So, maybe it’s a rainy Friday afternoon. And maybe your toddler asks you to pull out his “lellow” rolling pin (because of course you’ve already bought him his own bright yellow silicone mini-rolling pin). “Why?” you ask. “Because I want to bake with you,” he says as if you’re a ninny for not deducing that. “What would you like to bake?” “Cookies.” “What kind of cookies?” “Hmmmm,” he pauses, in that adorable way that’s been making you kvell lately. “Mango cookies,” he decides.

And maybe, even though you’ve never heard of mango cookies, never thought of mango cookies, certainly never seen a recipe for mango cookies, you decide to throw caution to the wind and make mango cookies. Heck, how hard can it be to bake something toddleriffic using mangos?

So you pull out some refrigerated pie dough—which is part of your New Mom’s Pantry—and some frozen mango chunks—also part of the NMP—and improvise. Who knows, you think, maybe you’ll hit a home run and create a new classic.Maybe you and your toddler will gobble up the newly invented Mango Cookie Turnovers and do a little happy dance around the kitchen. Maybe you’ll have a terrifically easy new recipe to share with your readers.

Maybe not.

After all the rolling of dough (and sticking of toddler fingernails into said dough), all the dicing of mango, all the folding and sealing, you guess inaccurately about how long your incredible new treat will take to bake. And you burn them, just a bit. Just enough to make your toddler hate them so much he wipes off his tongue on his sleeve.

Hey, they can’t all be winners. At least you filled a rainy Friday afternoon.

baking failures toddler zen