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#1
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Cookie baking with kids?
I have unexpectedly found myself with the assignment of leading two
dozen children, ages 8-11, in a cookie-baking project at a school party this weekend. (I volunteered to help cook. This is not what I had in mind.) The project will involve making and decorating cookie-cutter sugar cookies, to be baked and then eaten later in the party. I am definitely not an expert at this; I have made cut-out cookies a couple of times with my kids at home, but not in a group, and not under time pressure. I believe we'll be splitting the kids into two groups (the other half will work on a craft project), which means I'll be doing two rounds, with 10-12 kids each. We have rolling pins, cookie cutters, cookie sheets, a metal spatula, a six-foot cafeteria-type table, and an adjacent institutional kitchen. My plan, at this point, is to use Pillsbury pre-made sugar cookie dough. I figure I will cover the table in plastic, have the kids work in groups of two or three to roll out a portion of the dough, and then have them take turns cutting that portion up with a cookie cutter. I'll then transfer the cut cookies to a cookie sheet, and I (or another adult) will whisk them off to the kitchen and handle the actual baking, removal of the pans from the oven, and removal of the cookies from the pan for cooling. As I said, I'm no expert, so if anyone has any tips on making this process work (including insight into the likely problems kids might have, so I can watch for or prevent them), I'm all ears. I do know I should sprinkle the table surface with flour, and have a bowl of flour handy for coating the rolling pins and dipping the cookie cutters. My big question right now is how to handle decorating the cookies. Icings and frostings would, I believe, normally be applied after the cookies are baked. Letting the kids do that would mean a second session at the table, not a good option logistically. So I'd love to get ideas on decorations that can be put on before baking, right after the kids have cut out the cookies. The cookies will be recognizable shapes (stars, etc.) so abstract decoration is just fine. Colored sugar? Mini M&Ms? Complicating this is the fact that some of the kids (including my own two children, who will be there) are allergic to chocolate and/or some food dyes. So a variety of possible decorations that can be applied before baking would be helpful. I intend to do a dry run with my two sons on Friday afternoon, so I can train them (and they can then help other kids, I hope), and also so I can see whether, say, 1/4 of a roll of dough is enough for two or three kids to work with. Further ideas and insight on making this work -- either from the cooking standpoint or the kid-management standpoint -- will be gratefully received. Thanks, Robin who had expected to be working by myself in the kitchen for the duration of the party |
#2
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Given the time pressure (and to a lesser extent, the dye and chocolate
limitations) I'd suggest supplying already baked cookies, and having them decorate them. If someone at the school is insisting on baking...there are hard gold and silver candies meant to be baked on, those little red hot candies, food coloring mixed in dough, sprinkles (both the sparkly large sugar crystal kind and the tube shaped kind.) Even the sprinkle discs might not melt. Chocolate chips and kisses will melt, you might want to pull the cookies out when they are almost done to put those on. M&Ms, and all their derivatives won't melt as long as the candy coating is intact, so you could decorate with them. Years ago I remember making "stained glass" cookies that used life savers melted in the middle to make a see through center. But I don't rememer that recipe... |
#3
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Cathy Kearns wrote:
Given the time pressure (and to a lesser extent, the dye and chocolate limitations) I'd suggest supplying already baked cookies, and having them decorate them. I agree. It will greatly streamline things if you can bring in baked cookies and tubs of frosting (from powdered sugar & milk). Or come early and bake them on site. That would be even easier. Have the kids frost and decorate. If you do decorate the frosted cookies, make sure the colored sugar, for example, is put out in very very small batches. This way people like DS, who like to dump tablespoonfuls of sugar on a frosted cookie, can't use up all the sugar on the 1st 2 cookies If someone at the school is insisting on baking...there are hard gold and silver candies meant to be baked on, those little red hot candies, food