Skip to main content

Adventures in the Kitchen with a Two Year Old.

I was hoping to be able to post about some yummy sticky pecan rolls, but I'm still tweaking the recipe just a bit.  Instead, I want to share some (a ton!) of pictures and explain what it's like having a two-year-old in the kitchen.  Or at least, my two-year-old in my kitchen.  :)

These days, whenever Sprout even thinks I'm going to be cooking something, he comes running into the kitchen saying he wants to help.  He then proceeds to haul out one of the step stools and drag it to wherever he thinks he needs to be. 

So, how do you cook with a two-year-old?  And what can they help with?  Good questions.

Well, step one is to find the closest two-year-old.  This one looks like he might be up to something.  And apparently, if mama is wearing an apron, he requires one as well.


Next, he might climb on the counter you just very carefully cleaned.  It's okay.  He's just after the magnets on the refrigerator. 



After he gets them all lined up, he'll want you to take a picture of them.  "Picture, mommy!"  These two-year-olds of bloggers, they learn early!


So, what else can they do?  Two-year-olds are good at watching the mixer work.  They'll even keep a hand on it when it starts to walk across the counter, as mine does sometimes when I'm working with bread dough.  Or when it "drives", as Sprout calls it!



But...you have to watch them as they watch the mixer.  Because sometimes things are tempting.  Like taking off the screw that holds the accessory attachment cover thingy on (very technical term) and it falls into the dough. 


And if you're not paying attention, they will get out their rolling pin, grab a piece of the dough, and go to town with it.


Breadmaking, even quick cinnamon rolls, is a longer job that requires patience, which two-year-olds don't have a lot of.  They will eventually get bored and have to go outside and ride their tractor. 


Yes, this is me.  In need of makeup.  Wearing a Death Cab for Cutie shirt.  And my purple apron.  In a Wonder Woman pose.  :)


And a teaser of the sticky pecan rolls to come. 


Enjoy!  :)

Comments

TeaLady said…
Early blogging builds skills!! So cute.

Popular posts from this blog

Thick and Chewy Snickerdoodles

I admit, I love snickerdoodles.   Cinnamon and vanilla?   Yes, please.   What’s funny is that I never really had them much as a kid, just occasionally in the school cafeteria.   I know, ew. Anyway, snickerdoodles were one of the first cookies that the Munchkin helped make when he was little.   He could help dump everything in the mixer (or “loud noise” as he would call it!) and then it was fun for him to roll the balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar before putting them on the baking sheet. Even since then, my go-to recipe for snickerdoodles has been this one by Emeril.   It’s a great recipe, baking up a thin, crispy cookie (at least when I make them!).   However, I was looking for something different this time, something thicker and chewier.   I found this recipe from the blog How Sweet it Is .   I decided to try it, and while I did keep the ingredient list the same I changed up the method a bit to suit me better.  ...

Homemade Cinnamon Dolce Latte

I recently professed my love of coffee and fancy coffee drinks.  After the success of the Peppermint Mocha , I decided to tackle the Cinnamon Dolce Latte, another one of my favorites.  According to the Starbucks website, it has flavors of "cinnamon, butter and brown sugar".  Well, I covered the cinnamon and brown sugar components, but left out the butter.  And you know what, I think it turned out quite well, if I do say so myself!  I honestly wasn't sure if the cinnamon flavor in the syrup was going to be strong enough, but it was.  I will admit to being impatient and not letting it steep for very long, so the cinnamon flavor might develop more if you do actually let it sit and cool off first.  If you wanted it to be even stronger, you could always add a tiny bit of cinnamon oil to it as well.  But be careful -- a little of that goes a long way! How much to make depends on how much you'll actually use.  I just made a single batch this f...

Hello Dolly Cookie Bars

Several years ago, my mom gave me an old cookbook, it was hers but I'm not sure she ever used it, Favorite Recipes from Southern Kitchens:  Desserts .  I love this cookbook!  I thought it would be great to go through it and pick a recipe or two to use for this year's 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats series.  For this week, I chose a super easy one, Hello Dolly Cookies.  I have absolutely no idea where the name came from.  I'm really not sure I've ever eaten one before, though the ladies I shared the finished product with knew about them!  I did an internet search too, and it seems they go by a lot of names, including Magic Layer Bars.  Honestly, they are so easy to make.  There's no mixing required.  Kids could absolutely help with these.  The cookies smelled divine while they were baking, and I barely waited for them to cool before trying one. At first I thought "these taste almost like German chocolate cake", then "or d...