Closed Star's Disastrous Snickerdoodles Solo Errand

August 14, 2020 | The Kennedy Flat, Edinburgh, Scotland | Breakfast

The Kennedy flat was usually quiet in the mornings during the summer holiday. Her older brother was off at university in London and her little sister was one to sleep in until at least 1 PM in the summertime. There was a reason her sister was called 'Stella the Bear' in the mornings, and it certainly wasn't for her normally adorable demeanor. But Starlee didn't mind having the mornings to herself. She was able to chat with her mother before she was off to work in the pharmacy down the street and she could help out her father with his rooftop greenhouse without the numerous wild interruptions from Stella that were certain to occur later on in the day. That 7-year old had the energy of a bunny... perhaps its because she slept so dang long.

This morning seemed no different from the others, she hugged her mother goodbye and sat down at the table to eat the rest of breakfast with her dad. They were chatting about what needed to be done up in the greenhouse that morning when an owl dropped in and delivered a letter on the table.

Starlee thought there was no way the letter could be for her, not after she had already received her Hogwarts acceptance letter earlier in the summer. However, her dad picked it up, looked at it, and handed it to her, with a look of confusion on her face. "It's addressed to you there Star! Wonder what it could be about..." The owl quickly zoomed off, no doubt to send off more letters, as it had quite the bundle in its claws. She looked at the return address... it was from Hogwarts again, but the 'Keeper of Keys and Grounds' there. 'What in the world could this be about... and what is a 'Keeper of Keys and Grounds' exactly?' Starlee thought. She quickly tore open the letter and read it through. 'So this guy wanted Starlee to bake for him? And it would show him how magical she was? Sounds strange, but why not?'' She looked back up at her father, who was expectantly looking for a response as to what the letter was about. "Seems one of the professors at Hogwarts wants me to bake something for them..." She looked around at their small kitchen. Her family had never been the best at cooking, usually opting for takeaway whenever possible, but Starlee felt as though cookies from a pre-made cookie package just simply wouldn't cut it here. "Some sort of way to tell how magical I am? Can someone do that?" Her dad took the letter from her and read it himself. He chucked a little as he read it, knowing that this was not really what the baking contest was about, and decided to play along with it. He said, "Of course they can, we've got some ingredients in the cupboard, do you have anything in mind?"

'What to bake, what to bake.' She spent the morning trying to come up with something... anything, that she could bake that would be unique and fun. She had managed to pull down one of her mum's old cookbooks, entirely covered with dust since no one ever seemed to cook, and she slowly flipped through the pages. 'Everything is either too basic or too hard!' She certainly wasn't going to make Baklava, whatever that was, it looked way too complex for her. 'I mean, look at all those layers!' She flipped on to the next page. It was then she finally found her baking muse... Snickerdoodles. Just the combination of cinnamon and sugar made her mouth water. It didn't seem too hard either, certainly something she could make on her own.

Before she could get started, Starlee heard a cascade of thumps coming from the stairs in their flat. It seemed Stella was awake and ready to cause trouble. Stella darted into the kitchen, to where Starlee had gathered all the ingredients she would need for the cookies. "Whatcha doing? Whatcha doing? Whatcha dooooooooooooooing?" She asked in her high-pitched voice. Starlee wanted to ignore Stella, but it was going to be nearly impossible to get anything done if she did, so she decided to play along.

"I'm making cookies." She said simply, knowing full well her sister would want to be involved. Anywhere there was sugar, that's where Stella was.

"I'll help, I'll help!" she said as she jumped up and down, gripping the sides of the countertop. She ran off to grab her stepstool and promptly put it down next to Starlee.

"Okay..." she said while taking a look at the recipe from the book. "First we gotta mix a bunch of stuff together. Oh... and preheat the oven!" She went over to it, set it at the temperature that the book recommended, 350 degrees Farenheight, and began combining butter, sugar, vanilla, and eggs into a bowl. She handed it to her sister and said "Okay, now mix this all up for me! I'll read whats next." Her sister began to vigorously stir the ingredients, making sure it was all combined. Starlee then added the baking soda and flour to her sister's bowl and instructed her sister to mix some more, while Starlee worked on the cinnamon-sugar coating.

Starlee noticed her sister set down the bowl and then run away, but Starlee figured she was just bored or perhaps needed to go to the bathroom. Her sister had other plans. Starlee finished all the directions and was ready to place the cookies into the oven to bake. Only 10 minutes and they should be done! She felt proud of herself until she saw smoke rising out of the oven. Oh no. She ran upstairs to get her father, yelling all the while. "DAD! DAD! SOMETHINGS WRONG WITH THE COOKIES! SMOKE! SMOKE!" Her father pushed past her down the stairs to the kitchen and opened the oven to a cascade of smoke pouring out. He pulled out the cookies, or... well... mostly burnt crisps, and looked down at her scoldingly.

"What were you thinking? 500 degrees is WAY too high for these!" he said as he shut off the oven and threw the cookie crisps in the sink, drowning them in water. Starlee's mouth dropped. 500 degrees? The recipe said 350! And that's exactly what I had set it at! Stella was nowhere in sight, no doubt she had changed the temperature in an effort to have the cookies get done faster. Well, her plan certainly backfired.

"It wasn't me dad... I set it at 350..." but she was interrupted by a scolding father who said he would watch her carefully as she alone remade the cookies. 'Ugh. Why wouldn't parents ever listen?' She had to do this all over again. With everything fresh on her mind, she set herself to making it again, this time with the watchful eye of her father. Everything went according to the recipe this time and she pulled the nicely baked snickerdoodles out of the oven as they were done, with her sister hovering over her, ready to pounce the moment they were ready. Her father managed to pull Stella away before she burned herself, and Starlee got out a tin for the freshly baked cookies. After they had cooled, she placed three inside, along with a little note for the groundskeeper, and tied it all off with a neat ribbon, hoping the owl that they shared with their neighbors would be able to grip it well. "Alright Stella, have a go at the cookies then." Stella was ready for this moment and she shoved a whole cookie into her mouth, crumbs pouring down her cheeks. "Phank phew!" (thank you) She said, her mouth full of snickerdoodle.

Starlee walked upstairs with her father, who had called over the owl. "Okay Harrold, send this tin to the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." They watched together as the bird took off, surely knowing where to go. Her dad looked back down at her and said "Boy, I sure hope he knows how difficult that was!" They laughed together and headed back downstairs to where her mum had just gotten back from work. Boy did they have a story for her.

Word Count: 1373/800