Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

It's raining again here in Connecticut, with more rain forecasted for the next 10 days, after 4 weeks of rain every Friday and more! Our house, stale and damp, is a wreck with toys and relocated basement detritus as we move from room to room playing aquarium and zoo (versions where the kids are animals/marine life or where they build places for animals/marine life with blocks), Imagination Movers (this is either a highly scripted reenactment of particular episodes or a musical free-for-all), campers, restaurant, picnic, vet, etc. etc.

Today, while playing restaurant, Sis came across her Sesame Street Yummy Cookies: Baking with Kids cookbook, so they pretended to bake every recipe in the book. And then they decided they wanted real cookies. Short on ingredients, we decided upon thumbprint cookies with jelly insides. They helped mix the very soft dough, imprint the dough balls, and fill them with apricot and raspberry jams, then played while they baked.

Success! Immediately, they chose the biggest cookies to give to our basement contractor downstairs, who enjoyed the warm cookies even though one was so soft that it broke off in his hand and fell in his paint! Then they started in on their trays, the apricot for Sis and the raspberry for Bud.

And Bud ate only the filling. And Sis ate only the "crust." But neither wanted the other's leftovers, so I nibbled at them. Yummy! It's a very tender cookie with a fine crumb. I'm thinking they would be great with Nutella (once they can try that. Soon, soon, I hope) or even lemon curd--think that would bake okay? Of course, orange marmalade would be my first choice.

So, it occurs to me, despite the triumph of these cookies, that I need to stock my baker's pantry better so we have more versatility when it comes to cookie baking. My guess is that we've just baked down my stores without my replenishing them. Some things to always keep on hand:

• old-fashioned oats
• a jar of jelly, any flavor
• chips, chocolate and other flavors (butterscotch, milk, white, one day PB)
• nut butter (use sunflower seed butter for nut allergies)
• dried fruit (raisins, craisins, apricots)
• cocoa
• one box cake mix and a jar of frosting (also, can have a brownie mix box)
• sprinkles, jimmies, colored sugars, and other decorations
• cupcake papers
• I'll add a can of pumpkin here, too, as Sis wants to try the book's Magical Pumpkin Cookies next.

Plus the usual staples:

• butter
• sugar (white, powdered, and brown)
• flour
• baking soda
• baking powder
• eggs
• milk
• butter/shortening (I usually only use butter)
• salt
• extracts (vanilla, almond)
• spices (cinnamon, nutmeg)
• cooking spray

I think I'd better go shopping soon, to get ready for the next 10 days of rain.

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Thumbprint Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

2 cups flour

1/4 cup jam, any flavor

Preheat oven to 300F.

Cream the butter with the sugars and salt for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until blended.

Add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition.

*The directions say to chill the dough in a disk-shape for an hour in the fridge but it's not necessary.

Shape the dough into 1" balls. Place the balls 1" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Gently press the center of each ball with your thumb. FIll the depression with a heaping 1/4 teaspoon jam (or to your liking--clean up any extra jam that gets on the cookie sheet to avoid burning).

Bake for 25-27 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are light golden brown. Cool for 1 minute and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Sesame Street's Yummy Cookies: Baking with Kids