Cookie Fun

Here's a fun one if you have kids.

An Edible Puzzle

16½ oz tube of sugar cookie dough
1/3 cup of flour


Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a rimless baking sheet with parchment paper.

Knead flour into sugar cookie dough. Reserve half of dough for late use. Roll the dough on a floured surface to a ¼ inch thickness, then cut it into three approximate 4-inch squares.

Place the squares onto the baking sheet and chill them in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes.

Remove the cookie sheet and slide the parchment paper onto a counter or cutting board.

Push the cookie cutters into the dough. (Warning, it will be HOT!) Be sure to cut cookie all the way through.

Slide the paper back onto the sheet and bake for 2 more minutes.

Let cookies cool.

To frost:

Thin a cup of white frosting (I used my homemade cream cheese and it worked just fine) with a small amount of water (I used milk) until it’s the consistency of honey. Divide into small bowls and stir in desired food coloring.

Frost cookies with a paint brush.


My alterations here; I don't have a cookie sheet without sides, so I just cut the cookies on the parchment paper on the sheet. It worked just as well.

I also was a bit more creative with my shapes. Instead of just squares I cut out a green grass bush for the bunny adn an oval for the teddy. It also worked as well. The only thing is that I didn't have a leaf cookie cutter for the apple, so when I attempted to cut one out, it didn't work. As in, it wouldn't come out of the puzzle. But it still tasted as well.

More Strawberries

Chocolate Cream Cheese Strawberry Pie

3 squares (1 oz each) semisweet chocolate, divided
1 tablespoon butter
1 9” pastry shell, baked
2 3 oz packages cream cheese, softened
½ cup sour cream
3 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
3-4 cups fresh strawberries, hulled
1/3 cup strawberry jam, melted

To melt chocolate; in a glass jar or cup place 2 ounces chopped chocolate and butter, set glass into pan of hot water, stir chocolate and butter until smooth. Spread or brush chocolate mixture over the bottom and up the sides of the pastry shell. Chill.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, beat the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spread the cream cheese mixture over chocolate layer; cover and chill for 2 hours.

Arrange strawberries, tip end up, over the filling. Brush strawberry jam over the fruit. Melt remaining chocolate and drizzle over all.
This got two thumbs up from the husband. It's really good, and as I said before I prefer the chocolate in this recipe over the chocolate in the previous recipe. I do have to add that I prefer the strawberry/water puree from the other recipe as a glaze. Using jam seems like cheating to me for some reason. But that's just my preference.

Ellen, the 3 yr old, loved helping with this recipe, especially licking the spoon after I'd melted and brushed the crust with the chocolate. But she also loved helping glaze the berries.

Strawberries

This one will be familiar to those who read my other blog, but I figured there's no rules here for reposting from blog to blog. I got this recipe this year from a different blogger, The Lumberjack's Wife. It's easy and fun for kids to help with.

Chocolate-lined Strawberry Pie

Ingredients:
Graham cracker crust
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips(ish)
2 tblsp butter(or so)
1/4 cup whipping cream(about)
1 tablespoon light corn syrup(give or take a little)
8 cups strawberries(or more if ya want), stems removed
2/3 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Now, for the directions:

Melt chocolate pieces and butter over low heat;set aside.

In a heavy saucepan stir together whipping cream and corn syrup. Bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat and cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat; gradually stir into choc mixture. Cool to room temp. Spread cooled choc mixture over the bottom and sides of the crust; set aside.

In a blender combine 1 cup of the strawberries and the water. Cover and blend till smooth.

In a saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch. Stir in pureed berry mixture. Cook and stir over med heat till mixture is thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Cool for 10 minutes without stirring.


Arrange half of the remaining strawberries, stem end down, in crust. Carefully glaze thickened mixture over fruit, thoroughly covering each peice of fruit.

Arrange remaining berries over first layer. Glaze these berries as first layer. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving. Enjoy!

The only thing I'd say about this is that the chocolate tastes kind of diluted; more like those fake chocolate candies you get at holiday times.

I found the answer to that in a second strawberry pie recipe, which I will post tomorrow, if I remember. HA.

Fun in the Sand

Sand Dough

1 cup sand
½ cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon alum
¾ cup water

Optional; twigs, toothpicks, shells…etc

Add cornstarch, sand and alum to a saucepan; use a wooden spoon to mix thoroughly.

Add water and stir the mixture until it is smooth and the cornstarch is dissolved.

Then cook the clay over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. The clay should start to thicken within a minute or two. (It will get weird-looking chunks in it and you will think you’ve done something wrong. But keep stirring, it’ll turn out OK) Stir more vigorously, being sure to scrape the mixture from the sides and bottom of the pan.

After about 3 minutes of cooking, the clay will have thickened to the consistency of play dough. Remove the clay from the pan. Once it’s cool enough to handle, you can start sculpting. (You can wrap it in plastic wrap and keep it, but only for a day or two.)

Once your sculpture is dried you can use clear glue to reattach any pieces that may have fallen off. It took my castle 4-5 days to completely dry all the way through.