My thoughts today aren't particularly about being a mother, or about food allergies, but I hope they will be helpful to all of you as we are in the midst of the holiday season. Today I re-learned the importance and benefit of being present in the moment.
With 4 children, life often feels quite chaotic to me. I can never finished today's To Do List today, and there are always interruptions that cause a task to take longer than I planned. As a result, I have become a master at multi-tasking. Some of my multi-tasking is very beneficial, such as bringing a book or magazine in the car so I can do a little reading while I wait for my kids to come out of their activity. However, I have noticed more and more often that I am thinking about the next important task while doing this important task, and as a result I make mistakes.
Two days after Thanksgiving, my kids wanted to start decorating for Christmas. I agreed, and out came the tree, the boxes of ornaments, dozens of strings of lights--we don't actually use them all when we decorate, but we like to have options. Once the tree was up and there were ornaments, boxes, lights, packing material and ribbon spread all over the living room and dining room, the kids started asking about making gingerbread houses. Soon after that, they wanted to make candy for their teachers. I said no, we need to finish decorating, clean it up, and then begin planning our next Christmas project. Sophie asked me why, and the answer that came out of my mouth is so completely true: in order for me to enjoy Christmastime and all the traditions we have surrounding Christmas, I need to be present for today's activities and complete them before I move on to the next thing.
Today I got to try out "being present" in a very small way. Wednesday is my baking day. I decided to make muffins. The past few times I have made muffins, I was so rushed that I didn't spray my muffin tins well and ended up with muffins stuck in the pans, or breaking as I took them out. Today I was enjoying making muffins and focused on my task. I sprayed the muffin tins liberally. I measured and mixed ingredients accurately. And when the muffins were baked, 25 of 28 muffins came out of the pans beautifully, because I was present and focused on the activity at hand, instead of thinking about something else while I worked on the muffins.
A successful batch of muffins is much more satisfying than a ruined batch of muffins and a half-ruined batch of cookies. Being present and enjoying today's activity is more important to me than completing a long list of things that I won't remember doing. I hope that you will also choose to slow down at this hectic time of year and be present for the important things.
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Traditions of Christmas
One of our family traditions is to bake and bake and bake and make candy and bake, and then give all of these yummy goodies to our friends and neighbors in the week or two before Christmas. Some of the things we bake invariably get consumed at home (unfortunately too many by me!) and some are taken to holiday parties and so on. With all of the baking going on, I started thinking, wouldn't it be great if there was an allergy-safe icebox cookie dough recipe? Icebox cookies are those cookie doughs that you make one dough and then use it in different ways to make different kinds of cookies out of it.
So here goes...
Allergy Safe Icebox Cookie Dough
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 shortening (I used Spectrum Organic All Vegetable Shortening, made from palm oil)
2 cups oat flour
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
up to 3 tbsp. rice milk
Using a mixer, mix the shortening and sugar, adding vanilla partway through. When these are thoroughly mixed, add the oat flour, baking soda, and salt and mix well. The mixture will be relatively crumbly at this point. Preferably with the mixer running, add the rice milk a little at a time, mixing for at least 15 seconds between additions (other wise you won't be able to tell when you've got the right amount of rice milk in the dough). When the dough forms a ball, it is ready to roll out for baking. If you are going to be refrigerating your dough before using it, you may want to add a little more rice milk since food often loses moisture in the refrigerator.
At this point, there are several directions you can go.
Cookie Cutouts
Roll out the dough, half a recipe at a time, on a floured, non-stick surface. Cut it with cookie cutters. You can add sprinkles before baking, or you can bake and cool the cookies and decorate with frosting and sprinkles. Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes. (Cookies baked a little longer will be more crispy, and those baked for less time will be more chewy.) For great frosting recipes, check out my book, Sophie Safe Cooking (sophiesafecooking.com).
Pinwheel Cookies
Working with half a recipe at a time, roll Icebox Cookie Dough out to form a square, probably about 6 to 8 inches across. The dough should be between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. Spread a filling over the dough, staying about 1/2 inch from one edge. Roll up the cookie dough and filling, starting with the side opposite the edge with no filling.
If the cookie dough is hard to roll up, there are a couple of things you can try. First, roll on a floured surface. If you don't have to work to get the dough off of your rolling surface, that will simplify things a lot. Second, place a sheet of waxed paper or something else that's flexible (such as a Silpat) on your rolling surface. You can still flour it, and then you can also use the waxed paper to help you roll up the cookie dough. Lift and push the waxed paper, separating the cookie dough from the paper and rolling as you go. The other thing to consider is that if the dough is too dry, it will crack as you roll it (that's what happened the first time I tried it!). If this is the case, make a note that you need more rice milk next time, and add extra milk to the dough that you still have in reserve.
