Archive for the 'Cookies' Category
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Kids Birthday Party Idea – Decorate Cookies
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008Kids Love to decorate cookies and cupcakes – I’ve used this as an event at two of my daughter’s birthday parties. When she turned two I had the kids decorate their own cupcakes to eat. This year she turned 7 and the girls at her party decorated cookies as one of the activities.
I made round sugar cookies in advance – two per girl. (If you want to cut down on your work you can buy the pre-made sugar cookie dough in the dairy section of the supermarket.) Then we prepared white icing. We made three pretty pastel colors for them to use – pink, lavender and yellow. (If it’s for a boy’s party I would make more boyish colors.)
Then I had fun toppings available for the kids to use: sprinkles, crystal sugar, M & M’s and chocolate chips.
The activity took about 15 – 20 minutes. We wrapped up the cookies on plates for the kids to take home.
The kids had a ball!
(This doesn’t have to be just for parties or holidays – you can do this on a rainy day just for fun.)
Fun Cooking with Kids: A Monkey on a Stick and a Ladybug Cookie
Thursday, July 17th, 2008My daughter made these great treats at our local library.
It shows what a little imagination and some candy can do! You can adapt these ideas to any theme for a kids party, a unit in the classroom or just for fun at home.
-Mama Lisa
A Food Eaten for Santa Lucia in Sweden
Wednesday, December 5th, 2007My friend and colleague Monique in France made the biscuits called Lussekatter that they serve in Sweden for Santa Lucia on December 13th. She sent me a photo of what they look like…
I also noticed that Frog with a Blog linked to a recipe for glögg that he likes. But beware! It looks like it has a kick to it!
-Mama Lisa
Recipe for Pebernodder Cookies plus a Kids Game called Mouse
Monday, December 11th, 2006Pfeffernüsse is a traditional German Christmas cookie. Pfeffernüsse literally translates into English as pepper-nut. That’s because most traditional recipes for these cookies are spicy and call for pepper. I believe the “nut” part is because they were traditionally shaped like little balls or nuts. That’s where you get peppernut.
These cookies are also traditional at Christmastime in Denmark. In Danish they’re called pebernødder. They can also be found in English speaking countries. In the U.S. they’re called pfeffernuesse.
Laurel Skelton was nice enough to send me a recipe. Here’s what she wrote:
I have several recipes, but some call for baking soda, and produce a fluffier cookie – NOT what I consider classic Pebernodder. Following is the recipe that produces the smallest, nut-like cookie, but it doesn’t call for much spice. So I make the cookies with a combination of the recipes I have, adding spices from the others to this basic recipe:
PEBERNODDER (Peppernuts)
2 1/2 cups Flour
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Butter
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon Cardamom
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon White Pepper
Grated Lemon RindTake out butter early to soften.
Sift dry ingredients into large mixing bowl. Add butter and eggs and grated lemon rind. Mix well. Kneed with hands until dough is smooth.
Let rest about 1 hour. Then roll out into ropes the thickness of a pencil, and cut into pieces about the size of a pea. Bake on greased cookie sheet in 325 degree F oven until golden brown (about 10 to 12 minutes).
(I omit the lemon rind, add 1 Tablespoon of Molasses and use the following spices: 4 t. Cardamom, 2 t. White Pepper, 2 1/2 t. Ginger, 3/4 t. Cloves.)
Laurel had asked me about a game that kids play with pebernødder. I posted her question on my blog. The first person to respond said that pebernødder were used like tokens for payment when playing games.
More recently, we got a response by Karin Parnis, who used to play a game called Mouse (Mus in Danish), with these cookies. Here’s what Karin wrote:
I used to play a game called “mus” or “mouse” with my grandmother. You must have at least 3 people to play. You line up 10 or so pebbernodder on the table and point one of them out while the person who is “it” closes his eyes. He can then eat the pebbernodder one by one until he touches the “mouse” and the other players shout “MOUSE”. You keep taking turns to be “it” until you’re sick of eating pebbernodder or until there are none left!
Many thanks to Karin and Laurel for writing!
If anyone would like to share other holiday recipes or traditions, please feel free to comment below or email me.
Lisa
UPDATE: I made these cookies both ways. I found both to be very tasty. My children liked the 1st recipe best, but my husband preferred the spicier ones.
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The pfeffernuesse that you see in the US are often made with baking soda and even baking powder. They’re also made into 3/4″ balls before baking – so that they’re a larger, fluffier cookie. When they cool off a little, they’re coated with powdered sugar.
The version above, especially the first version of the recipe, is pretty mild. They’re sort of like a slightly spicy tasting, crunchy, sugar cookie. Yum-my!
In the second version above, you taste white pepper mixed with sweet cookie.
You can tell in the photo above that most of mine came out a little bigger than they were supposed to. My kids helped roll them – so they were all sorts of sizes. But it was a great project to do with kids. For my 5 year old daughter, it was like playing with play dough. It was fun for her, yet she was a big help!
Biscuits Très Gingembre – Very Ginger Cookies
Monday, November 27th, 2006Clotilde over at Chocolate and Zucchini just posted a recipe for Very Ginger Cookies. I haven’t baked them yet, so I’m not sure if they’re similar to Gingerbread cookies – but it made me think of them!
It also made me realize that it’s almost time to start baking Christmas/Holiday cookies. I’m not sure what I’ll be making this year, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted. I think I’ll try one of Clotilde’s other recipes that she posted recently for Shortbread Cookies. They sound yummy!
Soon I’ll be posting a recipe for the German Christmas cookie called Pfeffenusse, with the rules to a game the German kids play, or at least once played, with these spicy treats.
If you’d like to share one of your favorite holiday cookie recipes, please comment below or email me.
-Lisa
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