Jennifer Garner Says Mom Pat ‘Loves Being Recognized’ from “Pretend Cooking Show” (Exclusive)

Erin ClementsMon, March 30, 2026 at 12:00 PM UTC

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Jennifer Garner and her mom on 'Pretend Cooking Show'Credit: Jennifer Garner/YouTube -

Jennifer Garner says her mom Patricia "loves" getting to appear on her Pretend Cooking Show

Garner partnered with KitchenAid to launch the Artisan Plus Stand Mixer, calling it her "BFF" in the kitchen

The actress also reflects on baking for her kids, her love of fresh bread, and her goal to master sourdough

Jennifer Garner’s mom, Patricia, has become a fan-favorite guest on her Pretend Cooking Show.

“She's so funny,” the actress, 53, tells PEOPLE. “She loves it. She loves being recognized. She loves when people say hi to her. She's very opinionated about what we should and shouldn't do.”

“She likes to tell me that her episodes perform the best and are the best ones,” she adds. “And I'm sure she's right because she's been right about everything for the last 53 years of my life. Why not the next?”

Garner says there are two episodes that stand out from her culinary series, in which she shares recipes from her kitchen.

“I always like when my mom is with me because she's so cute and she's just the best and I love it,” she says. “And she's a serious scene partner. I loved, early on we made bagels and that was funny. And then another time, I made beef bourguignon and I almost burned my kitchen down and that's another good one.”

Artisan Plus Stand MixerCredit: KitchenAid

The enthusiastic home cook recently partnered with KitchenAid to launch the Artisan Plus Stand Mixer, which the brand calls “the most significant upgrade to its Tilt-Head Stand Mixer in 70 years.” The product aims to bring better precision to mixing with features such as expanded speed range, a built-in LED bowl light and silicone edges that continuously scrape the bowl.

Garner says she “dreamed of” having a KitchenAid stand mixer as a kid.

“I wanted one more than anything,” she says. “I thought it was just the coolest to have your mixer going while you were doing something else in the kitchen, and they're so beautiful. There's such an iconic look in the kitchen to have one. So I've called it my BFF forever.”

“I cook a lot super early in the morning because I want something to be made fresh and ready when my kids wake up or I just want to get dough started before I do an early workout or whatever it is,” she adds.

Garner, who shares Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 14, with her ex-husband Ben Affleck, reflected on the most meaningful thing she’s baked for her family.

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“I've baked probably a hundred million birthday cakes,” she says. “I mean, if you think of it, I've been a mom 20 years. And so 20 plus 17 plus 14 cakes plus whomever else, that's a lot of cakes.”

“The smell of fresh bread in the house is something that means a lot to me because my mom made bread on Sundays when I was growing up and it was always like, it just made the house feel like home,” she continued. “There's something very safe about the smell of bread baking in the house. There's nothing more nurturing in the world than fresh homemade bread.”

Garner says there’s one item still on her list of baking projects to tackle.

“I really am in a minute here going to commit to sourdough,” she says. “The ladies in my house have done it before and I've benefited from it, and I've made a bunch of discard recipes, but I have never on my own really focused in on sourdough. And I think it's probably time.”

She’s also looking forward to friend Ina Garten’s upcoming cookbook, Simply Ina, noting,

“I'll have to bake everything that she says immediately.”

Aside from her culinary projects, Garner will serve as an executive producer on Netflix’s much-anticipated 13 Going on 30 reboot.

The actress starred as Jenna Rink in the original 2004 rom-com, about a 13-year-old girl in 1987 who wishes to grow up after being humiliated at a party and wakes up as a 30-year-old the next day.

“I'll just say I'm super excited and I can't wait to see what happens,” she says.

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”