CELEBRATE NATIONAL COOKIE CUTTER WEEK & NATIONAL COOKIE CUTTER DAY!

National Cookie Cutter Week is the first week of December. Friday, December 4th is National Cookie Day. Would you say “perfect timing” for the forthcoming holiday cookie- baking frenzy?!

1. Check-out everything you want to know about National Cookie Cutter Week at  
http://www.gone-ta-pott.com/national_cookie_cutter_week.html

2. For tips, tricks and techniques on how to make, bake and decorate perfect cookies go to the Best Ever Cookie Collection
http://www.best-ever-cookie-collection.com/how-to-make-perfect-cookies.html

3.  Buy all kinds of cookie cutter sets and create a kid-friendly cookie making center in your home kitchen at  Kids Cooking Shop
http://www.kidscookingshop.com/cook-bake-decorate/cookie-making-supplies

4. To purchase beautiful and delicious gourmet cookies check–out Cookies by Shar
http://www.cookiesbyshar.com/home.htm

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The kids will have a Holly Jolly good time baking and decorating these delectable and darling Holly Jolly Gingerbread Cupcakes. The  perfect cupcake for all the kids holiday parties, the recipe and decorating tips can be found at http://www.kidscookingshop.com on the Home Page-Cupcake of the Month.

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The Great American Bake Sale’s mission is to end childhood hunger in America. Please stay tuned to our blog for updates about the 2010 GABS next spring.  We’ll show you how to start your own neighborhood bake  sale and provide exclusive kid-friendly bake sale recipes for your kids and their friends to bake-up together for a good cause.

Thanksgiving is almost here and Christmas is not far away, but I continue to have fun celebrating all of the “food” holidays we have in America and Saturday is National Cake Day. What’s a birthday without a birthday cake? What’s a wedding without the wedding cake…Cakes are indeed the celebration!  

Here’s a step-by-step video created for the Modern Mom website
http://www.modernm
om.com/ on Easy Cake Decorating for Kids.

And for all your cake and cupcake decorating supplies, check out everything at
http://www.kidscookingshop.com/cook-bake-decorate

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Gingerbread Day is Saturday, November 21. ..And what a great day it is!! While visions of sugarplums dance in some people’s heads, visions of gingerbread men dance in mine. I made up my first batch of gingerbread  this morning and made them into big fat Thanksgiving Day turkeys  to use as place cards with piped icing names on each one for our guests at our Thanksgiving Feast. Here is my all-time favorite Gingerbread Cookie recipe from my Batter Up Kids  Delicious Desserts Cookbook. I have used this recipe for over 30 years and I hope you enjoy making (and eating!) these as much as my family and I do. Take a look at all of the adorable and festive Gingerbread -related products
http://www.kidscookingshop.com/cook-bake-decorate/kids-holiday-baking-supplies
 

HOLLY JOLLY GINGERBREAD COOKIES
Makes 24 (2-inch) cookies
 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
3/4 cup molasses
3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Powdered sugar for rolling out dough
Assorted candies and decorating sprinkles
Let’s Start Mixing-up some cookie dough!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. Set aside until ready to use.
1.In a large bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, egg, and molasses.
2. Stir in dry ingredients and mix completely. Cover bowl and put in refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours.
3. Take out small portions, about 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup, of the cookie dough, and roll out 1/4- to 1/2-inch thickness. Use powdered sugar instead of flour to roll out cookie dough. It won’t toughen cookies as flour does if too much is used.
4. Decorate cookies using candy and sprinkles or leave plain and ice and decorate after baked.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes depending on the size of the cookies. Remove from oven.
6. Let cookies cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes and carefully remove from cookie sheet to wire rack to cool another 10 minutes before using icing and decorating.

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 Christmas Gifts for the Little Chef! At Batter Up Kids Cooking Shop we’re cooking –up some festive and kid-friendly holidays!  There’s a site I’d like for you to check-out called ChefMom
http://chefmom.sheknows.com/
it is full of helpful “foodie” information of all sorts and has tons of kid-friendly recipes. Wondering what to get the little chef in your life for Christmas? Kitchen gadgets, cookbooks and cooking classes for kids are at the top of ChefMom’s gift list! Check this out and let us know what you think.
http://chefmom.sheknows.com/featured/2009/11/16/christmas-gifts-for-the-little-chef/
.

