Today is a special blog post from my good friend Deanna. She is the most awesome cook ever and she’s pretty dang funny too! Please enjoy a few of her recipes and insight while baking with kids!
Why a 3 year old can prohibit proper baking…
Happy Daddy’s Day to all! As a treat for my husband and his dad today, I graciously baked a chocolate pecan pie AND banana pudding!
Upon waking this morning, I began the baking spree. First, I made my famous chocolate pecan pie…with a homemade pie crust, of course. My 3 year old sat in awe as I taught her how to make a crust and prepare the pie. Before I knew it, poof, bam, pow…the pie was in the oven. That was easy and kind of fun!
Then, I started on the banana pudding. Not just any banana pudding, the Not Yo Mama’s Banana Pudding! This truly is the best I have tasted to date. Little miss was hungry so, before I got too far, I made her something to eat. As she ate, I began assembling this amazing pudding dessert. I didn’t get very far before she asked for a snack. Sooooo, like any good mommy, I got her a snack. Then, things got crazy.
I placed the Chessman cookies into the bottom of the 9×13 baking dish. She decided she wanted to EAT the cookies. She was reprimanded and then I explained that those cookies need to stay in the dish in order for me to make the banana pudding. Well…..that did not fly. A meltdown ensued. I recognized her desire for a cookie, so I gave her a couple of crumbs from the Chessman cookies after she calmed down. That wasn’t good enough. I gave her one of her cookies that come in a tin. After she ate it, she began banging the tin on the counter, which created a loud, horrible clanking noise. I asked her to stop and it continued. At the end of my rope, I grabbed the tin and yelled, “STOP!” And you guessed it…another melt down. At this point, Daddy’s morning to sleep in was over and he came downstairs to help out mommy. Keep in mind, through all of this, I am TRYING to assemble the pudding! After I cut the bananas and placed them on top of the already arranged cookies, I realized that I screwed up the pudding mixture. Great. Just great. I forgot the MILK! I mixed the box of pudding in with the sweetened condensed milk instead of regular milk. Well, too bad. I continued making the dessert. It is now in the fridge. I will let you know how it turned out!Mom serves screwed up banana pudding dessert… due to toddler induced insanity
What does this title really mean? First, you must read this: Why a 3 Year Old Can Prohibit Proper Baking
Then, you will understand the title of this post as well as what I am going to write next…
I was distraught. I was frustrated. And I was ready for a glass of wine. By time we went over to my in-laws for Father’s Day, I was heavily feeling all three. The melt-downs were at an all time high…for my 3 year old and for ME!
I got through the dreaded banana pudding recipe. Yes, I did. I covered it and placed it in the fridge until it was time to travel to my in-laws house for our Chinese food dinner. The pecan pie looks fabulous, if I might add. The banana pudding sure looked pretty, but how it was going to taste was up for grabs.
After dinner, my sweet husband cleared our plates and placed both desserts onto the table…along with plates, forks, so forth and so on. He scooped out banana pudding on to everyone’s plate and also gave us each a wedge of pie….which looked amazing, but I may have already mentioned that.
Keep in mind, no one was aware of what transpired during the making of the banana pudding. As far as they all knew, I followed the recipe and it was going to be spectacular! (Just as it was the last time I made it.) As the family baker, people come to expect perfection…sad, but true.
We all dug in to our dessert plates and everyone OOOHHHED and AHHHED over how wonderful the desserts were. I was shocked! The banana pudding was edible! It was over the top sweet, but edible! I thought the texture was off…almost a little gritty, but no one else said anything about it tasting like sandpaper, so I kept my mouth shut.
Can you guess who liked it the most? My 3 year old! The one who created the recipe havoc to begin with. Such is life!
Deanna Martinez-Bey is a published author, copy editor, food blogger, baker, and recipe creator.
She has had her recipes featured on Womansday.com and in several Gooseberry Patch Cookbooks.
Deanna has won second place in a national contest with Taste of Home Magazine, and her Mascarpone Cheesecake recipe was printed in the August/September magazine issue. The same recipe has also been published in three of their Annual/Best Recipe Books.
Deanna is currently a writer for Medium.com and has in the past written for Examiner.com and Fansided.com. She has taken online courses with the American Institute of Baking and owns a home bakery by the name of The Fiery Whisk.
You can find Deanna:
www.instagram.com/thefierywhiskbaking
