Baking with Gram

It's another holiday tradition that I treasure...baking with my Gram. She arrived around 9 AM this morning and we immediately began frosting and rolling peanut bars. This year I cheated and decided that I would just frost the top of mine like a cake and sprinkle the ground peanuts on the top. The verdict: less sticky, less messy, less calories, less time. I would do it again the same way, though it does take away from the nostalgia of the experience. We frosted Gram's the right way though, so I didn't feel like I was truly missing out.

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Next, we were on to the lefse; a potato-like tortilla. We both made a batch. Gram always calls it a labor of love because after several hours of rolling and flipping, you are left with only about 30 pieces of lefse per batch. Gram's batch was good. Mine, not so much. For some reason, my lefse dough usually does not turn out well. This year was no exception. Mine were thick and tough, unlike Gram's thin, soft, melt-in-your-mouth pieces. In the end, she was kind enough to share some of hers with me, but didn't bother taking any of mine.

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My sister stopped by for a little visit while we were baking. She took over the lefse flipping for a while. It was fun being together and reminded me a lot of when we were children and would visit Grandpa and Gram's house during Christmas vacation. I always loved baking with Gram. She was the only grown-up that ever trusted me enough to crack the eggs. Baking in my own kitchen with my sister and Gram today was special. We had five children running around the house to liven things up and remind us that we all grow up and need to make time to create special memories with the ones we love...even if it means getting a little egg shells in the cookie dough.