Pink Princess Cooking products 
http://www.kidscookingshop.com/barbaras-pink-princess-series

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Share Our Strength-National Bread Day

National Bread Day reminds me of sharing and taking time to enjoy life’s simplest pleasures- spending time in the kitchen with family you love. My grandma and mom made the best homemade bread and coffee cakes—Every week; was I ever a lucky little girl! To honor them and National Bread Day, I ask that you and your kids make and take time this week to bake some homemade goodies and share with a neighbor, a friend,  a family member or a person who is in need of some loving care . What a wonderful way to teach kids to help those less fortunate. Contact Kids Café   
http://feedingamerica.org/our-network/network-programs/kids-cafe.aspx
, or Share Our Strength
http://strength.org/
to find out what you can do to share some food and bring someone hope for the holidays.

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Kids Bread Baking

This is  National Homemade Bread Day! After teaching kids to cook for the past 25 years, I have never met a child who did not love to make bread dough and bake up a batch of homemade bread. And what a perfect time of the year to learn to bake bread…Just in time for the Thanksgiving Holidays. Check out this wonderful site chocked full or baking resources and recipes galore for kids and grown-up alike.
http://www.homebaking.org/recipes/index.html#biscuits
 

Start mixing-up some homemade bread dough and other Holiday baked goods in this colorful set of mixing bowls – great for kids and parents too.
http://www.kidscookingshop.com/cook-bake-decorate/mix-measure
 

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Thanksgiving Cupcake Recipe for Kids!

Bake -up some PUMPKIN PATCH CUPCAKES for a Thanksgiving Day Cupcake treat for the kids!  Have the  kids decorate each adding their own personal touch and display with pride on the family dessert table this Thanksgiving Holiday. Involving kids in the activity of cooking and baking encourages them to try new and different foods which encourages healthier eating habits for the entire family. Here is the recipe and a decorating video to watch. 
http://www.kidscookingshop.com/recipes/pumpkin-patch-cupcakes

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Thanksgiving Day is on the way so let the kids lend a hand making the fixings! Sweet potatoes in an apple halves are delish and nutrish. Kids can peel the potatoes with a cute veggie peeler
http://www.kidscookingshop.com/cook-bake-decorate/specialty-gadgets-utensils
and hollow-out the apples with a teaspoon. Save the inside of the apple to make up a batch of homeade applesauce!

Sweet Potato Stuffed Apples

Serves: 4

Ingredients

2 Medium Sized Red Delicious Apples cut in 1/2

2 Large Sweet Potatoes, peeled and cut into equal size chunks, cooked until fork tender

¼ Cup Brown Sugar

¼ Cup Butter

1 Egg

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

 ¼ Cup Chopped Pecans or Walnuts

1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup

 Let’s get Cooking!

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees F.

 1. In a large mixing bowl, combine cooked sweet potatoes, brown sugar, butter, egg, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.

2. Scoop seeds, core, and some of the fruit out of each apple half using a melon baller or teaspoon. Discard scraps. (Or save to scent a simmering potpourri pot!)

3. Place 4 apple halves into prepared baking dish and fill each one with equal amounts of the sweet potato blend.

4. Sprinkle the top of each sweet potato with chopped nuts, then drizzle with maple syrup.

5. Bake for 30 minutes or until potatoes are “puffed” and apple skins are slightly shriveled.

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Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street? After 40 years, the show we all love is still going strong. My kids are now 22, 23 and 26 and I would ( still) love an excuse to sit and watch this my Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, The Count and the rest of the crew! In honor of Sesame Street, here’s a quick baked  Sesame Chicken recipe that’s kid-friendly, delicious and fun to make.  
http://www.ehow.com/how_5074253_make-easy-sesame-chicken-satay.html
http:

http://www.sesamestreet.org/home

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