Erin Ireland
My grandma is my favorite person to bake with. A few months ago while baking her usual three loaves of bread, she started feeling funny. Realizing she was having a stroke, she finished kneading her bread, wrote this note, then called for an ambulance. I don't think this kind of dedication exists anymore. She is a very special lady!
Here is one of the recipes we've cooked together including a little video of her.

Johanna Shapiro
My Rodelle Moment started out with the best intentions and exploded while I was napping. That’s what I get for doing experimental baking while nine months pregnant. The big plan was to make Caramelized Maple Spaghetti Squash, laced with Rodelle Anise and served folded into a Fennel Gratin. Torn between spurts of creative nesting and overwhelming sleepiness, I popped the squash in a 400-degree oven and promptly passed out…for three hours. I like to call the whole experience “Pregnancy Brain Manifest.” Check out the photo my husband took—he texted it to me so it would be waiting when I woke up.

Tammy Wallick
My first Xmas away from home, I wanted to bake my sister-in- law's famous pumpkin roll. I admit, it was above my skill level at that time. I was absoultely thrilled when I removed it from the pan. A springy pumpkin bread just right for rolling up . I did it ! Next step; to generously sprinkle with confectionary sugar. I covered it really thick. A quick taste of my fingers only to realize it wasn't sugar that I had covered it with.. "yuck" it was squeaky cornstarch. I ruined it. What could I do? So I did the unthinkable. I got out my vacum cleaner and I vacumed my pumpkin bread clean. Then I continued with the recipie correctly. This is absolutely true, and by the way, it was delicious. : )

Adelina V Priddis
Worst Baking Moment: It was hubs first birthday that we shared together. His mom had always baked him a carrot cake for his birthday. Not wanting to disappoint (despite my distaste at the time for carrot cake) I went ahead and baked a carrot cake! The cake turned out GREAT! The Cream Cheese Frosting on the other hand does not turn out very well with non-confectioners sugar. I quickly learned the term confectioners sugar and committed it to memory. I have since gained a liking for Carrot Cake, and have never messed up the frosting again. Messiest moment - I found my 3 children in about 3 lbs of flour covering them, the couch, and the floor. They just wanted to make something. Video

Sue Mason
Gramma-Hi-Darlin’s Pie

“Why you cryin’, Mom?” asked my 6 year-old son, “You makin’ pie again?”
“Yes, I’m making pie.”
"Why are you cryin'?"
"I wanted to make Daddy an apple pie, but I didn’t know how. His Mom made the best pies ever, so I asked if she would teach me.”
“You mean Gramma-Hi-Darlin’?” he asked. She always greeted him with, "Hi my Darling" and he came up with the name.
"She taught me how to make apple pie. I think of her whenever I make pies.”
“So you cry cuz you miss her cuz she died?”
“Yes,” I whispered.“
“I know what the secret ‘gredient is!” he said, grinning.
“You do?”
“Yup. The secret ‘gredient to Gramma-Hi-Darlin’s pie is love. You makin' apple pie, Mom? She taught you good, cuz you make it just like hers.”
I went back to the pastry, this time the tears were happy ones, brought on by the wisdom of my child.

Sarah Luckenbach Hoffman
My best baking moment? Well, it was more of a process. My children and I built a solar oven. The first try at baking brownies in it was a flop - literally! The entire oven was blown over by the wind, resulting in a big mess! However, after a few adjustments, we successfully made a batch of mini brownies cooked by the Texas sun!

Jessica Wróblewska
My 'Rodelle Moment' was a frustrating, but ultimately satisying, one.

My Italian grandmother, who turned 96 in 2011, decided a few years ago that she was going to teach me how to make all my favourite Christmas cookies, so that when she was gone, I could carry on the tradition.

Last holiday season, she taught me how to make pizzelles (Italian waffle cookies). Needless to say, putting myself, a 96-year-old nonna who needs a walker to get around and a pizzelle maker from the 1930s together resulted in chaos and a very messy kitchen.

After about 30 minutes of making the worst pizzelles ever (too soft, not enough batter or just plain burnt), we finally got into the groove and made the most amazing pizzelles ever. The smell of vanilla in the air was intoxicating and I ended up eating more pizzelles than I care to remember.

Despite our rocky start, we were able to share a Viola family tradition and spend some quality time together. Here's a picture that, I think, adequately captures my nanny's frustration, but also, the finished product.

Stephanie Rayburn
My son loves to help me bake, and he has gotten used to me using vanilla in almost everything we make together (even pancakes)! He'll say, "Mom, don't forget the vanilla!" or "Yaaaaay! Vanilla! I want to put it in!" when he sees me pull the Rodelle bottle out of the cabinet. He claims it "smells very good." He's right!

Carolyn Sue Brown McLemore
My children and husband have always been my source of inspiration for baking. During the holidays I make lots of candies, cakes, cookies and almost everything has chocolate. As I was making fudge, I added all the ingredients to the hot pan. Chocolate chips, nuts Etc. I began stirring and stirring. My chips would NOT melt. I was becoming very frustrated when I handed the bowl to my older son and asked him to stir a while. One stir and he said, "Mom didn't you add nuts?" Oh Yes I was trying to dissolve nuts. Last week, my now 44 year old son called me, He said, "I had to tell you before Kris put it on facebook. I could not get my chocolate chips to melt and became pretty frustrated . Then I handed her the bowl to try her hand at mixing, she said, "Hon didnt you add nuts to this?" We all still laugh at this little Christmas memory.

