Decorating Halloween Cookies

Usually when one of my kids is away at a play date, I try to do something fun with the ones left at home.  More often then not, it ends up being food related.  One Saturday afternoon, Big L and I ended up making Halloween themed sugar cookies while Lil P was off with her friend.

We started with a basic sugar recipe and Halloween themed cutters.

I've found that the most kid-friendly way to decorate cookies is using a simple sugar cookie icing (see recipe below) in small squeeze bottles.  The trick to getting the icing into the small opening is first putting the icing into a zipper top bag, cutting a corner of the bag and then squeezing the icing into the bottle.  Having air in the bag helps to push out all the icing.  Sometimes I use food coloring to tint the icing into different colors and the kids can make designs and draw with the icing.  This time, we kept it white and went on a frenzy with an assortment of sprinkles.  

The nice thing about using the bottles is that it give more control to little hands.  They can outline the cookie and then fill the inside.  Or draw designs.  Using a bottle is also less messier, which I love. 

i love the simple look of this cookie

While the glaze is still wet go to town with the sprinkles.  Using a rack on a sheet pan will catch all the excess sprinkles so there is less waste.  Just remember to collect the sprinkles between each different one, otherwise you'll end up with a jar of what I call "hodge-podge" sprinkles which the kids love to use too.   

Sugar Cookie Icing
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2-4 tsp. milk
2 tsp. light corn syrup

Mix the ingredients together.  Adjust the amount of milk to the consistency you want.
* This icing will harden as it dries allowing you to stack the cookies.

Pumpkin Tart

Fall is here and that means apples and pumpkins.  I still haven't had a chance to take the kids pumpkin picking but figured a can of pumpkin would be a good way to kick off the fall. 

I opted for a pumpkin tart (recipe below) instead of a pie because I wanted to break out the tart pan that's been so very neglected. 

I'm not a big fan of lots of kitchen gadgets because I can do most things with either a knife or something I already have.  But I gotta say, I love my pastry blender.  I've always avoided buying one because you really can just break the fat into the flour using a fork but after using a pastry blender, I just can't go back.  It makes such quick work of making dough and it's easy and fun for the kids to use. 

Lil P rolling out the dough while Baby T looks on

Pumpkin Tart Recipe 
1/2 cup packed brown sugar*
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice mix 
2 large eggs 
15 oz (1 can) pure pumpkin
12 oz (1 can) evaporated milk
Combine all the ingredients.  Pour into a tart pan (or pie pan) lined with unbaked dough.  Bake 350 for 50 minutes until

Pie Crust Recipe

1 cups all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

1/3 cup cold butter cut into cubes

2-3 tablespoons cold water

Combine flour and salt in large bowl.  Cut in butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in enough water just until flour is moistened.  Shape dough into a flat disk and roll out to fit tart pan.


* This recipe produced a tart that was not too sweet. Next time I would probably increase the amount of sugar. 

Happy Pigs in Blankets

Some mornings when I have time the kids and I make pigs in blankets, which doubles as breakfast and a packed lunch.  They are really quick and easy to make (25 minutes top, including baking time), with me cutting the dough and two kids rolling.  Every time I make these, people ask if I bought them.  It really just takes a can of Crescent dough and Lil Smokies.

Instructions:
Crescent dough comes in 8 triangle pieces.  I cut each triangle dough into 4 pieces.  First I cut off the top third.  Then I cut the bottom trapezoid into 3 triangles.  I place the sausage at the wide end of the dough and roll up.  Bake at 375 for 12-14 minutes until golden brown.  Easy peasy.  By now, my little helpers have each probably rolled hundreds of these and are pros. 

One morning while packing my son's lunch.  I thought it would be cute to draw smiley faces on the little sausages using edible markers.  He got a kick out of it at lunch time at school and said he showed all his friends.

Tips:
1. Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough.  It's easier than a knife. 
2. Dry the sausages with a paper towel before rolling to prevent a soggy layer of dough.
3. Be sure to use an edible food coloring marker such as these Wilton Food Writer Markers available at craft stores.

Homemade Imitation Cronuts

Have you heard of Cronuts?  Think of it as croissant meets donut.  Get a 101 on them here.  I haven't actually ever eaten an authentic Cronut but I remember hearing about these decadent treats last year when they were in a selling frenzy.  I heard about the ridiculous waits in line and 2 per person limits.  I figured with kids, I would never be able to get one of these.

I saw online that people used Pillsbury Crescent dough to imitate them at home, though I'm sure it does not do it justice.  One gloomy afternoon the kids and I decided to make some anyways.

I took a can of Crescent dough, unrolled it, folded it in thirds and just cut out donut shapes using two circle cutters.  After frying the donuts in vegetable oil, I sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar.  Crescent dough isn't real croissant dough (which I have made from scratch and is quite labor intensive) so it doesn't produce the many layers that you see in a Cronut.  Authentic or not, who doesn't loved fried dough? The kids devoured them all.

I fried up the donut holes separately and gave them a light sprinkling of sugar.  

Perhaps when I find hours of free time on my hands, I'll make a batch of real croissant dough and try frying them up....don't wait for that post anytime soon.  It's more likely that I'll find myself waiting in line at Dominque Ansel Bakery with all 3 kids.

Duct Tape Crafts

Big L's older cousin recently made him a duct tape shoulder bag.  Ever since then, he's been asking me to buy him duct tape.  Duct tape has come a long way since that grey colored tape I remember my dad using in his workshop.  These days it comes in all sorts of colors and patterns.  On a trip to the craft store, Lil P picked out a rainbow one for herself and a Star Wars one for her brother.  And since then, we've been on a duct tape crafting frenzy.

We started nice and slow with simple bracelets.  To make this we took a piece of duct tape long enough to fit around a wrist and folded it in thirds lengthwise.  Then we used some adhesive velcro so it was easy to take the bracelet on and off.  The velcro is not really necessary because duct tape is stretchy. 

Then Lil P wanted roses, which seemed daunting at first but turned out to be pretty simple-just repetitive.  I used instructions found here.  Basically take a 2" piece of duct tape.  Fold down the left top corner (leaving some of the sticky tape exposed) and then fold down the right top to make what looks like a house.  Wrap that around a stick or pencil and continue alternating where the points end up.  Continue until you get the size rose you want (about 20-25 petals).

Then Big L wanted something more masculine and after perusing images online, he decided on a wallet.  I used the instructions found here.  This wallet took a little more time than the rose but he totally loved it and it even has several small pockets for cards and a big pocket for all his cash. 

The finale to our duct tape frenzy were these braided bracelets with instructions found here.  It's really simple to make using a regular braid technique.  He doesn't have the hand strength to make it really tight yet but he got his first lesson in braiding.  

Tip:  While doing these duct tape crafts I found that the easiest way to handle the sticky duct tape was to tape it directly onto a cutting mat and use an exacto knife to cut all the pieces to the appropriate lengths and then peel off each one as needed. This worked especially well for the rose which required about 20 pieces of tape.  Alternatively, you can just rip off pieces of duct tape which works too. 

Happy duct tape crafting!