Baking Lessons (PG) for kaitlia777
So, I realised it was kaitlia777's birthday yesterday & figured I should do something special since she did give me the Kane CD earlier this year. and because she's such an awesome girl + I adore her to bits. So I wrote my longest fic to date, managing to combine our mutual love of Christian Kane & cooking with one of my favorite treats ever!
Title: Baking Lessons
Fandom: Leverage
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,109
Summary: It’s Eliot’s turn to participate in the ‘team-building’ exercises and he knows just the thing…
A/N: The team may be a bit OOC, but written with the best of intentions. & the recipe is real! Written in honor of kaitlia777’s birthday! Happy late birthday sweetie!
Nate was good at planning cons, Eliot would grant him that. This didn’t mean the man had any brilliant ideas when it came to ‘team-building’ exercises. The hitter thought perhaps the alcohol that he’d ingested over the past year had pickled his brain, because there was no way in hell it was a good thing to give Parker a sharp, shiny object. But here he was, prepping the kitchen at their new headquarters for an invasion of people who had no clue about the difference between a sauté pan and a saucepan. He was next in line to ‘share his talents’ with the rest of the team, so that they could ‘better understand him’.
Eliot grumbled under his breath as he set candy canes, plastic bags and wooden crab hammers on the table. At least his “talent” made people happy - there was no way Hardison’s grin over his coconut rum cake could be construed as anything but. However, Sophie’s lessons on how to act had just been painful. He retrieved the batches of dough from the refrigerator, setting it on the counter to thaw.
“What are we doing with these?” Parker’s voice inquired; he spun around to see her waving around the wooden mallet. Eliot sighed in resignation as the door clicked open and the rest of the team walked in. He’d kicked Nate out of his apartment and told them all to return at 6 o’clock; it was ten ‘til.
“Did no-one hear me say ‘come at six’ or was I talking to myself?” he wondered aloud as they took seats at the table, looking curiously at the objects on the table. Eliot stalked over to them, waving his hand over the items. “Put the candy canes in the bag and smash them into pieces. I need enough to fill the measuring cup.” He pointed to the half-cup and returned to the thawing dough. Eliot split it in half, adding the vanilla extract and melted chocolate to one as the sounds of destruction began.
He chuckled quietly as Sophie’s hammer flew back up, narrowly missing her face. Parker snorted at the grifter as she pulverized the candy. Nate took charge of pouring everyone’s candy into the cup, but Hardison brought it over to the dough.
“Just put it on there.” Eliot pointed to the yolk-soaked cookie dough as the rest of the team gathered around. The geek did so then stepped back. Eliot motioned him forward with a gesture. He pushed the chocolate dough towards Sophie and told them both to mix. They stared at him, horrified, when no tools were forthcoming.
“Do you want me to do it?” Parker asked the computer expert as Nate took the dough from the Brit and began working the chocolate in. “Maybe you’re not strong enough.” Hardison huffed and dug his hands in, griping as the candy pieces stuck to his fingers. He washed his hands as Sophie put the dough into the refrigerator.
“What’s next?” Nate asked as Eliot set the flexible cutting boards on the table.
“Roll out the dough and then we let it chill for two hours.” The hitter responded, grunting as his muscles protested when he bent down to grab the rolling pins, reminding him the last con had not gone so well on his end. At least his ribs had healed up two days previously, the bruises almost faded by this point. “Hey Hardison, turn the oven to 375 and Sophie, you can get the dough back out.” he told them, placing the rolling pins next to the cutting boards. “Parker, set the knife down. I promise you can be the one to use it later.” The blonde complied with a pout as Eliot handed the rolling pins to Sophie and Hardison. “Just roll these out to one-fourth of an inch. Then Nate, put the peppermint dough on top of the chocolate one and roll it into a log. It’ll probably crumble a bit, but that’s okay.” he informed the older man.
