Recipes, Baking and Creativity

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

One recipe: A list of common amounts and ingredients, yet it can hold many a memory—simple combinations that can bring forth hopes and dreams, from generations of family traditions to improved health and well-being. Those hastily scratched-down elements can hold the smells and tastes of life past, of life yet to come.

But how many times do we just stick to a recipe out of convenience and routine? Thankfully recipes are written down and passed along so that we can replicate delicious dishes. However, there may be times when we want to loosen the reins and delve into some experimentation—to create new memories and tastes.

The joy of experimentation in baking was brought to my attention one recent evening with my daughter. Rainy, windy and stormy, it was the perfect time to bake. With the flour, sugar, eggs, oil, baking soda and all necessities at hand, she asked if she could try to make her own cookies with small amounts of the ingredients in her own little bowl. The adult in me almost said NO, but the playful child in me wanted to say YES—yes to this opportunity—and to not worry about the mess (Later I saw it to be one of those rare opportunities to encourage spontaneous creativity and learning!).

And so, equipped with a variety of measuring spoons and small bowls, she proceeded to take a scoop of flour, a dollop of this and that, all the while providing engaging commentary similar to a step-by-step cooking show. Thus, working side-by-side, we each mixed and molded to our heart’s content, happy to be together, yet independently working on our own projects.

Before long we had dollops of dough to place on lightly greased cookie sheets. It was with bated breath and some trepidation that she checked her morsels as they emerged from the oven ten minutes later. Accompanied by exclamations of surprise, she thought some looked grand, others not so desirable—but we tasted and laughed, and she noted how tricky it was to create a really good cookie!

Sometimes it can be hard to look past the brief mess, the spilled flour, the extra dirty spoons and messy fingerprints on the door. However, as the passing of years can attest, what we see today as a mess can be the ideal opportunity to create memories together.

Here’s hoping that you find some spare time and space to encourage those moments of experimental interest that your children express. Plus, it’s just in time, with National Inventors Month right around the corner: That’s celebrated and commemorated annually during the month of August by the United Inventors Association of the USA, the Academy of Applied Science, and Inventors’ Digest magazine. No matter what your select material of inspiration, even baking can contribute to the inventive and creative spirit in us all.

Serves/Makes: 36

• 1 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup old-fashioned oatmeal, uncooked
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cup chopped walnuts