All You Need is Love (and Cookie)

Advertorial

My wife loves baking. And me? I show my support by eating whatever she bakes. Which luckily for me, isn't a tough job since she whips up tantalising creations every time. So the one time I want to try my hand at baking something - you know, since Chinese New Year is round the corner - the monkies, especially Ale, didn't think I could do it.

I guess Ale's expression said it all. Pretty epic huh?

The only major drawback when it comes to baking though, is the huge amount of work that takes BEFORE the baking process itself - all the organising and making sure I have all the ingredients in, plus a trip to the supermarket or baking shop if I am lacking in any ingredient. All these is enough to make me swear off baking.

Thankfully though, Betty Crocker has the answer for baking newbies like me. To be honest, this was not my first time using Betty Crocker products - we had previously used one of its brownie mix to bake brownies for the monkies' teachers for Teacher's Day. Having saw that the preparation effort was almost non-existent, it was a no-brainer when the monkies requested to bake something for the upcoming Chinese New Year!

So for our weekend bonding session, we settled on the Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix. What is in the mix? It is a combination of enriched flour, brown sugar, and of course chocolate chips. And this for me, is where the cookie mix come into its own. I just had to measure out half a cup of softened butter, take out one egg and voila, the monkies were able to take over the kitchen.

I love it that the kiddos were able to do the adding of the ingredients all by themselves with minimal input from me. Kids being kids, they are always so proud that they are able to make things all by themselves, no?

But since this was going to a treat for the wifey, I had a part to play - by kneading the mixture of the cookie mix, butter and egg until soft dough forms.

After everything had come together, Ayd then had the momentous task of scooping spoonfuls of dough onto the baking tray.

And just like that, we were all done!

All that was left to do was to pop the trays into the oven between 8 and 11 minutes depending on the size of cookies, and bake until the edges are light golden brown.

Then came the all important taste test. And the verdict from the monkies was unanimous: the chocolate chip cookies tasted fantastic, with lovely gooey middles and a bit of a crunch on the outside. Definitely sounds like just how a cookie should be!

For the monkies, their motivation in helping out with the baking of the cookies is getting to eat whatever they made at the end whereas for me, I am just happy that there is absolutely no complexity in the baking process at all.

Everything about Betty Crocker bake mixes is just so fuss-free and insanely easy to do. There are no elaborate ingredients to prepare, minimal mess and infinitely easier than baking from scratch especially for people who are new to baking... like me!

But the most important thing of all though, is the chance to involve my monkies in a fun activity at home... without the fear of the kitchen looking like a war zone after we are done.