Eliot turned back to Parker, who was watching the proceedings from the other end of the kitchen area. “There’s a dough log already chilled in the fridge. You can cut that into half-inch slices.”
“That’s cheating!” she cried out. “That won’t be our dough. I bet the candy won’t be as good.” Eliot told her it would taste the same. The thief frowned at his glare. “You should be happy,” she announced. “Cooking makes you happy. Why aren’t you smiling?” The hitter bit back a retort and just motioned to the refrigerator as Sophie placed the dough log on the shelf.
He ended up getting the dough log he’d made two hours earlier as Parker picked up the knife again. She held it like she was about to stab the dough and Eliot winced. Ignoring her protests, he reshaped her fingers on the handle, pressing the ceramic blade through the dough in a smooth motion with her hand underneath his. Two more slices and he released her to put the ones they’d made on the baking sheet.
Sophie pushed Nate away from the dishes, telling him you had to rinse off them off before you put them in the dishwasher. Hardison mouthed to Parker and Eliot as he slid the cookie sheet in the oven, “Mom and Dad are fighting again.” The two older members of the Leverage team stopped to look when all three broke into quiet laughter.
Fifteen minutes later saw the team seated around the table eating their way through the three dozen cookies that had been made. Well, Parker was perched on the counter, pinwheel cookie in each hand.
“These are really good,” Sophie murmured, biting into her second one.
Hardison grinned at her, tossing the hot treat from hand to hand. “Like you’d expect anything different from Eliot in the kitchen.”
“Hey, I helped!” Parker chimed in, jumping down to grab another pinwheel before hopping back up upon the counter.
The hitter relaxed in his chair as the conversation turned to what Nate could do for his turn at team building. The dishes were already done, running through the machine, and he’d finally used up the last of the peppermint extract. No one had been cut and all were enjoying the pinwheel cookies. Not that he’d had any doubts about that last part.
Eliot made a mental note to delete his computer history before Hardison had a chance to learn he’d gotten the recipe from Alton Brown of all people. Then he reached into the pile of cookies and started in on another one. He smiled to himself, realizing he still had another log of dough to bake when the others left.
Recipe used is here. Definitely try it at home.
Title: Baking Lessons
Fandom: Leverage
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,109
Summary: It’s Eliot’s turn to participate in the ‘team-building’ exercises and he knows just the thing…
A/N: The team may be a bit OOC, but written with the best of intentions. & the recipe is real! Written in honor of kaitlia777’s birthday! Happy late birthday sweetie!
Nate was good at planning cons, Eliot would grant him that. This didn’t mean the man had any brilliant ideas when it came to ‘team-building’ exercises. The hitter thought perhaps the alcohol that he’d ingested over the past year had pickled his brain, because there was no way in hell it was a good thing to give Parker a sharp, shiny object. But here he was, prepping the kitchen at their new headquarters for an invasion of people who had no clue about the difference between a sauté pan and a saucepan. He was next in line to ‘share his talents’ with the rest of the team, so that they could ‘better understand him’.
Eliot grumbled under his breath as he set candy canes, plastic bags and wooden crab hammers on the table. At least his “talent” made people happy - there was no way Hardison’s grin over his coconut rum cake could be construed as anything but. However, Sophie’s lessons on how to act had just been painful. He retrieved the batches of dough from the refrigerator, setting it on the counter to thaw.
“What are we doing with these?” Parker’s voice inquired; he spun around to see her waving around the wooden mallet. Eliot sighed in resignation as the door clicked open and the rest of the team walked in. He’d kicked Nate out of his apartment and told them all to return at 6 o’clock; it was ten ‘til.
“Did no-one hear me say ‘come at six’ or was I talking to myself?” he wondered aloud as they took seats at the table, looking curiously at the objects on the table. Eliot stalked over to them, waving his hand over the items. “Put the candy canes in the bag and smash them into pieces. I need enough to fill the measuring cup.” He pointed to the half-cup and returned to the thawing dough. Eliot split it in half, adding the vanilla extract and melted chocolate to one as the sounds of destruction began.