After you have rolled up you cookies, refrigerate the dough until it is firm enough to handle with ease (1-2 hours). If you refrigerate the dough overnight, or if it seems too hard after refrigerating, allow it to sit at room temperature for a little while before you slice and bake it. Using a very sharp knife, slice the dough into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick slices. Place them on a cookie sheet, 2 inches apart, and bake at 350 for 8 minutes.
Pinwheel Cookie Fillings
There are lots of different fillings you can try, and I'm sure you'll come up with your own ideas, too. Here are a couple that I think are great!
Chocolate: melt about 1/4 cup chocolate chips. Allow them to cool slightly, and then spread them on the rolled dough. After refrigerating, slice and bake as directed. If you like your cookies hot, beware of both the temperature and messiness of the chocolate filling!
Cinnamon Sugar: shake cinnamon sugar all over rolled cookie dough, refrigerate, slice and bake as directed.
Cranberry: Mix 1/2 cup finely chopped cranberries, 3 tbsp. sugar, and 2 tsp. orange zest and spread over the rolled dough. Refrigerate, slice, and bake as directed.
Chocolate Cookie Cutouts:
When mixing up your dough, you can make chocolate cookies if you like. Instead of using 2 cups of oat flour, use 1 3/4 cups oat flour and 1/4 cup cocoa powder. You can still use all of the same variations. Delicious!
So here goes...
Allergy Safe Icebox Cookie Dough
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 shortening (I used Spectrum Organic All Vegetable Shortening, made from palm oil)
2 cups oat flour
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
up to 3 tbsp. rice milk
Using a mixer, mix the shortening and sugar, adding vanilla partway through. When these are thoroughly mixed, add the oat flour, baking soda, and salt and mix well. The mixture will be relatively crumbly at this point. Preferably with the mixer running, add the rice milk a little at a time, mixing for at least 15 seconds between additions (other wise you won't be able to tell when you've got the right amount of rice milk in the dough). When the dough forms a ball, it is ready to roll out for baking. If you are going to be refrigerating your dough before using it, you may want to add a little more rice milk since food often loses moisture in the refrigerator.
At this point, there are several directions you can go.
Cookie Cutouts
Roll out the dough, half a recipe at a time, on a floured, non-stick surface. Cut it with cookie cutters. You can add sprinkles before baking, or you can bake and cool the cookies and decorate with frosting and sprinkles. Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes. (Cookies baked a little longer will be more crispy, and those baked for less time will be more chewy.) For great frosting recipes, check out my book, Sophie Safe Cooking (sophiesafecooking.com).
Pinwheel Cookies
Working with half a recipe at a time, roll Icebox Cookie Dough out to form a square, probably about 6 to 8 inches across. The dough should be between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. Spread a filling over the dough, staying about 1/2 inch from one edge. Roll up the cookie dough and filling, starting with the side opposite the edge with no filling.
If the cookie dough is hard to roll up, there are a couple of things you can try. First, roll on a floured surface. If you don't have to work to get the dough off of your rolling surface, that will simplify things a lot. Second, place a sheet of waxed paper or something else that's flexible (such as a Silpat) on your rolling surface. You can still flour it, and then you can also use the waxed paper to help you roll up the cookie dough. Lift and push the waxed paper, separating the cookie dough from the paper and rolling as you go. The other thing to consider is that if the dough is too dry, it will crack as you roll it (that's what happened the first time I tried it!). If this is the case, make a note that you need more rice milk next time, and add extra milk to the dough that you still have in reserve.
After you have rolled up you cookies, refrigerate the dough until it is firm enough to handle with ease (1-2 hours). If you refrigerate the dough overnight, or if it seems too hard after refrigerating, allow it to sit at room temperature for a little while before you slice and bake it. Using a very sharp knife, slice the dough into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick slices. Place them on a cookie sheet, 2 inches apart, and bake at 350 for 8 minutes.
Pinwheel Cookie Fillings
There are lots of different fillings you can try, and I'm sure you'll come up with your own ideas, too. Here are a couple that I think are great!
Chocolate: melt about 1/4 cup chocolate chips. Allow them to cool slightly, and then spread them on the rolled dough. After refrigerating, slice and bake as directed. If you like your cookies hot, beware of both the temperature and messiness of the chocolate filling!
Cinnamon Sugar: shake cinnamon sugar all over rolled cookie dough, refrigerate, slice and bake as directed.
Cranberry: Mix 1/2 cup finely chopped cranberries, 3 tbsp. sugar, and 2 tsp. orange zest and spread over the rolled dough. Refrigerate, slice, and bake as directed.
Chocolate Cookie Cutouts:
When mixing up your dough, you can make chocolate cookies if you like. Instead of using 2 cups of oat flour, use 1 3/4 cups oat flour and 1/4 cup cocoa powder. You can still use all of the same variations. Delicious!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)