A/N: More fun with Sayuri and Kakashi, yay!
The recipe is for 'Nauvoo Gingerbread Cookies', technically, but I think all the good recipes are about the same. I haven't tried it personally, because I'm a terrible cook, but it sounds good. You really can substitute the lard for shortening, by the way. I checked.
Christmas with the Hatakes
By: Reggie
December 3rd: Gingerbread
It had taken several months, but Kakashi was now ninety-eight percent sure that the bottle was the right temperature. Always in the past he had made it to cold, which had always made Sayuri fussy and sometimes upset her stomach, so he usually stuck to bottles of baby food when Iruka wasn't around. This time, however, he was trying to get the little girl to sleep. She refused to take a nap earlier, but Kakashi knew from experience that a cranky Sayuri was far from a good thing. Uncontrolled blood limits were not pleasant.
Hopefully, the warm bottle would lull the stubborn little girl to sleep.
With a small flourish and a grin, Kakashi placed the warm-but-not-hot bottle on her high chair tray and grinned. "Lunch is served, princess."
Sayuri looked up at him skeptically and made no move to reach for the bottle. Both of them knew she was quite capable of feeding herself with it, she would do it for Iruka, but she didn't seem to trust that this particular bottle was good enough for her.
Kakashi shrugged and left it there. He had seen Iruka do this often enough with small pieces of food he wanted her to try. She wouldn't want to, but the minute Iruka's back was turned they would be in her mouth. Hopefully, the bottle would work the same.
In the mean time, the Jounin had cookies to be making. Iruka had let it slip not long ago that gingerbread cookies where his favorite, and once the idea of making them for Iruka as a surprise had gotten in to the Copy-nin's head it would not leave. He had time to make and chill the dough now, and still have time to cook them so they would be nice and warm when Iruka got home.
Kakashi took his recipe, bribed from Ayame, out of his pocket. "Alright, first we need one cup of sugar." The Jounin couldn't help but make a face. He wasn't a fan of sweet things, generally, and one cup of sugar seemed a lot to him.
Sayuri must have found his face amusing, as she could see it without his mask on, and she giggled from her high chair. Apparently, the bottle hadn't been picked up yet.
As instructed, Kakashi put the cup of sugar in a bowl, followed by a cup of molasses. The recipe also called for three-fourths cup of lard, but Ayame had told him to substitute shortening when he'd made a disgusted noise at that idea, so he added that into the bowl as well.
"Mix until smooth," he read aloud, though he wasn't sure whose benefit it was for. It wasn't like Sayuri would be taking notes. It just felt like that's what he should be doing since she was sitting there staring at him over the tip of the bottle.
Not really relishing the idea of stirring those distinctly not smooth things together until they looked that way, Kakashi decided now was a good time to get back to the original problem. He walked back over to his daughter's high chair, picked up the bottle, and tried to hand it to her. "Come on, Sayuri-chan. You must be hungry, it's lunch time now."
She just continued to stare at him, half-lidded eyes clearly saying 'I know what you're trying to do, and I'm not buying it.'
"Most willful child ever created," Kakashi muttered, but he couldn't help but smile. Who could expect different, if you combined himself and Iruka? Shizune had looked ill at the very thought of how the girl might turn out when she was older. "You're not going to defeat me in a war of wills just yet, little girl. I know you're hungry, and I'm going to leave this here and you there until it's gone."
Sayuri defiantly knocked the bottle to the ground.
Frowning at this, Kakashi stood up and scratched his head. This was quite the predicament. If he put the bottle back up, she'd only throw it down again, and that would get them nowhere. Maybe it was time to try a different tactic. Maybe if he left the bottle on the floor until she started reaching for it, she might be more willing to cooperate.
He instead returned to the counter, picking up his bowl to start mixing. "I just can't wait until you learn to talk, Sayuri-chan. I'm certain you're going to have an earful for me."
There was no response from the high chair corner.
Once he'd gotten the mixture into what Kakashi thought it probably meant by smooth, he added two eggs and stirred those in. A quick glance over his shoulder told him that Sayuri still hadn't moved, so he proceeded with the instructions. Six cups flour, one teaspoon baking soda, one half a teaspoon salt, one teaspoon of cinnamon and the final, most important ingredient, of one and a half teaspoons ground ginger were all added to the mixture, leaving Kakashi with a soft dough substance when all was said and done.
Sayuri had not made a noise or any attempt to reach for the bottle at all, and this had the Jounin on edge. Now she wasn't going to be cranky only because she was tired, but also because she was hungry. This was not good.
While their daughter was perfectly agreeable and affectionate when things were going how she wanted them, she would turn angry and stubborn the instant you tried to go against her will. This was something Kakashi really hoped maturity would smooth out a bit, but in the mean time he had to deal with shrieking wails and, worse, the realistic genjutsu she could unleash. It was difficult to fight with something that could see inside your mind and would modify to your thoughts.
The Copy-nin bent down, scooping the bottle off the floor. Sayuri's eyes followed it, but she made no move to reach for it.
It was then that Kakashi had what may or may not have been his most brilliant idea in the history of his brilliant ideas.
He was fairly certain Iruka was going to kill him for this—something in these cookies had to be on that allergen list he was always talking about, and he was completely positive the raw eggs were a 'do not do'—but as long as nothing happened Iruka wouldn't have to know. And Kakashi REALLY hoped nothing would happen, but he was out of other ideas. If this didn't work, he was going to have to put up with oddly powerful and uncontrolled genjutsu until Iruka got home and calmed her down.
Remembering only too well the first time the infant had let loose her blood limit in a fit of rage, Kakashi determined the pay off far outweighed any potential risks. He smeared a little of the dough on the tip of the bottle and put it back on the tray.
This caught the little girl's interest enough that she forgot drinking the bottle wasn't something she wanted to do. Like all new things, her first reaction was to stick it in her mouth, which was exactly what Kakashi wanted.
To the Jounin's immense relief, Sayuri was sound asleep before the dough had finished chilling.