Now that things have calmed down a bit with my apparel company {all open orders have shipped!} I was able to focus on the girls. We did our traditional holiday cookies and while it was fun, I think I'm learning to accept, I'm not great with messy projects. It always starts out fun, but yikes by the end of it I'm exhausted, let's take a look...
Started simply enough both the girls unwrapped the butter and added it to the bowl so I could warm it up as described in the sugar cookie recipe, although I did substitute 2 cups of whole wheat flour for equal parts white, because for some reason it feels slightly healthier.
yup. it's all in there! make sure to crack your eggs separate so they don't get any shells in your mix, learned that the hard way cooking with toddlers years ago.
after repeating myself 20+ times, I think they finally remembered to use the sharp side of the cutters down and leave them there for me to place on the baking sheet. We lost a few good {gingerbread} men in the beginning but eventually, I was able to get it under control.
I'm a pretty lazy baker, I actually didn't refrigerate this dough for an hour-24 hour before starting. I just stuck the bulk of it in the freezer while we did sections at a time because, who has time to prep cookies one day, bake another, and then frost on the third?
Not parents.
That's who.
The girls did a good job using a variety of shapes, including this random cupcake cutter. But you know what? I like cupcakes on Christmas, so whatever.
aw that little Vera hand, definitely adding that to my shutterfly book {not sponsored, but should be!}
Forgot I spent all morning in bed from a wicked headache when I asked Husband to take a few photos, oh well! adding it anyway. Sometimes I wash my hair, but it wasn't today. Don't worry I did wash my hands before baking. I'm not a slob.
oh sure they look cute here, but what you can't see is all that flour on the floor.
baked in the oven for 6 minutes a sheet at 400*f kept us moving along nicely.
made little stacks to let them cool since I only have 2 baking sheets.
Do you know someone with more? Grab them, send them my way, because the high heat ones from William Sonoma are like $20 a piece, no thanks. I'll cook in rotation.
Basil got right to frosting as soon as the first batch was cooled, and she insisted on using this pink frosting. I've shared the recipe for the frosting here before, but this time I just used what we had in the freezer.
Made husband participate in a few too. Because memories. Also misery loves company.
"For the love of all things holy please stop licking your fingers and knives toddlers!" Good thing they only had access to the frosting for their cookies, and I did the ones we're sharing with family and friends by myself. Because participation with kids is cool, but sticky licked fingers and germs are not.
Love documenting their work. Here are Vera's cookies; age 2.5.
And their progress. Sonja's age 5 looking festive with all that sugar.
And 6 plates later, we're done! I'm pretty proud of my little dinosaur pictured in the front plate, and you know my "gingerbread" man isn't perfect but for the amount of effort and preparation that went into this whole project, I vote success. Love that the girls call the angles Fairies. And that Vera chose so many moon shapes for her cookies. Actually, for all the chaos of getting up, sitting down, cleaning up, sanitizing in between baking and frosting, I have to say I'm pretty proud of the outcome. I might have lost it for a second when Sonja refused to listen, and I may have questioned why I even try with the patience I've finally accepted I have, and I may have asked Husband to pour me a drink with the excuse that there was egg on my hands {there was, but I could have washed it off} and I may have finally calmed down once I saw that the kids were, in fact, having fun, even if it was at the expense of the kitchen we just cleaned the night before, but hopefully they don't remember my mama meltdowns just like I don't remember them for their temper tantrums. But for those moms, who can do this, remain calm, keep their house clean and their partner's happy, well whatever they're doing, they should be bottle that shit and sell it because I'd buy all of it.
In other news, I'll be hibernating until January, but don't act like you can't follow along while I'm sleeping, it's called scheduled posting and who knows? After sleeping for a few days, I might actually document the holidays and share all the fun.
ANYWAY, how do you keep your calm over the holidays? Do you do projects with your kids to keep them entertained/busy? Do you keep your floors clean? What's your secret?!
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