The Small British Bake-Off

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Well, dears, your girls are most persuasive! Once Meet Me Under the Mistletoe mentioned baking to Santa, the others couldn’t have been more excited. I was a wee bit nervous about putting such little’uns in the kitchen, but as my Granny Dewey always said, it’s never too early to learn about the joys of the perfect pastry.

My, they were cute in their aprons and baker’s hats, although we had to convince Mistletoe in Manhattan that in France some people wear baker’s berets … her head is just too tiny for the hat. Talli, if she grows up to become a baker and still wears the beret, please do apologize for me.

It’s always best to start slowly with these things, since some of the tots hadn’t been in the kitchen before. When I Fall In Love said she had a long history of ice cream making spanning several continents, but I suspect she may have been embellishing, given her age. A Merry Little Christmas, on the other hand, certainly knows her whisk from her pastry brush. We’d barely begun before she suggested mince pies (and Christmas carols - what better way to indulge our festive spirits?). She just needed a boost to reach the worktop to roll out the crust, and a little help opening the mincemeat jar.

Victoria, dear, I’m terribly sorry about Christmas with Mr Darcy’s dress. Those silks do seem to attract trouble! It was my fault, really, since I asked The Twelve Days to Christmas to open the food colouring for the icing (I thought it best to keep her away from things like knives). She didn’t mean to leave handprints on Darcy’s bustle – she just wanted to feel the material. Perhaps you can dye the dress to match the blue? And Michele, a good dose of lemon juice should get her hands back to normal in a few days.

With Love at Christmas made sure everyone had a job to do, since not everyone showed a flair for baking. Married by Christmas was happiest on cleanup detail. In all my years I’ve never seen such a neat child. Scarlett, is she available for weekends? I’m kidding, dear. She’s much too short to reach my windows… She did cause a bit of a fuss with Winter Wonderland by putting away the bowls Wonderland was trying to use. Wonderland forgave her quickly though, by throwing her arms around her and saying she loved her. Aww.

Santa Maybe wasn’t interested in baking until she heard there were fairy cakes involved. Then we couldn’t keep her out of the icing sugar. I suppose it does sparkle like fairy dust when you throw it. With Love at Christmas was fairy dusted to within an inch of her life, but she didn’t mind at all and continued her carols, loud and proud, while de-dusting. I have to admire her effort, if not her musicality.

We were all in the Christmas spirit by the end of the day, with piles of mince pies and snowflake cookies and pink and green fairy cakes. Meet Me Under the Mistletoe was beside herself with joy to see so much bakery goodness. I haven’t the heart to tell her that she’s not exactly a natural baker. After all, salt and sugar do look alike, and you can’t really expect someone to know when to take the cakes from the oven when she can’t yet tell time. We’ll try again though and I bet that with practice she really will get to try out for the Great British Bake-Off. I do hope so, since that’s her heart’s desire.

Until next time,
Kindest regards,
Miss Dewey