Megan O’Hare Callaham
My worst baking moment - I had a very large coffee can with the ingredients for cristmas cookies ready to use,when my son, 18 mos at the time and beginning to potty train, aparantly thought that anything round with an opening could be used as a toilet. I was alitle suprised when I walked into the kitchen to find him with the lid off the can, all proud of himself for going #2 in the bowl! Don't worry though, I didn't use that batch of mix for the cookies that year!

Chris Paulk
After the debacle last year with the shark cupcakes, I'm surprised that anyone would let me near the kitchen again. If you want a messy cupcake that looks like spaghetti & meatballs or mashed potatoes and gravy, I'm your girl! They're supposed to look like they were plopped on your plate by the ever so gruff lunch lady from the High School Cafeteria. Instead, my granddaughter requested a cake that looked like it was a pot full of flowers. Delicate and beautiful. It could be baked in an actual clay flowerpot and wouldn't it be so pretty? My grandson, Kevin, wisely chose a cheesecake, so we invented a Vanilla & Caramel Swirl Cheesecake w/ a Captain Crunch Crust. The stuff every little boy dreams of. But a flower pot? It sounds easy enough. The cake itself, baked up easy enough. I simply lined the pot with parchment paper and the batter tasted just fine. Frosting, is and entirely other matter. I have a frosting impediment, (Sort of like a genetic mutation). I'm pretty sure, I got it from my mom. As I suspiciously look back, I'm not sure she ever frosted anything. I started by frosting the sides and adding some ghastly candy flowers. It looks like it was unearthed for Halloween. After scraping the frosting off 2 or 3 times, I finally gave in, frosted it one last time and sealed it in a box. My plan is to claim I dropped it, but after seeing her sweet little (expectant) face, I give in and fess up. It's just the world's ugliest cake. She looked in the box and laughed. "But, I bet it'll taste good!" Good kid.

Forrest Stodghill
We had some friends over for dinner one evening. While putting the finishing touches on the meal, everyone's eyes started watering for no apparent reason. Then we all started wincing in agony. We forgot to get the bread out of the oven, and the imitation butter in the air was burning our eyes! We threw the pan outside and had a great laugh!

Tanya Schmelter LaVallee
Well our family has always been a baking family. The best times we ever had were in the kitchen with mom trying to figure out her great grandmother's recipe calculations. Such ones like " Make the biscuits the size of your thumb" What size would that be, Gram? We all have different size thumbs don't we? Or, throw "some" flour in. How much is some? hahaha. We still have many laughs over this. So this year we are celebrating our parent's 40th Anniversary and it seemed fitting to have baking related favors for all their family and friends. So my older sister got together, laughed, bonded, and made our own vanilla from Rodelle beans to give as favors. We are also using Rodelle cocoa powder to make hot cocoa bags for all the gents. Here is a picture of a few of the vanilla bottles! OMG! I just have to say we love to bake!!!!

Helen Gibbs
One of the best baking moments at my home is remembering how my Dad used to sneak in the kitchen when my Mom was baking. He was like a little kid. He would just stand there and when he thought no one was looking, he'd take a couple cookies and go back in the living room. Wish I could see him sneaking in there now with my Mom baking. Give your Mom and Dad an extra hug this Christmas, time goes too fast and memories are nice but nothing could be better than having them right there.

Jennifer J Kaiser
This was by far the worst thing at the worst time as far as cooking but it turned out good (picture). I was making a cake for my daughters second birthday that had an Oreo whipped cream filling. I have made it before with no problem but after finally getting the bottom layer of the cake filled and in the refrigerator I started to work on the frosting. When I opened the refrigerator to get the butter it was like some one had spilled a quart of cream, it just poured from between the layers of the cake out into the refrigerator and now out on the floor. I still don't know why this batch became unstable but I had to replace the filling with frosting, I was disappointed but the end result still looked pretty!

Karel Waltermire
When I was young and a beginner cook, I was asked to make two banana cream pies for a party at my sister's. The first two pie crusts slid to the center of the pie pan and the next two weren't much better but were at least passable. I made the cream filling from Betty Crocker's cookbook, spooned it in the crusts, and put them in the refrigerator. After dinner I served the pie to the guests. I took my first bite and, being not only an aficionado but a fanatic about vanilla, I exclaimed, "I forgot the vanilla!" Silence around the table. My sister quietly spoke up, "You forgot the bananas too."

Lorelei Bachman Conrad
My Rodelle Moment: My mother was visiting and asked me to direct her to my sugar, flour and salt. She baked two beautiful apple pies for us to enjoy later on as we relaxed. My sister decided she couldn't wait and sneaked into the kitchen and cut herself a big piece. When she sat down and bit into it, my mother had used salt instead of sugar. My sister screamed and spat it out. We all had a good laugh at her bad karma for trying to get to the pie before we did. :)

Share your best, worst, or funniest baking moment with us. Impress us, move us, or just make us laugh! It's that easy!

Creativity is a HUGE factor in our judging, so be creative! Pictures and videos are really appreciated! We want to share in your passion but challenge you to be creative in your delivery! Post to our Facebook wall.

Win a year supply of incredible baking essentials! This year we sweetened the pot with the addition of 3 KitchenAid Mixers for the 3 grand prize winners!!!

We will pick the top 6 entries to win, based on the most moving, funniest or most impressive moments! We will pick 3 grand prize winners and 3 runners up. The grand prize winners take the cake and win a whole YEAR supply of gorgeous vanilla beans, baking cocoa, pure vanilla extract, almond/lemon/anise extracts, the our one of kind vanilla sugar and of course a KitchenAid Mixer! Runners up will receive a years supply of out essentials, pure vanilla extract, vanilla beans, and rich dark baking cocoa.

Enter now through December 25th 2011.

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