Baking school

One of the things I like about the school that the twins are leaving is that they do a lot of baking. They've baked gingerbread cookies, Christmas cookies, Valentine Day ones, created Hungry Caterpillars out of marshmallows, chocolate sauce and Pocky sticks and Rainbow Sprinkled Fish cookies to recall a few.

I'm glad for that experience because I think it's something not all pre-schools will do with them. I am eternally grateful that they weren't drilled on the ABCs although they seem to know it quite well and by heart and they don't know their multiplication tables yet. But they do know how to roll dough, slather on icing (albeit messily) and sprinkle hundreds and thousands. They also know how to obey instructions when I tell them that they MUST NOT lick their baked goods while they are preparing them.

Today, we baked to thank the teachers in the school. I wish I could buy them gifts but I don't have that sort of money and I wanted to do something more personal. Something the twins could be involved in. But at the same time, something simple enough that wouldn't send me into labour! So it was off to Phoon Huat to see what baked good short cut they could offer me. Ideally, I would have liked to bake everything from scratch but I really don't have the time, energy or inclination. We decided on a packet of cookie mix and muffin mix. Thank goodness for the foresight of buying two different mixes because the cookies turned out dry, slightly bitter and crumbly. I think we left them in for too long. So we decided the teachers would get a French Chocolate Muffin each.

Packrat's suggestion was to create Nutella icing for the muffins and I decided that sprinkles were required to brighten them up. And that's where the twins came in useful. They also took it very seriously, ensuring all the muffins were properly sprinkled, although there were more sprinkles on the plate than the muffins.


















Their looks of concentration are amazing for me to see. I had no idea that a 30 month old could take something so seriously and they were quiet for a good ten minutes and refused to be distracted till the task was complete. As a reward, I allowed them each a spoonful of sprinkles which they savoured and sucked on like there was no tomorrow.


The outcome, very pretty muffins. But with one look, you'd be able to tell that eating the entire thing in one go could send the muffin eater into a sugar induced shock or coma.

























I'm glad they look pretty because it's the least we could do for all the teachers. I'm sad they are leaving and I'm nervous about them going to a new school. But it's all part of growing up, both for me and for them and an essential part of it is to learn how to say good bye and I shall do it with these pretty muffins.

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