My Cool Kids Cook

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image courtesy of Bakerella

I found these and fell in love with them. I do not think I could do these on my own – so all the Mommy’s out there will have to help, but I know my friends in my class would love these Valentine’s Day cookies.

It looks like you would need what is called frosting sheets and edible ink cartridges that work on some home printers. My mom and I have not tried this, but my mom found this website called TastyFotoArt.com  that seems to have lots of products to do this type of baking. You would have to do a little research to see if you printer is one that can do this sort of printing though! There is also KopyKake.com which will give you more information on this process!

image courtesy of Bakeralla

I saw this on Bakerella – and here is what she did.

She made puffy sugar cookies (you can see the whole recipe on her site), but you could probably use the ones that come in rolls in the store if you are looking for a shortcut. Then a stick was inserted into the dough to make the cookie a lollipop. Separate the images from the backing and apply to your cookie. Depending on the shape of the cookie you may need to cut your image to fit properly. It is that easy! As a great added touch, she added a few dabs of icing around the edges which I think looks really pretty.

The options for decorating with printing are so fun! Let your kids choose the pictures though Mom!

Cooking Class Calendar

2/4/12, Valentine Treats for Kids Hands On (Ages 3 to 5), http://bit.ly/tT6GGp

2/5/12, Valentine’s Day Cake Pops Hands On, http://bit.ly/wpqzsA
2/5/12, Back Home Baking for Valentine’s Day Hands On, http://bit.ly/zoNCAj

2/6/12, Virginia Willis with Atlanta’s Table Presents: French Kiss, http://bit.ly/yjcKhI

2/7/12, 50 Ways to Feed Your Lover Hands On, http://bit.ly/xIjO1N
2/7/12, Red Hot Chilis, http://bit.ly/yPpyuX

2/8/12, Superfoods for Life: My Little Valentine, http://bit.ly/zlf4zi

2/9/12, Couples Cooking for Valentine’s Day Hands On, http://bit.ly/zML8I0

2/10/12, Wine Makes the Meal: A Valentine’s Celebration, http://bit.ly/wzxeX4

2/11/12, The Taste Club: Red for Valentines, http://bit.ly/wByTeB
2/11/12, Love Potion 214 Hands On, http://bit.ly/zdnVsZ
2/11/12, Dazzling Date Night Hands on, http://bit.ly/wfEzWF
2/11/12, Valentine’s Dinner Date Hands On, http://bit.ly/ylnqsO
2/11/12, Les Petits Macarons: French Confections Hands On, http://bit.ly/ABI6tO

2/12/12, A Valentine’s Brunch Hands On, http://bit.ly/AjGL0n
2/12/12, A Sweetheart’s Brunch Hands On, http://bit.ly/xRHMkd
2/12/12, Romantic Brunch For Two Hands On, http://bit.ly/xr8Rlm
2/12/12, Romantic Tuscan Valentine Brunch Hands On, http://bit.ly/zTchbv

2/14/12, Valentine’s Date Night Hands On, http://bit.ly/xuVPeL
2/14/12, A Romantic Valentine’s Meal for Two Hands On, http://bit.ly/yGZHrC
2/14/12, A Dinner Affair to Remember Hands On, http://bit.ly/zCUJl8
2/14/12, Dinner for Sweethearts Hands On, http://bit.ly/z8XbuR

Image courtesy of 240sweet.com

Apparently chef Maria D’Urso believes so! She recently told the New York Times that “marshmallows are the new cupcakes”. Chef D’Urso, who owns a bakery in Chelsea, creates marshmallow varieties such as cinnamon, strawberry basil and chocolate rosemary – clearly kicking this childhood favorite up to adult hood pleasures.

Gourmet Marshmallows are expected to take the world by storm in 2012!

Imagine batches of handmade marshmallows in flavors like cherry limeaid, pineapple and mango, red bean and sesame or even chicken and beef? Yes, these are really all available! At 240Sweet in Columbus, Indiana you can find these unique treats and many more.

So what do you think? Will marshmallows replace cupcakes?

Photo by SkinnyTaste.com

These adorable cupcakes, from SkinnyTaste.com are low fat, easy to make and as you can imagine – the kids love them! A fun afternoon activity to get ready for the holidays.

The face is made up of jellybeans, mini chocolate chips, mini-marshmallows and a few colored sprinkles. Standard Duncan Hines cake mix was used for the cupcake – but contain a healthy twist.

The mix was mixed with 6oz.fat free Chobani yogurt, egg whites and water for the low fat option. Take away the oil and butter and you have a healthier option.

The icing was made from powdered sugar with a little melted butter and water.

Ingredients:

• 18.25oz. cake mix
• 6 ounce fat free Chobani yogurt
• 1 1/3 cup water
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp. melted unsalted butter
• 1 tsp clear vanilla extract
• 2-3 tbsp. boiling waiter
• M&M’s
• Jellybeans
• Sprinkles
• Mini marshmallows

For the full recipe and instructions visit SkinnyTaste.com

Here are some good and not so good points to the new oven.

PROS:

• It looks great
• Better build. The newer model weighs approximately 3 pounds 5 ounces – its predecessor weighed only 2 pounds 9 ounces.
• Exterior stays much cooler than the older models
• Cooks much more evenly
• Wider array of mixes and recipes are now available
• Cooling rack is internally contained helping little ones to keep from burning their hands on hot pans
• Heating chamber is about 50% larger

CONS:

• More expensive than past models
• Takes a few minutes longer to preheat
• Although new cooling rack may be safer – it is a little hard to reach and pull items out of the oven.

