Cooking Kids

French fries are a kid-friendly food. However, they aren’t always the healthiest fare, even when you buy the frozen kind and bake them. Below is a yummy recipe for homemade fries that are low in fat but taste delicious. My son gobbled them up during dinner last night, where they accompanied a roast and asparagus. They are also simple to make and kids can help dip the fries.

Simple Healthy Fries

6 potatoes, peeled and sliced vertically

3 egg whites

1 c. flour

1 tbsp. garlic powder, onion salt, ground mustard, black pepper and salad supreme

1 c. bread crumbs - any variety

1/2 c. parmesan cheese

Beat the egg whites in a bowl until frothy. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Dip the potato wedges into the egg whites and then into the dry ingredients. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake at 375* for 40 minutes, or until browned. Enjoy!

These lunchbox treats are a great dessert. They are easy for kids to help make, and you can alter the recipe to include a cereal you prefer. This holiday season, we made them with rice krispies, but I prefer the cornflakes.

1/4 C. lite corn syrup

2 tbsp. brown sugar

1 tbsp. white sugar

1/4 C. creamy peanut butter

1 1/2 C. corn flakes

1/4 C. spanish peanuts

1/2 C. melted chocolate

Bring the corn syrup and sugars to a boil. Remove them from the heat as soon as it boils and stir in the peanut butter. Fold in the corn flakes and peanuts. Press the mixture into a pan and spread the melted chocolate over top. (I use a small, square dish for thicker bars.) Chill until firm. Wrap in plastic wrap and pack in an insulated lunchbox. Enjoy!

Well the kids had a blast at this month’s cooking club. Our theme was Christmas Treats. The kids made reindeer food to take home, which is simply oatmeal and sprinkles. My daughter really loved spreading the food out on Christmas Eve. She was so excited that Rudolph would come and eat her food. They also made christmas mice. These turned out so cute, and the recipe is very simple. Then they made pressed peanut butter cookies and sugar plum dreams. The recipes follow:

Christmas Mice

1 container of chocolate icing

1 to 2 cups of flour

slivered almonds

Red sprinkle dots

Mini chocolate chips

A small plate of cocoa powder or crushed chocolate cookies

Mix the frosting and flour until the frosting is more like a dough. Chill overnight. Take a small amount of frosting and roll it into a ball, stretching out one end so it looks more like a mouse. Really you should roll it into an oval, but kids have a hard time with that. Roll the mouse into the cocoa. Use the slivered almonds for ears, the chocolate chip for a tail and the red sprinkles for eyes.

Sugar Plum Dreams

1 bag of large marshmallows

Melted white chocolate

Sprinkles

Wafer Roll cookies

Break a wafer roll cookie in half and stick them into 2 large marshmallows. Roll the marshmallow into melted white chocolate and sprinkle with sprinkles. Let set and enjoy!

Well it’s time for my monthly Little Chefs cooking club tomorrow. This month we’re focusing on Christmas Treats. The kids are making chocolate christmas mice, sugarplum dreams, peanut butter cookies and take-home reindeer food.

I originally planned for the kids to make gingerbread kids, but that fell through. We’re redoing our kitchen floors, so I knew I wouldn’t be able to make the gingerbread dough from scratch without going completely insane stepping over my husband and tile pieces. And the grocery store I went to had no gingerbread. So instead, I am having the kids pick one of four cookie presses that I have and push them into peanut butter cookie dough, and then they can decorate them with icing and sprinkles.

The kids’ cooking club has been a huge success. Every month my playgroup sends out a calendar and Little Chefs is one of the first activities to fill up, and it always has a waiting list. I was a little wary at first that the kids wouldn’t be interested, but they all love it and so do the moms.

Here’s a really good recipe for Russian Tea Cookies. They’re similar to the recipe entered in the cookie contest on this blog, with just a slight variation.

1 C. butter

2 C. flour

1 C. chopped walnuts or hazelnuts

1 C. powdered sugar

2 tsp. rum or vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Cream the butter and sugar. Mix the rest of the ingredients into the creamed mixture, except for the nuts. Once the mixture is blended well, add the nuts. Roll the cookies into little balls and bake them at 350* until golden brown. About 8-10 minutes. Roll the cookies in powdered sugar while hot, and then again after they cool. Enjoy!

I’ve gotten so far behind because December is just a busy month for me. But I’m gonna try to post some last-minute cookie recipes that just might be what you’re looking for  for Santa or holiday guests.

