February Photo Project - Photo A Day - Day 27

There's a birthday tomorrow, so there was baking today.

(As in years past, I've decided to do the February photo project and take a photo a day. It never hurts to have a bit of discipline and with all our transitions my creativity has been sorely lacking, so I'm looking forward to jumping back in. No real rules, just our life documented a little. Maybe there'll be captions, maybe not, there could be the occasional phone photo thrown in on busier days and sometimes it may be hard to narrow things down and there could be bonus photos. I'd love for you to follow along, or even join in. Let me know!)

Photo a Day February 2015 - Day 27

This is a personal kick start project, a photo a day for the month of February.

There were specific ideas regarding the 'birthday cake' and a strong desire to help make it.

52 Weeks of 2013 - Week 25

I'm a great Mom! Ok so some days I do way better than others, but I always turn the beaters off and whoever has helped, gets to lick a spoon. In my kids' eyes that makes me fabulous, everybody wins.

My kids all love to help in the kitchen and while it is often much harder to have the 'help' than to just get the job done quickly and easily, I love that they enjoy it so much. Of course my younger-mom-self had a lovely romanticized view of what cooking with kids would be, how fun and playful, yet of course a perfect learning opportunity, with measuring and math and yummy results.

The reality was that all three kids wanted to help, there would be the inevitable squabbles, spills and mess, while I would try to pretend to be having the fun I so desperately wanted to be having, inwardly (maybe, sometimes outwardly, I'm ashamed to admit) frustrated and impatient. Yes, cooking with an eighteen month old was hard work.

Now, however the kids are older. It's amazing what a difference it makes. I also, after moving to our much smaller quarters, implemented the rule that only one child could cook with me at a time. They get one on one time and attention, there's nobody else to fight with, they feel much more responsible and accomplished and most importantly, I get to be much calmer and can actually enjoy the process again.

Last week, my youngest and I baked 3 dozen oatmeal chocolate chip muffins to take to her brother's class for an event. She did great, I did great, the muffins turned out great!

Don't give up if you've tried to involve your kiddo and it seemed too hard. I promise it gets easier the older they get and the more often they're allowed to help. You can do it!

Blackberry Chocolate Chip Scones

I recently found a recipe for White Chocolate Raspberry Scones, which looked and sounded delicious. Unfortunately, I had no raspberries OR white chocolate chips, but I did have blackberries and dark chocolate chips. So I set about making my variation. I'm posting my version here as the recipe I followed was way, way, too wet (I had to add almost a whole cup more flour) and I also had to increase the cooking time. They turned out pretty well. I like scones, not so light and cakey, not too sweet, no need for perfection, they are deliciously rustic.

Blackberry Chocolate Chip Scones

Prep time: 15 mins    Cook time: 20 mins    Total time: 15 mins    Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (or use 1/2 Tbsp vinegar and add milk to make up to 1/2 cup, let stand 10 mins)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup blackberries
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips
• 1 tbsp milk
• Sprinkling of granulated sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees/F.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and sugar. Whisk together.
3. Using a pastry cutter, two knives (or if your butter is hard enough- a cheese grater) cut in the butter into the flour mixture.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and buttermilk.
5. Add the chocolate chips to the flour mixture and stir to distribute.
6. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Mix until it is consistent in texture. If dough is too sticky, sprinkle in another tablespoon or two of flour, or if dough is too dry, add another tablespoon of buttermilk. The dough should be able to come together to easily form a ball but without being overly sticky. Do not overmix as the dough is delicate.
7. In a small dish, smash the raspberries with a fork just to break them down a bit.
8. Incorporate the smashed berries into the dough.
9. Using your hands, roll the dough in a ball and flatten slightly into a disk shape, about 7-8 inches in diameter.
10. Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut the disk into 8 wedges to form the scones.
11. Transfer the scones to a baking pan lined with a silicon mat or parchment paper.
12. Using a pastry brush, brush the scones with the tbsp of milk and sprinkle the granulated sugar over the tops.
13. Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes or until edges are golden brown.
14. Once they have cooled slightly drizzle the tops with melted chocolate (because you can never have too much chocolate). 

