Everyday Food for Busy People
It’s hot outside. Want something cool and crunchy with lunch or dinner? Here you go.
I wish I had cucumbers from the garden for this, but my cucumber plant is pitiful. It got hit hard by a late frost and just can’t seem to grow at all, let alone produce cucumbers. Luckily, I can still find good cukes at the farmers market or plain ol’ Walmart.
These are a blast from the past. What could say “childhood summer” better than Dixie cups, craft sticks and jello? I suppose you could say that bikes with banana seats or running through the sprinkler might describe “childhood summer” better, but I think these popsicles have an advantage. These are the taste of summer, with all its cool, sticky goodness. And if you eat it just right you can have the sweet, syrup dripping down your arm and off your elbow making orange polka dots on the sidewalk.
Inspired by a cookie on Kristal’s blog, Knit 1, Kids 4 I created this cookie. I made one batch on Friday night, which my family polished off. I made another batch on Sunday evening for our small group. Judging from their rapid disappearance, I’d say the cookies were a hit.
I wish I could say that I was able to make this with strawberries from our garden. Or anyone else’s garden, for that matter. Instead I just used grocery store strawberries. The results still caused me to eat two helpings. Summer food at it’s best.
I have been wanting to make Black and White Cookies for a long time and since we had several “snow” days (really snow and ice days) a few weeks ago, it seemed like the perfect time. I used a recipe I found on smittenkitchen. It made quite a few cookies. Mine aren’t nearly as pretty as those on SK.
Gather up the ingredients:
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 sticks butter
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. lemon extract
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
These are the ingredients for the cookie part. We’ll get to the icing later. I did wonder about using that lemon extract, but I had it on hand and it turned out to be very good – subtle.
Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add in the eggs, extracts, and milk. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients and then mix them in with the wet in batches.
Use a spoon to drop the batter onto a baking stone or cookie sheets that have been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 min. The cookies should spread out. The first couple batches of mine were too puffy and rounded so I stirred some milk into the batter to thin it. That helped them spread out in the oven and flatten a bit. Mine also didn’t turn out very round. I think one of those cool cookie scoops from Pampered Chef would help with that. I just used spoons.
Now for the icing:
You’ll need:
4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 – 1/2 cup water
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 tsp. light corn syrup
1-2 Tbs. cocoa powder, optional
I just love this close up of the chocolate
Boil a cup or so of water in a pan on the stove. Put the powdered sugar in a large, heat safe bowl and stir in enough of the boiling water to make a thick, spreadable mixture. Be careful with the water – it’s easier to add water to thin it down than to add powdered sugar to thicken it back up.
Spread the white frosting on half of all the cookies. Place the bowl over the pan of boiling water on the stove. Add in the chocolate and corn syrup, stirring to melt. You can also add cocoa powder if you want the icing really black. I had to add some more boiling water to get this spreadable.
You’ve basically got a double boiler going here.
Ice the other half of the cookies with the chocolate frosting. Yours will probably look prettier than mine.
