Sweet Tooth, Sweet Dreams, Sweet Lovin'

     I don’t have a huge sweet tooth. If I were to overindulge in the calorie department it would be in the form of a large bowl of cheesy white pasta, or salty lays potato chips with French onion chip dip. Or a big plate of gooey nachos slathered in cheese and guacamole and sour cream. Or a big basket of French fries…

     O.k. I’ll stop there.

     Despite my lack of sweet tooth, I do find myself baking with my girls. When the days get long (can you say winter in Buffalo?!) and the natives (that would be my children) start to get restless, I open up my laptop and type in words like “low-fat muffins” or “easy cookies” or “kid-friendly recipes” into Google.

     I also keep any eye out for easy recipes when I’m reading through magazines, cut them out, and keep them all in a binder (in sheet protectors). When I bored with our meal options or looking for a recipe I flip it open to see what it inspires.

     It was one of those magazine recipes, that made it’s way into the binder that has become a favorite for me; maybe because it’s “easy”, so I can do it with the girls, maybe because it is “salty” so it fits my cravings along with the cravings of small children and a husband with a pretty hefty sweet tooth, most possibly because there are only 5 ingredients which means the kitchen does not get as messy.

     It’s a cookie recipe; called “cracker cookies” by some and “saltine toffee cookies” by others. You can find it here if you're interested. 

 At some point tomorrow, in preparation for Bible study in the evening, the girls and I will get out the crackers, the butter, the brown sugar, the chocolate chips and the pecans and start in on our baking project together. 

     I’ll have Ava, my oldest, mixing the butter and brown sugar together in a saucepan (with me right by her side of course!).

     I’ll have Ella lay crackers all over the cookie sheet.

     Ava, Ella and mommy will all hold hands together to dump the sugar mixture over the crackers, bake it for 15 minutes and then dump chocolate chips over the top. As the kitchen fills with the smell of salt and chocolate and raw sugar, I will fend the girls off for several more minutes by giving them each a spatula to smooth the melting chips over the top of the crackers.

     Here are my partners in cooking crime in the kitchen...

See how nice they are to each other while we're cooking....

     I guarantee they were fighting over a doll, or a bouncy ball, or a plastic cupcake 10 minutes after this picture was taken...At least it was sweet...for a moment. 

  

     While I don’t have a big sweet tooth, I do have a big spot in my heart for sweet moments with my girls. While we’re working together in the kitchen we are focused on a task together, they are separated and often do not fight for a whole 15 minutes and we all get to share in an tasty indulgence at the end.

See,  for me, baking is less about the creation and more about the communion created.

Alright...off to bed before all this talk about food leads me straight to the kitchen for a late-night snack...The calories I typically forgo in the sweet tooth department are easily regained by late night snacking...it's my biggest dietary downfall. 

Sweet dreams! 

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