Kids Craft- Cooking Apple Butter

I love to cook with my kids. My daughter is only two and she already likes to help me cook dinner every night. It is really amazing what kids can do when we let them get involved. My daughter will stir food for me, add ingredients, and help me measure ingredients. Cooking is not only a quality way to spend time with your children but can me a good learning opportunity by teaching fractions and measurements.

This week we made Apple Butter. I let the kids take turns pealing the apples with my apple corer and placing the apples in a measuring cup. Once I asked how many cups we had we transfered the apples to the stove top pot and simmered the apples until they were soft while we added the spices. The kids helped me measure and place the spices in the pot, as well as stirred the apples. Then we added the apple mixture to the sterilized jars and placed them in our food storage leaving one for tasting. We finished by making peanut butter and apple butter sandwiches.

A few things to remember when cooking with kids:

1. Make sure to identify hot surfaces and pans. I always make sure they know when something is hot and should not be touched.

2. Supervise but try to allow the kids to do some of the work. They want to be involved and by 3 years old they should be capable of pouring measured ingredients into the mixture or mixing the recipe with a spoon or whisk.

3. Always emphasize that cooking does not only involve making the food but cleaning up afterward. This will teach them responsibility.


APPLE BUTTER RECIPE:

3TBS apple cider                          3 cups sugar
2 tsp lemon juice                          4 cups chopped apples
1/8 tsp cloves                               1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon                             1 tsp nutmeg

Cook apples till soft. Mash with masher (if too dry add some water). Add other ingredients and cook till it boils and thickens. (It will continue to thicken once it cools in the jars).

Homemade Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs

Last week I made a big mistake.  I made an entire batch of homemade Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs!  Why a mistake?  They were so good I ate them all!  The Whimsical Princess shared a great recipe last year that some of you might have already seen.  This was my first encounter making a homemade version of my favorite Easter treat.  You have plenty of time to check out the original recipe (here) and make your own before Easter.  But you might want to wait a few days if you plan to have any left by Sunday!

Ingredients:

-4 cups powdered sugar
-1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
-1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
-2 to 3 tablespoons milk
-3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
-1 tablespoon shortening

Directions:

1) Mix together the powdered sugar, peanut butter, and butter.  Add milk one tablespoon at a time until it becomes a workable dough.  Just as the recipe says, the dough will feel like play-doh!

2) Form the dough into egg shapes and place in freezer for one hour.

3) Place chocolate chips and shortening in glass measuring cup.  Microwave 1 minute at a time stirring in between until completely melted.

4) Dip each egg in the melted chocolate and place on waxed paper until set.  I used a toothpick to dip the egg and then used a fork to gently slide the covered egg onto the paper.

5) Wait a couple of hours and then eat as many as you can until they're gone.  :)

These were so good!

 

Oreo Brownies

Tuesday was oreo's 100th birthday.  We decided to celebrate with some yummy brownies.

My daughter was so excited to help bake with our new recipe!

These were very quick and easy to make.  I am embarrassed to share that I didn't take any pictures of the completed brownies.  We were too busy eating them to worry about the camera.

Ingredients:
-1 package fudge brownie mix
-1/4 cup water
-1/2 cup vegetable oil
-2 eggs
-7 crushed oreo cookies
-1/2 cup powdered sugar
-4 teaspoons milk

1) Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease bottom of 9" x 13" pan with shortening or cooking spray. 
2) Stir brownie mix, water, oil, and eggs in large bowl until well blended.  Spread in pan.  Sprinkle crushed cookies on top. 

I used a KitchenAid chopper to crush our cookies.

3) Bake 28 to 30 minutes (until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean).  Cool completely.
4) Stir together powdered sugar and milk in small bowl until smooth.  Drizzle over brownies.
5) Eat!

I'm sure these brownies will show up if I need a dish for a potluck!  Happy 100th birthday oreo cookie!

 

Chocolate Marshmallow Pillow Cookies

Yesterday I hosted a cookie exchange with some moms from my daughter's play group.  I was looking online for a new cookie recipe when I found something too good to pass up - Betty Crocker's Chocolate Marshmallow Pillows.  They were fun to make and tasted delicious!  

You should know that I don't bake frequently.  Please don't judge me for using the wrong kitchen tools!

Ingredients:
-1 pouch Betty Crocker double chocolate chunk cookie mix
-1/4 cup vegetable oil
-2 tablespoons water
-1 egg
-2/3 cup chopped pecans
-12 large marshmallows, cut in half
-1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
-1/3 cup whipping cream
-1 teaspoon butter or margarine
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-1/2 cup powdered sugar

1) Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2) In large bowl stir cookie mix, oil, water, egg, and pecans until soft dough forms.

3) Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. 

4) Bake for 7 minutes.  While cookies are baking, cut your marshmallows in half.

5) Remove cookies from oven and immediately press marshmallows on top of cookies.  Bake additional 2 minutes.  Let cookies set for a couple of minutes and then move them to cooling racks.

6) While your cookies are cooling, prepare the chocolate topping.  In nonstick saucepan melt chocolate chips over low heat, stirring until smooth.  Remove from heat and add whipping cream, butter, and vanilla.  Blend well and then stir in powdered sugar until smooth.

7) If you don't have any frosting bags and tips, transfer the topping to a large Ziploc bag. 

8) Use the chocolate topping to completely cover the marshmallows on the cookies.

You're all done!  Pretty and yummy!

I quadrupled the recipe to make 8 dozen for the cookie exchange. 

These cookies will definitely be making another appearance for Christmas!

 

Rolo Brownie Pops

Last week I told you I would likely share the details of the brownie pops I made for my vintage Hollywood theme party.

I was torn between making cupcakes or brownies.  I really wanted to use cupcake toppers but I also really wanted to use my newly discovered Rolo Brownies recipe.   My problem was solved while I was at the craft supply store and stumbled upon Wilton's Brownie Pops Silicone Mold. 

I used the mold to make Rolo Brownie Pops and was still able to use my cute toppers.  I only purchased one mold so I spent a good few hours baking the morning of my party.  This would have been incredibly easy and quick if I had purchased more than one pan.  The Rolo Brownies recipe tells you to bake the first layer of brownies, add the rolos and peanut butter chips with another layer of batter, then bake again.  I really didn't have time for so many steps with only one pan so I altered the recipe to make it work with my timeline.  I simply used a brownie mix to make my batter.  I sprayed the pan with cooking spray then filled the molds 2/3 full with batter.

Next I pushed a rolo into each brownie bite.

I topped each bite with 3 peanut butter chips. 

I baked each pan for 30 minutes.  I repeated all the steps 4 times to make 32 brownie bites.  I will definitely be purchasing more silicone molds before I do this again!  But it was all worth it because the brownie bites were delicious and looked adorable with my vintage Hollywood icon toppers!

These would be great with out the peanut butter chips too!

 

Ovaltine Malted Fudge Pops

I recently won I Heart Naptime's Ovaltine Giveaway.  Very exciting!  I received my prize pack this week.

The giveaway included three containers of Ovaltine, a glass straw dispenser, a $25 Visa gift card, and a recipe book. 

Yesterday I tried a new recipe from the included book.  I  had all the ingredients so I didn't need to go to the grocery store.  My daughter was so excited when she heard I was making Malted Fudge Pops! 

I was anxious to get the pops in the freezer for a fun dessert after dinner.

They turned out great and my daughter really enjoyed her dessert!

The recipe can be found in the Ovaltine Recipe Booklet or at a number of sites online.  I found a recipe identical to the one I used here.

Thanks to I Heart Naptime for the great giveaway!

 



Caramel Popcorn

Are you a late night movie watcher? Our family loves to have movie nights and no movie night is complete without caramel popcorn. This particular recipe is very gooey and sticky which is just how I like it. Here is what you will need:

2-3 bags microwave popcorn, popped
1/2 cup of karo syrup
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup margarine
2 cups brown sugar

Make the popcorn in the microwave. While that is popping slowing melt the margarine and butter. Then add the sugar and syrup. Bring to a boil. Then pour 1/3 of the popcorn into the bowl and 1/3 of the syrup mixture. Repeat until completely covered mixing all around. Then enjoy and try no to eat too much.

Summertime Waffles

If your kids are like mine they love waffles, pancakes, pretty much any breakfast food! One of my friends had this great idea to make waffles look like watermelons for summertime. So I took her idea and went with it. INSTANT FAVORITE! They loved the waffles and ate them all. I also made them with whole wheat flour and sweet potatoes I love a little extra nutrition in each bit.

My whole wheat sweet potato waffles recipe is found HERE. Best recipe ever. You also need mini chocolate chips.

So here is how you make them into watermelon waffles.

Make your batter according to the directions and separate the batter into two bowls (with a little more in one of the bowls). Then you add the food coloring to each bowl. One bowl with red food coloring and the other with green. I put the red in the bowl with more batter.

Next you make a circle using the green batter with a hole in the middle. Then pour the red batter in the hole and sprinkle with mini chocolate chips. Cook like you normally would.

When you are done you have a watermelon waffle that the kids will love.