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The Great Cookie Mix-Up

Ages 6-9 | Story and 9 activities

Hadassah and her brother Moshe decide to bake cookies for Shabbos, all by themselves.

Mommy is at a meeting, and Totty is busy fixing the sink. The kitchen is theirs.

"I'll read the recipe," says Hadassah, holding up the card. "You measure."

"Okay!" says Moshe, rolling up his sleeves.

They take out flour, butter, eggs, chocolate chips, and the big mixing bowl. Hadassah reads the steps, and Moshe does them. First, cream the butter and sugar. He mixes hard, and a little flies onto his nose.

"Next," says Hadassah. "Add two eggs."

Moshe cracks them. One shell falls into the bowl, but he fishes it out with a spoon.

"Then a teaspoon of vanilla. Then one cup of sugar."

Moshe grabs the white canister from the shelf and scoops a big heap into the bowl. He stirs. The dough looks just right. Thick and sticky and pale.

Hadassah stirs in the flour and chips. Moshe drops spoonfuls onto the tray. The oven is already hot. They slide it in.

"Fifteen minutes," says Hadassah. "Then we'll have the best cookies ever."

They sit at the table, watching the oven light. The smell fills the kitchen. It is sweet and buttery. Moshe's stomach rumbles.

When the timer rings, they pull out the tray. The cookies are golden and puffy. They look perfect.

"I call the first one!" says Moshe.

He grabs a warm cookie and takes a big bite. His face changes.

"Blech!" he says, and spits it into the napkin. "It's SALTY!"

"Salty? Cookies aren't salty."

Hadassah takes a bite. She chews once. Her eyes water. "Oh no. It tastes like the sea."

They stare at each other. Then they look at the canister on the counter. The white one. It says, in Mommy's handwriting, SALT.

"You used the salt," says Hadassah.

"I thought it was the sugar!" says Moshe. "It was the same kind of container!"

Their eyes meet. A giggle escapes. Then another. Soon they are laughing so hard that Moshe has to hold the counter.

"Salt cookies!" gasps Hadassah. "The first ever!"

"We could sell them to a fish!" says Moshe.

Totty comes in from the bathroom with a wrench in his hand. "What's so funny?"

"We made salt cookies," says Hadassah, wiping her eyes.

Totty takes a bite. His whole face scrunches up. He starts to laugh too.

"Well," he says. "That's a real surprise."

"We'll try again," says Moshe. "But this time, we'll check the labels."

Hadassah finds another canister, this one marked SUGAR, and they measure carefully. They taste the dough. Sweet. Perfect.

This time, the cookies come out right. They are crisp on the edges and soft in the middle. Moshe eats three.

At Shabbos, they set the plate in the center of the table, with a little card in Hadassah's handwriting: Cookies of the Week (the second try).

"What happened to the first batch?" asks Mommy.

"We gave them to the birds," says Moshe.

"Even the birds didn't like them," says Hadassah.

Everyone laughs. And for years afterward, whenever someone makes a mistake in the kitchen, Totty will say, "Don't worry. Remember the salt cookies."