Every year while baking holiday goodies, I am reminded of my lifelong love and hate relationship with spatulas.

It started as far back as I can remember.  A child.  In the kitchen. Mom is baking all sorts of goodies.  I want to lick the bowl.  But that damn spatula does such a good job scraping up the batter there is hardly anything left for me to enjoy!  “Mom, Stop. Stop Mom!” I’d whine as she worked that spatula until the bowl was nearly clean. Man, I just hated that.

Did you experience this as a child?

Today, as an adult, I appreciate my bright red spatula (pictured above) for the very reason I used to hate it.  Nothing does a better job scraping batter out of the mixing bowl.  But now, with no mom watching me, I grab a spoon and take a nice big helping of raw batter before I hit the bowl with the spatula.

One of my favorite items to bake – and folks love to eat – are my triple-chocolate Ghirardelli brownies.  They are simply the rage among my family and friends. I frequently bake and bring them to parties and Toastmaster events.  In fact, people refer to me as “the Brownie Master.”   I’m not sure why they turn out so darn good – they are a mix, after all.    Others report they cannot seem to duplicate the results I get with the brownies.  Could it be my method?

•  I use filtered water – no tap water
• I use grapeseed oil – which probably adds additional sweetness to the batter
• I use egg whites from a carton  – not “real eggs”
• I underbake the brownies by 3-5 minutes – this keeps them moist and chewy

And, yes, I use my bright red spatula to get every last yummy drop of that batter from the mixing bowl into the pan – minus one big spoonful for me.   However, if I happen to be in the kitchen with another cook baking up some goodies,  that old distaste for the spatula returns as the opportunity for a good helping of the raw batter disappears with every scrape of the bowl.

So, there you have it.  My love and hate relationship with spatulas.  How about you?

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