, and roll into a ball (this works particularly well in this recipe). Arrange evenly apart on the pan. Keep the remainder of the batter in the bowl lightly covered with plastic wrap. Bake the cookies for 11-13 minutes, until the edges are set. Bake for longer if you would like your cookies to be crispier. Remove from the oven and bang the pan briefly on the counter to help deflate the cookies. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with flaky sea salt. Allow to cool on the pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat the baking process with the remainder of the cookies. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.