Just recently my daughter was given a book about baking. Up until now all of my attempts to teach her some skills in the kitchen have really been futile. She can in fact make toast, scrambled eggs, and if pressed a grilled cheese sandwich and lets not forget the occasional dreaded ramen noodles! Which by the way I will only buy under extreme protest in the grocery store.
Now as a young child, maybe age 6 or 7, I was given a copy of the 1975 "Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Cookbook" by my grandmother. Please don't calculate my age. My grandmother was most definetly a better baker than a cook and this talent followed through to my mother and me as well.
My daughter on the other hand had not really shown any desire to learn to cook or bake until just recently. She can be very lazy at times and is known to enjoy being waited on hand and foot; just so you know not by me, by my husband, but that is another story! A while back I was going through some of my childhood belongs and came across the good old "Mickey Mouse Cookbook" and thought maybe if I give this to her she will become interested in learning the basics of cooking and baking. I mean this book is great it's table of contents starts with Kitchen Rules, how to measure, kitchen uttensils and goes on to sandwiches and soups, cakes frostings and cookies, main dishes, vegetables and salads, pancakes and eggs and my favorite beverages.
It shows all of the disney characters in full color cartoon style pages and has very simple written directions for all of the recipes. So I thought great this will spark some interest.
Well for about 2 days she tried a few recipes and then the interest began to wane. I was really disappointed, but knew if you push the issue with a 12 year old you will only push her farther from doing what it is you want her to do or try, so I let it go and the book got put back on the shelf behind all of the clutter and mess she calls her room.
It just so happens that every year my mother and I bake a bazillion cookies for the holidays and this year was no exception for my mother that is. I unfortunately was having some health issues and was not able to help her with the huge undertaking. So my mother forged ahead knee deep in dough and made about 20 dozen cookies herself. My daughter really missed eating the cookies that I usually bring home after 2 days of baking, so she took it upon herself to try and bake some of her own cookies.
She started with sugar cookies, which she had made a couple of times with me and surprisingly enough they came out pretty good for her first solo baking act. Well I guess that inspired her and she then baked a batch of Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies. To make a long story short her small success in the kitchen spurred a baking business, which of course I became a part of.
Footie's Goodies was born and after our first 2 weeks of baking we had sold 15 dozen cookies.
So just when I had lost all hope of passing down the baking bug, my daughter came through and also has shown promising signs of an entrepeneur in the making. Of course my husband benefits from all of this as well because he became our designated taste tester.
So we would like to show a couple of our new recipes that we have had some success with.
The first recipe is a Double Chocolate Expresso Cookie that I love even though I am not a coffee drinker. When baked they make the house smell like you are visiting Charlie and The Chocolate Factory!
Double Chocolate Expresso Cookies Recipe
3 (1 ounce) Squares of unsweetened chocolate
2 Cups Semi Sweet chocolate chips
1/2 Cup salted butter
3 eggs
1 Cup sugar
2 1/4 tsps. finely ground expresso beans ( I used starbucks bold)
3/4 Cup all purpose flour
1/3 tsp. baking powder
1 Cup chopped walnuts or whatever nut you like
Directions:
1. pre-heat oven to 350 F.
2. line cookie sheets with parchment paper
3. In a double boiler or microwave on low melt together butter, unsweetened chocolate squares, and 1 Cup of the chocolate chips. If using the microwave use low power and stir frequently until completely melted and mixed together.
4. In a medium bowl beat eggs and sugar together until mixed. Then add expresso and mix well. Next add chocolate mixture and mix well.
5. Sift flour and baking powder together and then fold into egg mixture. Carefully fold in chopped nuts and remaing chocolate chips.
6. drop dough onto sheets about 2" apart and bake for about 8-10 minutes. Tops of cookies will appear crackled when done. Cool on baking sheets.
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