Friday, January 20, 2012

Snow Days

The weather in Saskatoon has turned—to the kind of weather we expect in January. Still considering our mild winter so far, it's hard to stomach wind chill warnings of 45 below. I've tried to cope with the cooped up kids by building an obstacle course in my basement to encourage them to burn off some physical energy. I also made a new batch of playdough. This playdough recipe is the ONLY reason I would ever buy Kool-Aid, but as a colouring for playdough it can't be beat. It smells great, too!

Rainy Day (or Snow Day) Playdough
2 c. flour
1 c. salt
4 t. cream of tartar
2 pkgs. Kool Aid (or food colouring)
2 c. water
4 T. oil

Place all ingredients into a large pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the dough is thick and forms a ball. (Thanks to Park Heights Creative Preschool Cooperative for the playdough recipe!)

D also helped me make gingersnaps today. His cooking skills are really improving—I started off having him roll the balls in sugar and press them onto the cookie sheet, but he was perfectly capable of rolling balls the right size, so we did that together until he lost interest. He certainly gained back the interest once the cookies came out of the oven.

This recipe was created as a copycat of Capers Community Market gingersnaps in Vancouver.

Gingersnaps


2 1/4 c. unbleached flour
3/4 c. melted butter
1 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. molasses
1 egg
1 1/2 t. ginger
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. sea salt
1 t. cloves

Sift half of the flour, baking soda, spices together, and stir in brown sugar. Whisk together butter, egg and molasses in a separate bowl and stir into the dry ingredients. With a wooden spoon, stir in remaining flour. Chill until combined well, at least an hour or up to two days.

Roll into 1 1/2" balls, roll in granulated sugar and press gently onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes. Cookies will puff slightly, then collapse slightly, and be covered with little cracks. These gingersnaps are soft—no 'snap' to speak of, except at the edges.


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