Cooking with Kids: Bake Cookies!

My nephew had a day off from school and his parents had asked, somewhat apologetically, if I might be able to babysit him for the day. This is a kid I've been in love with since the day he was born; whether its some "grandma gene" that switched on the minute I saw him or his own little magnetic personality, I can't get enough of him. Smart, funny, insightful, delightful…here, let me show you his picture…

Yes, it's that bad.

So a whole cloudy-rainy-Northwest-fall day to hang out seemed the perfect opportunity to bake together. I had been thinking of making cookies with him, and one of my favorite cookies at his age—any age, to be truthful—were snickerdoodles, with their sugar cookie-coated-in cinnamon taste, soft-rather-than-hard texture and heavenly smell. Plus at seven (he'd correct me, saying, "Seven-and-a-half, Auntie!") he now has the manual dexterity to be able to gently roll the little balls of dough without squishing them into globby lumps.

It also gave us the opportunity to talk about a little family history, since we were using my mother's recipe, written in her own hand, and to talk about what it was like growing up making cookies with her. I had to explain what "tsp." and "Tbsp." meant, and talk about how many "1/4 tsp." would fit into "1 tsp." (math!), and there were the inevitable requests to taste the dough between additions of sugar, butter, flour and eggs.

The recipe makes almost five dozen small cookies and the whole process took a little more than two hours, just about a perfect amount of time for his age, and the reward of those soft, cinnamon-scented cookies may just bring him back to make more.

Snickerdoodles

1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. margarine, softened (or shortening)
1 1/2 c. sugar plus 2 Tbsp.
2 eggs
2 3/4 c. flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400°.

In a stand mixer, cream the butter and shortening together, about 2 minutes on medium-high. Add 1 1/2 c. sugar and eggs and beat into butter mixture for another 2 minutes.

In small mixing bowl combine flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Add flour mixture to shortening mixture 1/2 cup at a time, beating slowly at first until combined before adding the next half-cup. Chill the dough for one hour.

While dough chills, mix together 2 Tbsp. sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon in a flat bowl. When dough is chilled, roll into balls the size of walnuts, then roll each ball to coat in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place 2" apart on a parchment-covered baking sheet. Bake until lightly browned but still soft, 8-10 minutes.

Mysterious Kingdom

It was a little startling to see the line of quaintly clad men and women suddenly appear on the lawn of my neighbor Connie's house, almost like they'd been transported there by a time machine.

And, to be frank, it's a group some Portlanders try to ignore in this city that fancies itself as über-hip and cutting edge. It just doesn't fit with the magazine images of heavily tattooed creative classes hanging out at watering holes sipping cocktails and grazing on small plates of organic greens.

And for the most part the Royal Rosarians keep a pretty low profile in town, popping up during the annual Rose Festival celebrations and escorting floats in the parade. But once in awhile they'll appear in their ice cream suits, capes and straw boaters, virtually unchanged from the founding of the club in 1911 (left), to plant ceremonial roses with a special chromed shovel and watering can.

Connie was honored this summer with such a ceremony (right), and baked her renowned raisin cookies to mark the occasion. As one of the invited guests, I was able to cadge the recipe and was granted official permission to share it. But don't be surprised when you pull these babies out of the oven to see a hungry-looking gaggle of white-suited Rosarians waiting on your front lawn for first dibs.

Connie's Jumbo Raisin Cookies
Adapted from the KOIN (TV) Kitchen recipe from Oct. 14, 1969

2 c. raisins
1 1/2 c. water
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. vegetable shortening
2 c. granulated sugar
3 eggs
3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Combine raisins and water in saucepan. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Pour off liquid, reserving 1/2 cup; add baking soda to reserved liquid, set aside.

Cream shortening, sugar and eggs with an electric mixer in a large bowl. In separate bowl sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves and salt. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture, along with the reserved raisin liquid. Add raisins. Add nuts, if desired. Mix and chill overnight (optional).

Preheat oven to 350°. Drop dough on cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray [or use non-stick sheet, etc. - KAB] and bake 10-15 minutes. Frost with lemon icing (optional).

Farm Bulletin: More on Corn

Since corn seems to be a hot topic these days at GoodStuffNW, I'm passing along our friend Anthony's most recent musings on the subject, along with a couple of the Boutard's favorite recipes. As always, you can find these fine folks at the Ayers Creek Farm stand at the Hillsdale Farmers Market every first and third Sunday of the month from 10 am till 2 pm.

