Tag Archives: Recipes for Kids

Chocolate or dyed….it’s Easter egg time!

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With Easter a few days away, chocolate, coloured and cooked eggs are a natural choice for snacking or crafting!

I’ll admit to indulging in a Cadbury Caramilk Egg or two in this pre-Easter season. Yes, their caramel centre does make them overly sweet and the chocolate may not be the finest quality available, however at this time of year, these eggs call out my name!

The craft of colouring shell eggs is also a sign of the season. This chart from McCormick, maker of food colours, will help you create a rainbow of perfect hues for dyeing raw or hard-cooked eggs. Think watermelon, jungle green, plum, canteloupe, fuschia…….

Making edible snowflakes

It’s March Break in Ontario and students are out of school for the week.

If you’re running out of things to do with your brood during the Break, consider spending time with them in the kitchen making edible snowflakes!

The kids will enjoy cutting snowflake shapes out of soft tortillas, then broiling them (with an adult’s supervision), and dusting each faux snowflake with icing sugar. They’re crisp, slightly sweet, cinnamon-scented and flavoured, and just plain fun to eat!
And since there’s not much you can do about the mountains of real snow still on the ground outside, helping the edible stuff disappear inside may give everyone at least some satisfaction!

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Tortilla Snowflakes

Small flour tortillas
Melted butter
Cinnamon sugar (3 tablespoons (45 mL) sugar and 1 teaspoon (5 mL) ground cinnamon)
Icing sugar

Preheat broiler.

Gently fold the tortilla in half without making a crease, then in half again. Hold the folds together without creasing the folds firmly into the tortilla. With kitchen scissors, cut out shapes and designs from the folded edges of the tortilla. Cut through all the layers, being careful not to tear the tortilla.

Open the tortilla and place it flat on a baking sheet. It should look like a snowflake. If more design is needed, carefully refold the tortilla and add more cuts. Repeat to make as many snowflakes as desired. (The number of snowflakes that can be broiled at one time will depend on the size of the snowflakes and the baking sheet.)

Using a pastry brush or an unused inexpensive artist’s paint brush, brush snowflakes with melted butter. Pick up a pinch of cinnamon sugar between your fingers and sprinkle over the snowflakes. Repeat with more cinnamon sugar until top of each snowflake is lightly covered.

Place the baking sheet with tortilla snowflakes under the broiler just until snowflakes begins to brown. Watch carefully; this only takes a minute or so. Wearing oven mitts, remove the baking sheet from the oven. Let snowflakes cool for a few minutes.

With a turner, remove snowflakes from the baking sheet to a wire rack. Let snowflakes rest for a few minutes to cool and firm. Sprinkle each with icing sugar.

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* Cocoa Snowflakes: Stir 1 teaspoon (5 mL) cocoa powder into cinnamon sugar mixture. Continue with recipe as directed.

* Cheese Snowflakes: Sprinkle grated Mozzarella or Swiss cheese on the tortilla snowflake, being careful to keep cheese on the tortilla and not in the holes. Place snowflakes under broiler to brown and crisp a little, 1 to 2 minutes. Let cool and firm on a wire rack.

Recipe Source: Adapted from Cooking Art by MaryAnn F. Kohl and Jean Potter, Gryphon House, 1997

The Ultimate Brownie? You Decide!

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The Ultimate Brownie

Who doesn’t love brownies?

I suppose if you don’t like chocolate, you might not care for brownies.

Whoa! Back up! Who doesn’t love chocolate?

As hard as it might be for some of us to fathom, there are people in this world who are indifferent to chocolate. They can take it or leave it. Quite easily. Without much care or thought. Some of those people may even prefer to ignore chocolate altogether. Don’t pity them, however. Consider how much more this leaves for the rest of us!

But back to brownies.

Recently I found a recipe for The Ultimate Brownie on the About.com Desserts/Baking website. I’ve never understood the idea of an “ultimate” anything because what might be the best ever version of something (e.g. brownies) to you may very well be a just okay version of that something (e.g. brownies) to me. And vice versa. If you claim something is the “ultimate” or “world’s best” or “greatest ever”, you’ve set up some pretty high expectations as to what that something will look like, taste like, feel like, act like, and so on, depending on exactly what that something is. So many things in life are subject to an individual’s taste preferences, perceptions, biases, and experiences that I’m always hesitant to label anything (and in the context of this blog, a recipe!) with the moniker of “ultimate” unless it’s been highly rated by more people than just me.

