Christmas Surprise Cookies

Surprise Cookies
Photo: Julia the Child

Christmas is a time of family traditions. One of my family traditions is making Nana's surprise cookies and my Great-grandmother Rose's sugar cookies with my cousins. Both recipes were passed down to my grandmothers from their mothers. Today my cousins came over and we made the surprise cookies. We call them surprise cookies because you hide a treat inside the dough and you never know what you may find when you take a bite. We use gumdrops, maraschino cherries, Hershey kisses and almonds. They are really easy and fun to make. You roll the dough between your hands, make a thumb hole for the treat, then wrap the dough around the surprise. After they're baked we decorate them and leave some for Santa. I wonder which ones are his favorite?

SURPRISE COOKIES

from the kitchen of Eloisa Gomez

(adapted from the Betty Crocker Cookbook)

1/2 cup soft butter
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup King Arthur flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1-2 Tablespoon milk (if dough is dry)
food coloring

In a bowl, cream butter & sugar until light and fluffy
Add vanilla, beating until well mixed
Stir in sifted flour and salt
Divide and add food coloring as desired
Take small pieces of dough and put a cherry, kiss, nut, gumdrop, date or dried apricot in the center.
Roll between the palm of your hands into ball - covering treat completely.
(I like to roll the ball first and use my thumb to make a well to put the treat in - then cover it completely.)

Place on cookie sheet and place in the refrigerator for for 15 mins.
Bake in a 350 degree oven until firm about 12-15 mins.
Remove rack from the oven and cool.
Dip tops of the cookies in different colored royal icing.
Sprinkle with colored sugars, sprinkles, etc...

ENJOY!

King Arthur Flour Goes to School

Demonstration Time!
Photo used with permission from King Arthur Flour

Wheat Loaf
Photo used with permission
from King Arthur Flour

I am so excited!  King Arthur Flour is coming to my district in January.  They are coming to show kids how to make a loaf of bread and demonstrate the math and science behind baking.  King Arthur will show us how to measure the ingredients and explain how yeast works.  Every student from grades 4-7 in our district will get a kit that will make two loaves of bread.  One loaf for their family and one to give away to charity.  Our school will collect the bread and it will be given to local food pantries and soup kitchens. 

This all started last summer when I stopped in to visit the King Arthur Flour store in Norwich, Vermont.  I became inspired to cook and learn more about King Arthur Flour.  Once I got home, I started following them on Facebook and their website.  That's when I saw that they have a school program called Life Skills Bread Baking and it's free!  I thought it would be nice for King Arthur Flour to come to our school so I contacted my principal, Mrs. Rivet and the Asst. Supt. Mrs. Frangos for their approval and their help.  And now they're coming!! 

I am really pumped that King Arthur Flour is on their way.  We will learn math and science while helping others - I think that is really cool!


You can learn more about the program at http://www.kingarthurflour.com/baking/life-skills-baking.html    

Cranberry Jelly and Thanksgiving Chicken?

We had a few extra cans of cranberry jelly lying around and needed to bring an appetizer to Thanksgiving dinner.  My brother loves wings so.... we made up a new recipe!  I hope you had a great Thanksgiving - I did :)

CRANBERRY GLAZED CHICKEN WINGS

1-2 lbs chicken wings

1 can cranberry jelly

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp ground ginger

¼ cup soy sauce

3 tbsp craisins

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1tbsp cranberry mustard (you can add more for a little bit more kick)

 2 tbsp vegetable oil

fresh cilantro

First, you mix all the ingredients in a big Ziploc bag,  remove ¼ cup of mixture to a separate bowl.  Second, salt and pepper the chicken wings.  Third, toss wings into the Ziploc bag ‘till fully coated.  Let the wings sit overnight in the fridge.

Line a shallow baking pan with aluminum foil, place wings one by one in the pan (a single layer).  Immediately throw away the Ziploc bag.

Bake at 425 degrees for ½ an hour – turn over once during cooking.  Baste each side with the reserved mixture in the bowl (NOT THE MIXTURE FROM THE ZIPLOC BAG!)

Sprinkle on some chopped cilantro and serve hot.  

Chow Down in Chinatown (Part 1)

 



Sesame Balls - photo by Julia the Child Foodie



 

My Aunt Sally was in town from Virginia and spent a Friday afternoon showing us around Chinatown in Boston.  She is my mother's best friend and they've known each other since college.  Aunt Sally's grandmother used to live in Chinatown so she really knows her way around.  My brother Thomas came with us and we had a great time.

