Love Cookies

Valentine is coming and I thought I spend some quality time with my kids. I spent yesterday baking cookies with my 2 boys. We made some butter bookies – my intention was to have love shaped cookies but instead my boys had different ideas – there were shapes of birds and bears and stars.

But there is definitely LOVE in the air. My boys enjoyed the whole process. They was butter and flour splattered all over. We (or should I say they) changed the recipe a bit and there was a lot of learning and teaching for both my kids and myself included. Sometimes, we adults need reminders too and kids can teach us a thing or two too!

The kids learnt how to beat and mix. My younger one asked questions – Why was the yolk yellow, why this flour and not that and so on. There was a bit of math but most of all there was a lot of imagination and fund. And the best part about the whole cooking process was everybody loved the cookies! They tasted really good.

This recipe, I think is great. It is a basic butter cookie recipe which you can improvise. You can raisins, or almonds, chocolate chips or decorations

It’s up to the imagination of your kids and you!

Shopping List

125 grams of butter (or about a cup)
Learning Tips
1. How do you measure 125 grams (what is one cup?)
2. 1 kg makes a 1000grams – 125 must be 1/8 of a kilogram
3. Where does butter come from? (No, not the supermarket!)

100 grams icing sugar (or about ¾ of a cup)
Learning Tips
1.Where does sugar come from?
2. What’s 3/4 ? What’s ½? Which is more? Which is less?

1 egg yolk
Learning Tips
1. Egg yolk and egg white – what are they – see how they look like
2. Where do eggs come from?
3. Why is egg good for you?
4. What do eggs have?-What is protein

1 tsp vanilla essence
Learning Tips
It smells really good but taste horrible. Introduce the senses. Vanilla is a flavoring from orchids and is actually a Spanish word "vainilla"or little pods. Here’s how it looks.

150 grams to 200 grams of flour (or 2 cups flour)

Learning Tips

1. What is flour’s texture
2. How do you get 200grams of flour?
3. Where does flour come from?

½ tsp baking powder

Learning Tips

Baking powder is to help the cake rise. How does it work? Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent used to increase the volume and lighten the texture of muffins, cakes, scones and biscuits. Baking powder works by releasing carbon dioxide gas into a batter or dough through an acid-base reaction, causing bubbles in the wet mixture to expand and thus leavening the mixture.

Instructions
1. Beat the butter and sugar till fluffy
2. Mix in egg yolk and essence
3. Sift flour and baking powder
4. Add the dry ingredients to form a soft dough
5. Let your kids enjoy shaping the cookies
6. Bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 12 to 15 minutes
7. Allow to cool and serve
8. If you like you can make some cream to decorate the cookies – beat some icing sugar and butter and add color of your choice and cream the cookies

And that’s it. HAPPY VALENTINE!

If you are looking for some homemade cookies for valentine, there are some great shops offering discounts for the season. Try this link, I thought it offers great offers and makes beautiful gifts 15% Off All Items for Valentine’s Day at David’s Cookies! Use Coupon Code VDAYLS at Checkout. Valid Thru February 28, 2010. Click Here.

Mummy, Do Cookies Grow on Trees?

My younger boy, who is five, watched Tiger and Pooh some days ago. The episode was very entertaining and had the usual learning ideas that children should take away.

I can’t remember the exact details now, but Tiger found chocolate cookies ‘growing’ on an oak tree in the 100 acre wood and so everyone thought that the best way to have more cookies was to take one from that tree and plant it. And after some time, everybody should get their very own chocolate cookie tree!


Yesterday, as I was sending my son to school, he asked about cookies and how wonderful if he could have a chocolate cookie tree. He loves chocolate and suggested planting a cookie tree!

This gave me an idea that he should learn where cookies come from. It was about time I showed him and maybe along the way, he’ll learn a thing or two.

Here’s what I did:

1. Look for a simple chocolate chip cookie recipe

2. Next build a shopping list and go shopping for the ingredients

3. Start baking

4. While baking I showed my little one where flour comes from and salt and sugar and chocolate. If possible you either have your computer and the internet handy or prepare pictures beforehand. For older children (6 and above), slip in where the ingredients come from and how it gets here

This will take a bit of effort, a little homework on our part and also because he is not going to believe you immediately when you say that flour comes from wheat and sugar comes from sugar cane and so on.


Here’s a simple family recipe for chocolate chip cookies (I try to keep the recipes simple if the agenda is to teach my kids during that cooking time):

Shopping List

1 3/4 cups flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 3/4 tsp baking soda, 3/4 cups unsalted butter or margarine, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 1/2cups chocolate chips (or more if you like) and of course one last ingredient which you can’t get from the store is lots of hugs and kisses.

You should get about 30 cookies from this recipe.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375F



Place the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in a large bowl and beat until combined. Add egg and vanilla to the butter mixture and beat. In a smaller bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture little at a time. (during this time, chat your kids). Get your kids to stir in the chocolate chips. Mold the cookies onto the cooking sheet. Let your kids enjoy this with their little hands – it will be their creation. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes 10. And of course, great time to tidy up and for kids to understand this part too and sharing the responsibility.

Teaching Kids Where Cookies Come From while Cooking is the Best Way to Teach Kids, Dont you think? And you get to eat your product too!