coloring mixed in dough, sprinkles (both the sparkly large sugar crystal kind and the tube shaped kind.) Even the sprinkle discs might not melt. Chocolate chips and kisses will melt, you might want to pull the cookies out when they are almost done to put those on. M&Ms, and all their derivatives won't melt as long as the candy coating is intact, so you could decorate with them. Again, right on. Only put the plain chocolate on the cookies as they come out of the oven, but then that does put the baking onus back on the adult helpers. Years ago I remember making "stained glass" cookies that used life savers melted in the middle to make a see through center. But I don't rememer that recipe... I'd think those would stick to the pan like crazy! Scott DD 11 and DS 8.75 |
#4
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In article ,
Scott wrote: Cathy Kearns wrote: Given the time pressure (and to a lesser extent, the dye and chocolate limitations) I'd suggest supplying already baked cookies, and having them decorate them. I agree. It will greatly streamline things if you can bring in baked cookies and tubs of frosting (from powdered sugar & milk). Or come early and bake them on site. That would be even easier. Have the kids frost and decorate. If you do decorate the frosted cookies, make sure the colored sugar, for example, is put out in very very small batches. This way people like DS, who like to dump tablespoonfuls of sugar on a frosted cookie, can't use up all the sugar on the 1st 2 cookies If someone at the school is insisting on baking...there are hard gold and silver candies meant to be baked on, those little red hot candies, food coloring mixed in dough, sprinkles (both the sparkly large sugar crystal kind and the tube shaped kind.) Even the sprinkle discs might not melt. Chocolate chips and kisses will melt, you might want to pull the cookies out when they are almost done to put those on. M&Ms, and all their derivatives won't melt as long as the candy coating is intact, so you could decorate with them. Again, right on. Only put the plain chocolate on the cookies as they come out of the oven, but then that does put the baking onus back on the adult helpers. Years ago I remember making "stained glass" cookies that used life savers melted in the middle to make a see through center. But I don't rememer that recipe... I'd think those would stick to the pan like crazy! Scott DD 11 and DS 8.75 They get baked on aluminum foil, and they DON'T stick -- or, at least, it's pretty easy to get the aluminum foil off. I can't find the recipe right now, but iirc it's just sugar cookie dough, then either rolled out and cut (but with extra holes cut in the interior) or rolled into 1/4" ropes, and then shaping the ropes into shapes, then putting crushed life savers in the holes. They end up looking pretty cool. -- Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care |
#5
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dragonlady wrote:
In article , Scott wrote: Cathy Kearns wrote: Years ago I remember making "stained glass" cookies that used life savers melted in the middle to make a see through center. But I don't rememer that recipe... I'd think those would stick to the pan like crazy! Scott DD 11 and DS 8.75 They get baked on aluminum foil, and they DON'T stick -- or, at least, it's pretty easy to get the aluminum foil off. I can't find the recipe right now, but iirc it's just sugar cookie dough, then either rolled out and cut (but with extra holes cut in the interior) or rolled into 1/4" ropes, and then shaping the ropes into shapes, then putting crushed life savers in the holes. They end up looking pretty cool. Yes, I did a google search on the recipe (Stained glass cookie recipe) and saw how they were made. scott |
#6
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My e-mail address is not a fluke; baking cookies is my hobby, passion and
some-time obsession! Your plan sounds basically good, but I wonder -- do you *have* to do the baking part with them? It's really not the fun part, and it's messy and time-consuming. As you correctly point out, the cookies will have to cool before you can frost them. If it's not required, I'd strongly encourage you to make the cookies in advance (or -- and I can be a big girl and suggest this even if I *do* like baking ;-) -- buy already-baked cookies from a grocer or bakery) and just decorate them with the kids -- that's the part they will enjoy the most. In my experience the pillsbury dough, while convenient, doesn't roll out easily. If you want a good recipe for an easy-roll sugar cookie dough, let me know and I'll e-mail you one. If you have a food processor, it's super-easy to make a very easy-to-roll dough. Whatever rolling you do, chill the dough very thoroughly (you may even want to freeze pillsbury dough, which tends to be goopy) and then roll it out between pieces of waxed paper. This eliminates the need for flour, which eliminates a ton of the mess. Peel the top layer of waxed paper off of the rolled dough and cut out your cookies from there. If the kids need a "cooking" experience, rather than have them make the cookies, they could make the glaze/frosting. You can make a very simple glaze by whisking together powdered sugar, melted butter, a teaspoon of vanilla and a little bit of half-and-half. Avoid messy colored sugars in favor of red-hot candies, raisins (or the new Craisins, which are dried cranberries), larger crystal sugars, and other sprinkles. The very fine colored sugars are a royal pain. Crushed peppermint candies or candy canes are a nice touch. Don't get into the whole icing/writing thing -- it's messy and kids don't handle pastry bags well, you'll end up with glops of frosting squirting out of the wrong end of whatever contraption you're using to write. Just spread your icing with butter or kitchen knives and sprinkle. Kids are more intersted in eating than in making picture-perfect cookies. If you *do* have to bake, you can avoid the frosting and just sprinkle the cut-out dough with sprinkles before baking. There's also a kind of cool egg-based paint recipe where you can paint cut-out cookies before you bake them. I found two cookie paints with a google search -- one is an beaten egg yolk plus a scant tsp of water, then add food coloring; the other is clear karo syrup with food coloring. You might experiment with these when you do your dry run; I would think that the karo mixture would tend to burn. It's been a long time since I've tried cookie paint but I believe when I did it as a kid it was an egg mixture. I'd be tempted to leave the egg white in the egg mixture since it will help form a nice shiny glaze... If you want more replies like this one (less parenting, more cookie know-how) try rec.arts.cooking Cheers! -Dawn Mom to Henry, 12 |
#7
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In article .com,
Robin wrote: My big question right now is how to handle decorating the cookies. Icings and frostings would, I believe, normally be applied after the cookies are baked. Letting the kids do that would mean a second session at the table, not a good option logistically. So I'd love to get ideas on decorations that can be put on before baking, right after the kids have cut out the cookies. The cookies will be recognizable shapes (stars, etc.) so abstract decoration is just fine. Colored sugar? Mini M&Ms? Complicating this is the fact that some of the kids (including my own two children, who will be there) are allergic to chocolate and/or some food dyes. So a variety of possible decorations that can be applied before baking would be helpful. We always decorate before baking. We use a variety of "sprinkles" form the baking aisle, usually colored sugars plus the long chocolate or multicolored ones you often get on ice cream, and sometimes even the little silver balls. You can do home-made colored sugar too but that isn't as easy to work with IME. For the allergic kids, any tiny candy that is safe for them should work fine, plus of course sugar sprinkles in safe colors. Good luck and have fun! --Robyn I intend to do a dry run with my two sons on Friday afternoon, so I can train them (and they can then help other kids, I hope), and also so I can see whether, say, 1/4 of a roll of dough is enough for two or three kids to work with. Further ideas and insight on making this work -- either from the cooking standpoint or the kid-management standpoint -- will be gratefully received. Thanks, Robin who had expected to be working by myself in the kitchen for the duration of the party |
#8
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Many thanks to all who have made suggestions. I'm hanging this reply of
Dawn's post, but am trying to answer you all :-) If the choice is between baking the cookies (and simply not frosting them afterward), or bringing pre-baked cookies (and doing only the decoration part for the activity), we really need to go for the baking step. For one thing, I can't buy the cookies we have in mind (specialized shapes for which we do have cookie cutters, but which aren't likely to be sold in stores) and I don't want to have to bake them all myself. For another thing, I think the kids will get more out of the rolling/cutting experience than the frosting, and it will probably fill the alloted time better. I figure both are equally messy. (And yes, the person in charge was very eager to see an active cooking activity; I had to persuade him NOT to try to