McDowell got her first job in a bakery when she was 16. A year later, she moved to New York to attend
the Culinary Institute of America. She hosts Food52's YouTube cooking series, "Bake It Up a Notch". Her debut cookbook,
The Fearless Baker: Simple Secrets for Baking Like a Pro, was named one of
The New York Times' "Best Baking Books of the Year" in 2017. Her next cookbook, 2020's
The Book on Pie (2020) was a New York Times' bestseller. == Personal life ==