Peanut Allergy: A Cross-Contamination Story

Cross contamination can happen when you least expect it.

Here's a short story that taught me that preventing cross contamination isn't always easy.

I was baking pumpkin sheet cakes for little B's class party.  It's a great little recipe that I'll post soon (promise - it will be my content for tomorrow!).

So I'm making the cakes and I'm trying to get it over with first thing in the morning, so of course I'm rushing through it.  And I'm feeling hungry, so I go to have my morning toast.

So I'm eating and baking, baking and eating.

And the cake's are in the oven, filling the house with the most gorgeous scent.

And I look down on my plate and realize that I was eating almond butter while I was baking.

CRAP!

One of B's classmates is peanut allergic but avoids ALL nuts.  And here I was prancing around, making cake while eating almond butter.

After shrieking (seriously - I did!), I took all the previous dishes and put them to the side. Then I washed my hands with really hot, soapy water.  Then I wiped the counter down with bleach and hot water.  Then I got new utensils and baking dishes, gave them another wash in hot soapy water for good measure and started again. 

And now I have two safe cakes cooling on my counter ready for a safe celebration tomorrow.