If we are friends on Instagram you know already that my girls are killing me in the sleep-department. They share a room and my 2-year likes to randomly wake up around 3 am, flip on the lights and host a party with her 9-month old sister. The giggling that can be heard from the room would typically be cute, if it wasn't 3 in the morning. Anyway, I mention this because yesterday was kind of crappy-mom day. I was so sleep-deprived that I really had no energy to keep up with my rambunctious toddler (who is currently refusing naps, by the way). I might have even cried when my husband got home
“I can't keep up with her! How are we ever going to have another kid??”
Anyway, I mention this experience because typically bad days always end and new days bring a fresh start. And today's fresh start came with motivation to do something she would really, really enjoy. The idea came when I saw her trying desperately to “mix” her pretend food in her pretend blender. It seemed she was desperately wishing it was all real.
So that's what we did. We put on her special apron and chef's hat, and I let her be the chef today. And she LOVED it. She told daddy all about it when he came home for lunch (I think I might have caught some jealousy in his eyes…shhh).
I wasn't really wanting a bunch of cookies sitting around our house (because that results in me eating them all), so we made 1-serving cookie dough. This ended up being perfect because I was able to put all the ingredients in her little play cups and I let her mix up the entire recipe on her own. I was really pleased with this recipe because she wasn't perfect at getting all of the ingredients in her little bowl without a little spilling, but the cookie still turned out pretty good.
- 1.5 Tbs melted butter
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1.5 tsp applesauce
- 1 drop vanilla
- 1/4 cup flour
- Pinch of salt
- Pinch of baking soda
- 1-2 Tbsp chocolate chips
- If you'd like, you can instruct your child to first mix the wet ingredients, and then add the dry. I didn't give my daughter instructions because I wanted to see how it turned out if she just did it all the way she wanted.
- Eat the cookie dough, or bake it at 325 for 8-10 min (chances are you won't have to set a timer because your little one will want to watch their “creation” bake the entire time).
Originally we started mixing with her play mixer, but it was doing a super slow job so we ditched it and mixed it up pioneer style: with toddler spoons! I'm actually impressed her cookie sort of turned out considering she spilled some of the ingredients. Every time she poured something into her little bowl without spilling she would raise her hands high in the air and say “yay!”
It was fun to watch her taste test her dough and look at me to see if it was an okay thing to do. I was tempted to just let her eat it all and skip the baking part (not a bad idea, by the way), but since this was her first time baking on her own I wanted her to have the full experience.
When it comes to the baking time, it will probably need to be adjusted according to your own toddler and how well he/she did at getting it all in the bowl 🙂 I would start with 5 minutes and check it from there. This is also a good opportunity to teach about ways you can tell if something is done or not.
I put her hard at work washing her dishes while her cookie baked. She LOVED that (don't you dare tell her that washing dishes isn't fun, I need this to last).
Who's anxious to see her masterpiece??
VOILA!
Not exactly something that gets pinned a million times on Pinterest, but for a chef-in-training I would say she did a pretty remarkable job!
I didnt' get to try any, but going off the amount of time it took her to eat it, I would say she thought it tasted amazing!