A/N: Lovingly ripped from post/118449653431 /baking-cookies-with-a-4-year-old, if you haven't checked out his blog please do! Seriously adorable and completely sweet.
"Can I help?"
Benezia paused for only a moment, her hand reaching for the first ingredients as Liara somehow managed to sit with both feet under her and her face pressed flat against the counter. They were supposed to go to the park today, but as howling winds and rain deemed otherwise Benezia had tried to make it up. After all, she'd cleared her calendar specifically to spend time with this always growing, ever exploring, and somehow constantly covered in dirt and grass stains child. She had never been so in love in her life.
"Of course you can, wash your hands and we can start." Benezia spoke softly and tried not to smile too much as Liara rolled her eyes. She hopped up on the step stool and did the hastiest hand washing Benezia had ever seen. "With soap and warm water please." Liara washed a second time while Benezia put all the ingredients next to one another.
As Liara walked back over and climbed onto a chair, Benezia pointed at the book. "The first step is to add butter—"
"I want to do it!" Liara, her little quiet girl, somehow always managed to find a loud and authoritative voice when it came to food.
Benezia felt her lips twitch again towards a smile. Food, her daughter's true love after Protheans.
"Alright, just put the butter," Benezia pursed her lips as Liara practically slammed it into the bowl, "yes, throw it in just like that. Now we need two thirds of a cup of brown sugar."
Not trusting Liara to not simply dump the sugar onto the floor Benezia made sure to pull the bag herself. She filled the measuring cup and continued, "We need to pack it down, just like this." After demonstrating, she emptied the cup and passed it to her daughter. Liara's small frown and furrowed brow were signs of her concentration as she did exactly what her mother had. "Great, now dump that into—Little Wing, do not eat it." Too late, pudgy blue hands had already grabbed a decent amount and brown sugar seemed to cling to her small chin. "Liara, we need to be precise for this recipe to work, I know it tastes good but it is for the cookies. Now I will just add a little more to make up for what you ate." Benezia made quick work of the sugar and skillfully swatted away Liara's grasping hand letting all the sugar get into the bowl. "Liara. Enough. You have had plenty of sugar." She pushed the bag away to a far corner before glancing at the book again.
"Alright, now we need to add baking soda." Benezia picked up the spoons and began to scoop it out.
"Momma I want to do it!" Liara held out her hand, and after a moment Benezia gave her the spoon.
"Then you shall do it. Make the spoonful nice and level and—do not eat that. Let's not eat anything else without asking first." Benezia noted that the white powder now clung to Liara's dress somehow. "Next we will add the salt."
"Can I have some salt?"
"Well you have been such a good helper, a pinch and no more my child." Benezia scooped a small amount of salt from the bowl and added it to the mix before she saw a blue hand darting back and forth. "Liara, that is enough salt! I said one pinch and how many did you take?"
Fingers still in her mouth, Liara mumbled something that was distinctly not one before asking with more clarity, "Can I have one more pinch?"
Benezia sighed, "You have had three times the one I said, no more. But thank you for asking." Much like the sugar, the salt bowl was quickly moved out of reach. "Do you want to put the bowl onto the mixer?"
"Yes please!" Liara grabbed the bowl, her chair tipping far enough for Benezia to lose a few years off her life, and snapped it into the mixer stand. "What's this?" Smudgy fingerprints appeared all over the attachment.
"It is called a paddle attachment, like the paddles for a small boat. Now we turn it onto a medium speed."
Liara's eyes hovered on the numbers for a moment before swinging back down to the unmixed dry ingredients in front of her. Benezia cleared her throat and Liara looked back up at the mixer. "Right here, in the middle?"
"That is exactly right; now pull this knob towards you until you reach that middle number." Benezia pulled a few of the wet ingredients towards them, as always a half eye on her daughter. "Liara T'Soni, do not put your fingers in there. It will hurt and you may break them." Liara's hovering hand lowered and again rested on the outside of the bowl. Benezia felt an exasperated smile struggling on her own face. "Next we put an egg in."