involve the kids in the hot-oil-frying process I'm using for the other main party dish!) In my experience the pillsbury dough, while convenient, doesn't roll out easily. If you want a good recipe for an easy-roll sugar cookie dough, let me know and I'll e-mail you one. Please do, Dawn. I've used the Pillsbury myself with success, and will try it for my dry run, but I'll have yours as backup if I need. ... and then roll it out between pieces of waxed paper. This eliminates the need for flour, which eliminates a ton of the mess. Peel the top layer of waxed paper off of the rolled dough and cut out your cookies from there. That is the single most useful hint I've ever heard. In addition to cutting down on mess, it means the dough won't "roll up" on the rolling pins (which is SO frustrating for kids who are just learning). That will also make it a whole lot easier to keep the cookies from sticking to the plastic tablecovers, and also to set the cut cookies aside till we're ready to put them on cookie sheets. Brilliant. Thanks! Avoid messy colored sugars in favor of red-hot candies, raisins (or the new Craisins, which are dried cranberries), larger crystal sugars, and other sprinkles. The very fine colored sugars are a royal pain. Crushed peppermint candies or candy canes are a nice touch. Not sure what the difference is between the two types of sugars you describe. The bottle I bought for a test run says "Cake Mate Blue Crystals Decors." It's not as fine as table sugar, if that's what you were warning me against. I didn't know there was any other kind (see how little I use these things!). Color theme for the day will be blue and white, so maybe I can find some undyed crystal sugar too. I'll make sure I have sprinkle bottles that will keep the kids from overdoing the quantity (thanks to Scott for pointing that out). Thanks to Dawn, Robyn, and Cathy for suggestions on additional toppings that will work before baking. Does regular cinnamon sugar work too? That would be good, I think, as a non-dyed alternative. Maybe finely chopped dried mango or dried apricot bits? I can buy these, or mixed fruit bits, in bags in the raisins section, and they're pretty sweet. It would also be more in tune with this particular party atmosphere to have something that doesn't look commercial or store-bought (like sprinkles or M&Ms). There's also a kind of cool egg-based paint recipe where you can paint cut-out cookies before you bake them. Probably fun if it were just me, but beyond my ability to lead a group of kids in that one! I feel rather more confident now. Thanks all. --Robin |
#9
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On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 10:02:26 EST, "Robin"
wrote: snip My big question right now is how to handle decorating the cookies. Icings and frostings would, I believe, normally be applied after the cookies are baked. Letting the kids do that would mean a second session at the table, not a good option logistically. So I'd love to get ideas on decorations that can be put on before baking, right after the kids have cut out the cookies. The cookies will be recognizable shapes (stars, etc.) so abstract decoration is just fine. Colored sugar? Mini M&Ms? Complicating this is the fact that some of the kids (including my own two children, who will be there) are allergic to chocolate and/or some food dyes. So a variety of possible decorations that can be applied before baking would be helpful. snip Over Thanksgiving weekend, my MIL had my daughter help her with baking sugar cookies, and my daughter decorated them with "paints" made from food coloring and egg yolk. You paint the cookies with paintbrushes (hopefully clean ones ) before they are baked, and they turn out very colorful and glossy. -- Tamex No matter how much Jell-o you put in the pool, you still can't walk on water. **remove Tricky Dick to reply by e-mail** |
#10
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In article .com,
Robin wrote: Does regular cinnamon sugar work too? This would have the disadvantage of the table sugar with food coloring -- messy. But it should bake fine and taste good. That would be good, I think, as a non-dyed alternative. Maybe finely chopped dried mango or dried apricot bits? I can buy these, or mixed fruit bits, in bags in the raisins section, and they're pretty sweet. I would try these at home first -- I'd be concerned that they might burn. (And yes, the person in charge was very eager to see an active cooking activity; I had to persuade him NOT to try to involve the kids in the hot-oil-frying process I'm using for the other main party dish!) They could grate and mix, however. Have fun! --Robyn |
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