Love Cookies

Valentine was coming and I thought I spend some quality time with my kids.  . We made some butter bookies – my intention was to have love shaped cookies but instead my boys had different ideas – there were shapes of birds and bears and stars.

But there was definitely LOVE in the air. My boys enjoyed the whole process. They was butter and flour splattered all over. We (or should I say they) changed the recipe a bit and there was a lot of learning and teaching for both my kids and myself included. Sometimes, we adults need reminders too. The kids learnt how to beat and mix. My younger one asked questions – Why was the yolk yellow, why this flour and not that and so on.  There was a bit of math but most of all there was a lot of imagination and fun.

And the best part about the whole cooking process was everybody loved the cookies! They tasted really good.

This recipe, I think is great. It is a basic butter cookie recipe which you can improvise. You can add raisins, or almonds, chocolate chips or decorations. It’s up to the imagination of your kids and you!

Here’s the recipe and if you like to squeeze in a quick lesson. Here’s the worksheet

Shopping List

 125 grams of butter (or about a cup)

Learning Tips

1. How do you measure 125 grams (what is one cup?)
2. 1 kg makes a 1000grams – 125 must be 1/8 of a kilogram
3. Where does butter come from? (No, not the supermarket!)

100 grams icing sugar (or about ¾ of a cup)

Learning Tips

1. Where does sugar come from?
2. What’s 3/4 ? What’s ½? Which is more? Which is less?

1 egg yolk

Learning Tips

1. Egg yolk and egg white – what are they – see how they look like
2. Where do eggs come from?
3. Why is egg good for you?
4. What do eggs have?-What is protein

1 tsp vanilla essence

Learning Tips

It smells really good but taste horrible. Introduce the senses. Vanilla is a flavoring from orchids and is actually a Spanish word for little pods or ‘vainilla’ 

150 grams to 200 grams of flour (or 2 cups flour)

Learning Tips

1. What is flour’s texture
2. How do you get 200grams of flour?
3. Where does flour come from

½ tsp baking powder

Learning Tips

Baking powder is to help the cake rise.  How does it work?  Baking powder is a dry chemical and works by releasing carbon dioxide gas into a batter or dough through an acid-base reaction, causing bubbles in the wet mixture to expand and thus leavening the mixture.

Instructions

1. Beat the butter and sugar till fluffy
2. Mix in egg yolk and essence
3. Sift flour and baking powder
4. Add the dry ingredients to form a soft dough
5. Let your kids enjoy shaping the cookies
6. Bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 12 to 15 minutes
7. Allow to cool and serve
8. If you like you can make some cream to decorate the cookies – beat some icing sugar and butter and add color of your choice and cream the cookies

 And that’s it. HAPPY VALENTINE!

Just a note, typically wikipedia is a great and quick resource for us and the kids.

About the Author

Harv Kay looks at cooking as a brilliant way to teach kids. Cooking allows for parents to be calm and bond with their kids and at the same time it provides a practical method to teach kids lots of things from math to hygine and safety. Cooking complements formal teaching methods and is also perhaps useful for homeschooled children. Kays blog http://1teachingkids.blogspot.com shares tips, resources and ideas on teaching kids while cooking.

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