You CAN teach an old dog new tricks! I am living proof! I do not cook dinner or bake…thank goodness for my husband for keeping my family well fed. For birthdays I order cakes and cookies months in advance to guarantee I will not be in panic mode the day of the party.
This past fall, my son turned 7. When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday treat at school, he replied, “I want cookies and I want YOU to make them from a recipe.” Immediately, my face flushed and I am pretty sure beads of sweat started forming at my hair line. “You want mmmmm…me to make your cookies? You mean for me to buy them, right?” Nope. I heard him right. He wanted ME to make them. I felt ill, but accepted his challenge!
I immediately hit Pinterest. I needed an EASY cookie that I could make. One that would taste good and not be a Pinterest fail. Luckily the same week I began my search was also my son’s Halloween party. He came home with the perfect sugar cookie. I contacted the moms that made them and they were super-duper sweet and shared their recipe with me.
I immediately tried the recipe and (in my opinion) I nailed it! But…not only did Landon want me to make him cookies, he wanted Harry Potter cookies for his 7th birthday! Back to Pinterest for an icing recipe. I ended up finding one that looked simple enough and did a test round of cookies for his Mario party and they (again in my opinion) looked AWESOME! I then felt confident enough to tackle the Harry Potter cookies which also turned out great!
Turns out…with a little bit of patience and a block of time, I am actually pretty good at decorating cookies. Since his Mario and Harry Potter themed cookies, I have made Christmas, Valentines, St. Patrick’s, Easter, and lots of just for fun cookies. For 34 years I considered myself a non-cook and non-baker. Little did I know I had a secret ability to make cookies! I thank my 7-year-old for challenging me to step outside of my comfort zone and bake instead of buy. I now have a great example to use with my kiddos when they are nervous to try something new. The BEST part of the experience is when he told me, “See Mom. I knew you could do it.”
My advice…no matter how old you are…take the challenge to step out of your comfort zone! You will never know what secret talents you may have if you don’t.