Wednesday, December 16, 2009

My Mother in Law I am not!

Some of my older readers may have remembered my last forays into cooking and baking. For new readers, I simply say that the domestic gene is absent in this family. Don't get me wrong, I can take 3 babies under a year and a half to walmart and buy 200 dollars worth of groceries when its minus twenty degrees outside. I can do laundry, vacuum and feed 11 supper without breaking a sweat. I can make sure my kids go to school in clean clothes, make a pony tail and sign a planner simultaneously. I AM competent. At least that is what I keep telling myself.

But what it is about this time of year that brings out the crazy desire to pretend I CAN bake? Needless to say, my success rate has not improved this year. Let me share so you can enjoy the embarrassment that is my cooking reality.


That there is the pinnacle of my seasonal baking. And yes, it came in a box completely pre baked, and we just had to assemble it. And we proudly left it out as the center piece of our Christmas Display on the kitchen table.

And then we left the house.

Trippy and Annie would like you to know it was very delicious.



I have fond memories of Nanaimo Bars from my childhood. My grandmother would bake them throughout the year and it was always a special, rich treat. I am smart enough to realize that I probably should not attempt the recipe from scratch, but I saw this box in the grocery store and realized that even I should be able to follow a recipe on a BOX! So I bought it and my kids were VERY excited to "bake" with mom.
I would like to point out, that to them, opening a box and pouring ingredients into a bowl IS baking, and please do not tell them any different.
Anyways, back to my Nanaimo Bar Baking Disaster. I really, REALLY think they should make the letters bigger on those bags of ingredients. It is NOT my fault that I could not tell the difference between bag "A" and bag "B". It is NOT my fault that I added Walnuts to the filling instead of the base and misread the two tablespoons of butter to be ONE CUP of butter.
Yes. One cup of melted butter. My version of Nanaimo Bars are very, very creamy.
Then we moved on to cookies.

A dear friend who knows me well sent up these packages of cookie mixes in with a Christmas parcel for the boys. Apparently my reputation precedes me. I think I got the ingredients right. I really, really do. And at 400 degrees, who would think that an extra two minutes in the oven would make THAT much of a difference? Not me, apparently.
I was wrong. Did you know that over cooked Snickerdoodles make great hockey pucks? I do.
And then, once again, Salvation came in the form of a box from Canada Post.
Our Christmas present from my in-laws is a box (a BIG box) of Christmas Baking. My mother in law is a saint and let me tell you the arrival of that box MAKES our Christmas. Plus, now when company comes over I can offer them Christmas Baking they will actually eat, AND I can take credit for having that domestic gene I crave.



Peanut butter balls, short bread, loaves of all sorts. Did I mention I love her very, very much?



4 comments:

Unknown said...

You get a major A for effort. I can bake some things, but I've never had the inclination to do a gingerbread house. YOurs is pretty!

Anonymous said...

Gingerbread house was a success! Otherwise Trippy and Annie would not have eaten it. LOL

So sweet of your MIL to send you home baked goodies!

--AdrienneG

Di said...

This whole post made me smile big! ON many levles. Know however that you are the ONLY one who's MIL would even think about such goodness. LOL mine sends 8 cookies home with us.. there are 5 of us- go figure, we certainly can't figure out that math!

One Busy Momma said...

*laughs*
Tooo funny!
Sorry bout your lack of baking gene... have you tried parchment paper though??? I know it has begun to save my butt when I "overbake"!

Great Gingerbread house!!!
At least you got a picture of it before it was enjoyed!