Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Getting Ready For Christmas

First of all, you know I love Mary P. She writes some of the BEST child care posts. I want to be her when I grow up. :) This post about giving and Santa and the holidays is fabulous, I think. Check it out.

Next: we baked our first batch of Christmas cookies today. Attendance is down this week due to sickness and maybe it's cowardly, but I prefer baking when not everybody is here. :) We'll do it again several times when there are different combinations of kids here so they all get to help. They're getting pretty decent at taking turns and standing in line, but they get really squirrelly if there are too many and they have to wait a "long time".


Stitch has been cracking me up through this whole process. She stirred and poured and took her turn, and then went and buckled herself in a chair. "Tray on! I ready! Eat cookie!" I keep telling her it's not time for cookies, that we're going to have lunch first, and they're too hot, but she is not dissuaded from the idea that if she just sits there long enough, cookies will come her way.


We made the cookies off the back of the candy cane flavored Hershey kisses bag, with a few allergy modifications. Usually I make my own flour blend or use one of the ones from my favorite cookbook, but I've had this bag of Bob's Red Mill all purpose gluten free baking mix in the cabinet and it needed to be used. To be honest, I didn't have high hopes for it. It's got garbanzo bean flour and fava bean flour in it. I was worried the cookies would taste like hummus or something. Plus I can't get over the Silence of the Lambs reference about eating the guy's liver with fava beans and a nice Chianti. I want to make that weird slurpy noise he makes every time I think of fava beans.

Yes, I am a strange individual. But some things just stick with ya, more than you wish they would, ya know?

Here. Look at Silvermist being cute and helping, to get that other image out of your head.

Anyway. Happily, they do not taste like hummus, or anything else unsavory. The mint kisses help a lot. It's still not my favorite cookie flour but I bet it might be good for thickening sauces or something like that.

Now I have to go make lunch quickly before their heads explode from lack of cookie!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, I feel the same way about cooking with the kids!

So I had totally missed it earlier that you guys are gluten free, so I had to check out your other GF posts. Thanks for the flour review. I haven't really delved into GF baking yet since I don't like to bake the regular way even!

I have actually chosen to only go wheat-free myself. I've kept the daycare menus the same, and I work around my family's menus. I'm not celiac, I was diagnosed this summer with a wheat allergy after I had an anaphylatic reaction.

Anonymous said...

First, thanks for the lovely compliment! (And the link!)

I'll be baking with one of mine tomorrow. His sister has already made one gift for their parents, but because he loves to bake more than anything else IN THE WORLD, I thought it was only right that he should make them some fancy cookies. In a fancy box that he is also going to make.

I'll keep him up a little while after the others go down for their naps, so he can have the one-on-one. He will love it -- and so will I! :)

MaryP