To prove that it has what it takes to make kids happy, a test was done with four “toyologists” ages 3-7 to give a test bake. The kids were given an older version of the Easy Bake Oven to be compared against the newer one. The results were in favor of the new modern version with the kids saying their cooked foods just tasted better.

So if you have a kid who loves to cook – this new model may be just the thing to kick of their budding career!

photo credit: Andrew

What a fabulous idea! Kindergarten teacher, Jill Cerny has an annual ritual of asking her class to share their thoughts on how to cook a Thanksgiving turkey. Each child creates an illustration and then dictates their ideas to the teacher who types it up and then adds their image.

Here are a few of the adorable things that kids have suggested!

• Nathan: I will wait at the side of the road until I see a turkey in the trees. I will take my bow and arrow and shoot the turkey. My dad will skin the turkey and my mom and dad will drive to my grandma’s for Thanksgiving. My grandma will roast the turkey in the oven at 350 degrees. It will cook for five minutes. While the turkey is cooking, we will make a stew. We also make some drinks, like Kool-Aid. The turkey is put on a big table and some people sit at the small table, and we eat the big feast.
• Ella: My dad gets the turkey from the farmer’s market. He starts to cook it in the kitchen. He puts it in a pot on the stove with a lid. It cooks for 45 minutes on warm, not hot. My dad takes it out of the pot and he puts it on plates for us to eat it, but my sister doesn’t like to eat it.
• Tommy: My dad will go out to the woods and get a turkey. He will get a bow and arrow and he will shoot the turkey. He will take it home and cook it up. He will cut off the feathers and then put it in the oven. It will cook at 100 degrees for 20 minutes because it takes 20 minutes to cook chicken. My dad will take it out of the oven and place it on the table, and then we start eating it.

To view the full collection of stories and drawings submitted by Ms. Cerny’s class, visit the Darien Patch. It will be sure to give you a chuckle!

Veggie Bots were created by Lee Bayless. He is a comedian who has created lots of things.

Veggie Bots is a set of tools that lets kids play with their food in a good way. They can make their veggies look like little building blocks and then stack them and build with them to create lots of different creations like robots, race cars and more.

I have not been able to find where to buy the Veggie Bot, but my mom is looking into it to see if it is actually available yet – if it is we will post a link!

But I thought this was a really cool thing to share to help moms be creative with their kids!

Here is a video so you can see how it works!

The turkey is easy to make and will keep the kids busy while you get ready for the big turkey day celebration.

Get all the ingredients ready, give the kids a picture and let them dig in and have fun creating! (Image Courtesy Family Fun Magazine)

Ingredients:

• Bosc Pear (head)
• Melon (body)
• Cheese (beak & tail feathers)
• Red pepper (snood,feet,side feathers)
• Raisins (eyes)
• Grapes (tail feathers)
• Bamboo skewers
• Toothpicks

Instructions:

1. Cut off a shallow slice of the rind of the melon to create a flat base for more stability. Using a bamboo skewer attach a Bosc pear to the front of the melon to create the turkey head. (Trim skewer if needed)

2) Cut cheese into a triangle for the beak and add a small piece of red pepper for the snood. Use toothpicks to attach these as well as the raisins for the eyes.

3) Cut red pepper as shown to create feet and place them as shown.

4) Cut cheese into cubes and use cheese and grapes alternately on skewers as shown and then place into the melon to create tail feathers.

5) Slice peppers to create side feathers and use toothpicks to attach to the sides of the melon.

Be creative! You can use other things on the tail feathers like pineapple, ham cubes, turkey cubes or whatever your family enjoys.

Have you made one of these with your kids? We would love to hear how they liked it!

Recipe courtesy of Family Fun.

I found these and love them! They are adorable turkey desserts made from Oreo cookies. They are easy to make and the kids can do them on their own – or with some help from mom of course! The idea comes from Our Best Bites, and the images are from there too.

These are great to use as desserts for Thanksgiving dinner, for parties and even as place card holders for your dinner table!

Here is what you will need:

• Double Stuff Oreo Cookies
• Candy Corn
• Whoppers
• Peanut butter cups
• Chocolate frosting
• Yellow Frosting
• Optional: Red frosting
• Optional: black sprinkles for eyes

Steps to make your Turkey:

1) Grab a cookie and put a tiny bit of frosting inside, this will help hold the candy corn a bit better!

2) Insert your candy corn. It seems that 5 candy corns, smaller tips inserted into the cream center works best.

3) Put a dab of frosting on the opposite end of the cookie from where you just inserted the candy corn, and then secure the cookie to the “base” cookie. Placing the cookies against the wall while they dry may help them keep their shape better!

4) While your cookies are drying open a peanut butter cup (have a parent do this part kids!) – and cut a sliver off of one end.

Image courtesy of Our Best Bites

5) Once your cups are ready, flip your cookies over, but still keep them next to the wall in case the frosting is not completely dry yet. Place a dab of frosting on peanut butter cup and place it on the cookie as shown below.

Image courtesy of Our Best Bites

6) For the heads you will put a dab of frosting on a whopper and attach it to the top of the peanut butter cup.

7) Use a dab of frosting and flue on a white tip of a candy corn for a beak, put 2 yellow dots for eyes and if you would like a smaller black dot for the center of the eye. (You can use frosting, a sprinkle, a mini chocolate chip for the black part of the eye).

Image courtesy of Our Best Bites

Once the beak stays put and everything seems to be sturdy, you can stand these cute little guys up and draw on some little feet if you would like. You can even add a little thingie under the neck!

To be extra creative and use them as place card holders, create your place card, adhere it to a toothpick and you can insert that into the center of the cookie!

And here is the final product! For more details, visit Our Best Bites!

Image courtesy of Our Best Bites