Everybody Loves Cookies!

My husband thought I was insane. I'm pretty sure he called me "certifiable" the first time I told him I was avoiding the kitchen because I was letting our 10-year-old bake on her own. I had been letting her watch Nerdy Nummies on youtube (if you haven't been introduced to Ro do yourself a favor and check out her youtube channel: RosannaPansino) and my little girl was convinced that she was ready to make some yummy treats all on her own. I blame the Nerdy Nummie Queen entirely. She's cute, she's funny, she's relatively kid-friendly, and she is the MacGyver of tasty snacks. So I gave my daughter a box of cake mix and set her lose in our kitchen (I'll put the recipe she started with at the bottom of this post).
I heard the SPLAT! as she dropped an egg. I held my ground at the top of the stairs, out of sight, and listened. A few unintelligible elementary school curses were uttered but she cleaned up her mess quickly and continued on with her task (yes folks! the child cleaned!). 30 minutes later my daughter was standing in front my husband and me with a plate full of cake mix cookies the biggest grin imaginable. My husband quickly inhaled several cookies and very loudly announced that they were, "Better than mommy's!!" She had succeeded!

I should probably tell you now that my baby was diagnosed with ADHD several years ago and has major focus issues. The fact that she stayed on task was a miracle. It is a constant battle for our family that I know many of you share. I am sure I will get into this reality more later on in the life of this blog.
That was several months ago. Very few days pass now when she doesn't ask if she can make more cookies. At this point, I think I may turn into a cookie! It makes her happy and it helps her focus and that makes it a winning activity!
Today my daughter and step-daughter begged me to let them make cookies all by themselves. The word, "sure," had already escaped my mouth when I realized we were out of cake mix! (Oh no!) They were jumping up and down cheering and I quickly decided that it was time to give them a bag of flour and a real recipe. So after a ten minute crash course on how to use my kitchen aid mixer I excused myself to the living room and let them make their very first batch of chocolate chip cookies. They fought over who would crack the egg and who would pour the chocolate chips into the mixing bowl but in the end they produced two dozen chocolate chip cookies that would make Ro proud.
The moral to my rambling is that despite my reservations about letting them use the oven on their own, they achieved a milestone today. They are proud of themselves and have added another skill to their quickly growing childhood resume. So let them be little, but let them grow up too, mommies!

Cake Mix Cookie Recipe                 
1 box (15-16oz) cake mix (we prefer funfetti)
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients and spoon tablespoon size blobs of dough on to greased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes.