recipes

Another fun parent/child activity at Smiling Tree Farm here in Santa Rosa.  When parents sign up for this “cooking” class they know they are signing up for a sweet morning filled with sugar and more sugar.  For some of the kids this is their one big sweet splurge.  One of the moms said they elimate any conflict about too many sweets by not having any in their house at all.  A dad said they reserve sweets for special occasions.  So, today was that day.  We had plates of sugar cookies in enticing shapes (hearts of all sizes, doves, teddy bears and little sweet men).  Each child had their own dish of candy toppings including m&m’s, raisins, red hots and of course conversation hearts.  After several cookie decorating workshops I’ve realized this is a way to have portion control and no worries about little fingers and possible “cross contamination”.  Some of the kids piled their cookies high with frosting, sprinkles and candies.  Some ate their candies first then decorated with icing only.  The kids and parents were free to decorate and eat as many cookies as they wanted.  My hope was that they would take home more than they ate but it was probably a toss up. 

 

After everyone had their fill of decorating we moved into the living room and strung love bead braclets.  It was such a beautiful day that the kids wanted to go outside to play so off everyone went to swing and explore.  We came back inside for stories, songs and a cup of tea and hot chocolate and one more cookie and cupcake for the road.  This was definetly a sweet day of sugar, quality time and memory making.

Special thanks to my friend Robin who helped me set up and keep things going…and clean up too….what a friend!!

 

 Cookies, cupcakes and frosting were all made for scratch.  Here are my recipes:

 

One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes (from Martha Stewart)

makes 18-24 regular cupcakes …. 83 mini cupcakes

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder                                                                                              1 1/2 cups flour                                                                                                                              1 1/2 cups sugar                                                                                                                             1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda                                                                                                        3/4 teaspoons baking powder                                                                                                      3/4 teaspoons salt                                                                                                                           2 large eggs                                                                                                                                     3/4 cup warm water                                                                                                                        3/4 cup buttermilk                                                                                                                          3 tablespoons vegetable oil                                                                                                            1 teaspoon vanila extract

 

1. preheat oven to 350.  Line muffins with paper liners.  Sift together dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil and vanilla and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes.  Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.

2.  Divide batter evenly among muffins cups, filling each 2/3 full.  Bake until tops spring back when touched , about 20minutes for full sized, 10minutes for mini cakes.

 

 Gail’s Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies — my girlfriend Carol named these, I think I found the recipe in a magazine and it’s the one that all my kids took to class and entered in the Sonoma County fair. 

4 1/2 cups flour                                                                                                                               1tsp baking powder                                                                                                                      1/2 tsp baking soda                                                                                                                         1/2 tsp salt                                                                                                                                    1/4 tsp nutmeg                                                                                                                              

1 cup soft butter                                                                                                                             1 1/2 cups sugar                                                                                                                             1 egg                                                                                                                                               1/2 cup sour cream                                                                                                                        1 tsp vanilla

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.  Beat butter, sugar and egg till light and fluffy.  At low speed, beat in sour cream and vanilla till smooth.  Gradually add flour mixture, beating till well combined.  Wrap in waxed paper or foil:  refrigerate several hours or overnight. Divide into 4 parts then roll out and cut.

Bake at 350 degrees aprox 8 minutes

Note:  I still wrap sandwiches in waxed paper but find this telling of how old this recipe is that it reccomends waxed paper or foil…..I wrap the dough in plastic wrap and freeze

 

Frosting…..one of the dads asked if it’s easy to make frosting…..YES!

Powdered sugar, some butter, a little bit of milk, sprinkle of vanilla, dash of salt…..beat ’til smooth and fluffy……………I’m pretty sure there’s a real recipe on the box of powdered sugar

 

 

 

From st autumn

 

I loved these pumpkin projects.  I like to make a sample of the projects before camp and it’s always fun to see what the kids do with the materials provided.  They always find a way of personalizing their work.  I’ve seen paper bag pumpkins before.  They look like paper sacks stuffed and painted….cute.  Our paper bag pumpkins were little works of art!!  This was a two day project.  Each child  started with a pallet of yellow, red, and a little dab of golden color .  It was fun seeing the kids mix their colors and create orange!!  We talked about how pretty the bright clear spots of red and yellow looked with the blended orange.  The kids put the paper bag on one hand and painted with the other.  I saw these beautiful (I think they’re beautiful) pumpkins on the website That Artist Woman .  We found twigs and real leaves in the yard to complete our project on the second day.  The fun thing the kids did was not limiting themselves to one stem or one green pipe cleaner to finish off their pumpkin.  Some pumpkins had fist fulls of moss covered sticks attached and a whole range of green fuzzy spiraled tendrils….wonderful!!

 

 

 

More Pumpkins!

