I started baking on Sunday for the goodies will be giving to the kids teachers and our neighbors. I sent Brendan and Colin to school with tins full of cookies for their teachers. The rest of the morning I finished up my holiday baking.
As I'm waiting for the boys after school I see Brendan coming towards me with his cookie tin. When he gets into the van I asked why he didn't give it to his teacher. He, and Colin, both passed out the cookies to their classmates. They took my saying it's for your teachers as 'hey, lets share with everyone!' Brendan said it was the nice thing to do. I thanked them for their generosity, saying it was nice.
This morning I restocked the tins and promptly forgot them in my yelling to get the kids out the door. At least their teachers will have a bit of a different fare this time around.
In other holiday news, Colin hasn't taken his santa hat off since I bought them on Monday. Brendan lost his at school and Jake waffles between wearing his and tossing it around. Colin asked for two weeks if I'd get them santa hats. He is very happy I obliged.
We're not big on traditions so I haven't gone gungho on holiday crap. Things are added each year as the kids get older. We have blue christmas trees, ornament garlands and santa hats this year. I'm thinking I might go squirrely and get solar powered outdoor lights next year.
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Cookie Galore.
Yesterday was spent baking cookies. I forgot how much my back hurts from standing all day. My new recipe for this year was a caramel pumpkin cookie. I will never make this one again. I greased pans. I used parchment paper. Those fucking cookies stuck like you wouldn't believe. I had mangled, but tasty, caramel pumpkin cookies.
The others I baked were called little treasures (chock full of nuts and two kinds of chocolate chips), pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and lemon drops. Today is set aside for feather gingerbread, guinness applesauce cake (for which I need more walnuts) and nanaimo bars.
I was going to make marshmallows but think I'll do those for Christmas Eve. We're going over to Uncle J and Uncle D's house for dinner. I think the boys will appreciate the marshmallows in their hot chocolate.
The others I baked were called little treasures (chock full of nuts and two kinds of chocolate chips), pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and lemon drops. Today is set aside for feather gingerbread, guinness applesauce cake (for which I need more walnuts) and nanaimo bars.
I was going to make marshmallows but think I'll do those for Christmas Eve. We're going over to Uncle J and Uncle D's house for dinner. I think the boys will appreciate the marshmallows in their hot chocolate.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Food Allergies and Birthdays
Baking in the oven are chocolate cupcakes for Colin's birthday at school tomorrow. Not ordinary cupcakes but gluten free cupcakes. This is the first time I'm trying the mix since I don't have any gluten free cake recipes sitting on my bookshelf. Nor any of the ingredients so I'm going the easy method in baking out of a box.
Originally Colin wanted me to make peanut butter chocolate cupcakes. His eyes shined with the thought of having those made for this birthday and passing them around the lunch table. I had him ask his teacher if there were any food allergies in his class because that could change what I make. He said it wouldn't be a problem.
The next day he comes home saying someone in his class has a peanut allergy. With this bit of knowledge I told him I'd bake different cupcakes for school and the peanut butter chocolate ones would be for home.
I find out later in the week the same student has a gluten allergy on top of the peanut allergy. He still wanted me to make cupcakes because it was okay for this student to be left out. I asked him if they were always left out. He said yes. I asked him how he'd feel being left out of a birthday celebration and he said he'd be sad. When I asked him if I should make something everyone could enjoy, the same shining eyes turned to me and he loudly said yes.
I left a message with his teacher confirming the two allergies and if this was the case I would make gluten free cupcakes. I got back a note thanking me for thinking of the student but it was okay to make what I wanted. The student's mom normally packs something special for when birthday's are celebrated at the school.
I don't like having a student left out because nobody bothered in finding out if there were any allergies in the class. Food allergies are common these days. It shouldn't come as a surprise a child might be allergic to every day products we all take for granted. While some allergies are pretty easy in working around some take a bit of educating oneself before whipping up a cake. Or something.
Fortunately I am only working around a gluten and peanut allergy. While I could have gone out, bought a gluten free cookbook and all the ingredients, we're fortunate enough food companies are recognizing these allergies more and more. I bought a gluten free cake mix from a box and dairy free/wheat free oreo's for the decoration.