Million Dollar Cookies Recipe:

1 C. softened butter

1C. sugar

1 C. packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 C. flour plus 1/4 C.

3/4 C. cocoa

1tsp. baking soda

2 Heath candy bars or toffee bits

1 bag Rolo candies

Preheat oven to 375*. Beat butter and sugars until fluffy, then add eggs and vanilla and beat well. In another bowl, mix the 2 1/2 cups of flour, cocoa and baking soda. Add flour mixture to moist mixture a little at a time and blend well. If it’s too sticky, sprinkle in a little extra flour.

Cover and chill for about 30 minutes. Chop heath bar into small pieces. Toss with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Wrap a piece of dough around a rolo and form into a ball. Dip the dough into the candy topping and bake for 7-10 minutes. Cookies will look soft, but do not overbake. Cool for a couple minutes on pan and then remove. Enjoy!

Rolos Peanut Butter Cookies by Pam!! Congratulations Pam! You have a $10 Walmart gift card coming your way.

Here’s the winning recipe for Rolos Peanut Butter Cookies

1 package of peanut butter cookie dough
1 package of Rolos
Sugar to roll the cookies in
Open the pack of peanut butter cookie dough. Tear off a chunk and roll a Rolo into the middle of it. Roll the ball into sugar and bake at 350*, until lightly browned. About 10 minutes for us.

This cookie won because of its simplicity, taste and the ability to work as an everyday cookie or a holiday cookie. The kids made this 100% by themselves. The only thing I did was preheat the oven for them. They both had a blast making these and rolling the Rolos in the dough and rolling the dough in sugar. We decided that when we make our Santa cookies, we’ll roll these in red and green sugars instead of white.

Even though Pam’s cookie won, all the cookies were delicious. The super simple peanut butter cookie with the chocolate star in the middle was our runner-up. The kids had a really hard time deciding between the two, and fighting over who got the last bite. If you love peanut butter, then the super simple peanut butter cookie is for you.

The chocolate chip, peanut butter, and sugar cookie recipes are all traditional favorites of ours, and we enjoyed trying each recipe. We have the leftovers frozen to make our Santa cookies with. The no-bake cookie reminded my son of a Snicker’s for some reason, and he gobbled lots of those down.

The oatmeal chocolate chip cookie was a hearty cookie, and will probably become a new holiday favorite for gift giving. The reindeer chow was fun and simple to make, but we had quite a discussion on whether or not it could be called a cookie. In the end we decided it was a different form of cookie and my daughter shared them with her playgroup yesterday at their Christmas party. The snowball cookies went fast, and that was largely due to me and my husband fighting over them. The kids tried them, but they had a little trouble getting won over because of the nuts. They loved rolling them in powdered sugar though.

The last three entries are posted on yesterday’s blog. So if you missed seeing your cookie, check the blog from yesterday. Thanks everyone for entering the christmas cookie contest. We had a lot of fun baking and trying all the cookies. It’s always a pleasure when I can get my son into the kitchen for more than just eating. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Well we got a handful of the cookies baked yesterday, but I still have three more to go. We’ll get those baked up tonight, eat a sample of each one again, and decide on a winner. I will post the last few contestants, including the winner, tomorrow. Considering how many recipes came in at the last minute, I think we did pretty good getting them all baked up and tested. The cookies we did yesterday include the chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, reindeer chow and no bake cookies. I’ve now added the last three cookies to this blog. The picture is below. Those three are the oatmeal chocolate chip, rollo cookies and a peanut butter cookie that is a compeltely different recipe than the first peanut butter cookie. See you guys back here tomorrow for the winner….probably around noon time.

Well we had a busy morning and afternoon, so I only got two cookies baked today. Tomorrow we have plans to spend most of the day baking, so I’m hoping to get them all done by tomorrow night. As with the last contest, I will post the name and picture of the cookie(s) but no opinions yet. The first two we tried were the Snowball Cookies and one of the peanut butter cookies. The peanut butter cookie didn’t have an actual name posted in the comments, so I’ll call it the Super Simple Peanut Butter Christmas Cookie. The picture shows the snowball cookies in the middle and the peanut butter cookies on the outside. This is what we’re actually going to give to my daughter’s gymnastics teacher tomorrow for a christmas gift.  Look for more cookie entrants throughout the week. Thanks for entering!

Wow! My inbox blew up with comments to moderate for the cookie contest. I know the contest rules say a winner announced by the 10th, but with so many new recipes, it may not be until the 11th or 12th before I announce a winner. I will do my best though to get the cookies made in the next 3 days. My son had the flu last week and even missed some school, so there wasn’t much chance for me to bake last week anyway. But I’m stopping to pick up the gift card tomorrow and will bake and post as I get them done. Good luck to all entrants! They all sound great, and some definitely seem extra fun for kids.