Growing up, one of my family's big Christmas traditions was a talent show on Christmas Eve, after church services and before opening family gifts. Usually we played whatever musical instrument we happened to be learning that year, but there were other talents as well--A drew something one year, for example, and often my talent was reading the Christmas story aloud.Now that my brothers and I are so far-flung, the talent show takes on new forms. This year we've got some pretty impressive talents on display.
Local Hero and his girlfriend, Local Heroine, ran a marathon. Local Hero finished in just under 3.5 hours. Nice!!
A is currently deployed in Guam and he reports that he is the BBQ King of Guam.
So you can see that I've got a couple of tough acts to follow.
But I am proud to announce that I have been working on mastering the art of "Baking With Toddler." I've baked four loaves of applesauce bread, snickerdoodles, two batches of French buttercream cookies, peanut blossoms, two batches of peanut butter chocolate pillows, 6 or so dozen sugar cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, and a failed batch of peanut butter oatmeal cookies (failed because the sugar got left out... long story!).
Things I've learned along the way:
1) Always keep the toddler busy. Let her scoop, scrape, stir, and otherwise get her hands dirty.
1a) Give the toddler her own spoon, bowl, etc. This helps prevent the "helping" from throwing off the precise measurements you need for baking.
2) You cannot stop the toddler from eating whatever is in her bowl, no matter how gross it is.
(At this point, in this picture, I don't think there was anything other than flour and baking soda in her bowl. Didn't stop her from taking numerous fistfuls of the stuff and trying to eat it--thinking, perhaps, that it had magically turned into cookie dough since the last time she took a bite?)3) Sprinkles are a toddler's best friend!
4) Licking the batter off of a beater can occupy up to 15 minutes! A lifesaver when you are trying to get cookies onto a cookie sheet!
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Whoah, that is VERY impressive. I thought I was doing good when I mixed half of a batch of gingerbread cookie dough with Xander and he didn't lose a finger in the mixer. I had to wait until he went to sleep to roll, cut, and bake. I say you win...that's an awesome accomplishment. Happy Holidays!
ReplyDeleteyou've always been the best of all of us sis! but we'll still make fun of you. have a great holiday and hope to see you soon. - A
ReplyDeletethat island in the kitchen is great for making cookies!!
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