I cooked with an easy-Bake Oven for a week and here's what I came up with.

Only a few of the technologically advanced gadgets that toymakers have created over the centuries make much of an impression.It's not always the most expensive toys that matter to kids.

The Easy-Bake Oven is sometimes all you need.The kind of toy that made millions for manufacturers, and at the same time imprinted itself into the minds of children all around the world, is the oven.

The Easy-Bake oven is not new.It's been around for more than half a century in a variety of colors, and it seems to appeal to both girls and boys.Kids love whisking together the simple recipes and then seeing the cooked results a few minutes later.Sometimes the little chefs eat the results despite the edibility of them.

The oven is fascinating for kids.They can cook just like their parents, and they're rewarded with tangible fruits of their labor.Although the oven is most often associated with baked goods such as cupcakes or cookies, it also makes a wide range of other treats, including pizza, candy, peanut brittle and fudge.

The toy was first sold by Kenner Products, which is best known for its "Star Wars" action-figures.People bought more than 30 million Easy-Bake ovens.More than 150 million little packets of powdered food have been sold.

That is a lot of small meals.That's a lot of fingers.It all started when a light bulb popped on.

The original Easy-Bake oven had street credibility.The first inklings of what would become a global toy phenomenon came from street vendors.

After returning from a business trip, a toy salesman named Norman Shapiro remarked that he'd seen street vendors cooking pretzels for passersby, keeping their doughy product warm with heat lamps.He didn't want to make a toy version of that oven.

It's worth pointing out that Shapiro worked for more than one toy company.He worked for a company.

There is a proven process for developing toy ideas.Many other major manufacturers were content to follow trends, but Kenner took a harder road by searching for unique product niches.They held regular meetings to discuss ideas.Sales opportunities were seen in toys that mimicked grown-up activities.

When he suggested a type of oven for children, his words were heard by many people.He caught the attention of Ronald Howes, a well-known toy inventor who was director of new product development and research at Kenner Products.Howes' Spirograph and Give-a-Show Projector were well-received.

Howes and the rest of the team created a prototype oven.They had a winner by 1963.The first models weren't very similar to ovens.They came in a choice of yellow or blue.

Children slid pans through a slot into the heating chamber.They could look through the window to see their pan of brownies being baked.The product went into a cooling chamber after a few minutes.They could either dig into their fresh treats or give them to their siblings or the family dog.

The Easy-Bake oven does not require any baking skill or knowledge to do its job.How did this box of wonderment work?

The first oven designed for children was the Easy-Bake oven.Wood pellet models were popular in the 1800s.The electric ovens appeared after the turn of the century.

None of the early toys ovens elevated themselves to cult status because kids had fun playing with them.They had spotty safety records that made parents wonder if these were the smartest toys for little hands.

The idea of using twin 100 watt incandescent light bulbs to heat the oven was seized on because of safety concerns and convenience.One bulb is above the food tray and the other is below.If heat originated from both sides of the food, recipes would cook more quickly and evenly.

If you don't like the idea of light bulbs being used as heating components, you should not doubt the effectiveness of the bulb's waste heat.The temperature inside the oven was more than 200 degrees Celsius.

The models used only one bulb.The two-bulb models cooked just as well as the one bulb models because of better interior heating dynamics.

The light-bulb-powered design was important for marketing.Light bulbs seemed to be safe for most parents.

They wanted to call it the Safety-Bake Oven because they were so concerned about the safety perception of their product.Regulatory authorities insisted that the company use a name that didn't include the word safety since the oven had yet to hit store shelves.

The first Easy-Bake oven was introduced in Kenner.During the holiday season, Kenner sold more than half a million ovens.They produced three times as many in the next year.

There are 25 different mixes for use in the oven.Kids want to try every premade recipe, so these mix kits are for them.General Mills launched Betty Crocker- branded mixes to make the kits even more tempting.McDonald's and Pizza Hut had branded mixes in the later decades.Many children decided to make their own recipes after they realized they couldn't make a Big Mac in their ovens.

There is no limit to what you can cook in the oven.It's just an oven, after all, and your accountants would like you to buy their mixes instead.The "Easy-Bake Oven Gourmet" cookbook is for adults.There are recipes with grown-up ingredients on the pages.There are hundreds of other do-it-yourself recipes on the internet.

The Easy-Bake oven's fortunes changed because of government regulation.Light bulbs had to increase their efficiency by at least 25 percent by 2012 because of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.This legislation was the beginning of the end for 100 watt light bulbs.

They had to find a new way to heat it.The ceramic heating element was used in the 2006 redesign of the Easy-Bake oven.

The push-through tray was swapped for a new front-loading slot in the new version.The opening of the new contraption was large enough for a cooking tray and small enough to fit little hands.

The redesign resulted in a trap that caught small hands near the heating element, causing second and third degree burns.The toy was recalled and offered to fix units that had already been found homes.

The kits did not solve the problem.More than 200 kids had burns.A 5-year-old girl had part of her finger removed because she was badly burned.

All of the models from that year were recalled.The company did not give up on the product.The model with a heating element was introduced in 2011.The heat source was tucked away from children's fingers.

Like Barbie dolls and G.I.Easy-Bake ovens are not just cultural icons.There is a societal nerve regarding gender roles.

Many simulation-style toys were targeted toward boys when Easy-Bake ovens hit retailers.For some people, the opportunity to bake in the oven was long-awaited.

The ads featured mothers using the oven with their daughters.The Easy-Bake oven was meant for the girls in the family, not the boys.

The Qu Easy-Bake oven and Mixerator was designed for boys.The kit encouraged young boys to make gross recipes such as Mud & Crud Cakes and Larva Licious Cocoon Cookies.Girls were supposed to stick to regular cookies even if they thought crud cakes were awesome.

The popular pink-and-flowers version of the oven inspired a 13-year-old girl to petition for a different color.Her younger brother wasn't sure about the pink version, so she wanted a more gender neutral hue.The glossy black model was unveiled by Hasbro.

In its 50 years, the toy has evolved greatly.The design began as a mini version of a full kitchen range and evolved into a small microwave.It looked like an alien with a short, squat arm on each side.

You can't argue with the success of the oven's design if you're not fond of it.The Easy-Bake oven is a favorite toy of generations of kids.The National Toy Hall of Fame recognized the oven as a toy in 2006 and it gets references in TV shows and song lyrics.

The oven's fame seems to be self-perpetuating, demonstrating how a simple, small cooking device has ingrained itself into the minds of children everywhere.

My sister used to have an Easy-Bake oven.I was jealous of her kitchen contraption because it seemed like a fascinating science experiment.Just a few minutes later, slap the powdered mix into the oven, and you have treats!The idea of eating the treats was more exciting than the actual consumption because the goodies that emerged from the Easy-Bake were lacking in taste.There was an appeal to the fun of making stuff without mom.