For the Love of Sugar

I love sugar. And I think baking just may be the death of me. I L.O.V.E. to bake stuff that is not good for me. Or good for anyone for that matter.

I can justify it all I want:
“Oh, it’s for the children!”
“Oh, it’s for my husband!”
“I just love my family so much that I want to make this special treat for them!”
“Well, I may need to have a cake for a pitch-in or something so I’ll just make one or five pound cakes to keep in the freezer.”

Lies…all of them. Let’s call it what it is: All I love is the sweet taste of sugar.

I will sometimes go so far as to trying to incorporate math and science into the baking, simply so I can justify baking with the PBA. They really don’t care for it, unless it is pouring a boxed mix in a bowl, adding some oil, water and breaking some egg.

For some reason breaking eggs draws a big crowd around here. Since we have all broken an egg or two in our lives, we can understand why it would be considered big fun for my boys (insert raised eyebrow here). Perhaps I need to get them involved in more hobbies…broaden their interests a bit.

If measuring actual dry goods is needed, there is much weeping & gnashing of teeth. Usually fights break out…and the loser has to do the measuring. Liquids, for some reason, hold more appeal, probably for the super-cool meniscus factor (oh yeah, I dropped a nerdy science term on you). Worse than measuring is when I ask them to double a recipe and they have to do math! Oh the horror! The humanity of it!

The one thing that will hold their attention throughout the drudgery of measuring ingredients is the promise to eat said treat when it is ready. Or eat some raw dough (I know you’re not supposed to but I’ve been doing it for years and I’m basically ok). You have to finish the mixing to get to the dough part. You can’t eat the dough until you have dough. Or the promise to lick a beater is always engaging as well. We are all about licking the beaters too (once the mixer is turned off first, of course…we only made that mistake once).

The 11yo will more often than not ask to make no-bake cookies. Is it his favorite cookie, you ask? Nope…you just don’t have to wait to eat them. Since you simply spoon them out on the waxed paper, by the time you’ve scooped out each individual cookie, the first ones are just about ready to eat.

But those suckers are tricky, I tell you. For a very unassuming cookie, they are awfully fussy. Boil for too long and they are dry, dry, dry; boil for too little and you have to eat them with a spoon. Mind you, neither of these “problems” will prevent me from eating them. In case you don’t understand, see the first three words of this post.

For the majority of the time, the sugary treats which I do not bake, nor do I eat, are cobblers, crisps and pies. I have been known, on occasion, to eat pumpkin pie but that is only at Thanksgiving and no more than two slices (with a big dollop of Cool Whip, thank you very much). Sometimes an apple crisp will land on our table, but once again…only in the fall. And I did make a cherry crisp this summer, thanks for family friends who let the PBA come to pick cherries in their backyard.

OK, so it sounds like I am generally accepting of such things. I guess what I mean is that such treats I can typically pass by. This is not a hard and fast rule…just a mostly-followed rule. My 9yo follows the same rules as me. And I don’t intend this in a mean or hurtful way, but my husband and my 11yo have never met a dessert they don’t like. And, just to clarify, I am NOT calling either of them fat. Simply saying they are not as discriminating in their affinity for sugar as I. I mean, they have a much richer palette than I (that sounds nicer, doesn’t it?). I don’t care, because I know what I love. And what's that? All together now: SUGAR!

I’d like to dedicate this post to my friend CB who inspired the thoughts of sugar to start swirling in my head…as we were working out this morning. Thanks for making me think about it.  ALL DAY. Now I have to go bake some brownies. They’re for my family, of course!