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Homemade Bread and Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Yesterday was Veteran’s Day and the kids and I were given the gift of time.  It was a day off in the middle of the week that we all needed.  My daughter’s Veteran’s Day concert was the night before and it was a great concert.  She didn’t seem like her perky self, but I didn’t really think much of it… until the fever set in.  I guess if you have to get sick, it’s best to do it on a day off from school.  So, my daughter was down and out, my son wanted to hang out with friends, and I’m just trying to take it easy and ride out my back pain.  In the midst of resting and relaxing, I decided that it was a good day for baking bread and cookies.  Ok, when is it NOT a good day for baking bread and cookies??
I started with the bread because it’s the easiest.  Friends, I know you may think this sounds crazy, but homemade bread is the easiest treat ever!  I use the same recipe that my mom always did when I was growing up.  Sometimes I will use whole wheat flower instead of white, but it’s always the same basic recipe.  I make the dough in my bread machine, on the dough cycle, because it makes the process SO much easier.  Once the dough is ready I put it into bread pans to rise again.  I don’t like the way my bread machine cooks the bread, so that’s why I just use the dough cycle.
If you don’t own a bread machine, you can buy one for CHEAP at Goodwill.  I use mine on a regular basis and I actually have two because it makes the double batches of cinnamon rolls so much easier.
If you’re ready to try some easy homemade bread, here’s my recipe:
Ingredients:
1 package yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 cups scalded milk
1 Tbsp shortening
6 cups flour
(white, whole wheat, or a combination)
2 Tbsp sugar
2tsp salt
Combine yeast and warm water.  Let it rest for about 10 minutes.  Scald the milk and add the shortening so that it melts.  Put the milk mixture into the bread machine first. Add the rest of the dry ingredients on top of the milk.  Then, pour the yeast mixture on the very top.  Set your bread machine to the dough cycle and wait for it to beep at you!  Once it has risen in the machine, form into loaves and let rise again until it has doubled in size.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. 

Tips:
DON’T BE AFRAID OF YEAST!
Yeast is very easy to work with and shouldn’t be intimidating. When I dissolve the yeast in the warm water, I make sure the water feels slightly warmer than bathtub water.  If it is super hot, it will kill the yeast.  If you use cold water, it won’t activate.  I also make sure the milk is about that same temperature.  Finally, when I let the bread rise in the pans, I usually turn on my oven to preheat and just set the pans on the stove.  It gives the pans just enough warmth to help them rise.

In addition to homemade bread, it was also a chocolate chip cookie kind of day.  Luckily, one kiddo was napping and the other was at a friends house, so I just ate all of the cookies myself and hid the evidence.  Ok, just kidding on that one.  Actually, after baking the cookies, I put them all into individual baggies and into a freezer container.  That way, as the kids are making their lunches, they can pull out a bag of 2 cookies and put it into their lunches. By the time lunch rolls around, the cookies have thawed and are ready to eat.  

Here’s the recipe:
1 Cup Crisco shortening (original, not butter flavor)
3/4 Cup brown sugar
3/4 Cup white sugar
Mix until soft and fluffy.

Add:
2 Eggs
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla
Mix just until blended.

Dry ingredients:
2 and 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
Mix it up and add 8-12 oz of chocolate chips.

Bake for 10 minutes (or less) at 350 degrees. My oven is a standard oven, not convection, and this is what I do.

I didn’t check a bunch of items off of my To Do list on Veteran’s Day, but I did get to spend time with my kids, rest, and do a little baking.  All in all, I’d say that’s a productive day.

Happy baking!

How To Keep Your Kids Busy Over Spring Break

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Spring break is almost here!  We are sticking pretty close to home this year and it made me think about what we are going to do to keep ourselves busy.  This blog is all about home and family.  I love to share cooking, sewing, gardening, and art projects that we are doing around here so I thought I’d let you in on my secret weapon.  I must confess that I don’t always come up with amazing ideas on my own to keep my daughter busy.  I love books and I’m always on the lookout for fun How-To books for her.  Over the past few years, these have provided hours of entertainment.
*In full disclosure, I’m part of the Amazon Affiliate program, so if you choose to buy a product by clicking on it, I get a little kick-back.  I promise, I wouldn’t tell you to buy these books unless I really and truly loved them.*
First up is the Mom and Me Cookbook.  I have a pretty big children’s cookbook collection and this one is my absolute favorite.  
If you’re up for a little sewing, this book has some great projects for beginners.  My daughter and niece made both of the projects on the front of the book, had a great time, and learned a new skill.
 
 
If gardening is your thing, then this next book is great for getting a few little projects going.

 
 
The next item is something that I don’t actually own, but it is on my wish list.  I’ve been wanting to do some experimenting with wire art in the classroom and at home.  I thought this would be a good way to start and see how we like it.

 
 
I bought this pipe cleaner book when we were on vacation and needed an activity for our down-time.  It was a great way to keep kids busy.  Did you know the best way to cut pipe cleaners is with nail clippers?  The book comes with pipe cleaners and shows you how to make all sorts of different animals.

