Cookies With Willa

Some other friends' blogs have mentioned making cookies with their little kids. I had never really thought about cooking or baking anything with Willa because it seemed like a huge hassle and mess. Once I started considering how much fun she would have (and mentally prepared myself for a disaster of a mess) I decided to try it.

First, we tried some basic chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. This recipe is from the Ivory Homes cookbook that they sell to raise money for the Make A Wish Foundation. It is the best cookbook, everything is amazing and easy to make. These are the best chocolate chip oatmeal cookies ever. For the oatmeal hater, their regular chocolate chippers are the most amazing regular chocolate chip cookies I've ever had too.

Willa LOVED it! She learned very quickly to dump the ingredients in. Oatmeal got all over the floor. She started using the teaspoons as little spoons to transfer cookie dough to her mouth and it was a total mess with very fun and delicious results! Unfortunately, due to her excessive double dipping, I deemed the cookies too unsanitary to share with others and we were forced to keep all of them for ourselves.

 After that, I thought about trying sugar cookies. Valentine's Day was kind of putting me in the mood. I don't think I've ever made sugar cookies on my own, they are just too much work. When I was in Utah, though, my mom and I had wanted to make some but we never got around to it. My cousin Danielle posted a new recipe on her food blog that looked really delicious.

SO, I prepared myself for an even bigger mess and invited Bridgett and Abby over to help with the cookies. I had the brilliant thought to give each girl a cookie tray with her own rolling pin for rolling the dough and icing the cookies. It was the best decision! We hardly made any mess at all and there was no fighting or squabbling because each girl had her own little space. Willa was so cute using her little rolling pin and patting the dough. After the cookies had baked, each girl was only interested in icing about one cookie and eating it right there. We sent them outside to play, finished icing them all and cleaned up the kitchen with very little blood, sweat, or tears. I was expecting total mayhem with flour and dough everywhere, but it was a really pleasant activity! Plus, the cookies were really, really good - a combination of using cake flour and the new recipe, perhaps?

The only downside to this all is that Willa LOVES to help in the kitchen now. Whenever I am there, she runs over and yells, "help, help, help." She especially loves to put the brown sugar in her oatmeal (sneaking a spoonful to her mouth) and also pouring in the cream. Sometimes it is irritating, but other times it's just so cute.