 

Our other pumpkin project was made of yarn….very simple.  I found this project at Make and Takes.  We changed the yarn from red to orange and changed a little red apple to a little orange pumpkin!  The kids wrapped yarn around a piece of cardboard 80 times!!!  It was an opportunity to have fun with counting and they ended up with a sweet little pumpkin.

 

From Collages

 

More Pumpkins!!

We made Pumpkin Cookies a couple weeks ago and I promised to post the recipe.  Here’s the 2 cookie recipe we used at camp made with whole wheat flour and honey  and another recipe for pumpkin cookies I’ve used for years that make lots of cookies.  As you can see by the condition of “The Great Pumpkin” recipe it has been well used.  I’ve gone from using the full amount of white sugar to none to finally settling on “about” half the original amount.  I don’t usually make these cookies as large as the recipe calls ….too big for little ones.  When my kids were little I made these with the stem, no white sugar and outlined with orange buttercream frosting and two little buttercream leaves on top….plenty sweet

 

 

When my kids were young we made kick the can ice cream.  It was so much fun.  We put our ingredients in a coffee can, added a spoon as an agitator then taped it up with duct tape then put that can into another can with ice and salt then taped that can up then proceeded to kick or roll the can back and forth until we had ice cream.  This is something my kids still talk about.  Well, I found an easier way with zip lock bags.  Here’s the You tube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLRDsW_p4LA

 

 

I didn’t get many pictures but the ice cream did turn out……..delicious!  A couple things I’d add to the instructions is to be sure to use heavy duty freezer bags especially for the milk mixture. The bags are great because you can see how your ice cream is setting up. Be careful with the salt.  We make our ice cream on our front lawn so I asked everyone to be careful when they opened the bag not to spill the salt water.  Remove as much air from the inner (milk) bag this way the liquid gets the most surface to coldThis only make a small portion but enough to enjoy the magic of turning milk and sugar into ice cream in less than 10 minutes.   Truth be told the parents probably were more intriqued with the process than the kids but everyone enjoyed the ice cream.  This is something I’d do over and over.  Make it a summer tradition the kids will want to repeat and will remember.

We had a busy day at camp. Started by picking blackberries then everyone made cheesy pretzels. I wanted to try dyeing Queen Anne’s Lace with food coloring but my prototype didn’t work very well so I went ahead and picked a big bouquet of flowers for the kids to cut blossoms from to make “flower arrangements” in baby food jars. I encouraged the kids collect greenery from around the yard to add to their creations. The pretzels were left to rise while the kids played and had fun with their craft projects.

 

The pretzels were delicious!  I’m always amazed how well the recipes we use turn out.  The recipe may call for 1/2 teaspoon of yeast but the kids sometimes measure out 1/4 teaspoon or 1+!  If the grown up has an eagle eye they can compensate with the other ingredients or add a little something more to make the  concoction  closer to the recipe.  One way or another our baking always turns out great.  Here’s the recipe for our pretzels

 

From st anne’s lace cheese pretzels

Cheese Pretzels……makes 2-4

 

½ tsp yeast

3 TB warm water

Let dissolve

 

½ tsp sugar

½ cup flour

2 TB grated Cheddar cheese

Stir & Knead

 

Cut into 2/4 pieces

Roll into “worms”, shape

 

Brush with beaten egg

Sprinkle with kosher salt …. I’ve also sprinkled sesame seeds and garlic granules !

Bake at 425degrees 15minutes

 

Enjoy

We did all things lemony today at Smiling Tree.  After comparing notes I realized that nearly everyone coming to Smiling Tree right now love lemons.  A couple of the moms have lemon trees in their yards and  heavy branches of lemons hanging over the fence from their neighbor’s tree.  I have a little lemon tree as well and have been bringing lemons from my cousin’s lemon tree in Sacramento.  So we have lemons!!! 

From Collages

 

 

 

Today the kids squeezed lemons and we made lemon bars….yummmm, lemon curd….yummmm, and lemonade….yumm!!!  We sampled all our creations with lunch and there was lemon curd and lemon bars to take home.

 

Here are the recipes:

 

Lemon Curd

(from the Joy of Cooking)

makes about 1 2/3 cups                                                                                   

In  a medium stainless-steel or enamel saucepan, whisk together until lignt in color    :

3 large eggs

1/3 cup sugar

grated zest of 1 lemon

Add:

1/2 cup lemon juice

6 tablespoons butter cut into small pieces

Cook, whisking over medium heat until the butter is melted.  Then whisk constantly until the mixture thickened and simmer gently for an a  few seconds.  Using a spatula, scrap the filling into a medium-mesh sieve set over a bowl and strain the filling into the bowl.   (I skipped this step…no straining for me) Stir in:

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Let cool, cover and refrigerate to thicken.  The keeps, refrigerated, for about 1 week.