I don't know how these cupcakes will come out. I will say they smell delicious.
Originally Colin wanted me to make peanut butter chocolate cupcakes. His eyes shined with the thought of having those made for this birthday and passing them around the lunch table. I had him ask his teacher if there were any food allergies in his class because that could change what I make. He said it wouldn't be a problem.
The next day he comes home saying someone in his class has a peanut allergy. With this bit of knowledge I told him I'd bake different cupcakes for school and the peanut butter chocolate ones would be for home.
I find out later in the week the same student has a gluten allergy on top of the peanut allergy. He still wanted me to make cupcakes because it was okay for this student to be left out. I asked him if they were always left out. He said yes. I asked him how he'd feel being left out of a birthday celebration and he said he'd be sad. When I asked him if I should make something everyone could enjoy, the same shining eyes turned to me and he loudly said yes.
I left a message with his teacher confirming the two allergies and if this was the case I would make gluten free cupcakes. I got back a note thanking me for thinking of the student but it was okay to make what I wanted. The student's mom normally packs something special for when birthday's are celebrated at the school.
I don't like having a student left out because nobody bothered in finding out if there were any allergies in the class. Food allergies are common these days. It shouldn't come as a surprise a child might be allergic to every day products we all take for granted. While some allergies are pretty easy in working around some take a bit of educating oneself before whipping up a cake. Or something.
Fortunately I am only working around a gluten and peanut allergy. While I could have gone out, bought a gluten free cookbook and all the ingredients, we're fortunate enough food companies are recognizing these allergies more and more. I bought a gluten free cake mix from a box and dairy free/wheat free oreo's for the decoration.
I don't know how these cupcakes will come out. I will say they smell delicious.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Holiday baking goes bust
This year my gifts for the boys teachers and friends would be baked goods. The ambitious part of me had grand ideas of all sorts of goodies along the lines of what Mom did back in the day. The realistic part of me realized this was all a fantasy.
Still, I had plans in baking several different cookie and loaf recipes. I started with a low-carb oatmeal pecan cookie recipe from Weight Watchers. This would be the one healthy recipe made. All three boys helped add all the ingredients, talking animatedly about the cookies. I dolled out the first tray, popped it in the oven, turned the timer on and waited.
The cookies flattened out on the baking stone. Melted is the best description for how they looked. I scraped up the oatmeal bits so the boys could see how the glop turned out. Rather tasty considering the hideous mess left on the stone. With this fiasco I decided to turn the cookies into cookie bars. I scooped the rest of the batch into a pan and popped it into the oven.
At some point I checked on the cookies turned into cookie bars. They were bubbling over the edges, glopping onto the bottom of the oven where it started to burn. I kept an eye on the oven despite the impending mess for a few more minutes before realizing this recipe truly failed. I haven't a clue who came up with this disaster at Weight Watchers but my failed attempt didn't match their picture. No crisp looking oatmeal pecan cookies came piping hot out of my oven. Instead I pulled out piping hot goo.
Still, I had plans in baking several different cookie and loaf recipes. I started with a low-carb oatmeal pecan cookie recipe from Weight Watchers. This would be the one healthy recipe made. All three boys helped add all the ingredients, talking animatedly about the cookies. I dolled out the first tray, popped it in the oven, turned the timer on and waited.
The cookies flattened out on the baking stone. Melted is the best description for how they looked. I scraped up the oatmeal bits so the boys could see how the glop turned out. Rather tasty considering the hideous mess left on the stone. With this fiasco I decided to turn the cookies into cookie bars. I scooped the rest of the batch into a pan and popped it into the oven.
At some point I checked on the cookies turned into cookie bars. They were bubbling over the edges, glopping onto the bottom of the oven where it started to burn. I kept an eye on the oven despite the impending mess for a few more minutes before realizing this recipe truly failed. I haven't a clue who came up with this disaster at Weight Watchers but my failed attempt didn't match their picture. No crisp looking oatmeal pecan cookies came piping hot out of my oven. Instead I pulled out piping hot goo.
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