Have you seen the TV show “Nailed It”? It’s about how amateur bakers try to recreate elaborate designs in baking to win money, and the hilarity that ensues. But it’s really every person’s fantasy when they pick up a cookbook, and flip through page after page of perfectly decorated, impossible to detail, Baked Goods of Exceptional Beauty.
We can imagine ourselves with our fancy, blinged out aprons in our country modern kitchens, putting the finishing touches on our fifth batch of perfectly flood iced cookies, waiting for our artistic whimsy. Our children are in their matching fancy blinged out aprons, eager, patiently waiting to use their tiny yet adept fingers to surprise us with their decorating prodigy-ness.
After, we will package them up in biodegradable yet adorable bags, and deliver them door to door to all our neighbour friends who will in turn gift us with homemade preserves.
Uh huh.
I’m not sure if that dream sends you running to Michaels’, or makes you break out in a cold sweat. For me, a bit of both. I certainly googled various gingerbread men decorating ideas before we rolled our dough. I was trying to be a bit realistic, not bookmarking the really intricate ones, but aiming for chic simplicity.
Nailed it!
The lesson in this for me was really that sometimes you’ve got to just let go of your fear to perform and go for it. My girls were eager, though not quite adept, and I admit to being a bit of a control freak and perfectionist. When I was finally able to suspend expectations, and stop analyzing other peoples’ cookie photos and tips and tricks, I found I was able to let myself have fun with the gargantuan mess we were making. You want to mix two colours and see what happens? Go for it! Too much icing, oh well! It was a relief, to be honest. And in the end, the three of us spent a fun hour or two making, and laughing, and of course, eating!
