Are you looking to do a little baking with your kids for Valentine's Day? Maybe they have a class party or gathering they are attending, and need to bring a baked good. Instead of Mom doing all the work, let them help you in the kitchen. Not only will it be a great bonding experience, but they will get used to being in the kitchen and learning how to bake. Growing up, I loved when my Mom or Nana would have me in their kitchens to help out. My favorite thing to make (and sample) was cookies. And, now that I have kids of my own, I look for any opportunity to bake and cook with them, as I know it will be a skill they will need when they are grown up on and on their own, and these will be memories they will remember and cherish.
My oldest 7 years ago -- her visit day helping in the kitchen :-)
Even though my Italian Nana is no longer with us, I still remember being in her kitchen and loving how it smelled when she was in the midst of baking up sweet treats for the family. She never needed a recipe (as they were all up in her head), and she was a master baker, and taught me everything that I know, and that I am now passing down to my girls.
This Valentine's Day, I will be using two new cookbooks with the girls, which you can purchase through Amazon, to bake up a few cookie treats for them to bring to their Valentine's Day parties, and to share with friends. Come on, who can resists cookies, especially fresh baked ones? I know I can't say, "No." And, paired with a cold glass of milk, it is even better! :-)
Here are the two cookbooks from Weldon Owen Publishing I will be pulling recipes from, both of which are geared towards grown ups cooking with kids in the kitchen:
PEANUTS Family Cookbook: Delicious Dishes for Kids to Make with their Favorite Grown-ups
"For the first time in recent history, generations of PEANUTS™ fans are invited to come together for a fun, culinary adventure. Featuring 50 delicious recipe staples of the American diet, The PEANUTS™ Family Cookbook is ideal for chefs to prepare popular, seasonal and delicious dishes alongside their families, including Peggy Jean’s Chocolate-Dipped Shortbread Hearts!
Grab your supper dish and head to the kitchen for scrumptious meals with the Peanuts gang! The Peanuts Family Cookbook features 50 delicious recipes that are perfect for junior chefs to prepare with their favorite grown-ups, bringing generations of Peanuts fans together for fun culinary adventures.
With delightful recipes and more than 75 classic comic strips and original illustrations, this is the perfect way to enjoy Charles Schulz’s beloved characters with breakfast, lunch, and, of course, SUPPERTIME!
The Peanuts Family Cookbook includes such yummy delights as:
Warm Puppy Pancakes
French Foreign Legion Toast
Spike’s Des[s]ert Waffles
Poor Sweet (Dutch) Baby
Pig Pen’s Scramble
Eggs “Badcall” Bennydict
Banana Nose Bread Bites
Joe Hunk’s Power Smoothie
Masked Marvel Minestrone Soup
Schroeder’s Fruit Medley
Joe Shlabotnik’s Baseball Snack
Beagle Scouts Trail Mix
Lucy’s Lemon-Aid
Snoopy’s Golf Club Sandwich
Miss Othmar’s Favorite Chicken Pie
Linus’s Pigs in a Blanket
José’s “Swedish” Meatballs
Camp Kamp Chili Chow
Sloppy Joe Cool
Frieda’s Naturally Curly Pesto Pasta
CorMac and Cheese
Charlie Brownies
Tapioca’s Pudding
The Great Pumpkin Pie
Harold Angel Food Cake
Violet’s Deluxe Mud Pie
Franklin’s Frozen Fruit Crush
Peggy Jean’s Chocolate-Dipped Shortbread Hearts
Sweet Babboos
Snoopy’s Christmas Cookies
. . . and more!"
And, for fans of American Girl, here is a fun cookies cookbook, that is a must have for those tea parties you like hosting for your dolls, as well as setting up a bake stand like Grace does. :-)
My youngest loves Grace and her French macaroons and cupcakes, and can't get enough of her collection of American Girl cookbooks. This is one that we can't wait to add to her collection, and try out the different cookie recipes, including the rainbow cookies, snickerdoodles, and the different brownie recipes, just to name a few.