That said, I did try The Ultimate Brownie recipe, and it was pretty good! Thick and fudgey (my preference as opposed to cakey), it would rank fairly high on my scale of “best brownies ever eaten”. I’ve posted the recipe below.

Speaking of things “ultimate”, I’m also posting a link to the website of my colleague, cookbook author Mairlyn Smith and her healthy Decadent Brownies recipe. It’s from her and co-author dietitian Liz Pearson’s best-selling book, Ultimate Foods for Ultimate Health…and don’t forget the chocolate (Whitecap Books, 2007). Mairlyn’s recipe uses whole wheat flour, canola oil and cocoa powder.

As well, here’s the link to the recipe for Fudgey Special Dark Brownies on Hershey’s website; it’s made with cocoa powder and Chipits. If you make the brownies in a 15 x 10-inch (38 x 25 cm) pan instead of a 13 x 9-inch (33 x 23 cm) pan, you can cut the brownies into heart shapes for Valentine’s Day. On the Hershey’s website you can also find chocolatey recipes for mousse, cookies and truffles. Perfect fare for giving to all your loved ones and sweeties! Assuming they all like chocolate, that is!

The Ultimate Brownie
(Makes a 13 x 9-inch/33 x 23 cm baking pan)

8 squares unsweetened chocolate, chopped into chunks
1 cup (250 mL) butter, cut in chunks
5 large eggs
3 cups (750 mL) sugar
1 tablespoon (15 mL) vanilla
1-1/2 cups (375 mL) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon (5 mL) salt
2-1/2 cups (625 mL) chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted

In a saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate and butter, stirring frequently; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on high speed for 10 minutes. (Mixture will be thick and pale yellow in colour.)

Stir in chocolate mixture. Fold in flour and salt until just mixed. Stir in nuts. Pour into a lightly greased 13 x 9-inch (33 x 23 cm) baking pan.

Bake in a preheated 375F (190C) oven for 35 to 40 minutes. The brownies should be moist in the centre.

Tips:

  • Measure all ingredients carefully. Measure flour and sugar in a dry measuring cup. Scoop flour into the cup and level the top with a blade of knife.
  • For easy removal of the brownies from the pan, line baking pan with aluminum foil or baking paper. Grease foil or paper, then add batter.
  • Brownies can be iced, but it is not necessary as they are sweet and decadent enough on their own. If desired, top with chopped nuts and semisweet chocolate chips before baking, or drizzle with a white chocolate glaze, or sprinkle cooled brownies with icing sugar.
  • This recipe is very similar to the Blockbuster Brownies recipe inside the box of Baker’s Unsweetened chocolate squares. That recipe calls for 1-1/2 cups (375 mL) butter, 6 eggs and 1 cup (250 mL) chopped nuts. The batter is baked in two 8-inch (2 L) square pans at 350F (180C) for 35 to 40 minutes.
  • Brownies freeze well.

For more brownie recipes, visit Brownie Lover’s Diary.

Pancakes, Plain or Chocolate Chipped

A few co-workers and I prepared a pancake lunch yesterday at work. We used a basic Buttermilk Pancake recipe courtesy of Carolynne Griffith, the chairwoman of the Board of Directors for Egg Farmers of Ontario. The pancakes were tender, light and fluffy, and enjoyed by everyone. For the chocolate lovers in the group, we made one batch of pancakes with chocolate chips. They were exceptionally delish! (The Triple Chocolate Pancakes from my February 4th post would also have gone over well with the chocoholics!)

Here’s the recipe, with the chocolate chip variation. (We omitted the sugar in the recipe.)

Buttermilk Pancakes
(Makes about 16 pancakes)

1 cup (250 mL) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons (30 mL) sugar (optional)
2 teaspoons (10 mL) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) salt
2 large eggs
1 cup (250 mL) buttermilk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) melted butter or cooking oil
Cooking oil
Butter and maple syrup

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sugar (if using), baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs. Add buttermilk and butter; whisk to combine.