 

We started out having lunch at Chau Chow City on Essex St. They offer dim-sum which was new to me and my brother.  Each waiter comes around with a cart with different dishes on it.  They lift up the lids so you can see what they have.  Some have fried food, others carts have steamed dishes in baskets or metal tins.  Aunt Sally speaks Chinese so she was able to talk to the waiters and tell us what they had on their cart.  We trusted her to order for us and wanted to be surprised.  Our table got full of different dishes very quickly! 

 

We tried some weird dishes;  tripe (cow stomach), shrimpballs (like meat balls), and even baby pork ribs.  Thomas really liked the tripe and had two helpings, I couldn't believe it!  Most of the dishes we tried had pork or shrimp in them.  We also learned the rules of eating with chopsticks when you are sharing dishes.  To grab the food, you use your chopsticks.  If you haven't eaten with them yet then you can use the end you eat with.  But, once you've eaten with your chopsticks you have to flip them around and use the other side if you want to take something from the plate.  (This way you don't double dip.)  One of my favorite dishes was the sesame balls.  They are balls of dough that are filled with a sweet paste and rolled in sesame seeds.  The waiter can cut them in half with special scissors or you can eat it whole.  They are very sweet and very filling so save room for it  (see picture at the top).

 

The best part of dim-sum is that you get to try so many new things.  Even if you don't like something (I didn't like the tripe), someone else at the table is probably going to eat it.

 

In Chow Down Chinatown Part 2, I'll tell you all about the bakeries, butcher shop and grocery store Aunt Sally showed us after lunch.  Stay tuned!

 

Dim Sum - photo by Julia the Child Foodie

 

 

 



 

 

Tea Time!

 

 

 

I stopped by The Old Company Store this morning to try out some new tea. The Republic of Tea  is turning 20 and having a tea party at the store.  I tried four teas, my fav was Hibiscus. It has a natural sweetness to it, is caffeine-free and Marissa from Republic of Tea says it helps lower your cholesterol too. I also liked the Pumpkin Spice - it smelled great and is perfect for fall. Tea is very soothing - try a cup of decaf tea the night before school starts or enjoy it in the morning before the bus comes.

 

Stop by The Old Company Store and pick out your favorite flavor - tell them Julia the Child sent you :)

 

http://www.oldcompanystore.com/         http://www.republicoftea.com/                  

Lemon Puff Pancake

This morning I ate a delicious, puffy, lemony pancake!  We found the recipe at King Arthur Flour website and we wanted to try it out.  I mixed all the ingredients and my mom was in charge of the skillet and oven.   The pancake puffs up in the pan and that's the sign that it's just about done.  It's light, airy and you can put almost anything on it - fruit, berries or chocolate chips!  The lemon topping is best with the fruit.  I would use whipped cream with chocolate chips.  It's a simple recipe and one pancake feeds two people.  Try this out at home.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/lemon-puff-pancake-with-fresh-berries-recipe

Family Day in the North End

My dad had business in Boston yesterday so he asked if we wanted to go with him.  We said YES and decided to have lunch together in the North End.  The North End was very busy on a Wednesday afternoon.  We ate lunch at Trattoria Il Panino Express on Hanover St. which was great because we got a table that was open to the street. We watched the world go by while we ate. My mother really treasured the moment because it was one of the last times we would be there before my brother leaves for school.

The food was yummy.  We all got something different.  Thomas got an enormous slice of cheese pizza.  He can be a picky pizza eater but he ate the whole piece and really enjoyed it.  My parents had a panino - which is a sandwich usually made with cheese, vegetables and meat.  Mom had the Panino Lady with tomato, basil, mozzarella cheese and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.  Dad had the same but with prosciutto.  I had the kids penne pasta, which was cooked just right and it left me room to try my parents' sandwiches.  I liked them both - but I liked my Dad's better with the prosciutto.  The bread was awesome!  It was very fresh, and had a good chew to it. 

After lunch we strolled down Hanover Street to Mike's Pastry www.mikespastry.com for a cannoli.  On our way, we ran into friends from our town that were on their way to lunch - you never know who you might see in the North End!  When we walked into Mike's there was a crowd of people looking up at the cannoli menu.  There were a lot of choices!  Dad got pistachio, I got double chocolate and my brother got double chocolate mousse.  We were still full from eating lunch, so we got them to go.   The cannolis were calling out to me in the car ride home, but we saved them to have that night for dessert. It was soooo good but too big for me to eat all at once.  I still have half of my cannoli left, I think I'll have it now!

Pictures by Julia The Child Foodie