Belle received a children’s cookbook of global cuisine a while back, and has been obsessed with the idea of making “sprinkle balls” aka brigadeiros ever since. For whatever reason, this week was the week we finally made them. Let me tell you, this is the easiest recipe ever to use up all the remaining jars of sprinkles in your pantry. And/plus/also, it’s super tasty.
Continue reading “Brigadeiros”
This bake was a set up for choices: a or b? Pumpkin bread or peanut butter cookies? Eggs first or oil? You do it or me? One big pan or two little pans? With a recipe that is a two part dump recipe (dump wet and mix, dump dry and mix), almost any choice works. Meanwhile, using the “a or b?” construction encourages a child to reply with longer utterances that recast the question into a sentence, instead of “yes/no.” Six months ago, if I asked, “Belle, do you want to crack eggs first or pour oil?” she would have said “eggs!” Three months ago, “I crack eggs first!” Now, “I want to crack eggs first, I no want to crack eggs, I’m a little bit scared, I want you crack eggs!”
Once finished with option A, I can ask Belle what else we need to do, working on her recall of option B. If she resists that choice again, I can offer “b or c?”
Meanwhile, offering choices that have no wrong answers builds independence and a positive emotional bond between caregiver and child – especially since Belle frequently hears me say “no!” as we try to keep certain toys away from Buddy.
Belle’s confidence continues to grow in the kitchen, and she’s started taking over certain tasks completely independently. Since it doesn’t really matter if there’s extra Crisco greasing the pan, Belle gets the pan, the giant jar of Crisco, and the paper towel – and I walk away until she tells me she’s done, at which point I do a quality check.
Like all good things, this totally backfires when she wants to then scoop potent spices like cloves out of the bottom of a narrow necked jar without help but what can you do? I let her splatter pumpkin and tip cloves, but kept the actual spice scooping out of her reach (because quarantine grocery shopping is a bit hit or miss).
The scraping – can to bowl, bowl to pan – was tricky for Belle, since it engages at least two motions: a firm rotational movement along the side of the container and a lighter pulling movement toward the edge. Too much force while pulling can splatter, while too little force can leave batter in the bowl. To the tune of “I want to do it mineself!” I loosened the pumpkin and batter, held the heavy bowl (but not the light can), and let Belle try her best. Periodically, I’d scrape down the sides and give her back the spatula – practice makes perfect, right?
Meanwhile, Buddy stayed out of trouble by eating lunch, then getting to play with the mixing bowl and measuring cup afterwards.
Skills targeted:
Equipment:
Recipe (30 min prep, 45-50 min bake, yield: 3 loaves or 1 loaf and 1 9×9 pan)
This recipe is based off the Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread found on Allrecipes, though we cut the sugar by half on our first attempt. We find that 1 1/2 cups of sugar makes a delicious sweet bread, and that 1 cup of sugar makes it slightly less flavorful. We’ll probably continue to tinker with the sugar and spice content to boost flavor while reducing sugar – keep an eye out for a molasses variation – but this is unlikely to have a sugar-free version (unless it is all sugar substitutes). We love it because it uses an entire can of pumpkin, and because the bread lasts for more than a day in our house. It could probably be muffins but we haven’t tested the timing on that yet.
This recipe is part of our coronavirus/Covid-19 quarantine bake-along. See the previous recipe here: Mac & Cheese. See the next recipe here tomorrow.
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Belle’s signing helps us understand her when she’s tired, pronouncing things oddly, or just saying something unexpected. Done or all done makes a frequent appearance when she’s just over something. Continue reading “ASL Signs We Use: All Done”
Heading to the apple orchard is totally a cute fall family tradition and opportunity for adorable photos, but it’s also a really great lesson in where our food comes from.
For the price of a peck of apples from the “apple garden” (Belle’s words), we got 30 minutes of exercise and entertainment, plus a memory that we’ll be able to discuss for the next month. Continue reading “Apple Picking with a 2 Year Old”
Baking with Belle 