He chuckled quietly as Sophie’s hammer flew back up, narrowly missing her face. Parker snorted at the grifter as she pulverized the candy. Nate took charge of pouring everyone’s candy into the cup, but Hardison brought it over to the dough.
“Just put it on there.” Eliot pointed to the yolk-soaked cookie dough as the rest of the team gathered around. The geek did so then stepped back. Eliot motioned him forward with a gesture. He pushed the chocolate dough towards Sophie and told them both to mix. They stared at him, horrified, when no tools were forthcoming.
“Do you want me to do it?” Parker asked the computer expert as Nate took the dough from the Brit and began working the chocolate in. “Maybe you’re not strong enough.” Hardison huffed and dug his hands in, griping as the candy pieces stuck to his fingers. He washed his hands as Sophie put the dough into the refrigerator.
“What’s next?” Nate asked as Eliot set the flexible cutting boards on the table.
“Roll out the dough and then we let it chill for two hours.” The hitter responded, grunting as his muscles protested when he bent down to grab the rolling pins, reminding him the last con had not gone so well on his end. At least his ribs had healed up two days previously, the bruises almost faded by this point. “Hey Hardison, turn the oven to 375 and Sophie, you can get the dough back out.” he told them, placing the rolling pins next to the cutting boards. “Parker, set the knife down. I promise you can be the one to use it later.” The blonde complied with a pout as Eliot handed the rolling pins to Sophie and Hardison. “Just roll these out to one-fourth of an inch. Then Nate, put the peppermint dough on top of the chocolate one and roll it into a log. It’ll probably crumble a bit, but that’s okay.” he informed the older man.
Eliot turned back to Parker, who was watching the proceedings from the other end of the kitchen area. “There’s a dough log already chilled in the fridge. You can cut that into half-inch slices.”
“That’s cheating!” she cried out. “That won’t be our dough. I bet the candy won’t be as good.” Eliot told her it would taste the same. The thief frowned at his glare. “You should be happy,” she announced. “Cooking makes you happy. Why aren’t you smiling?” The hitter bit back a retort and just motioned to the refrigerator as Sophie placed the dough log on the shelf.
He ended up getting the dough log he’d made two hours earlier as Parker picked up the knife again. She held it like she was about to stab the dough and Eliot winced. Ignoring her protests, he reshaped her fingers on the handle, pressing the ceramic blade through the dough in a smooth motion with her hand underneath his. Two more slices and he released her to put the ones they’d made on the baking sheet.
Sophie pushed Nate away from the dishes, telling him you had to rinse off them off before you put them in the dishwasher. Hardison mouthed to Parker and Eliot as he slid the cookie sheet in the oven, “Mom and Dad are fighting again.” The two older members of the Leverage team stopped to look when all three broke into quiet laughter.
Fifteen minutes later saw the team seated around the table eating their way through the three dozen cookies that had been made. Well, Parker was perched on the counter, pinwheel cookie in each hand.
“These are really good,” Sophie murmured, biting into her second one.
Hardison grinned at her, tossing the hot treat from hand to hand. “Like you’d expect anything different from Eliot in the kitchen.”
“Hey, I helped!” Parker chimed in, jumping down to grab another pinwheel before hopping back up upon the counter.
The hitter relaxed in his chair as the conversation turned to what Nate could do for his turn at team building. The dishes were already done, running through the machine, and he’d finally used up the last of the peppermint extract. No one had been cut and all were enjoying the pinwheel cookies. Not that he’d had any doubts about that last part.
Eliot made a mental note to delete his computer history before Hardison had a chance to learn he’d gotten the recipe from Alton Brown of all people. Then he reached into the pile of cookies and started in on another one. He smiled to himself, realizing he still had another log of dough to bake when the others left.
Recipe used is here. Definitely try it at home.