I served a sampling of the lemon curd on buttered bread and sent everyone home with a small container each.

 

Tangy Lemon Bars 

makes 16 large or 24 smaller bars

for the crust

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

8 TBL (1cube) butter, melted

1 cup flour

for the topping:

1 cup plus 2TBL sugar

3 TBL flour

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest

1/2 cup strained fresh lemon juice

1TBL powdered sugar for dusting

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line the bottom and up the sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, so that the foil hands over the edges.

First, make the crust.  Put the sugar, vanilla and salt in a medium  bowl and stir in the melted butter.  Add the flour and mix just until incorporated.  Press the dough evenly over the bottom of the pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the crust is lightly browned at the edges and golden brown in the center.

 

While the crust is baking, make the topping.  Combine the sugar and flour in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.  Whisk in the eggs and stir in the lemon zest and juice.

When the crust is cooked, slide out the rack with the pan and set it on a work surface.

Turn the oven to 300 degrees.

Pour the filling into the hot crust and carefully slide the rack with the pan back into the overn

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the topping no longer jiggles in the center when the pan is tapped.  Remove from the oven and set on a rack to cool completely.  Lift up on the foil and transfer to a cutting board.

If the surface is covered with a thin layer of moist foam, blot it gently to reveal the zest.  Lay a square of paper towel on the surface and sweep your fingers over it gently to absorb excess moisture.  Remove the paper and repeat with a fresh piece if necessary.

Use a long sharp knife to cut into 16 2-inch or 24 smaller bars

Put the powdered sugar in a strainer and shake it over the cut bars.  Transfer to a plate and serve immediately.

 

The bars can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator of three days without the crust becoming soggy.  To do so, do not use the powered sugar ; instead, shake it over the bars immediately before serving.

 

Lemonade

I just added water and sugar to fresh lemon juice….excellent!

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

From Collages

We took a recipe for cloverleaf rolls and made Snowmen “people” rolls.  Here’s the recipe for individual portions:

Cloverleaf Rolls makes 2 rolls

1/2 tsp dry yeast

1/2 TBL warm water

1/2 tsp veggie oil

2 TBL butter milk

3TBL unbleach flour

beat vigorously

1/2 tsp sugar mix

(Sugar Mix : 1TBL sugar, 1/4 tsp salt ,1/8 tsp baking powder, 1/8 tsp baking soda)

2TBL + 1tsp whole wheat flour

stir vigorously

Knead dough until smooth

Form 6 balls, place 3balls each buttered muffin tin.  Cover, rise 20minutes, bake 400 7minutes

 

From Drop Box

 The kids stitched their felt starts with some help from their moms.  Some of the moms made their own stars……sometimes we want to do our own thing!

 

From st terreriums colored acorns cookies luncheon

Sometimes baking with whole wheat flour and honey just doesn’t quite make it.  I remember back in the early 70’s (yes, early 70’s ) I tried to substitute honey for sugar in everything I baked; honey and whole wheat flour and often (too often ) I ended up with heavy not so good baked goods.  My baking has evolved and I usually use a blend of whole wheat pastry flour,  unbleached white flour and white sugar because sometimes that’s what’s best for the dish.  Well, I must say this recipe uses 100% whole wheat flour and honey and is delicious!  These are moist, perfectly sweet cookies.  That being said, there is quite a variable when 2 and 3 year olds are doing the cooking! and everything is always delicious!!  Our recipes are designed for children to make individual servings.  This recipe makes approximately 3 cookies.  Here’s the recipe we used for our cookies this week:

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Raisin Cookies

1/2 tablespoon butter

2 teaspoons honey

mix well

1 tablespoon pumpkin

1 1/2 tablespoons Flour Mixture

Flour Mixture

3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon soda

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon beaten egg

1 tablespoon chopped nuts

1 tablespoon raisins

Mix

drop by spoonful (makes aprox 3 cookies)

bake 350degrees for 12 minutes

 

From st terreriums colored acorns cookies luncheon

From st terreriums colored acorns cookies luncheon

 As part of our cooking “class”  I demonstrated how to scoop up flour in a tablespoon then use the back of a knife (plastic) to level the flour off.  A funny and interesting thing I observed while the kids were outside playing in the rice hulls; in their play I saw two kids scooping up rice hulls and leveling off the top before dumping it back into the “pot”…..hmmmmmm

 Try this simple “recipe” for a fun Halloween project/treat.

This was a fun project, not really cooking but food related.  We did this sometime over the summer.  I was on a spider kick because there was a big garden spider spinning its web at our front gate.  We made these cracker, peanut butter, pretzel spiders and oak gall spiders another day.  

 

From st spider crackers