 
 
Ok, this one is awesome.  Have you ever heard of watercolor pencils?  You color with them, like normal pencils, but then you add water to the colored-on paper with a paintbrush.  It makes it look like a watercolor painting!  You might be thinking, “Ok, that’s great, but I can’t draw.”  Well, neither can I!  This book walks you through the drawing process, step by step, and you end up with a pretty cool product.  My daughter liked this one and even framed a few of her paintings.

 

My last suggestion is the Loopdedoo.  It’s a little “machine” that helps you make friendship bracelets out of embroidery floss.  Each bracelet takes just minutes and there are tons of different looks you can make.  This was a Christmas present one year and it kept my daughter busy for the entire break.

I can’t wait for Spring Break.  Sigh.  Arts and crafts, gardening, sewing, and baking are on my To Do list.  Doesn’t that sound lovely?

Happy shopping!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day – My Favorite Sugar Cookies

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Here’s a repost of my sugar cookie recipe, if you’re looking for a yummy St. Patrick’s Day treat.

My kids and I spent the afternoon making one of our favorite cookies…frosted sugar cookies. I make these cookies for most holidays, to share at our volunteer tea at school, to take to Seaside, and simple snowflakes to give as gifts at Christmas. Here’s the recipe:

Just kidding. Here’s the real recipe:

2 Cups Flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

6 TBSP butter

1/3 Cup shortening

3/4 Cup sugar

1 egg

1 TBSP milk

1 tsp vanilla

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Cookies for Christmas

Beat butter and shortening until fluffy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat well. Add dry ingredients. Beat until well mixed. (I usually make a triple batch. They freeze well.)

The dough needs to be refrigerated for about 3 hours to make it easier to handle.

I like a thick sugar cookie. That way they are soft, rather than crispy. I roll them to 1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 375 for seven minutes.


I frost my cookies with a simple powdered sugar and milk frosting. I don’t ever use a recipe. I just pour in a little powdered sugar and a little milk until I get a consistency I like. The Wilton food coloring paste is the only way to go. You can buy it at Michael’s. It gives a much more vivid color than regular food coloring. Stir it up until the color is well blended.

I love to frost my cookies and then use a little sanding sugar from William Sonoma. Oh, they’re just so pretty. It’s a tradition my kids love and it makes the house smell great too.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

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Warm chocolate chip cookies on a cold night… what could be better? How about a warm chocolate chip cookie wrapped into a pie?  I made a chocolate chip cookie pie a few years ago and my hubby didn’t like it too much.  Well, I’ve revamped my recipe and I think this is a winner.  I took it, along with an apple pie, to Thanksgiving and the kids fought over the last piece on Leftover Eating Day.  Yes, our family devotes an entire dinner party just to eating leftovers.
 
 
 
Recipe:
1 unbaked pie crust (I always make my own)
 
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips 
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place butter and shortening in a bowl and beat together.  Add brown sugar and white sugar. Beat. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix together.  Add flour and salt and stir until mixed together.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Pour into unbaked pie shell.  As the pie is baking, I sprinkle a few more mini chocolate chips onto the pie. (The chocolate sinks to the bottom of the pie as it bakes, so this makes it pretty on top.) Bake at 350 for 55 minutes. 
 
Enjoy your warm cookie pie!
Happy baking!
 
 

When Rolls Don’t Rise Fast Enough

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On Thanksgiving I was assigned rolls for both of the parties we were going to.  Cinnamon rolls were for one party and dinner rolls were for the other.  I ran into a little problem with my timing.  It has been SO cold out lately and my house wasn’t as toasty as usual, so my rolls weren’t rising as quickly as I would have liked.  
Enter my favorite trick for helping rolls rise faster:
The heating pad.
I placed the heating pad under the rolls and turned it to high.  The yeast in the rolls like heat, which makes them rise quickly.

Most of the time, when I’m making bread or rolls, I have the oven on and I can just set the pan of rising rolls on the stove top.  Since my oven wasn’t going, this was a great way to get the rolls off of the cold counter top and start doing their thing.
While we’re sharing tips and tricks, I always use my old bread machine on the DOUGH CYCLE to make my bread and roll dough.  It saves so much time.  I throw the ingredients in, set it to dough, and it beeps at me when it has had enough time to mix and rise.
I know a lot of people don’t bake with yeast because it’s kind of scary.  Yeast is tricky because you have to make sure your ingredients are warm, not too hot and not too cold.  But, I’m here to tell you that it’s really not that hard.  Oh, and once you have your heating pad out you might as well put it on a comfy chair and snuggle up to watch a good show on tv.
Happy baking and stay warm!

Kid Sized Apple Pies

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My Kid Sized Apple Pies are now posted on LeapFrog’s Learning Path!  Talk about SUPER cute and yummy!  I really loved making these with the kids.  We used our apple corer, peeler, slicer which makes any  apple activity fun.  I’m in charge of a couple of pies on Thanksgiving, and I’m thinking my daughter might have to make these to bring to the party.

If you’re interested in the recipe and how to use canning rings to bake them up, click over to LeapFrog’s Learning Path.

