Little Baker

I have never been much of a baker. I would much rather cook than bake.

I think one of the reasons is the whole measurement thing. I tend to eyeball when I cook. That looks like about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar or a cup of chopped celery. The recipe will not be ruined if there are a few extras, it may even be better than the recipe. Recipe, shmecipe...I see recipes as rough guidelines with room for creative expression, plus you can always add a little something as you go if need be. For this reason it is never great to ask to share a recipe I will not be able to give you exacts.

Well as you can image this does not work in baking. I have made some very unique things over the years( some edible, some not) and I am sure it was due to the fact that if you do not have the exact ratio of baking soda, salt, etc things just do not work out. The other reason I do not love to bake is that I know most of the delicacy will end up passing through my lips directly to my hips. Sure I bake when I need to, birthdays, class parties, etc but it has never brought me too much pleasure...until recently.

Emma and Andrew share my lack of enthusiasm for baking. They may seem excited initially but become quickly bored by the monotony and tedium of the whole process and while I am up to my elbows in batter they have moved on to better things.

Well, not little Laura, she has a passion for baking. It has been so much fun. She has always enjoyed helping me in the kitchen but over the Christmas break her passion for baking has been shining through. It started with cut out sugar cookies, we must have made hundreds and I am not even exaggerating. We sent a whole box in with Adam to work. We made special airplane cookies for him to share with those in the Maintenance department. Laura wanted to call him during the day and see what the consensus was on the cookies. Were they moving quickly? Did people seem to enjoy them? Did they appreciate the mountain of frosting and multitude of sprinkles on top. It was so cute. Of course they loved them. A building full of hungry men, many of them single, is a great place to pass off baked goods for rave reviews.

For Christmas Laura got an apron, I realized this is helpful with all of the flour and an overeager five year old. Yesterday we both donned our aprons and make a batch of snicker doodles. These are Laura's favorite cookies, as well as Adam's. She thought they were the best ones ever and we had such fun together. She couldn't wait to serve them to the rest of the family and she was beaming with pride.

I have even changed my position on baking. When Laura is with me and we are doing it together, it is a lot of fun.

Here she is after licking the batter bowl after we made a Chocolate cake recently.