Baking with toddlers: An art, not a science.

Meal Monday

There's an unspoken rule at our house these days that I don't buy desserts at the store (with the important exception of Green & Black chocolate which is a staple of my husband's diet). If we want 'em, we have to make 'em ourselves. The ice cream maker I got for Christmas a couple of years ago helps catalyze that process pretty nicely, but last week I decided that Cedar and I would make cookies (perfect July project, right?).

Cedar's Kindermusik class came with a cute little book of at-home activities which I never paid any attention to, but last week Cedar took an interest in ripping out some of the pages, and I thought some of the cookie recipes inside looked downright tasty (and blessedly simple). I settled on West African Benne cookies, because I love sesame seeds and they make the cookies seem almost healthy.

Cooking and baking with young children has a lot of benefits. For me, it's another opportunity to help Cedar connect the food he puts in his mouth with how it got there. I'm hoping that a lot of exposure to fresh and homemade foods will enable him to have a positive and healthy relationship with food throughout his life.

To keep things simple, I premeasured all of the ingredients into small bowls and set them out on the table. Older children may enjoy measuring out the ingredients and cracking the eggs themselves. We each got our own wooden spoon (he wanted both, of course, and had to be told that "real" chefs only ever use one spoon at a time. That sort of worked.)

Because he's 2, when I asked him if he wanted to make cookies he said no a few times, but once Daddy and I started pouring stuff from one bowl into another bowl, the fun was just too irressistible and he decided to join in. He poured and mixed and mixed and poured and then (kind of) helped drop the cookies onto the cookies sheets. Mommy did the rest (well, Daddy had to scrape them off the pan to which they were irrevocably stuck before Mommy had a tantrum and threw the entire cookie sheet out the kitchen window). Cedar only wanted one cookie and didn't even finish that (he's more of a salty guy), so my mother and I pretty much polished off the rest.

If you want to give it a shot, here is the simplest cookie recipe I have, and it's tasty, too.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

What you need: 

1 c. peanut butter

1 c. granulated sugar

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 tsp. baking soda

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Beat the sugar into the peanut butter. 
3. Mix the egg and baking soda together and add to the peanut butter mixture.
4. Combine well.
5. Make little balls in your hands and drop them onto a greased cookie sheet. I like to squish mine down with a fork so they have those cute little hatch marks on them.
6. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies are just starting to crack.
7. Let them harden on the pan for a couple of minutes before removing them to a   cooling rack or a plate. Store in an air tight container.
8. Enjoy! And don't worry, nuts are good for you!

Comments

[Katherine]

That picture has my mouth watering! I am a sucker for peanut butter cookies. Do you think the recipe would work using soy butter instead of peanut butter? My dd is allergic...