Jam and Cream Cheese Braid

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Don’t you just want to reach through your screen and take a bite? This is a recipe that my grandma always made on Christmas. It quickly became a favorite in our family. I mean, how can you go wrong with cream cheese filling? It was destined to be a favorite.

This recipe is really simple and it is made the night before you serve it. There is such joy in pulling something this beautiful out of the oven and knowing that the dishes are already done.

Here’s the recipe:

Bread:
1/2 Cup warm water
1 package active dry yeast
2 1/2 Cups Bisquick (I told you it was simple!)
1 beaten egg
1 Tbsp sugar

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Combine all ingredients to make the dough for the bread part of the braid. Turn the dough onto a floured board and knead until it is no longer sticky.

Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Roll the dough into a 14″x9″ rectangle.

Filling:
1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened
1/2 Cup sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Combine all ingredients. Spread the filling down the middle third of the dough. (For the record, my kids and hubby like it best when I leave out the lemon juice.)

Slice the outer edges of the dough in one inch strips.

Fold the strips over the filling at an angle.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Once the braid is out of the oven, it’s time to top it with a little homemade raspberry jam.

It cooks for about 5 more minutes. Then it is the perfect golden brown, with the warm raspberry jam rolling down the sides.

I have the perfect tray for serving my jam and cheese braid. I’ve had this piece for years and I think this is the only thing I serve in it.

It’s the perfect Sunday morning treat.

Happy baking!

Sally Blake’s Pumpkin Cake

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Dear Sally Blake,

I’ve never met you before but I eat your pumpkin cake every year.  Somewhere along the road of life, you met my sister, fed her some of your yummy pumpkin cake, and she wrote down the recipe.  Eventually, I tried that pumpkin cake and thought it was worth adding to my recipe book.

Sally, I made your pumpkin cake for my family last week, like I do every year at about this time, and they fell in love all over again.  They tell me I should make it more often, even when it’s not pumpkin season.  They tell me it’s the best treat I could make on cold fall evening.

Thanks, Sally Blake, wherever you are.

Happy Fall,
Becca

And here’s Sally Blake’s Pumpkin Cake Recipe:

4 eggs
1 3/4 Cup sugar
1 Cup oil
1 16ox can of pumpkin
2 Cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt

Combine wet ingredients.  Then fold in dry ingredients. Pour into an ungreased 9×13 pan and bake for 30-45 minutes.  Sally’s recipe says to bake it for 30 minutes, but I’ve always needed 45 with my oven.  Remove from oven when the cake springs back when you touch the middle. Cool completely.

Frosting Recipe:

Combine
3 oz of cream cheese (softened)
1/2 cup of butter (softened)
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
a tiny bit of milk

Frost the cake with your cream cheese frosting and enjoy!  Thanks again, Sally Blake.  We love your pumpkin cake!

Kids in the Kitchen

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I really do believe my kids enjoy spending time in the kitchen with me.  I don’t think they are just trying to humor me.  Over the weekend, I had both of my kids in the kitchen at the same time.  One was making lunch and the other was making dessert.  
My son made the pesto, basil, tomato, and mozzarella pizza.
(He even picked the tomatoes and basil from the garden.)
My daughter made her Cowgirl Cookies.  They have chocolate chips, M&M’s and oatmeal.  The kids don’t love the oatmeal, but my hubby and I thought it was a pretty tasty cookie!

Considering the CRAZY work week I had last week, having my kids do the cooking on the weekend was a great treat.  (For the record, my hubby did all of the cooking during last week’s craziness.  So, it’s not like I needed a break from cooking, I just needed a break!)
You’ve just gotta love having your kids in the kitchen!

Cowgirl Cookies

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My daughter had her birthday party at the beginning of this month.  She wanted a cowgirl theme – with no pink cowgirl stuff.  It was to be a red cowgirl party and she certainly had opinions of what she wanted this party to look like.  She found pictures of her perfect party and proceeded to plan out her list of important features.  There were to be red bandannas, root beer in bottles, and several very specific games.  Cowgirl Cookies were not on the list, but at the last minute (when I couldn’t find pool noodles to make pool noodle horses for our race) I changed up one of the games to include making our own jars of Cowgirl Cookies.  I found the recipe on Bakerella.  I had every intention of cutting cute toppers, but we just ran out of time.
We made the jars with the dry ingredients.  To make the cookies, you just need to add the wet ingredients.  My daughter decided to make them on Saturday.  We poured the sugars in the bowl first and we added one stick of softened butter.  Once that was creamy, we put in one egg, 1 tsp of vanilla, and mixed it up.  Then we added the last of the dry ingredients.  We baked the cookies at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. 

My kids are not fans of oatmeal in cookies, but they ate them anyway and seemed to like them.

Here’s Bakerella’s Cowgirl Cookie recipe.  Please note that in her recipe, she uses melted butter.  I used softened butter and I also creamed the sugars and butter first.  I’m sure her way works just fine.  After all, she’s Bakeralla, but I just did this my way because that’s how I roll.  
Happy baking!