Beater Licking Good.

One of the happiest childhood memories that I have is licking the beaters whenever I helped my Mom in the kitchen. Whether it was cookie dough or brownie batter or icing, licking the beaters was always the best part about baking at that young age. It's that little preview of the treat you're helping to create, that little something extra that seems like it shouldn't be allowed but it is.

I also have a less than happy childhood memory associated with the beaters. When I was a kid I had long curly brown hair that I would always get compliments on. I'm sure you can see where this is going. Long hair + beaters = bad news. So this one time when I was helping my Mom with the baking I got a little too close for comfort and a piece of my hair zipped right into the running beaters and yanked out. Ouch. It wasn't much but it still hurt. Needless to say we didn't eat that batch of cookies and from then on I was to tie my hair back when helping in the kitchen. But I did get to eat some Soda-Licious gummy fruit snacks to ease the pain and dry my tears. That was never allowed at home. Fruit snacks were strictly for school lunches and nothing else, though I did attempt to sneak them whenever I could.

The reason for all this nostalgia about beaters is yet to come. As an adult I don't normally lick the beaters anymore. I tend to just throw them in the sink and my inner child always fights to get free and save the smidgen of wasted batter still clinging to them. There are times though when licking the beaters is absolutely necessary like with this White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting. I stood there in my kitchen and licked clean the spatula, the scraped bowl and the mixing paddle. I couldn't help myself. My inner child made me do it. My electric beaters might have transformed into a Kitchen Aid Mixer paddle attachment, but that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to lick it.