Lily P Crumbs

Alex George, Founder

Philadelphia, PA

Alex George adding sprinkles to fresh-baked pastries

Alex's kitchen sink cookie loaded with sprinkles, pretzels, chips, and candy.

2025

Lily P Crumbs serves up low-stress baking with a side of zero perfectionism

In 2022, Alex George launched Lily P Crumbs to document her quest for the internet’s best chocolate chip cookie. That original spreadsheet of cookie recipes has now grown into a whole baking site that encourages home bakers to embrace experimentation and the messiness of baking.

Baking through the hard days

For Alex George, the kitchen has always been more than a place to make food — it’s also been a place of healing. In 2018, at only 22 years old, Alex was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer. Chemo can turn anyone’s world upside down, but in between treatments, she found comfort where she always had: in baking.

“I felt like everything in my life had spun out of control,” she recalls. “But if I had the strength to make a tray of cookies, it reminded me I was still me.”

After finishing treatment and hearing the words “cancer-free,” Alex faced a new question: What next?

She knew baking would stay in her life, and so she started small: selling cookies around Philadelphia, doing the occasional popup, and eventually launching Lily P Crumbs (named in honor of her beloved dog, Lily P).

At first, the site was just a home for her “Chocolate Chip Cookie Quest,” a personal challenge to find the internet’s best cookie recipe. She tracked each version in a public Google Sheet, comparing ratios and flavor notes.

“I thought, if I’m going to bake my way through all these recipes, why not document it?” she says. “It started as a little experiment. But then people started following along, and asking for more.”

Over time, that spreadsheet turned into something bigger: a growing baking blog filled with original recipes and clever experiments. From Vietnamese coffee brownies to apple cider blondies, Lily P Crumbs became a place on the web for approachable baking.

Alex George photographing a recipe setup

From cookie quest to community

As Alex continued posting new recipes, she started noticing something exciting: readers weren’t just bookmarking her site, they were actually baking from it. How did she know? Well, her comment section lit up with messages from home bakers proudly sharing their results.

“The first time someone commented to say they’d made one of my recipes and loved it, I mean, that just stopped me in my tracks,” Alex says.

With traffic growing steadily, she began thinking about ways to support the site financially. But one thing was off the table from the very beginning: a paywall.

“I remember learning to bake by reading free blogs,” she says. “So it didn’t feel right to turn around and put a barrier between someone else and that same joy.”

Instead, she turned to an ad-supported model: one that would allow Lily P Crumbs to stay free and open for anyone who stumbled upon it at say 11 p.m. craving some kind of cookie inspiration.

“Most of the recipes I test are already publicly available, so it felt natural that my analysis and rankings should be, too,” Alex explains. “Ads gave me a way to share freely while still covering costs.”

She now works with Raptive, a Google Certified Publishing Partner, to manage the ads on her site, freeing her up to focus on content.

“Ad revenue is what makes this whole thing possible. It covers the cost of ingredients, camera equipment, and all that trial-and-error that goes into creating recipes people can trust.”

And now a business, baked with fun

It’s safe to say that Lily P Crumbs has grown far beyond just a spreadsheet. It’s become an online go-to spot for bakers everywhere, even catching the attention of Good Morning America.

“Ad revenue is what makes this whole thing possible,” Alex says. “It covers the cost of ingredients, camera equipment, and all that trial-and-error that goes into creating recipes people can trust.”

Just as importantly, the ad-supported model gives her the breathing room to focus on what matters most: developing recipes, writing the posts, and connecting with the community that’s formed around it all.

Looking toward the future, Alex is planning to publish a cookbook in 2026. But no matter how much the site grows, she’s committed to keeping that original spirit intact.

“I want to teach home bakers that baking doesn’t have to be precise and all perfect — it can be messy, enjoyable, and still totally delicious,” she says. “My goal has always been to help people have fun in the kitchen.”

About the Publisher

Alex George is the founder of Lily P Crumbs. A former journalist, Alex started the site after recovering from cancer with the help of baking. Based in Philadelphia, she now shares recipes and thoughtful reviews with a growing community of home bakers all around the world.