The Joy of Baking
One of the things I love to do most when the weather is nasty is bake. Whether it’s warm loaves of banana bread (what else am I going to do with overripe bananas?), fudgy brownies, or cookies, I enjoy making something delicious. 
Oh, I’ve had my share of cooking disasters. I learned not to trust candy thermometers when my Christmas toffee came out like burned sugar. 
I’ve had cakes that were burned on the top and raw in the middle. Clearly a defective oven. It could not be that the temperature was too high. Nope.
Lately, cooking has become more challenging. For whatever reason, my children can be playing in the most remote location of the house, but they have little sensors that go off when I open the cabinet for the mixing bowl. It’s like an army drill sergeant yells, “Go, maggots! Your mother needs your help, now move, move, MOVE!” I have to pry little hands off my legs and suddenly I’m surrounded by chairs. Two vertically-challenged toddlers will scale the chairs to reach the countertop, demanding, “Help! Help Mommy!”
I’ve tried distracting them with wooden spoons and pots. No, no. That will never work when there is real cooking happening around them. They want to be in on the action. They want to crack eggs, fling batter across the kitchen, and of course, taste the dough. (My engineer husband is wincing at the thought of the salmonella quotient in raw eggs.)
Me: “No, don’t touch that! You can’t eat melted butter!”
Daughter: “Want this! Taste!”
Son: “Mom, can I stir?” (He says this as he sends a gob flying off the spoon toward his sister.)
Yes, it’s challenging. But in a way, it’s a bonding moment between the three of us. And no one is prouder than my little munchkins when they proudly announce to their dad, “Dad! It’s ready!” Or in the words of my daughter, “Eat, eat, eat!”
What do you enjoy baking? Any cooking disaster stories to share?
Michelle posted in Writing @ 8:38 pm | Viewed 1319 times
Gina Black Says:
I don’t usually bake–the DH does and he does it brilliantly (just made a cheesecake out of homemade yogurt…yup…and it’s unbelievably yummy), but I remember when the kids were little (and also because when the DH bakes he gets flour and you name it everywhere) I thought we should have a drain in the middle of the kitchen so we could just hose it down afterwards. In fact, you’re reminding me how sticky things were when the kids were small.
MaryF Says:
I used to bake a lot. Now I open an box.
Missie Says:
I love to bake…It’s the only cooking related thing I am good at. If you want dessert, I am your girl. If you are looking for dinner? Well…I royally suck there. The most complicated dessert recipes are child’s play for me, but give me a recipe for a casserole or something you might eat as a main course? There’s a 50/50 chance it will turn out. No, make that 30/70..no, more like 20/80. Because I am a Dinner :loser:. Example: When first married, I prepared tuna casserole for my husband from a church cookbook. I couldn’t figure out why it was soooo runny after baking for an hour. My hub took one look at it and said, “Honey..Where.Are.The.Noodles?” To which I replied, “The recipe didn’t list noodles!” It really didn’t, but you would think a college-educated woman could figure that maybe it needed SOMETHING in there to hold it all together?
If anyone has any dork-proof dinner ideas, I am all ears. 
Stacy Says:
Other than the occasional batch of cookies, I’m pretty much just a Christmas baker. But yes, I can sympathize for this year they too heard the calling :crazyjumping: and clean-up took as long as the baking session:fryingpan:
Rene Says:
I’ve been a baker for awhile with bread being my specialty. My son wants to bake bread all the time. To be honest, it is such a pain. We made bread last weekend (a simble loaf) and this weekend he wants to make French bread. Its pretty easy, but I’d rather spend my time writing.
Can’t think of too many disasters. I’m sure there have been a bunch. I just can’t think of them right now, probably blocking.
LauraP Says:
You’re a great mom. The kids will have such terrific memories of their kitchen time. And disasters give you something to laugh about together for years - just ask my kids. They’re still making fun of my ’special’ pumpkin pies.
Olga Says:
Those definitely some bonding moments! To be honest, I used to like to bake. Not so any more. Sigh.
Amy K. Says:
I don’t enjoy doing anything in the kitchen but eating, but my boys love to help us bake and cook. They’ll make good husbands someday.
Bonnie Ferguson Says:
I love baking cookies
Danica Says:
I love baking, but hate the cleanup. My kids get into everything too, and their little sensors go off the second I even think about baking.
But I keep in mind that my fondest memories of my grandparents were from the times I’d spend in the kitchen with them making a big mess. So I remind myself that I want my kids to have those same memories.
April Alsup Says:
One of my fondest memories is when my mother and I made homemade doughnuts together. It was messy and I had to “scale a chair” to do it. But it was so much fun and it was great time for us to spend together!
Kelly Says:
One of the things I love to do when it’s nasty out is eat things other people have baked.
beth Says:
Hmmm…maybe I’m actually lucky that I don’t have human kiddos - cause my “kids” (the dogs) actually HELP with the cleanup. I never even blink when something falls on the floor anymore - cause I know it won’t be there much longer.
Of course, this is not good when over at the home of other people who don’t have dogs. As my friend reminded me the other day when I was helping fix supper at her place and something dropped on the floor and I just walked around it a few times, “Uh, Beth? We don’t have dogs here. You need to pick that up.”
Ooops.:oops: