BAKING COOKIES

This might be a very long post because we had a very long afternoon yesterday and took lots of pictures.

We've been wanting to try our new cookie cutters for the longest time but Mom keeps saying the kitchen isn't a safe place for bears or it's too small for all of us to fit in at the same time and a whole bunch of other dumb excuses. We told her if she didn't help us bake cookies we were going to ask Mrs. Claus if she would help us. That's all it took to get Mom to agree to bake cookies with us. She'd hate to have Mrs. Claus think she couldn't manage to teach two very grown up and responsible bears such as we two to bake cookies. It's not like it's really hard to do or anything, right?

We got the recipe box out of the drawer and found the cards for the cookies we wanted to make.

We're going to be making gingerbread boys using Mrs. Claus' recipe and sugar cookies using Mom's recipe. Mom said we had to assemble the ingredients first. So While we read from the cards Mom started taking things from the pantry and cupboard.

After everything was out on the table and Mom was getting out the cookie sheets and bowls we double checked to see if we had everything we needed.

Shortening?
     Check.
Butter?
     Check.
Vanilla?
     Check.
Allspice?
     Check.
Ginger?
     Check.
Cinnamon?
     Check.
Cloves?
     Check. 
Dark molasses? 

Bellamine, I asked if we have dark molasses.

"Hey Mom, the gingerbread boys recipe says we need something called dark mole asses and I don't see any. Did you forget to get out the dark mole asses? What are dark mole asses anyway?"

"I know the recipe calls for dark molasses but I substitute honey and brown sugar, that's why I sat the honey out."

"Good, cause we don't like any mole asses in our cookies. Do we Wendy?"

"Bellamine, it's molasses not mole asses."

"That's what I said. Mole asses."

 

Here are our cookie cutters. We're going to use the little gingerbread boy cookie cutter not the big one. We just put the big one out so you could see the difference. The big one is the one Mom uses when she makes gingerbread boys at Christmas. The other cookie cutter we're going to be using is the shamrock. It's the one Mom got for us when we told her we wanted a shamrock cookie cutter and we forgot to tell her it we wanted a small one. Now we know to be more precise when we ask her for something.

The recipe for the gingerbread boys calls for 7 cups of flour and Mom says we're going to make a half batch cause we're making sugar cookies too.

We decided to make the sugar cookies first. We measured the ingredients with special cups and spoons. We wore our aprons to keep from getting flour and stuff all over ourselves. We hardly spilled any of the ingredients on the floor. The butter doesn't count cause it wasn't our fault. It was Mom who left it too close to the edge of the counter and the egg was just an accident and not Bellamine's fault.

"Eggs are hard to hold on to cause they're so smooth and round and really big and slippery. I should have let Mom do the egg. Next time I'm staying away from the eggs."

We decided to decorate the shamrocks two different ways for those who like frosting and some with green sugar sprinkle for those who don't like frosting. We got tired of making shamrocks and Mom said she'd finish the rest of them up tomorrow. We really wanted to get started on the gingerbread boys.

There we were again, measuring and then mixing.  The dough had to go in the fridge to chill so Mom said it was a good time to start cleaning up our mess and washing the cookie sheets and bowls. We told her we would let her do that part but she said it was all part of baking and we had to learn that part too. We told her she is always saying the kitchen is too small for all of us and she said we'd have to manage cause we were all going to do the clean up.

Bellamine didn't mean to drop the bowl, it was just an accident. 

"Bowls are hard to hold on to cause they're smooth and round and really big and slippery. Maybe next time Mom will wash and dry the bowl."

We worked on the gingerbread boys for a beary long time and then we got to share a plate full of cookies with glasses of nice cold milk while Mom cleaned up the kitchen. She said we'd done enough for one day. These are the best cookies we ever had and we made them all by ourselves with only a little help from Mom. We all ate more cookies while we watched our movie. Every bear said we really make good cookies and that maybe next time we bake we can maybe bake some honey muffins or cakes. Sounds like a good idea to us.

Now we're going to have a few of our cookies and some cocoa while we go see what our friends blogged about for Funny Friday.

If any of our friends want the recipes we used for the cookies just let us know and we'll have Mom send you the recipes. We're sure she won't mind.

Hugs,
Bellamine & Wendy