This week I decided to teach our housekeeper to bake sweets. Normally her kitchen roles are limited to chopping up vegetables, washing dishes, or preparing fried rice (that's what I have her make if I need her to cook- it's delicious!!). Since she doesn't have an oven or a refrigerator and since she's never cooked with recipes, sometimes I find out that our kitchen habits are a little different. This baking experiment has been no exception.



Episode 1: chocolate chip cookies

• The first step of the recipe said "Put in a big bowl" (Pon en un tazon grande) and then listed some ingredients. She read it out loud "Bread in big pieces" (Pan en trozos grandes) and went for the bread. Good thing we went over the recipe.
• The novelty of the electric beater was too much for her. She just kept beating and beating and beating. They were definitely the best beaten chocolate chip cookies we've ever had!
• I think it might have been her first experience with measuring spoons and cups. She filled the teaspoon a quarter way with baking soda and asked if that was good. I had to explain how you fill the whole thing and show her the different cups and spoons with their measurements on them.
• When she put the dough on the cookie sheet, she made huge cookies. We resized them, but it wasn't until they were halfway through cooking that she realized they were changing shape and size (melting and rising). Now she gets why I thought they were too big!

Episode 2: brownies

• I had her make the batter while I was out of the house. When I got home, she was a little worried she had ruined it, since it didn't turn out anything like the chocolate chip cookies. She was thoroughly relieved (and surprised) to find out that the brownie batter looked just the way it was supposed to.
• She wanted to know what brownies are. How do you explain brownies? I said they were kind of like cake but more moist. We'll see what she thinks when they're done.

It's all about learning, on my side and hers. I'm excited about the possibilities of her learning how to bake (!) and am sure she'll get it with a little practice.

1 Comment

1. Marty on September 25, 2008 at 1:00 PM

   Hannah, I'm glad you're sharing the goodness of brownies with your Peruvian friends. Brownies definitely make the world a better place!