With children, the quality of an “I love you” often depends upon how much sugar we say it with. My mom passed this world eight years ago, yet the smell of molasses cookies still pulls me beside her at the kitchen counter; me standing on a chair, sneaking fingers full of batter. Nothing makes me miss her more.
Last evening we promised to bring dessert for Sunday dinner with our daughter, son-in-law, and four grand-children. I saw these cute candy racecars on Facebook, and cooking only required a tiny double boiler of chocolate.
At their house my grandkids tried to break us with hugs and kisses and cute sentences:
“Why awe you washing my wacetwack, Gwamma?”
“You’ll see.”
“Gwamma, can I see the dessewt? I can keep a secwet.”
“You’ll see.”
“Papa, I bet the dessewt you and Gwamma made is weawwy, weawwy good.”
The key to feeding fun desserts to kids without freaking their parents is to keep the sweet stuff secret until after the kids eat their healthy food. Sugar will not make the zucchini go down. Especially if it’s staring you in the face.
The key to making kids think you’re cooler than you really are: presentation. At the very least, you’ll think you’re cooler than you really are.
The one with the green tires approaching the bridge is speeding. We ate him first.
This was the bottom of the batch. We had lots more colors and cooler presentation, but I forgot to take pictures.
“That’s why you washed my wacetwack!”
Social media helps us think more creatively than our parents because of that collaborative dynamic. We can capitalize on others’ innovations and brilliance.
For a fun summer activity, my granddaughters and I made Rice Krispie Paintbrushes. I wish this photograph did them justice. We used more colors of the rainbow. But, you get the idea.
Even reindeer like Grandma’s Molasses Cookies.
For Christmas, we made Reindeer Cookies. Paintbrushes and Santa’s helpers came to our families compliments of Pinterest pins which led me to the original blog posts that provided instructions.
I’ve already purchased the Peeps for my Easter project. (I don’t have to worry about my secret being out of the bag, because my grandkids don’t read my blog.)
This photograph came from http://cakecentral.com/.
Funny, though–even after the extra attention to flamboyance and detail, the first dessert to disappear at any family function are Grandma’s Molasses Cookies. There’s something about that traditional smell of love.