"From the well-loved American Girl brand comes a favorite topic: baking cookies! With more than 60 recipes for mouthwatering creations, Cookies will be a go-to guide for aspiring young bakers in search of sweet inspiration—whether looking to create delectable treats for after-school snacks, holiday gifts, or weekend get-togethers with friends.
Cookies features 60+ recipes for one of America’s favorite sweet treats, from classic favorites to fresh, fun, and contemporary creations. Chewy, crunchy, gooey, or crumbly, choose from a delectable collection of drop cookies, sandwich cookies, cut-out cookies, brownies, and bars—like cinnamon-y snickerdoodles; chocolate sweetheart sandwiches; lemon squares studded with coconut; brownies covered in gooey chocolate frosting; rainbow sugar cookies; and cookie cutouts decorated with every kind of sprinkle!
In addition to essential baking tips and safety know how, discover fun skills like piping and flooding icing, making natural food dyes, and rolling and storing dough like a pro.
Sample recipes include:
Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
Triple-Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Cinnamon-Sugar Snickerdoodles
Vanilla and Chocolate Sugar-Cookie Cutouts
Black-and-White Cookies
Chocolate-Dipped Shortbread Triangles
Rainbow Cookies
Jam Swirls
Homemade Oreos
Chocolate Sweetheart Sandwiches
Vanilla Spritz Sandwiches
Crispy Ginger Snaps
Stained Glass Cookies
Chocolate-Peanut Butter Squares
Coconut-Lemon Bars
Frosted Chocolate Brownies"
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Thanks to the kind folks at Weldon Owen, the publishers of the popular full-line of American Girl/Williams-Sonoma Cookbooks for kids, they have given me permission to share the Chocolate Sweetheart Sandwich Cookies recipe from this new "American Girl: Cookies" cookbook release, which would be perfect for a fun treat to bake up for Valentine's Day, and share with family and friends.
Chocolate Sweetheart Sandwich Cookies
Make sure to slightly under bake the heart-shaped chocolate cookies for these adorable treats. If the cookies are soft, the filling won’t squish out when you bite into a sandwich. You can flavor the filling with vanilla or raspberry. If you can’t decide, do half and half.
MAKES ABOUT 30 COOKIES
Dough for Chocolate Sugar Cookies (page 46), chilled at least 1 hour
Heart-shaped sprinkles and/or pink and white sanding sugar for decorating (optional)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup powdered sugar
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract or ¼ cup strained raspberry preserves
Pinch of salt
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Lightly dust your work surface with flour and set the dough on the surface. Roll out the dough to ¼-inch thickness. Using a 2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut the dough into hearts. Transfer the cutouts to the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them 1 inch apart. Repeat with any remaining dough scraps. Sprinkle the cutouts with sanding sugar, if using.
Bake 1 cookie sheet at a time until the cookies are firm to the touch, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the sheet from the oven and set it on a wire rack. Let cool for 5 minutes, then use the metal spatula to move the cookies directly to the rack. Repeat to bake the rest of the cookies. Let cool completely.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and salt and beat on low speed just until combined. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a ¼-inch round tip (see page 39).
Turn half of the cookies bottom side up. Pipe the butter mixture filling onto each overturned cookie until it almost reaches the edge. Top with the remaining cookies, bottom side down. Roll the sides of the sandwiches in heart-shaped sprinkles, if using. Refrigerate until the filling is firm, about 1 hour. Serve the cookies chilled or at room temperature.
--GIVEAWAY--
In addition to granting me permission to share the above cookie recipe, the folks at Weldon Owen are also giving me copies of the Peanuts Family Cookbook and American Girl: Cookies to give away to one lucky Inspired by Savannah reader. To enter, please complete the entries on the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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I would share these cookbooks with my kids. We love to cook together.
ReplyDeleteI entered the Wild Horses giveaway.
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