"Can I do it?" Liara eyed the eggs for only a moment before she grabbed one and cracked it in. Her little chest puffed up. "Valen let me practice this week!"
Benezia smiled as she asked, "Is that why my eggs were so crunchy this week?"
It was worth the tiny glare and pout, Goddess it made her cheeks seem a little pudgier when she tilts her head in like that. Chin to throat and all cute. A kiss on the head and one on each cheek wiped it away even as Liara still tried to look upset.
"Alright now the vanilla." Benezia filled the cap and waited, when there was no request to pour it, she did so herself. "It smells very good, but this also tastes bad on its own." She handed the cap over and pretended not to notice Liara sticking her finger in it and trying the residue, and pretending not to laugh as she stuck out her tongue in disgust.
Benezia quickly scraped the sides of the bowl and set the spatula aside. "Now we need to set the— Liara. Do not lick the spatula! I promise they taste better cooked and contain no raw eggs."
"But it tastes good now too." Liara protested, somehow not getting any of the batter on her face as the spatula was pulled away.
"But if you wait then we'll have cookies to eat together. We can have them in the sunroom so we can listen to the storm." Benezia clicked the mixer to low. "Now, get me a cup of flour, and make it even like we did with the baking soda. Very slowly, very slowly, add that in. Too fast and—"
There was a poof of white and the matriarch was mostly surprised at herself for falling for it.
Benezia dusted off Liara's face as the flour settled all around the mixer. "Let us try that again, but slowly yes? Much better! Now for the last ingredient to make these cookies chocolate chip cookies."
"Chocolate chips!" Liara reached for them, paused, and looked up at Benezia. "Can I have some please, please, please?"
Benezia quickly filled a very small cup with them. "Here, you can have these chips while I fold the others into the batter." Reaching over she deftly stole a small pinch of the chocolates from Liara who tried to squeak out a protest with a mouthful of them.
The mixer whirred and Benezia happily tricked Liara into looking away several times to steal more chocolate chips. Small blue eyes would glare at her with suspicion while she tried to project an aura of innocence. Finally turning the machine off, Benezia pulled out a few spoons and parchment paper.
"Alright, now these go onto these trays. Just scoop a little dough with this spoon and use your finger to put it on the tray." Benezia wasn't sure how the trays had managed to not suffer too much flour dusting considering the rest of the area. A quick glance told her enough to know the two of them would be banned from the kitchen for a while after this.
"That makes my fingers sticky." Liara's protest hardly seemed appropriate as Benezia clearly remembered sticky fingers all over the bowl.
Using every ounce of showmanship, Benezia looked left and right before leaning down and stage whispering. "You can lick your fingers in between cookies, just to make them clean for the next one."
Sitting up straight again, Benezia began to fill her tray while Liara did the same. And "by the same", it was of course meant that Liara ate every other cookie she was supposed to make.
"I said you could lick your fingers, not eat the raw dough. Are you sure you want to make cookies?" Benezia asked as she finished out her tray.
Immediately Liara bent back to her task putting the cookies on the sheet. Within moments she began to use the spoon to eat the dough directly from the bowl.
"Alright, now you are not even trying to make cookies. These will be much better when we cook them, I promise. Here, let me help you finish and—"
"No! This is my sheet, you have your own!"
Yes, food and Protheans, there was that voice again.
"But mine is full and yours has only a few cookies see?" Benezia pointed at each of the five in turn.
"…but I want to do it!" Liara said with conviction, even as she put the sixth scoop into her mouth instead of the tray.
"Tell you what; I think that Tarfin the Talxu is going to come on soon. Why don't you wash up and watch that while I finish these cookies?" Benezia smiled as Liara flew off her seat as if propelled by a spring. "Take a bath and don't forget to wash behind your crest!"
Taking another look around the thoroughly trashed kitchen Benezia reflected that even her all night parties as a maiden had erred towards something less messy and destroyed. That thought stuck as Benezia suddenly realized that she had sent Liara to wash up alone. In the tub. She hoped it was possible for her to clean up this mess and get clean cleaning up that mess.