What do you do when it’s a snow day, too cold and windy to actually play outside for very long, and you only have basic ingredients on hand to bake something-as per request-“chocolate and guh-nilla”? Time to crack out the cookbooks that have been languishing on our shelves.
After bundling both kids up, which of course took about two hours, bundling myself up, trudging out to the park near our building, and trying to get the kids psyched about playing in the tundra-like environment, we had trudged out into the day. It was soon clear that we would not be having a good deal of outside time. Inside, there was hot tea and chocolate, warm shepherd’s pie (which I will post about soon), and many crafts, games (including pretend trips to Florida, of course), and books to entertain the kids.
However, when both children refused to go back outside in the afternoon so that we could trek to our Monday afternoon playgroup, it was time to call in the big guns: chocolate and vanilla. With our few ingredients in mind and wanting something that both kids could do almost completely by themselves, I found the “Chocolate and Vanilla Cookies” in Tessa Kiro’s Apples for Jam cookbook. For some reason, before this, the recipes, while so beautifully pictured and organized by color group (drool!), did not call out to me.
Now all I can say is that I’m sorry that I was so remiss in the past and thank goodness for the recipe that saved the afternoon. Our brown and cream cookies were so cute and tasty. As Tessa suggests, we doctored the flavors a wee bit for some interest, but the best part was being able to let the kids do almost everything. Including use their imaginations to fit the chocolate and the vanilla dough together.
Black and White Butter Cookies
adapted from Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros
*1 stick plus 5 T. butter, room temperature
*3/4 c. sugar (turbinado is fine)
*1 egg, room temperature
*1 1/2 t. vanilla
*3 child-sized pinches of salt
*2 c. flour
*1 t. ground cinnamon
*2 T. cocoa powder (we used Jacques Torres’s Wicked)
*a pinch of cayenne (Big Person will do this)
In a big bowl have your mini-chef beat the butter and the sugar together. Crack the egg into a little bowl and beat it with a fork. Add that to the butter/sugar mixture and beat the mixture some more. Pour in the vanilla, and, yes, beat some more.
Now let your Yummy pinch in the salt and give the dough a quick stir to distribute it.
Have two medium-sized bowls at the ready. In one of them, measure out the flour. Then, scoop 1 1/2 T. of THAT flour into the other bowl. Dump the rest of the flour (from the first bowl) into the dough bowl with the cinnamon, and stir them in. Divide your dough in half.
Add half of the dough to the medium bowl with the extra flour. Your mini-chef can knead the dough his or her hands to incorporate the flour. Shape the dough into a big ball, place it on plastic wrap, and smish (technical term) the dough down into a pancake. Wrap the dough pancake completely with the plastic wrap and put in the fridge.
Measure the cocoa powder and (optional) cayenne into the other medium bowl which will be empty and perfect for the chocolate half of your dough. Add the other half of the dough and stir it a bit at first to get the cayenne, in particular worked into the dough. Switch to kneading and pass the dough to your mini-chef so that they can use their hands. Your Yummy will knead this till the chocolate is incorporated nicely. Do the same ball, smish to pancake, wrap with plastic, into the fridge process you did with the vanilla dough. Chill both doughs for at least 30 minutes. Talk about some plans for creating black and white shapes, patterns etc. for your cookies.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
Using a little bit of flour on your counter and your rolling pin, roll out first your vanilla dough and then your chocolate dough to about 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out shapes or freestyle it as you like. Place the creations on your baking sheets.
Big Person: Slide into the oven and bake for 12-16 minutes or till beginning to brown around the edges (this will be more apparent with the vanilla cookies, so look at those).
