Building A Better Back to School

This year, the Stafford Elementary School is "Building a Future at Trojan Nation!" So the Stafford PTO/Homeroom Connect decided to follow the Lego theme with some special treats at last night's back-to-school bash.

Photo by Carrie Hildebrand

Though I "did my time" on the organizational level in PTO when my kids were in grade school, I'm always willing to help out with special projects.

Since the kids are returning to school, I have a couple of scientific hypotheses to offer about this recipe:

1)  It likely took more than one pass of the toothbrush to sweep away all the color from mouths after eating the vibrantly-colored icing. (I tested that hypothesis myself with my hands as I constructed my share of the treats)

2) The author of the recipe is either much quicker than I am in the kitchen or she fudged the completion time to make the recipe more attractive. (It said 30 minutes. I beg to differ. By the time I got all the components done and packaged, it was an  hour and a half later.) But I realize that I am a perfectionist. I had several gel and liquid colors in my decorating stash. I used three of them to try to achieve the correct green. I added a squeeze of brown to go along with several dashes of red to get the fire-engine red color. And I didn't realize that the recipe author had just covered the tops of the treats. I tried to cover the sides, too. And, you must admit, it does give them a more authentic Lego look! (For a YouTube tutorial from the original recipe author, go to the bottom of this blog post.)
 
Even though I didn't go the back-to-school party, my additional hypothesis is that these treats were a hit. (And if our granddaughters ever want a Lego party, do I have a deal for them!)

Lego Rice Krispie Treats

Adapted from The Stay At Home Chef

5 cups crisp rice cereal
1/4 cup butter
4 cups mini marshmallows
1 large bag M & M candies
Multiple colors cookie decorator icing - store-bought or homemade

Line a 13- by -9-inch baking pan with waxed paper or parchment paper. Set aside.

Melt butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Add marshmallows. Cook on HIGH for 3 minutes, stirring after 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Pour in rice cereal. Stir well to coat.

Put cereal mixture in prepared pan. Spread out using another piece of waxed paper. Press evenly. Let cool completely. (You can refrigerate them for 5 minutes to speed the process.)

While the treats are cooling, separate the M & Ms into colors that match the icing you are using. You will need 6 of the same color per Lego Krispie.

Turn out Rice Krispie treats onto a wax-paper-covered cookie sheet. Cut into 18 rectangles (3 across and 6 down). Dip the top of the Rice Krispie treat into the icing and use a butter knife to smooth it out on top and down the sides (or just on top, if you prefer). Place M & Ms on top in parallel rows of 3 while icing is still wet. Repeat with remaining Rice Krispie treats in varying colors.

Once cookies are decorated, place on a flat, wax-paper-covered surface to allow frosting to dry. Store cookies in a covered container.

The original recipe used store-purchased Betty Crocker cookie decorator icing. I didn't have that available locally, so I made my own. I doubled this recipe to make enough to cover the 18 bars. If you don't frost the sides, you could probably get by with just one recipe.

Many of the icing recipes I found don't have butter in them but are mainly a combination of water and powdered sugar. But I figure if you're going to the trouble to frost something, it might as well taste good.

 Cookie Decorator Icing

Adapted from Food.com

1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. corn syrup
2 tbsp. softened butter
1/4 tsp. almond extract
Gel food coloring - variety of Lego colors

Place sugar in mixing bowl. Combine milk, corn syrup, softened butter and almond extract. Add to powdered sugar and mix thoroughly. If it seems too thick, add a little more milk. (I did add some more milk, which I didn't measure. Sorry!) If it seems too thin, add more powdered sugar.

When it is the right consistency, divide into separate bowls, equal to as many colors as you want to do. Add gel food coloring, trying to match the color of the M & Ms. I already had red, yellow and green colors, so that's what I used. (I used three different greens I had in my cabinet, trying to get the color to match. It's still not a perfect match to the green M & Ms.)

***

Today, I'm linked to Weekend Potluck, hosted by these bloggers. Check out the tried-and-true recipes from them and other foodies!

• Served Up With Love ~ Melissa
• The Country Cook~ Brandie
• The Better Baker ~ Marsha
• Sweet Little Bluebird~ Mary
• Mommy’s Kitchen~ Tina

Sweet Treats

We've all been there: You see a cute idea in a magazine or on Facebook or Pinterest and think, "How hard can that be?" And then your version needs a caption to explain what you were attempting.

But, this time, I think the County Line versions turned out pretty cute, though not as perfect as the air-brushed magazine photos.

I needed to make about 3 dozen sugar cookies for a project at school, so I kept my eyes open for something cute, but simple enough that I could replicate it - without a disclaimer. These round cookies decorated to look like Christmas tree ornaments fit the bill.

 

But I had to do a little revision. Most of the professionally decorated cookies use a hard, smooth glaze. It's pretty and all, but I like my cookies with buttercream icing, tinged with a little almond extract for extra flavor. I'll sacrifice a little smoothness for a tastier product.

I used an unwrapped Reece's Peanut Butter Cup mini for the ornament hanger. (They come in a bag and you can find them in the candy section of your grocery or discount store.) You can also use a wrapped or unwrapped Rolo candy. 

For some, I used the regular-sized holiday M & Ms, but the mini ones were probably cuter, though a little more time consuming to place each one.

Grab some elementary-aged kids, and they could help make them, too. Preschool kids would likely not be able to arrange them in rows, but polka dot ornaments could be cute, too, don't you think?

For the other half of the cookies, I tried to make them look like snowflakes. Back when Jill was in 4-H and we were in charge of 4-H foods and nutrition meetings, we made something similar for one of our Christmas treat gatherings.

