One of my very special memories of my mom is baking cakes and brownies with her. Especially the chocolate variety. She had one of those Sunbeam electric mixers (I still have it, by the way), that was white with a black handle on top and an black twisty-turny-thingy to change the speeds with. It had two clear bowls that came with it. It was the bowl that I was most interested in. That's because the bowl would contain the remnants of the batter of either the cake or the brownies. My mom was very adept at getting out most of the batter with one of those rubber spatulas. But, then there were the beaters. These usually had quite a bit of batter dripping from them, and I was very adept at getting off most of the batter with my tongue. I would always ask her to leave more batter in the bowl, but she carefully explained to me that if she didn't use all the batter, the cake or brownies wouldn't bake correctly.
Fast forward to when my daughters would stand on a kitchen chair at her counter waiting for my mom to hand them the bowl and the beaters. It was always a mystery to me as to how those cakes and brownies turned out just fine when my mom would leave about a cup of batter in the bowl for them to 'lick.'
Really ? They could drink the batter from the bowl. When I questioned her about the amount of batter she left in the bowl and the fact that the cake probably wouldn't bake correctly, her reply was, "WWWWEEEEELLLL . . . and then pat the granddaughter on the head and hug and kiss her.
Really ?
My girls have special memories of my mother, and one of them is baking brownies with her.
That's why when I'm with Little Miss P and Baby Dub-Ya, we always bake brownies.
Then we lick the bowls and the beaters and the whisks and the spatulas . . .
Here is a series of photographs taken while the brownies were baking . . .notice that each lick has a special technique . . .
The "I Really Need to Concentrate on This - Lick. "
The "I Think My Tongue Can Reach That Little Drip Right There - Lick."
The "Make Sure You're Looking Where You're Licking - Lick."
The "I Think I Can Get This Whole Whisk in My Mouth - Lick."
The "Lackadaisical-Daydreaming - Lick."
The "This Is Really Decadent - Lick."
The "Where Do I Lick Next - Lick ?"
The "How Far Can I Stick Out My Tongue - Lick ?"
The "I Can Do This With My Eyes Shut - Lick."
The "I Think I'm Getting Sleepy - Lick."
The "I'm Finished and Can Wash My Face with My Tongue - Lick."
Now, you may be wondering where Little Miss P was while her little brother was licking away.
She was there.
And she was licking, too.
She just had a different technique.
And it was not nearly as messy
