Some things...

Here are a few of the things that we did yesterday.

I gave the kids some egg containers and sent them on a scavenger hunt.  Well, sort of.  I tried to engage the kids to help me make a list of things to find, but my daughter does not like following rules.  She prefers to do things her own way.........

So they picked out whatever they wanted.  Which was just fine with me.

Then we sat in the tall grass as I explained to them what a veteran is.

Suddenly, footsteps in the woods.

Udo checked it out..... 

...but not really.

We ate lunch, but that wasn't very picture worthy.

The kids drew some masterpieces.  

At the exact moment when this picture was taken, the striped one said, "I love you so much."  To which the one in white replied, "I love you so much too."  

Awww, it just warms the heart.

Just in case you don't quite know what's going on here, the kids offered their interpretations:

(Top)  The mommy and baby went to the fair but they accidentally passed all the fun.  And there was a horse.

(Bottom)  I was there and I found a wave and I jumped in the water and I was sleeping.

I find that the interpretations sometimes help.  

Let's just move on to the cookies, shall we...

A day wouldn't be complete without cookies.  But not just ANY cookies.  Chocolate chip cookies.  But not just ANY chocolate chip cookies.  

Chocolate chip cookies with coconut sugar.  All of the cookie you love, but with a whole lot less processed sugar.....

And I'm just going to put the recipe right here, before the pictures, so you can get started right away without having to navigate through all of that nonsense....

Chocolate chip cookies with coconut sugar

1 1/4 c. all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon (wonderful for an added warmth, but the cookies are just as good without it)
1 stick Earth Balance butter, softened
1/2 c. coconut sugar
1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 c. dairy free chocolate chips or chocolate cut into chunks (I use Enjoy Life)

Preheat oven to 350
Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon (if using) in bowl.  Mix well.
On medium speed, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla and continue to beat until well mixed.
On low speed, stir in the flour mixture until blended.  Add the chocolate chips and stir to integrate them into the batter.
Grease one or two cookie sheets and drop dough by heaping teaspoonfuls, spaced about 2 inches apart.
Bake for 8-10 minutes.

But here are the pictures anyway, just for fun.  And you can pretty much figure out what I did here.  Other than reacquainting myself with my camera....  I know, I know.  It's been too long, baby.

Ahhh, sugars....

And along with the butter picture, I think this next one is my favorite of the set...

Just delicious, isn't it.

OOH!  And the mini scooper!  I received that as a gift, and it is the single most useful item in my kitchen.

See??  Perfect little scoops....

....make perfect little cookies!

I normally only bake one cookie sheet at a time, and then freeze the other half for later use.  I am partial to the "log and slice" method....

Mmmm mmmmm

my lovely little valentines

Both of my kids have been sick, alternating turns, for about three weeks now.  My daughter was the originator of disease, passing it on to my son, and then in grand splendor, picking it up again as a re-manifestation from her chest to her ears, considerately keeping the fever at just below panic levels for way too long now.  Because she has had to miss so much school right before Valentine's Day, I wanted to do something really special.

And what's more special than a heart filled hallway?  The hallway of love.....

Very fun to make.  I painted large sheets of paper, and then cut out a lot of hearts!

First I painted....... 

......then I cut!!!

And then I took out some twine and taped it all together.  This was kind of a last minute project, and after I had it all taped up, I wished I had done something to the backside of the hearts, but no matter.  The kids didn't even notice.  They loved it!

And then there was the something special #2....  

My first thought was to make a heart shaped cake with a lovely fondant encasement, all pink and velvety smooth, with the rolling landscape of a baby's bottom, sprinkled with an array of fondant babies and hearts and anything else you can imagine, none of which I would ever have the time to make.

So instead I decided to make a giant cookie.  With the kids' help, of course.

I used my basic chocolate chip cookie recipe, but since it was a larger cookie, I baked it at a lower temp for a longer period of time.  It turned out perfectly.  Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside....  And of course, anything slathered in frosting can't be too bad, right?

Chocolate Chip Cookies 

*I adapted this recipe to make a giant cookie

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon (wonderful for an added warmth, but the cookies are just as good without it)

1 stick Earth Balance butter, softened

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. packed brown sugar, light or dark

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 c. dairy free chocolate chips or chocolate cut into chunks (I use Enjoy Life)

Preheat oven to 325˚F

Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon (if using) in bowl.  Mix well.

