Friday, October 26, 2012

Spider Web Cookie Pops

Using the sugar cookie recipe from our last blog entry, we made these wonderful Spider Web Cookie Pops. Using them for Halloween parties or giving them away on Halloween to children you know would be great fun. Easy to make, delicious to eat, fun to look at; so what more could you ask for. We placed our cookies in a clear bag and tied a ribbon around it for easy distribution.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

FALL IN VERMONT

The leaves are at their peak in Grand Isle. Beautiful yellow colors on our maple trees, not much red but beautiful just the same. Most of our garden has been harvested except beets and carrots. They can remain in the ground until it snows. At that point, if you place straw or leaves on the plants to protect them from the cold temperatures, they can be harvested until the ground begins to freeze. Today was cookie baking day. The children and I made dazzling sugar cookies and frosted them with a colorful glaze. We chose to cut our cookies in maple leaf shapes and paint them with brilliant fall colors.(Pictures of the sugar cookie leaves can be found on our website www.mykidskitchen.vpweb.com) The children enjoyed rolling out the dough and painting each cook as though it were a master piece. As their mom, I agree each cookie is a work of art and they were spectacular. The best recipe we have found for our sugar cookies is as follows: Sugar Cookie Recipe 1 cup butter 1 cup sugar 1 egg 2 3/4 cup flour 2 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon vanilla Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter and sugar together in a standing mixer. Add the egg, until mixer is blended. Add vanilla, and flour until mixer forms into a ball. Turn mixer out onto a floured surface. Roll out dough and cut shapes accordingly. Place on a non-greased cookie sheet and bake for 12 -15 minutes or until the edges begin to brown.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Spring Time

After a very exceptionally warm winter our spring is proving to be quite interesting too. However, plants are now being planted in our garden such as herbs, onions, leeks, beets, carrots, green beans and lots of potatoes. Tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, and cauliflower will be going in the ground in the next week or two when the soil becomes a bit warmer. We. can't wait to begin harvesting vegetables in the next months making great healthy food

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Fresh from the oven: Scones


Scones are one of those foods that either you enjoy or you may not eat them because you think they are too dry. Keeping this in mind and experimenting with many different recipes, I have finally have a great recipe that I think is practically perfect.

Basic Scone Recipe
4 cups flour
2 eggs slightly beaten (Beat in a 2 cup measuring cup)
About 1 cup of cream. (Pour cream on top of eggs until measuring cup measures 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup sugar
6-8 tablespoons of grated frozen butter
4 teaspoons baking powder
dash of salt
1 cup of any desired fruit.
Directions;
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place flour into mixing bowl. Add sugar, salt and baking powder. Grate frozen butter into dry ingredients. Slightly mix the ingredients making sure that the butter in evenly dispersed. Incorporate beaten eggs and cream to the mixing bowl. Stir only until ingredients begin to combine. Place dough onto a floured piece of wax paper. Using a rolling pin, roll dough out into a rectangle around 8" x 14". Place fruit evenly on dough. Fold dough as you would fold a business letter (trifold). Slightly press dough into a log form and cut into 8 triangles.
Place scones onto a slightly greased baking sheet and place in the oven for 22-25 minutes or until slightly golden.
Enjoy fresh from the oven.