The Most Wonderful Gingerbread Cookies

The kids worked so hard to make gingerbread cookies from start to finish! First we mixed the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and created the dough. Everyone get a chance to roll the dough and cut out their very own cookie! We also examined and smelled a ginger root and discussed its origin and how it changes from a root into a powder to flavor our cookies. Quote of the day: "Those cookies were really spicy, but I liked them."

Gingerbread Cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 deg. Prepare baking sheets by lining with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well blended.
In a large bowl (KitchenAid's great for this) beat butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until well blended.
Add molasses, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to mix until well blended.
Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth.
Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.
(Dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, but in this case it should be refrigerated. Return to room temp before using.) Preheat oven to 350°.
Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Place 1 portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface.
Sprinkle flour over dough and rolling pin.
Roll dough to a scant 1/4-inch thick.
Use additional flour to avoid sticking.
Cut out cookies with desired cutter-- the ginger bread man is our favorite of course.
Space cookies 1 1/2-inches apart.
Bake 1 sheet at a time for 7-10 minutes (the lower time will give you softer cookies-- very good!).
Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to stand until the cookies are firm enough to move to a wire rack.

Homemade Applesauce

The homemade applesauce was a huge hit with the kids. They loved using the microplane to zest the lemon, the citrus juicer to squeeze the lemon and the food mill to turn the cooked apples into applesauce. Quote of the day: This applesauce isn't good...its delicious!"

Ingredients

2 ½ pounds of apples; (I used 5 per batch, feeding 6 kids each.)

Juice from ½ lemon
Zest from ½ lemon
½ c water; more as needed
¼ cup brown sugar
½ tsp cinnamon

Instructions

Roughly chop apples, if you are not pressed for time. Finely chop your apples if you have all dayJ.
Place chopped apples and water in a large, thick-bottomed pot. Add juice, zest, cinnamon and sugar and give it a quick stir. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Quickly, liquid should start to cook out of the apple chunks, which will help cook them down further.
Simmer apples over low heat until they’re very soft and can be easily mashed with a large spoon or potato masher. Stir apples occasionally, and if necessary, add a small amount of water and/or reduce heat to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot.
Place food mill over a large bowl and add as much of the apple mixture as will reasonably fit.
To avoid making your applesauce too thin, let the mixture sit in your food mill for half an hour so any excess apple juice can drain out. (You can discard the syrupy liquid or keep it in your refrigerator for flavoring drinks — try stirring some in with your seltzer!).
Turn the handle of your food mill clockwise, pressing the apples through the sieve.
Every several turns, rotate the handle counter-clockwise half a turn; it’ll scrape up any skins and seeds blocking the mesh.
Continue rotating handle clockwise until only dry, tough skins and seeds remain in your food mill. Serve warm for the best results!

Thanksgiving Feast Pumpkin Muffins

The Blue, Yellow and Purple Rooms helped to make the pumpkin muffins for the Thanksgiving Feast. Look at all the ingredients!
We mixed together all our wet ingredients, then all our dry ingredients. We observed the differences between them--then we observed what happened when we combined these ingredients together. The white specks of flour served as an "indicator" that the batter was not completely mixed yet. We discussed the meaning of the word "level" and demonstrated the usage of this word while measuring ingredients. The molasses made the muffins such a beautiful color! Quote of the day: "I hope these muffins don't have any chocolate in them, because I do NOT like chocolate." And, one more hilarious quote (because I can't resist sharing it with you): "We have a dance party every Friday with Miss Linda."

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup golden raisins
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Cooking spray
  
Preheat oven to 400°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, ginger, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Stir in raisins; make a well in center of mixture. Combine brown sugar, canned pumpkin, buttermilk, canola oil, molasses, vanilla extract, and eggs, stirring well with a whisk. Add sugar mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist.

Spoon batter into 18 muffin cups coated with cooking spray.  Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove muffins from pans immediately; cool on a wire rack.

 

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Thanksgiving Feast Pumpkin Pudding

The Red, Green and Orange Rooms all helped to make the Pumpkin Pudding to be served for the Thanksgiving Feast. We used cooks tools like a whisk, a can opener, a spatula, a teaspoon, and a measuring cup. We folded some ingredients, we poured some ingredients, we discussed the various spices found in Pumpkin Pie Spice (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice)...and everyone loved watching the ingredients change in color from yellow to orange. Even though we prepared the pudding for the Thanksgiving Feast, everyone still had an opportunity to sample their hard work. Quote of the day: "This is some really yummy stuff." Also, my milk allergy friends will be able to enjoy their Pumpkin Pudding with coconut milk the day of the Thanksgiving Feast!

Pumpkin Pie Pudding

1 cup canned pumpkin pie filling

3 oz instant vanilla pudding
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 cups cold milk
1 carton Cool Whip

Mix instant pudding and milk, allow to set. Add pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. Fold in Cool Whip. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Also, this is a great “Make Ahead” dessert!

Corn Soup

The first picture is what the soup looked like before we used the immersion blender. The kids loved hearing the blender and watching it transform the soup from chunky into smooth! We also talked about the different ways of cutting vegetables-- chopped (big) onions, diced (medium) celery, and minced (small) garlic. Our cooking tools were a garlic peeler, a vegetable chopper, a vegetable peeler and an immersion blender to prepare the soup. Quote of the day: After cutting a Yukon Gold Potato in half and showing the color of the potato to the kids, I said "I wonder why they call this a Yukon GOLD potato?" Someone said: "Because its a yellow tomato!"

Ingredients:

6 ears sweet corn or 1 bag frozen corn
1 medium onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
½ medium Yukon gold potato, peeled and finely chopped
½ stalk of celery, chopped
1 Tbsp. olive oil, or butter
1 tsp. salt + more to taste
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
Fresh parsley

Cooks Tools:

Potato peeler
Chopper
Immersion blender
Garlic roller

Preparation:
In a large pot heat oil or butter over medium heat. Add onions, celery, garlic and 1/2 tsp. salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion wilts, about 3 minutes.
Meanwhile, peel and chop potato. Add potato and broth to pot. Bring to a boil. Cook until onions and potatoes are very soft, about 10 minutes. Add corn. Cook until heated through, about 2 minutes.
Puree with an immersion blender or in a blender or food processor (do this in small batches to avoid splashes and burns).
Add salt to taste. Garnish with parsley.

Fall Festival Pumpkin Faces

We cut whole wheat bread with pumpkin shaped cookie cutters, then decorated them with fruits, vegetables and chocolate chips! We used Trader Joe's organic Pumpkin cream cheese (or cranberry apple butter for my non-dairy friends)...and the kids loved it!

Pumpkin Whole Wheat Flax Belgium Waffles

Pumpkin Whole Wheat Flax Belgium Waffles: The kids used a microplane to grate whole cinnamon sticks into ground cinnamon. It was hard work! We upgraded these waffles by using coconut oil instead of butter and we combined both whole wheat and flax flour for a richer texture. Quote of the day: "This vanilla smells like a space ship!"


4 large eggs, separated
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup flax flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups milk or soy milk
½ can of pumpkin (you can freeze the remaining pumpkin if you like)
½ tsp. cinnamon
Beat egg yolks and sugar at medium speed with electric mixer until thick and pale. Add melted coconut oil and vanilla, beating until blended. Add pumpkin and cinnamon. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture and milk to egg mixture, beating until smooth. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; fold into batter. Cook in a preheated, oiled Belgian waffle iron until golden.