On medium speed, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla and continue to beat until well mixed.

On low speed, stir in the flour mixture until blended.  Add the chocolate chips and stir to integrate them into the batter.

Grease a cookie sheet and dump the whole load of dough in the middle.  Spread the mound into whatever shape you like, making sure that it is no more than 1/2" thick.  Bake for about 25-30 minutes. I started checking on mine at 20 minutes, and pulled it out after 30.  Let sit for a couple of minutes, and move to a cool surface or rack to cool completely before you add the frosting.

vanilla frosting

5 tbs softened earth balance butter or unsalted margarine

2 c. powdered sugar

2-3 tbs soy milk

few drops of vanilla

Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium low speed.  I usually drape a dish towel over top to keep the sugar from blizzarding all over the counter and on my person..  Once a ball is formed (this should take a few minutes), turn the mixer to low, and add the soy milk/vanilla a little bit at a time.  Mix until thoroughly combined, turn the mixer to high, and whip it up for about 10 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl if needed.  Then add coloring, a drop at a time, until the desired color is reached.  Wait until desired food item is fully cooled and slather, slather, slather... mmmm...

stubbed toe cookies

If you haven't noticed, I love to bake for my kids.  I love to bake for them when they are sick, if they get hurt, if they are having a bad day, or just because it's Thursday.  Or Monday, as was the case with these cookies.  Well, Monday with a nastily stubbed toe.

It's not hard to figure out where my daughter came from.  As they say, the apple does not fall far from the tree.....  Grace, as I am known to be called, has made her appearance quite regularly during my lifetime.  I have been known to trip over a shadow, walk into walls, walk into a flag pole causing the left side of my face to be speckled in black and blue, and simply turn my head into a stone wall, scraping and bruising the whole side of my nose. I wish I could say that these calamities occurred as a clumsy adolescent, but alas, these have all happened within the last month.

As an adolescent, my injuries were legendary.  Well, maybe not legendary, but definitely frequent.  Sixth grade:  fractured my left wrist while ice skating at a winter camp.  The science teacher from our school was on the trip, and he didn't believe me, so he didn't call my parents or send me to a doctor.  When I appeared in school with a cast on my arm... well... let's just say that he was verrry nice to me.  Seventh grade:  re-fractured my left wrist while skiing.  Eighth grade:  re-fractured my left wrist when my dad slipped on the ice and pulled me with him.  Ninth grade:  that's right- another re-fractured left wrist after Kyle tripped me in the hall.  It was a great trip though- books were sent flying and I barely landed on my wrist.  But because it had been through so much, I had a cast that lasted for months...  Tenth grade, early September:  tore ligaments in my left ankle from messing around at tennis team try-outs.  I had a cast for six weeks. Tenth grade, March:  tore ligaments in my left ankle after a perfectly spiked ball during pre-game volleyball warm up. Totally lame.  Who cares about pre-game warm ups?? Another cast for six weeks.  Same year, July:  broke my left foot from jumping off of a curb.  Another six week cast...

Well, fortunately I'm not THAT clumsy anymore.  I just walk into things these days...

And make cookies!

Like I mentioned earlier, these cookies were made to put a smile on my daughter's face. The hearts were absolutely necessary.

This cookie is unusual in a couple of ways.  First, it is a basic sugar cookie, but it is made with confectioners' sugar instead of regular ol' granular sugar.  I had never thought to do that!  It produced such a lovely, light, crisp deliciousness that I plan to make over and over and over again.  The second unusual ingredient was substituting cream for the chocolate with coconut cream.  Well, it's not unusual for me, I use coconut cream all the time, but getting the cream is unusual- you put a can of coconut milk into the refrigerator for about an hour and scoop out the solidified cream from the top.  You can use the coconut water in those morning shakes that are becoming so popular these days.

I usually keep a couple of cans of coconut milk in the fridge for this purpose.  I can't always find the full fat coconut milk (the full fat cream is thicker and harder than less fat varieties and is really perfect as a frosting- whip it up and add some confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and some cinnamon- I have been known to eat it with a spoon).  But the less fat coconut cream works just fine.  I wouldn't use any sort of low fat coconut milk though.  That rarely creams up in the fridge.

