I Messed Up - Literally

There’s no good reason I should waste anyone’s precious time with pictures of plastic-infused brownies and a melted Tupperware container.  Except I want to tell a story.

Yesterday we’d almost run out of gluten-free baked goods (my fault, shame on me) so I dedicated the entire afternoon to baking, hoping to get a lot done in the hours between lunch and dinner.  By 1:30 I was humming along (figuratively), and had completed a pan of weird but tasty chocolate brownies made with sweet potatoes, coconut flour, and stevia.  Also almond flour crackers with dried onion flakes. 

As I pulled out the recipe for the next project, something we affectionately call maple donuts although they do not have a hole and are not fried, I placed the cut brownies in a Tupperware container on the back burner (I actually did this, they were not figuratively “on the back burner”).  As I measured ingredients for those would-be donuts - imposters that are not donuts at all, but yummy enough to fool anyone’s tastebuds - I put coconut oil in a small pan on the other back burner to melt.

I probably don’t even need to say what happened next. 

Soon flames leapt a foot high, consuming the rectangular Tupperware container (my favorite size that has been discontinued).  Melted plastic oozed over the coil and lay in strings on the brownies: a toxic-smelling, non-confectionary white glaze.  I’d turned on the wrong burner.

I confess I did not handle this situation well.  I was dismayed at the destruction, disgusted at myself for the error, and terrified by the out-of-control fire.  Fortunately I thought and acted quickly, and within 60 seconds the situation was at least minimally under control.

I, however, was not.  Under.  Control.  Nor was my stovetop.

It took a couple of hours for me to clean up the residue and regain composure.  After the donuts-that-aren't-donuts came out of the oven I stopped baking, too frazzled and drained to continue with further projects.

The moral of the story: Don’t become too attached to time, Tupperware, or weird custom-made brownies.  They may go up in smoke - and not figuratively. Literally.