christmas is a comin!

This morning marked the first Christmas event (that I've have participated in) of the season! I work with the junior and senior high kids at church, and this morning we got together for a bit of Christmas baking. At church we have an Alternative Christmas Market, wherein you can purchase "alternative" gifts, such as the donation of a goat for an impoverished family across the globe. The students are charged with the task of selling goats (and chickens and mosquito nets and wells...), and we baked the cookies to give away along with someones purchase.

We had three girls show up today to bake and it was quite a time. We made sugar cookies, brownies and rice krispy treats. The one thing that struck me was how "grossed out" all of these girls were with the amount of fat that went into each of these recipes. The girl making the cookies commented "2/3 cup of butter AND 2/3 cup of shortening?! Why do they need so much fat?" (we used all butter, btw). The girl on krispy treats--the youngest of the bunch--continually made faces and sounds of disgust at the melting pot of butter and marshmallow. Finally, the girl on brownies could not get over how much oil went into the recipe. I simply told them "See, that's the trouble with baking: you find out what actually goes into your food."

This was a bit of an enlightening experience for me. I grew up in the kitchen with my mom, making at least 20 dozen cookies for the holidays each year (we always started with those that require the coolest oven and ended with the russian teacakes at 400F). Thus, the idea of putting an exuberant amount of fat into baked goods has never surprised me... they are desserts and to be eaten in moderation, after all.

I have thought a lot about how psychologically impacting the act of preparing your own food is, but this is the first time I have really seen it so strongly expressed by someone else. Perhaps if we all made our own cookies--instead of reaching for chips ahoy--we might eat considerably less. Sometimes a the act of adding a stick or two of butter to a recipe can be a lot more impacting than the abstract knowledge that "too many cookies are bad for me".

I suppose this experience also says something about the relationship that our youth have with food and body image... but that is perhaps a bit too heavy for today. So, until next time... happy holiday baking!!