Cooking with the kiddos

Last night I had the Rugrats (aka, the kids I baby-sit for :)) over for a few hours, in which we watched Matilda, played Scene It? (Jack's sports version....not so much for me ), had dinner and I taught the kids how to make chocolate chip cookies.
This was a lot of fun, actually. I had them read the recipe and tell me how much of each ingredient we needed. I taught them the difference between measuring white and brown sugar, and Helen learned how to crack and egg and beat it, which made Jack happy because now Helen can "make him scrambled eggs," as he gleefully informed their dad when he came to pick them up. They watched me mix the ingredients and helped shape the cookies. We made a bunch of trays, so they got to take quite a few home, and I hope they didn't eat them all in one sitting! I also got to teach them the difference between baking powder and baking soda, and show them what real vanilla beans look like (they were pretty amazed that it came from the orchid plant). I love cooking, as we know, and it was alot of fun to be able to teach some basic things to them, since I was about Helen's age (12) when I began to really start baking; I'd been making spaghetti since i was eight!

The cookies we made, by the way, are the best chocolate chip cookies ever. They bake wonderfully, freeze wonderfully (GREAT at Christmastime) and a really easy. I know you probably want a recipe. But I don't know if I'm will to share my secrets.

I also made them cornbread for dinner, following Danielle Bean's super-easy, and super-good, cornbread recipe, which you can find here.