But the regular fat coconut milk cream looks like this..

And now, on to the cookies.......

chocolate cream-filled cookies

Adapted from Mrs. Fields

cookies:

1 1/2 cups Earth Balance dairy free butter, softened

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

4 tsp. pure vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

chocolate cream filling:

1/2 cup coconut cream

1 cup Enjoy Life semisweet dairy free chocolate chips

Combine butter and confectioners' sugar in bowl of an electric mixer set to medium.  I will usually put a towel to cover the mixer to avoid the inevitable confectioners' snowstorm.  Add vanilla and mix until creamy.  Turn the speed down to low, scraping the bowl.  Add the flour, a bit at a time, and mix thoroughly.

Pat the dough into two flattened patties, and wrap tightly with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for about an hour.

Preheat oven to 325˚F.

Lightly flour work surface and roll out dough to about 1/4-inch thick.  Cut out shapes with cookie cutters and place on ungreased cookie sheets.  You can re-roll the scraps, but be careful that you do not overwork the dough.  Bake 16-18 minutes or until firm.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling.  Heat the cream in a small saucepan but do not boil.  Remove from heat and add the chocolate chips.  Give it a stir, and then cover for about 15 minutes.  Stir until smooth, then transfer to a bowl.  Let cool to room temperature.

Once the cookies have cooled, spread a spoonful of chocolate filling onto the bottom side of half of the cookies.  Top with the remaining bottom sides of the rest of the cookies, making little sandwiches.

Lick the spoon, and then put your finger into the bowl and clean that out as well.  Or, if your prefer, you may clean out the bowl by using the cookie sandwiches as a scraping tool.  I won't tell.

Now you are ready to finish off the cookies.  Oh, and don't forget to save a few for your daughter, for whom you made the cookies in the first place.  I don't think she would ever forgive you if you didn't....

the icing on the cookie

The cousins come into town.  Dinner at grandma and grandpa's house.  What can I bring?  Nothing??  Well how about dessert then.  Ok, what to make for dessert....

I have been waiting to make strawberry rhubarb pie, and having just gone strawberry picking with some friends a few hours earlier, that seemed like the obvious choice.  But strawberry picking with 4 kids under 5 is harder than you would think.  I had to pick faster than 8 sticky hands could eat.  There were a few moments when I actually had to jump across 3 rows to avoid the melee, the horde of children throwing caution to the wind and just plowing straight through.  And I just now realized why I am so sore today....

The thought of making a pie was a bit much for me, and since neither of my children decided they needed a nap (and I majorly needed one!), cookies sounded much better!  

I wanted to do something fun, like let the cousins decorate the cookies themselves.  I thought about bringing the pre-cut uncooked cookies over for the kids to decorate with sugars, but the mess factor held me back.  Then I thought about icing....  I could cook the cookies beforehand, and put together little icings for the kids to use themselves.  Bingo!

I decided to have the kids decorate outside, which I think was my brightest moment of the day.  Icing is quite a bit messier than sugar...  But it was way more fun!

the icing on the cookie cookies

adapted from Nigella Lawson, How to be a Domestic Goddess

3/4 c. softened Earth Balance butter

3/4 c. sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 2/3 c. cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 c. confectioners' sugar, sifted, and food coloring

Preheat oven to 350.

On medium speed, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.  Add the eggs and vanilla.  In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Lower the speed and add the flour mixture a bit at a time.  Halve the dough, form into patties, and wrap each in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for at least an hour, to let the dough rest.  I like to put the second patty in the freezer, once it has cooled in the fridge, so I have a tasty, easy dessert for a lazy day.

Sprinkle work surface liberally with flour, plop the dough down, add more flour to the top of that, and roll out the dough (one patty at a time), until it's about 1/4 of an inch thick.  Cut into shapes, dipping the cutters into flour in between cuts, and place the cookies on a greased baking sheet.  Bake 8-12 minutes, and let cool on cooling rack.

Sift the confectioners' sugar into a bowl, and add 3 tbs hot, almost boiling, water.  Mix to form a thick paste.  Add more water, sparingly, if you want thinner icing.  I usually use about 3 1/2 tbs.  And now the fun part: adding color..  I really can't say it better than Nigella, "let the artistic spirit within you speak, remembering with gratitude that children have very bad taste."

dairy free cookie cups, again....