I enjoy these for dessert, a snack, or even breakfast...how can you go wrong?

Better Than Chocolate Chip Cookies

In our house, this cookie is the favorite, hands down. Why have a plain old chocolate chip cookie, when you can have a chocolate chocolate chip cookie? Just as easy to make, with the addition of unsweetened cocoa powder to the batter. I made some today with my youngest and thought I would share our recipe (from Real Simple) with you.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk-chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Cream the butter and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed. Lower to medium speed and add the egg and vanilla. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. On low speed, add the dry mixture to the butter mixture. Beat until fully incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips.
2. Form the dough into approximately 1 1/2-inch balls. Place on parchment- or foil-lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart.
3. Bake until the centers are just set, about 12 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.

Mmmmm...delicious!

Sunburst Lemon Bars

I don't do it as much as I would like, or used to...but I love to bake. You will have to believe me when I tell you, I am a huge chocolate fan, but sometimes a hot day calls for a light, refreshing, zingy treat.

This weekend I was given lemons so off I went to Pinterest to find something yummy to make. I found these sunburst lemon bars, glazed instead of just sprinkled with powdered sugar and decided they would fit the bill perfectly.

Click here to see where I got the recipe from.

Sunburst Lemon Bars

barely adapted from Pillsbury, Easy Meals, Picnics & Potlucks, August 2005
makes 36 bars
per bar: 150 calories, 6g fat, 22g carbs, 0g fiber, 2g protein

Ingredients:

Crust
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. grated lemon peel

Filling
4 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon peel

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice
Note: You'll need about two lemons for the juice/peel in this recipe. If you don't have enough lemon juice left for the glaze, add water until you get the right consistency.

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl with electric mixer, beat flour, sugar, butter, and peel on low speed until crumbly. Press mixture evenly in bottom of ungreased 13x9-inch pan. Bake 20 to 30 minutes or until light golden brown.
2. Meanwhile, in large bowl with wire whisk, lightly beat eggs. Beat in remaining filling ingredients except lemon juice and lemon peel until well blended. Beat in 1/4 cup lemon juice and peel.
3. Remove partially baked base from oven. Pour filling evenly over warm base.
4. Return to oven; bake 25 to 30 minutes longer or until top is light golden brown. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
5. In small bowl, mix 1 cup powdered sugar and enough lemon juice for desired spreading consistency until smooth. Spread glaze over cooled bars. Cut into bars. Store in refrigerator, but allow bars to come to almost room temperature before serving.

Mmmm

If you know me, you know that I have a sweet tooth and I love to bake. Last week I found a link to this recipe for Fudge Revel Bars and decided they would be the perfect treat to make for Father's Day. I thought I would share it with you here as I think they turned out really well. Just be warned, this makes a whole cookie sheet's worth.

Fudge Revel Bars
1 cup butter
2 eggs
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups oats

Fudgey Layer
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 pckg chocolate chips
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt

Cream together the butter, brown sugar and eggs. Add the vanilla, salt, baking soda and flour and mix well. Add the oats and mix well. Press 2/3 of the mixture into a pre-greased cookie sheet.

(My little tip here is to spread it as well as you can, then cut a piece of wax paper lay it on top of the mixture and use your hands to apply a smoothing pressure and continue pressing down the mixture until it fills the pan and reaches all the edges. When you are done, you can carefully lift the wax paper, your hands are not greasy and the mixture should not stick to the wax paper).

To prepare the fudge layer, put the all of the fudge ingredients into a microwave safe bowl, microwave for one minute, then stir. Keep cooking at 30 second increments, stirring, until the mixture has all melted together. Pour over the dough and spread over the complete surface. 'Sprinkle' the rest of the dough over the fudge (I used two spoons to scoop up the dough and place it somewhat randomly on top).

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Let them cool (for as long as you can stand...it might be hard) and enjoy with a glass of milk!