Add dry ingredients to liquid ingredients; whisk just until combined (batter should be lumpy).

Heat a small amount of oil on a griddle or frying pan over medium heat. When the surface is hot enough, spoon about 2 tablespoons (30 mL) batter per pancake onto the skillet, spreading batter into a circle. Cook until edges appear set and bubbles form on the surface, about 1-1/2 minutes. Flip and cook second side until browned, about 1-1/2 minutes.

Serve immediately with butter and maple syrup. Or, transfer to a baking sheet or heatproof platter. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and keep pancakes warm in a 200F (95C) oven. Continue cooking remaining batter, brushing griddle with a small amount of oil as necessary to prevent sticking.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes: Prepare dry ingredients, adding 1/2 cup (125 mL) chocolate chips. Proceed as directed above.

Tips:

  • This recipe can be doubled or tripled.
  • If batter is too thick, thin with a small amount of additional buttermilk.
  • Freeze any leftover pancakes up to 3 months. Reheat on a baking sheet in a preheated 350F (190C) oven. Pancakes can be also be reheated in the toaster or microwave. If using the microwave, be careful not to overheat as they will become rubbery.

Triple Chocolate Pancakes

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Triple Chocolate Pancakes

Got your pancake recipe ready for tomorrow, Pancake Tuesday? Consider celebrating with an extra special recipe for Triple Chocolate Pancakes!

With cocoa powder and chocolate chips in the batter, you may think you’re making a cake or brownies, but don’t be tempted to pour it into a cake pan and slide it into the oven. We really are making pancakes. Just chocolatey ones, finished off with a good drizzle of chocolate syrup. Some might consider this chocolate overload. For chocoholics, this may be the best way (the only way??) to eat pancakes.

If you don’t have a nonstick frying pan or griddle, you will need to grease your pan with a small amount of cooking oil, butter or margarine before making each batch of pancakes. I like to cook a test pancake to check my pan’s heat.

To serve all the pancakes at one time, keep cooked pancakes on a heatproof plate in a 200F oven until all the batter is cooked.

If you want to take these pancakes completely over the top, serve them with vanilla or chocolate ice cream. In season, sliced strawberries are a great addition. Instead of chocolate syrup, the pancakes can be served with maple syrup.

This recipe is easily doubled, or more appropriately tripled! Any leftover pancakes will freeze well.

Triple Chocolate Pancakes
(Makes 12 3-1/2 inch pancakes)

2 large eggs
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons cooking oil
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Cooking oil, butter or margarine
Chocolate sauce or hot fudge sauce

In a medium bowl, whisk eggs until blended. Add milk and oil; whisk to combine.

In a small bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, cocoa and salt until blended. Stir in chocolate chips.

Add dry ingredients to liquid ingredients; whisk just until combined. There should be some lumps in the batter.

Heat frying pan or griddle over medium heat (adding a small amount of oil to grease surface if using a nonstick pan) until a few drops of water scattered over surface sizzle and evaporate. Drop about 1/4 cup pancake batter per pancake onto pan, spreading batter slightly. Leave some room between pancakes; they will expand a little during cooking.

Pancakes are ready to flip when the edges appear set and the top is full of bubbles; this will take about 1-1/2 to 2 minutes. Flip pancakes and cook second side until lightly browned, about 45 seconds to 1 minute.

As pancakes cook, serve them immediately or keep them warm in a 200F oven. Continue cooking remaining batter.

Serve pancakes with chocolate or hot fudge sauce.

Building A Holiday House

The moment the roof collapsed, I knew it was all over. My career as a builder of marshmallow igloos, that is.

The writing had probably been on the wall of the igloo project from the start. (Too bad there weren’t support beams there as well!) I had initially started out using sugar cubes as the building blocks, but for a variety of reasons that had just not worked out.

When the idea to use marshmallows occurred, it seemed to make logical sense. The shape and appearance of the marshmallows would be perfect, I naively assumed. In fact, that was true. It was building the darn thing where the problems surfaced.

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