Baking For The Picky Bairn

I've been baking lately.  I am  tired of my kid eating so much packaged crap.  (I've been tired of it for a long time)  I know I let him do it because otherwise we would be having fights every day, all day about what he eats.  That's no way to bring up a kid to like food.  And yes, I do try to limit which packaged things he eats.  I definitely try to keep the high fructose corn syrup out of my house.*  I do try frequently to get him to try organic "natural" snacks and I do always have healthy options available.  It's exhausting.  My resentment for all those parents out there who simply have to say "EAT!" and their children will eat snails and spinach and brown rice with chard and quinoa pie for dessert....is not gone.  Far from gone.  I still love you guys, I really do, but I am a bitter mother hen when it comes to food.

Every now and then I get a little extra energy and a tiny little surge of hope shoots through my veins and I think "Maybe if I bake it he will eat it!"  Why I think this might be true is beyond me.  It's never been true  before.

My first commitment has been to not buy him packaged cookies again.  I try to make sure that most of his desserts are home made and contain extra protein or other nutrients.  I periodically slack off and he requests a box of cookies and I buy it for him.  I know some of you will want to say "Give yourself a break!" and I know your heart is in the right place.  Thank you.  But if the only thing home made that he'll eat are cookies I make myself and tweak a little...I need to do it.  I have precious little control here.

In the cookie department I've had one failure to two successes.  Those are actually pretty good odds.  The snickerdoodles I made were rejected with a very descriptive facial expression.  Since I myself don't like snickerdoodles I sent them off with Philip to work where I hear they were greatly appreciated.  I even got compliments from someone whose favorite cookie happens to be snickerdoodles.  For that one I used a recipe I found online (Joy of Baking).

The first success I had was making a very fancy cookie.  A cookie which required two parts being assembled.  I did it because the recipe called for lots of peanut butter.  Peanut butter has protein.  My picky bairn doesn't eat enough protein.  The recipe turned out phenomenally and they were fun to make.  I got the recipe from Buns In My Oven. 

The next success was gingerbread cookies.  With 3/4 cup of molasses.  Molasses has things like iron, which my kid also surely needs more of seeing as he eats nothing green.  I know I'm grasping at straws here, but you can see that I'll take what I can get.  I used the Cook's Illustrated Recipe which was so dark looking I really thought Max would reject them.  Instead he loved them!

Today I think I'm going to make shortbread dipped in chocolate and then next I'm going to try making walnut sandies to try and get some nuts in that boy.  But the real victory would be if I could make savory cheese crackers.  We have single-handedly kept Pepperidge Farms in business by buying 1 ton of their "flavor blasted" goldfish.  I'm heading into cracker country, folks. 

Last night I made Smitten Kitchen's cheese straws.  They were insanely salty even though the recipe only called for 1/2 tsp salt.  I'm thinking my cheddar must have been dosed up, plus I know my butter was salted.  I liked them but Max didn't like them because a) they  made him thirsty and b) they weren't crispy enough.  All crackers need to be very crispy.

In fact, a tiny bit of moisture on one cracker (which makes it soft-ish) will make him lose his appetite for any more food for at least an hour.  (This is one of those OCD texture things which I can hardly blame him for but which makes me want to tear my hair out).  I'm beginning to suspect that the only thing to do is to make crackers using cheese powder.  I know it can be had without a bunch of crap in it because I've seen it.  I just missed my chance to buy with my bulk foods order so now I'll have to wait a month.  I am determined.

The important thing to note here is that my kid is actually agreeing to try all these various things I'm making him.  This hasn't always been the case.  So if nothing else, the progress is in his willingness to put something in his mouth that there's a 99% chance he'll regret having put in his mouth.

I will forge on bravely!  If nothing else I will become the best damn baker this side of the Cascade Mountains!



*In case anyone has forgotten....it's EVIL.