Baking too close to the flame

Beating on pecans with a rolling pin is a great way to take out the frustrations, except that it inevitably creates more frustrations, to wit: little bits of chopped pecan flying all over the kitchen. But that's easier to clean up than spilled molasses. No matter how carefully I clean up the drops of molasses on the floor, I can't seem to get them all--and then someone (probably me) steps in a drop and spreads molasses around the house. 

I know that molasses is supposed to go in the cookie dough and not on the floor, but nobody's perfect, and some of us are the extreme opposite. I admit that I am a messy cook. I blame the fact that I'm always multitasking--baking one set of cookies while beating up batter for the next, and then when the oven timer beeps just as I'm pouring the molasses, something's gotta give.

For evidence, just look at my best-loved recipes: all splattered with splotches of batter and goo. Some are even burned on the edges, evidence of baking too close to the flame. This is why I rarely take my computer or phone anywhere near the food preparation space. Imagine molasses on the keyboard!

I prefer to imagine the end result: a clean floor, a house full of family, and platters of Christmas cookies that need to be decorated. Perfect? No, but delicious all the same.