Here is what we should have Sunday:

Dry Corn: Roy's Calais Flint & Nothstine Dent - Fine meal, grits & polenta meal. Polenta meal is sifted only once to pull off the coarsest fraction, the samp, and is roughly 50% meal and 50% grits. Shelled and stone ground on the Wednesday before market, assuring the freshest meal.

The dent corns are easily distinguished from the flints by the prominent dent at the top of the kernel. In these kernels, the skin (aleurone layer) is thinner at the top, appearing lighter in color, and the stuff inside (endosperm) is starchier. As the endosperm dries and shrinks, the dent is formed. Nothstine dent produces a beautiful yellow meal which is distinctly stickier than the flint, and "cornly" sweet. This type is from the area around Nothstine, Michigan, and is a traditional variety from the area. The history is sketchy, but it is probably a landrace [old seed strains that have been domesticated and modified by native farmers - KAB] for that part of Michigan. Ripening around 90 degree days, it is one of the shorter season dents, which typically need 100 to 140 days for ripening.

The dent corns are the genetic pool from which the high yielding modern varieties were developed. Nothstine, however, shows its ancient heritage with smaller ears, eight inches long with a mere 12 to 14 rows, lousy yield on par with the flints and a propensity to form fingered ears. On fingered ears, the main cob has three or four smaller branches at its base. According to Zenón, in Oaxaca these are called "Queen Ears," and considered a sign of a field with good fortune. Both Roy's Calais and Nothstine will produce kernels on their tassels as well, and sometimes the ears will develop a tassel above the husk and silk, untamed and unruly varieties that they are.

The meal and polenta may be used in any recipe calling for ground corn.

The Renewing America's Food Traditions (RAFT) project was conceived by Gary Nabhan, University of Arizona, and is now a Slow Food USA project. Both Nothstine Dent and Roy's Calais Flint are traditional varieties identified for preservation by the project. Pennsylvania Dutch Butter (Amish Butter Popcorn) is also on the list.

Regarding popcorn, we had a very good crop of "Amish Butter" this year. However, it needs to cure thoroughly, and will not be available until the New Year. We will have some "Pink Beauty Popcorn" from Glenn and Linda Drowns curing as well. We tested some last weekend and instead of popping, the kernels spin around in the pan like a "whistling jack." Funny, but not much of a snack.

Cornmeal Cookies

There is a Slow Food Presidium (Mondoví) devoted to polenta (corn meal) cookies. Cornmeal cookies deserve a whole lot more respect...instead it's chips, chips, chips. Here is another reprise of "Holly's Cornmeal Cookies" posted many years ago on AllRecipes and repeated with earnest regularity in this newsletter. Perfect cookies for maizophyllic sorts. The lime is a nice addition, though Italians use lemon. The glaze is a dainty gesture but not really necessary. Caroline used to bake these cookies and serve them, unglazed, with frozen raspberry cream. Dabbing a bit of raspberry preserve on the cookies works in a pinch.

1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon lime juice
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons grated lime zest
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar for decoration
2 Tablespoons lime juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease baking sheets.

Beat the butter and 2/3 c. sugar together until creamy. Mix in the egg and lime juice (to taste) and 1 tsp. lime zest. Blend.

In a separate bowl, combine the cornmeal, baking powder, salt and flour. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix well. Drop teaspoonfuls of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets. Press gently to flatten slightly. Bake for 10 to 12 min. or until the cookie bottoms and edges are lightly browned.

To make icing: Combine the lime zest, confectioner's sugar and enough lime juice to make a spreadable glaze. Spread over the top of cooled cookies.

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Joy of Cooking Corn Meal Pancakes

Our friend, Katherine Deumling, recommends the Joy of Cooking cornmeal pancake recipe. A simple and tasty recipe. Ellis will love his Sundays with corn meal pancakes.

Put 1 cup corn meal in a bowl. Add 1 tsp. salt and 1-2 Tbsp. sugar. Stir in slowly 1 cup boiling water. Cover these ingredients and permit them to stand for 10 minutes. Beat 1 egg with 1/2 c. milk and 2 Tbsp. melted butter. Add these ingredients to the corn meal. Sift together 1/2 c. all-purpose flour and 2 tsp. baking powder. Add to corn meal mixture with a few swift strokes. Fry until golden in a cast iron pan.