Baking With Baba - Grandparents.com

In columnist, master baker, and cookbook writer Flo Braker's kid-friendly kitchen there's always a line of tiny sous chefs at the ready.

Flo Braker started baking for her grandchildren long before she ever had any. "My first grandchild," she says, "was a dog." Chelsea, her daughter Julie and son-in-law Robert's King Charles spaniel, inspired her to create a recipe for dog biscuits, which some say are tasty enough even for humans to eat.

Known as the award-winning author of four books on baking and the baking columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle's food section, Braker admits to being a closet cook as well.

"I'm a baker in public and a cook in private," she says. So it's no surprise that when grandchildren finally arrived, Braker immediately began to entertain them in the kitchen.

Joshua, 10, Natalie, 7, and Daniel, 5, have been working in the kitchen with "Baba" since they were old enough to hold a spoon. The kid-friendly kitchen includes a mini-workstation Braker set up years ago for her own children with small-scale utensils, a rolling pin just big enough for little hands, a table, and three small chairs kept under the ten-foot peninsula she uses as a baking center.

In the kitchen, Braker always gives the kids a big say in what they make. "When they were very little and didn't care about measuring," she says, "I'd let them just play, mixing together whatever ingredients they wanted to see what would happen." Now that they are older, this kitchen staff still goes with the flow. "Usually we just do what the kids want to do," she says. "It doesn't really matter what we make, only that we're together and have a good time."

Kid foods are usually on the menu, including cookies and brownies, mac and cheese, tiny pancakes called "heavenly hots," and family favorites like Flo's Snappy Snack Cake, which is especially handy to make with kids because it doesn't require a mixer. "The kids can take turns stirring it," she explains, "and I can feel their muscles and tell them how strong they are."

While the grandchildren are having fun learning to make their favorite foods, Braker is teaching them more than just baking and cooking. The lessons include everything from working carefully to staying healthy to doing math. Even mistakes offer the kids something to learn. "They can see things don't always work out," Braker explains, "then try to rectify that, and if they can't, just learn to carry on."

Living creatively by working with recipes to make something new is another important lesson. A framed photo of a cake that little Natalie adorned with gobs of icing and loads of sprinkles in a riot of colors is in Braker’s breakfast room. "No recipe is really sacred," she says, though the Snack Cake comes close.

When the kids especially like something they cook or bake, Braker writes down the recipe for them to add to the recipe file she's helping each of them collect. She sees these recipes as more than just instructions for reproducing their favorite foods; they are also reminders of the special times they've had together. She hopes that when her grandchildren use their recipes later on they will remember what she calls "the good times, good tastes, and good conversations "they had in Baba’s kitchen.

Making everyday occasions special and creating lasting memories through baking are also the themes of Baking for All Occasions by Flo Braker (Chronicle Books, 2008).