Cooking with Babies - long rambling nostalgia...; )
One of my favorite memories of my youngest child takes me back to when I was Head Baker and Production Manager for a century old family bakery.
We had a thirteen rack rotating oven that was as big as a small house. You could make a mess of cookies on it in no time, (but you had to reverse the rotation to bring the cookies back to you before they circled completely or they would burn.)
My boss bought me a Hobart stand mixer and two humongous Hobart table mixers to go with the gigunda floor mixer we already had. There were a dozen huge stainless steel bowls so that I could have sponges and doughs working all over the place.
My youngest was allowed in the family bakery (though not near the oven or the proofing room) and after I'd mixed up a dough and got the cookies down to the women who portioned the doughs and loaded all the pans, my son got to sit up on a table and scoop out the remains of the bowl. He was in hog heaven. I can still remember him in his little overalls peering into the remnants of a big bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough like there was gold in there.
His older brother and sister worked at the bakery as well and we all have awesome memories of the place. It closed, sadly, but now has re-opened under a new owner who has made it fancier. We wish her all the best and are glad it's still operating.
All of the kids have a love of cooking, and my favorite part of Christmas was our annual sugar cookie decoration event.
I learned after a few of these events to not be so fussy about how they cut, frosted, or decorated the cookies. We adults often have a precise idea of how things should look, but children's hands and ideas are often far from precise. Once I let them have some control over the process, they made some of the most beautifully decorated cookies you could imagine.
A few days ago, I was able to make some cookies with a three-year-old. I have this great sugar cookie recipe that makes cookies which are virtually unbreakable in small hands. While he was on a walk with his dad, I baked some so they would be ready to decorate, but I saved him some raw dough to work with.
The joy in his little face using the rolling pin (I let him hold the handles and I "guided" the roller), cutting the shapes ("Mash it down good so it will cut the dough!" ) , helping me mix the colors into the white frosting, and shaking out the sprinkles (I found a four-way shaker with white snowflakes, red berries, green holly leaves and crystal sanding sugar) just brought back wonderful memories of when my kids were small.
We only had neon-colored food dye at my friends place, so we ended up with neon green, purple, bright pink and electric blue rocking horses, christmas trees, airplanes, puppies, santas, stars..... (I have a vast cookie cutter assortment - some that were my grandma's so he had lots of shapes to choose from). They were so chi-chi!!!!
Watching him smile and scrape his spoon into the leftover frosting just made me laugh out loud. Isn't that every kid's favorite part of the baking process?
I guess the reason for this thread is to encourage you all to take some time to cook with the little ones in your life. It's messy and slow and they'll end up with a sugar rush if you're baking sweets, but if you lose your expectations and just enjoy the moment, I guarantee you'll get more out of it than the kids do.
And later, when you are old, maybe they will cook for you! And even let you "help."
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One of Bill's sons has been my co-cook when they come for visits for several years now. We have great memories of everything from his earliest attempts, to a really great jam he made last visit from berries he picked locally. Wonderful memories.
And a wonderful post. Thanks for sharing it with us. 
I hope you are feeling so much better and that your family member(s) are on the mend and out of the hospital soon.
Yeah, my heart was very light when I left my friends' cabin.
His grandma said "thank you so much for doing all that for him." I said, "Nah, thanks for letting me borrow a grandbaby and making you deal with the sugar rush he's gonna get!"
Oh, yeah, let those niecies and nephews get some flour all over the place. (Well, with that dandy new kitchen of yours, better put down some dropcloths first.....)
I spazzed out the first few times i made cookies with my own little ones, thinking of these perfect green and red confections I had in my mind and worrying when they dumped half the contents of a decor shaker on one cookie
Now I know the cookie appearance isn't the point, and they can always recycle the sprinkles on the plates or pans that didn't actually land on the cookie!
And I bet the niecies and nephews would LOVE to tie dye with Auntie Howler!
Nice! Very very nice!
What a great kid (kids.) Cooking really IS love.
What a wise one your grandson is; he knew the best eating was going to happen at your place and not out at some old restaurant. And how cool that now he knows how pasta is made!
I can taste that homemade goodness out here.
How sweet of you to listen and respond so lovingly! I guess that's what grandmas and grandpas are about
