Baking with Bug

I received an email from my kid's teacher that there would be lots of birthdays and events at school coming up and I should make some "safe" treats for my kid to enjoy. So Bug and I went through to find some things he was interested in. We were a little ambitious not factoring in hot kitchen with HOT humidity yuck outside. So we only did 3 out of our 5 planned treats, but I squeezed in some fresh bread at the end.

So today we made:
Chocolate Crinkle Cookie
Peanut Butter Cookie
Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodle
(and a french baguette)

Left : Peanut Butter Cookie, Top: Chocolate Crinkle Cookie, Right: Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodle

My little sous was very hands on for all of our baking today. He did all the measuring, mixing and assembling. All I had to do was read the recipe, guide, and all the hot stuff (melting chocolate and oven). I was very proud.

He does however need an apron or kitchen towel.....

Maybe tomorrow we'll finish our ambitious baking or we'll just enjoy some of our treats.

We used "Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar" as our base recipes.

UPDATE:

We did cook a bit more the following day

Whoopie Pies and Watermelon Cookies....YUM. These recipes were taken from a cookbook a dear friend made me for Christmas- see more of her recipes at Yeast Coast Baking. The whoopie pie recipe is a secret family recipe that is locked up never to be shared, but I will happily pass along the watermelon cookie recipe- slightly tweeked from the original recipe. These are great to bring to summer cookouts!

Watermelon Cookies

2/3 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1 tbsp almond milk (yes, this is my secret ingredient in most of my baked goods)

1 tsp mint extract (orig, called for vanilla- I switched to mint for more refreshing flavor)

2 cups all purpose flour

Red food coloring

1 egg white

1 Tbsp water

Green decorating sugar

1/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl beat butter and sugar in an electric mixer on medium till combined. Add baking powder and salt, beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg, almond milk, and mint until combined. Beat in flour. Tranfer dough to waxed paper and knead in enough red food coloring for desired color. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill dough at least 3 hours to overnight. It is much easier to handle when cooled so work in small batches.

Preheat oven to 375. Stir together egg white and water, set aside. On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough at a time until slightly less than 1/4" thick. Using a floured 3" round cookie cutter, cut out dough (I did a slightly larger round cutter for above cookies and cut into quarters). Cut into half. Using a small brush, brush the egg white/water mixture on the rounded edges of each cookie. Dip brushed edges in decorating sugar. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Press a few chocolate chips into each cookie for "seeds"

Bake for 5-7 minutes or until bottoms just begin to brown (do not allow to brown on top). Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.