I don't know how much they look like snowflakes, but I think people will get the idea. They could also be used for "Frozen" parties (and I happen to know a little girl named Kinley who will be turning 3 soon and celebrating with a Frozen Princess party)! 

I do have a word to the wise, though. I combined white and silver glitter sugars and sprinkled them over the white frosting. Then, when I tried to pipe on the blue frosting to make the snowflake, it wanted to lift off the sugar. So much for trying to add any more intricate detail! This was as good as it got!

Next time, I'll pipe on the snowflakes first, then sprinkle with the glitter sugar. Just to reinforce the idea, I placed some snowflake sprinkles on the blue icing. 

To give as individual treats, carefully put them in plastic treat bags and tie with colored ribbon. I used Wilton shaped party bags, which made it easier to package. However, regular fold-over plastic sandwich bags would work, too.

To make the cookies from scratch, you can use this recipe for No-Roll Sugar Cookies. (For these decorated cookies, you can just roll them in regular sugar, rather than colored, if you'd prefer.)

But, to save time and effort, you could also slice and bake the sugar cookie dough you find in the refrigerator case at the grocery store or purchase plain sugar cookies from the grocery store bakery. 

For the frosting, check out this tried and true one from my kitchen. (And if you only have time for sugar cookie bars, there's a good recipe for those at that link, too!)

Merry Christmas from my kitchen to yours!

Sugar High

Jill & "Smalls" at 23.5 weeks on September 17

I love frosted sugar cookies. Is the love of sugar cookies an inherited trait? Jill is a fan. Brent is not. Time will tell whether or not Smalls inherits the penchant for melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookie taste topped with a smear of almond-flavored frosting.

But I'm not a fan of having to chill sugar cookie dough, rolling and cutting them all out and then frosting them. So I was excited to see a recipe for Sugar Cookie Bars. I'm always looking for new bar cookie recipes to save time and effort in the kitchen. Sugar cookie bars? That's a bonus!

When we were visiting Jill for her birthday last weekend, I gave her several options for treats or a special cake. She chose Sugar Cookie Bars, which I found on a baking blog, Brandy's Baking.

My "baby" girl may have turned 26 with this birthday, but I still wanted to make her birthday special, so I did a little "doctoring" to the recipe. Both Jill and I love almond flavoring in sugar cookies and frosting. So while the original recipe didn't call for almond flavoring, that's what my girl requested.

The recipe was for a 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet. I don't have a pan that big, so I made the dough without any flavoring at all. Then I "guesstimated" and took out about 1/4 of the dough.

To the remaining 3/4 of the dough, I added 2 teaspoons of almond extract and mixed well. I patted that part into my sheet cake pan and baked as directed.

Then to the remaining 1/4 of the dough, I zested a lemon and added part of it and about a teaspoon of vanilla . I used a small cookie scoop and then dropped the dough into sugar. After rolling the dough in the sugar, I put them on regular cookie sheets and flattened with the bottom of a drinking glass before baking.

A lemon version made into drop cookies

When it came to the frosting, I made the basic frosting without any flavorings. I took out about 1/4 of the frosting and added the rest of the lemon zest and some freshly-squeezed lemon juice, along with a little extra powdered sugar until it was spreading consistency.

Then I added a teaspoon of almond extract to the rest. Before coloring the frosting purple for my birthday girl, I took out a small portion to use to use for piping, "Happy Birthday Jill."

I arranged it all on a wooden serving platter and a birthday celebration was born! The finished bar cookie product seemed a little dry to me, so maybe I baked them a little too long. The individual cookies were somewhat better, but that kind of defeats the purpose of a quick and easy bar cookie recipe.

They definitely aren't as good as my sister Lisa's frosted Christmas cookies, but they will work in a pinch. Enjoy!

Sugar Cookie Bars

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla extract (I used almond flavoring, *see my explanation above)
Zest from 1 lemon (* see above)

Frosting:
1 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla or almond extract (or lemon juice)
Pinch of salt
4 cups powdered sugar
5 tbsp. milk
Food coloring (optional)
Sprinkles (optional)

Cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use cooking spray and prepare a 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet. Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Mix in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Combine flour, salt and soda. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, beating on low speed just until incorporated. Add the flavorings, as you desire, mixing well. (See above. If you have a big pan and are going to use the same flavoring for the whole recipe, you can add the flavoring when you mix in the eggs.)

Press cookie dough into the prepared baking pan and press into an even layer. Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until light golden brown. Transfer pan to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Frosting: Place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Blend in powdered sugar and salt until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Add milk and mix well. Add flavorings as desired. Tint frosting with food coloring, if desired. Spread over the cooled bars.

Decorate with sprinkles or as desired. Cut into bars.

Another Blonde in Randy's Life

There's another blonde in Randy's life.

The blonde in question is a brownie. Admit it. I had you going there for a minute.

These Blonde Brownies are chockful of yummy ingredients - mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Best of all, these bar cookies can be mixed up quickly and easily.

You don't have to take the time to decorate them. But if I am taking them to a friend's house or to a potluck, I think it's fun to dress them up a bit. After they are cool, I cut them into bars. Separate them out on a waxed-paper-lined cookie sheet. Then use a decorator's bag and pipe melted white almond bark diagonally across each bar. I like to sprinkle on cute sugar shapes just for added color. For the 4th of July, I used red, white and blue stars. For a recent potluck, I just sprinkled with flower shapes.

I'm sure you could drizzle the almond bark without separating the cookies. But then you would be more likely to mess up the decoration when you removed them from the pan.

Here's another photo so you can see how yummy they look on the side, too. Enjoy!

Blonde Brownies

1/2 cup butter, softened (no substitutes)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
1 cup macadamia nuts (opt.)

Cream together the butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing well. Combine dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture. Stir in white and chocolate chips. Spread in a 9- by 13-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until browned.