Cookie DJ

As the cookie baking extravaganza in our kitchen rolls toward C Day, I have begun to comfortably settle into my role in the whole flour- and sugar-encrusted process.

I am the cookie baking DJ.

Yes, occasionally I am entrusted with some other ancillary duties, such as drying dishes, digging spatulas out of the baking drawer, or unwrapping Hershey Kisses from the foil for insertion on top of the peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies, but my primary responsibility is as the late night Youtubin’ DJ who finds and plays the tunes that keep the kitchen moving and grooving along. (At this point, I must also point out the important role KenNY plays as the sous DJ, following along, sometimes leading with his own awesome tunes [minus 311] that make the whole holiday baking experience even more groove-worthy. I am fairly certain that he is also at home, virtually drying virtual cookie sheets and virtually finding virtual spatulas in the virtual baking drawer as the baking evening progresses.)

So what lessons have we learned when it comes to mixing baking with music? Without a doubt, there has to be a big groove and some kind of danceable aspect to the baking music. Giant cookie success has been had thus far with the beats of old skool hip hop and classic ska and reggae. We have also discovered that while the Grateful Dead may be a good choice for baking some kinds of brownies, not so much for the kind of brownies that don’t make you hungry for Cheetos.

But, you might ask, why not just play Christmas music while making Christmas cookies? Good question, glad you asked. For one thing, there may be a burnout factor of having listened to too much Christmas music too early in the season, which can quickly numb the brain when the two radio stations that play Christmas music play the same 25 songs over and over. Plus, it is a total waste of my kitchen talents if all I do is turn on the radio and then stand around and hope there is a heavy volume of cookie sheets to dry and spatulas to be found. (At this point, I should mention that Ethan has actually spent more time than I have this year using the mixer, adding ingredients, etc. I take this only as a validation of my awesome skills as a kitchen DJ, and not a knock at my actual cooking and baking skills.)

You might also ask, at this point, with many cookies left to bake, has the well run dry? Let me just tell you, I am still filled with ideas. I am thinking there will be at least one night of big band swinging cookie baking fueled by the sounds of Frank, Dino, Tony, Al and the boys. When you are entrusted with such awesome baking responsibilities as I am, after all, you have to keep the ingredients fresh.