Rolling in the Dough

Whenever a child suggests baking sugary treats, it's always chocolate chip cookies for me. Except for the one grinding-wheat-to-make-flour incident, I've been successfully making and eating Toll House cookie dough for years. With chocolate chip cookies, I can have the whole thing practically done before anybody has a chance to "help." They stir a little, plop some globs on a cookie sheet in between bites of dough and...voila. Cookies are made and I'm a Good Mom. Works great on the nephews. For Ari, a box of corn starch and some water makes a cool art project that looks messy but isn't. Goop is far more entertaining for her than baking and just as easy.

Ruby is another story. Or another recipe. Over the past few months, she has taken an interest in cooking and baking. As long as she cleans up, she has free reign of the cookbooks and the kitchen. Rice pudding has become a specialty, but tonight she tackled grandma's cinnamon rolls. Scott was dubious about her being able to pull off all the steps, with the yeast and the rising, the rolling and the cutting, but the first bite melted his doubts. Ruby seems to have an intuitive sense about baking and the confidence to pull it off. By the end, everyone wanted to help. We all tried out Michelle's tip: "cutting" the log of dough into rolls with a thread (or dental floss). Slip the thread under, cross the ends and pull. It cuts the dough perfectly.

It's so fun to have children who do things that I can't do. Golda can sing, Ruby can bake, Araceli can play the cello, Freestone can master video games, Xanthe is very organized. I don't know why I haven't fostered the culinary arts more in these kids. It's far more delightful to eat a cinnamon roll than to sit through a recital. Just food for thought...