Italian Cookies - Dolce Romias

Butter cookies. This is a lovely butter cookie recipe. I found out it on Star Online. It's a gorgeous recipe. Simple and kids can make it so easily without a cry.




Ingredients

250g butter, 40g egg white, 300g all-purpose flour, 2g salt, 100g icing sugar, 4g baking powder

Cream butter, add icing sugar and salt. Whisking thoroughly.

Add egg white and incorporate the sifted flour with baking powder.

Pipe the mixture onto a tray lined with parchment paper in shape of a small crown using daisy shaped nozzle or large fluted nozzle.

Crown filling

140g cream (35% fat), 140g glucose syrup, 140g brown sugar, 140g almond flake (crushed)

Put all ingredients in a pan and bring it to a boil. Then cool it.

Using a small spoon, fill the centre of the crown without going over the edge.

Bake filled cookies for 10-12mins in a 160 degrees Celcius oven.

The filling should have caramel appearance and the crown should be golden colour. Leave it to cool on the parchment paper.

Have your kids involved. There is a lot your kids can learn from this simple yet tasty recipe.

Pick a theme. Some suggestions;
1. temperature - celcious and farenheit - to measure how hot or cold something is
2. measurements
3. motor skills for the younger ones - this recipe uses a lot of manual labour!
4. arranging and organising
5. time

Happy Cooking and Teaching

For more cookie recipes, click on the picture below

Love Cookies

Valentine is coming and I thought I spend some quality time with my kids. I spent yesterday baking cookies with my 2 boys. 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 is 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 and kids can teach us a thing or two 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 fund. 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 raisins, or almonds, chocolate chips or decorations

It’s up to the imagination of your kids and you!

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 "vainilla"or little pods. Here’s how it looks.

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 leavening agent used to increase the volume and lighten the texture of muffins, cakes, scones and biscuits. Baking powder 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!

If you are looking for some homemade cookies for valentine, there are some great shops offering discounts for the season. Try this link, I thought it offers great offers and makes beautiful gifts 15% Off All Items for Valentine’s Day at David’s Cookies! Use Coupon Code VDAYLS at Checkout. Valid Thru February 28, 2010. Click Here.