As the mom of 4 boys, I understand what it’s want to constantly be searching for activities for kids in the course of the lengthy, warm summer months. One of the excellent methods I observed to keep my kids busy for the duration of school holidays turned into carrying them into the kitchen and involve them in something I turned into cooking or baking.
Baking cookies continually turned into my go-to interest with my children. First, we would smooth the countertop and then sprinkle it with flour. Then we’d degree every ingredient, mastering approximately numbers and fractions as we added each object. Then we’d knead the dough – I loved coaching my youngsters how no longer to overwork the dough. Next, we discovered endurance whilst letting the dough relax in the fridge for a while, after which eventually it became time to roll out the cookie dough and form it into a laugh and exciting shapes.
A few weeks ago, my weekly column blanketed recipes to put together selfmade jams. This week, I’m imparting some recipes for baking cookies that call for a dollop of scrumptious jam within the middle. If you located the time to try out one of the jam recipes, you could use it for those cookies. If no longer, any jam will do.
These cookie recipes do now not require any special components or tools. Therefore, some youngsters will reach forming these shapes and could be overjoyed. However, others might find it difficult, and so that they must be advocated to create cookies in whatever shape they want.
So don’t hesitate to roll up your sleeves and get started having a blast within the kitchen along with your youngsters this summer. The cookies you prepare are amazing while eating collectively with a hot teacup or a pitcher of cold milk. You may also have thought you want to get a jar prepared to save all the greater cookies. However, you could’t consider how quickly they get snatched up and eaten. I guess you received’t even have any cookies leftover to preserve for the following day.
It’s extremely vital no longer to overwork cookie dough because the warmth of your fingers will heat the butter and make the dough sense like you need to feature extra flour. If you add more flour, the cookies will pop out overly difficult. Instead, knead the dough most effectively until all of the ingredients are properly mixed, and then permit the dough to sit inside the refrigerator long enough for the butter to chill. All cookie doughs may be frozen, so long as they are wrapped well in plastic wrap. To defrost, place dough within the fridge and let it thaw slowly till you’re equipped to make the cookies. If you’re using the dough as the base for a quiche or pie, it’s excellent to make holes in it with the tines of a fork or cowl it with foil and then add a layer of dry beans to prevent it from puffing up during baking. After the crust is ready, eliminate the foil and beans, upload the filling and hold baking.
CRISPY CHEESE PINWHEEL COOKIES WITH RED JAM
Children who have a tough time forming the form of a pinwheel can make balls, press down inside the middle with their thumb, and then upload a dab of jam inside the indentation. This is a notable recipe for kids between the ages of four and seven.
Makes 25 cookies.
- One hundred seventy gr. Cream cheese 25%-30%
- One egg
- 2 tsp. Lemon zest
- 120 gr. Butter
- 3 Tbsp. Powdered sugar
- 2¾ cups flour sifted
- ¼ tsp. Salt
- 1 cup raspberry or other red jam
Topping: 1 cup powdered sugar
In the bowl of an electric-powered mixer, upload the cheese and egg and mix at a medium pace. Add the lemon zest, butter, powdered sugar, flour, and salt. Mix until easy and dough begins to fall far away from edges of the bowl—place bowl in the refrigerator for at least 60 minutes. Separate the dough into sections. Roll out the first segment on a floured work surface till the dough is ½ cm. Thick. Keep 2nd segment inside the fridge until you’re geared up to roll it out. Cut dough into eight cm. Squares using a pizza cutter. Arrange the squares on a baking tray. Make a 2-cm. The incision from each corner is closer to the center; take a 1/2 spoonful of jam and place it in the middle of the square. Lift one corner of every one of the four triangles you’ve created and pressed it down in the center of the square so that it forms a pinwheel form. Bake for 10-12 minutes in an oven that has been preheated to one hundred seventy°-175° or till they turn golden brown. Let cool absolutely, and then sprinkle with powdered sugar.
JAM HEART COOKIES
Baking along with your youngsters at some point of summertime excursion is the right possibility to train them how to measure, matter, and preserve the tune of numbers. You can display them away to knead the dough, wait patiently and additionally be tremendous-creative. Each infant can make cookies to the excellent of their skills. The important intention is to have fun and beneficial experience.
Makes 25-30 cookies.
- Two hundred gr. Butter, at room temperature, cubed
- ½ cup (100 gr.) sugar
- 2¼ cups (300 gr.) flour, sifted
- One egg
- 1 cup jam, any taste
Topping: ½ cup powdered sugar
Using a mixer equipped with a dough hook attachment, upload the butter cubes, sugar and flour. Mix until crumbly. Add the egg and mix until dough falls far from the aspect of the bowl. Sprinkle some flour on your work surface and roll out the dough till it’s ½ cm. Thick. Use a heart-fashioned cookie cutter to cut out many hearts (or something shape cookie cutter you want). Place cookies on a tray lined with baking paper. In the center of half of the cookies, reduce out a small heart shape. Leave the other half of the cookies complete. Bake for 22 mins in an oven that has been preheated to 180°. Let cookies cool. Place a dab of jam inside the middle of each complete cookie. Place all the cookies with a hollow in them on a tray and sprinkle them generously with powdered sugar. Place the powdered cookies with the holes on top of the complete cookies with the jam and gently press down so that the jam peeks out the window. Alternatively, if those steps are too tough for your kids, they can cut the dough into squares and region a piece of jam inside the middle. Next, they need to elevate up one nook and press it down on the pinnacle of the other nook to shut the jam inside an envelope. The jam will peek out a little from both aspects after it’s been baked.
