Baking cookies on a cold winter morning warms the kitchen and fills the house with amazing fragrance. In preparation for an upcoming cookie swap I was undecided on what to make. I pulled out my old Pizzelle iron, the thin Italian cookies are delicious and so pretty. Once I began making them, I realized I how out of practice I've become as I struggled to get them to look perfect. They came out fine and were delicious but I wasn't thrilled with the outcome...back to drawing board for me. I then pulled out my old cookie press, another gadget that hasn't been getting enough use. I made dozens of little Spritz Christmas trees, sprinkled with green sugar and although they are small, I think they will look pretty on any cookie plate. I use to bake several times a week, delicious cookies, candies, home made whoopie pies, always eager to try new recipes. I have always found baking to be therapeutic, starting from scratch to create a scrumptious masterpiece is sure to give you a feeling of accomplishment. These days I just don't seem to have the time to hide away in my kitchen, happily baking, listening to my music and baking the day away. The upcoming cookie swap forced me to make time, dig out my old recipe books, dust off my old baking gadgets and unintentionally rekindled one of my oldest passions. I began baking at a very early age, shockingly early by todays standards. I recall baking, with no supervision, reading my recipes and using the oven all by myself by the age of six. I would go through my little cookbooks, page by page, trying each recipe and discovering my favorites. The results weren't always great, at times I'd put too much salt or forget a key ingredient but my brothers would always devour whatever I made as if it were delicious, giving me the confidence to keep trying. We never had sweets in our house, unless I made them so that was certainly a great source of inspiration as well, given I was born with a sweet tooth. We also rarely had fancy ingredients like chocolate chips so I learned to bake with unsweetened cocoa for chocolate and made a lot of oatmeal, refrigerator, molasses and other old school cookies. By the time I was in high school, my baking skills were impressive and I'd have to hide my treats from my brothers, especially if I wanted any the next day for school. I still have my two favorite cook books from the late 60's, one was for sweets and the other filled with lunch, dinner and snack recipes. I may have to pull out those old books and thumb through them for a few nostalgic eats. I'm not sure parents would let little kids do their own thing in the kitchen. These days, fear of kids burning themselves, making a mess or wasting ingredients might stifle potential budding cooking skills but there's not much pride for a kid when the parent has done all the work. There's also valuable lessons to be learned through failures. I learned early on that as long as I cleaned up after myself, leaving no trace of my creative process, the kitchen was mine to explore... great reminders and perfect timing, looks like there will be a few more Christmas cookies coming my way. Those hands off parents of the sixties and seventies might seem crazy today, but I'm thankful for the skills I was able to acquire...all by myself.
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