Yeah yeah, I know.  It's probably not a very good idea to repeat recipes on here.  But I really just couldn't help myself.  We were going to a birthday party and I was making cupcakes for Ian so that he wouldn't be left out and I asked the kids which ones to make and these were the ones that they chose and they are just sooooo good and the picture just came out too great.  The end.

To see the earlier post, click here.  And I just now realized that I started this post exactly the same way as the original.  And I'm not changing it.  So I guess that makes me actively unoriginal.  Oh well......


Dairy free Cookie Cups

1 c. plus 2 tbs all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt1 stick Earth Balance butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 c. dairy free chocolate chips or baker's chocolate cut into chunks (I use Enjoy Life)

Preheat oven to 375
Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.  Mix well.
On medium speed, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla and continue to beat until well mixed. 
On low speed, stir in the flour mixture until blended.  Add the chocolate chips and stir to integrate them into the batter.
Line a muffin tin with cups.  I used a small size cup for this recipe; perfectly bite sized.  (If you use a regular size cup, increase the cooking time by about 5-10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.)
Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Set the muffins on a cooling rack and be sure to let them cool before you add the frosting, or it will melt.

Cinnamon frosting

2 c. confectioner's sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
6 tbs soy butter, softened
2 1/2 tbs soy milk
a few drops vanilla

In the bowl of an electric mixer, sift the sugar and the cinnamon.  Add the butter, and with the paddle attachment, mix at medium speed until the mixture forms a sort of ball.  You will want to drape a kitchen towel over the bowl of the mixer, that is, unless you want to stand in a cloud of sugar...  Once the ball forms, turn the speed to low, combine the soy milk and vanilla, and add to the sugar ball a couple of teaspoons at a time.  Make sure that the milk is incorporated before each addition.  Once all the milk is in, scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula, and turn the mixer up to full speed. Mix until the frosting is light and fluffy, about 5-10 minutes.  Scoop the frosting into a pastry bag with a tip, or simply a plastic bag, reinforcing one of the corners with tape.  Snip off the corner, and voila, instant pastry bag. Pipe away!

sick day

My daughter called me and said that she needed a tissue.  Her nose was all stuffed up and she had the remnant of a sneeze dripping down her face.

At 2 am.

Thankfully I fell back to sleep, only to hear that familiar call, although slightly more distraught, an hour later.  I returned to her side, wiped her nose, and held her hand until she got comfy again.

3:30 am.  The voice is now thoroughly upset, punctuated with sniffles, cries, and whimpers.  Ok, time for my baby girl to come into bed with me...

If you have never had a sick child in bed with you, it really just means restless sleep for her, and no sleep for you.  But at least when she wakes up crying, all she has to do is reach out to touch your hair, take your hand, and then let out a very satisfied sigh, knowing that she is not alone.  That one moment makes all the sleeplessness worth it.

My favorite thing to do for my babies when they are sick is, first of all, make homemade chicken noodle soup: the epitome of comfort food.  There has been so much research done on the health benefits of chicken soup.  I wonder though.  Are there any comparable studies on the healing properties of cookies?

There should be.



















This (adapted) recipe comes to us from the lady who first inspired my cookie obsession, Mrs. Fields.

Thank you, Mrs. Fields.


Cinnamon Sugar Butter Cookies
Mrs. Fields Cookie Book

topping:
3 tbs white sugar
1 tbs cinnamon

cookies:
2 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 c dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 c white sugar
1 c earth balance butter, softened
2 eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

yield: 3 dozen

Preheat oven to 300˚F.
In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon for topping.  Set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.  Mix well with a wire whisk and set aside.
In a large bowl, blend sugars with an electric mixer set at medium speed.  Add the butter, and mix to form a grainy paste.  Scrape sides of bowl, then add the eggs and vanilla extract.  Mix at medium speed until light and fluffy.
Add the flour mixture and blend at low speed just until combined.  Do not overmix.  Shape dough into 1-inch balls and roll each ball in the cinnamon-sugar topping.
Place onto ungreased cookie sheets, 2 inches apart.  Bake for 18-20 minutes.  Immediately transfer cookies with a spatula to a cool, flat surface.