Baking Day

There's something about this time of year that makes me want to bake.  It's chilly... the sky is solid gray... intermittent rain falls from said sky... house smells musty because of slow-drying laundry... Let's get rid of the damp smell and dry out the house by turning on the oven and making some sweet smells instead!


And so I did. Today, around teatime, which is a very hectic time in our house on Tuesdays.  Mr J is off to a violin lesson, chauffeured by Daddy, who has just arrived home from work.  The Boys are trying to tear themselves away from their upstairs window spying watching what the neighbourhood is up to, Coo is feeling tired and wanting to get into everything, and I am juggling different stages of food preparation.  So, what better time could there be to start two batches of cookies?  


In between reminding the Boys to tidy their room, scooping Coo out of mischief, and mashing avocado, I made gingersnaps and snickerdoodles.  It's the first time I've made either of these in a long time and I used bog-standard Better Homes and Gardens recipes. I'd forgotten how necessary it is to leave out some of the sugar in BH&G recipes!  They turned out beautifully flavoured thanks to a few other adjustments, but sadly too sweet for my liking.  I doubt if I'll have too much difficulty getting rid of them, though.


Coo certainly enjoyed the gingersnap dough.  I gave her a lump of her own to roll around, with which she managed to stickify herself, the countertop, the chair, and me.  She finally ate most of it, which was fortunate for her, as she did not eat her tea and wasn't able to partake of the post-tea cookies the rest of us ate.


I was so tempted to give in, push away her barely-touched tea and just let her have a cookie anyway.  Her baby intake of breath and soft "Oh! Was zis?" when she saw the cookie was so sweet.  But I didn't, and her cookie is saved for tomorrow.


Here's an image of what baking day can look like in our house.  The cupboard to the left of the stove ends there.  Yes, that is a washing machine.  No dishwasher, and virtually no counter space, particularly when I have baking projects and a meal on the go!  And I survive... not easily, but shall we say, strategically?!  This was taken on the Boys' birthday, when I was making chicken stew (for pie), apple pie, pie crust for both pies, and a vanilla sponge cake with chocolate fudge icing.