Category: Cooking

Australian Anzac Biscuits

Last week we were studying about Australia. Friday we were going to cook, but something came up so we could not. So yesterday we made the Australian meal. I made the cookies, Mark made dinner and Audrey made a salad. It was really good.

Anzac biscuits are the national biscuit (cookie) in Australia. They are named this because women would cook them for soldiers. They needed something that lasted a long time without going bad because it took two months to get to the soldiers. On 25 April 1915, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed in Turkey on the Gallipoli peninsula. They were beaten the worst in Australian war history. So instead of being called Soldiers biscuits, their name was changed to ANZAC Biscuits.

They taste like an oatmeal cookie, but too sweet for an oatmeal cookie. I really liked it. Momma said it reminded her of the Scottish Ginger Flapjack cookie she makes sometimes. So we researched and learned that many Scottish people came to Australia (and probably brought their oat cake recipe with them). They baked their cookie on a griddle. That is why they are so close.

  • 1 cup quick cooking oatmeal
  • 3/4 cup flaked coconut (we had to use sweetened, though recipe says unsweetened)
  • 1 cup unbleached flour (we used soft white wheat)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 stick butter (one half cup)
  • 1 tablespoon honey (supposed to be golden syrup)
  • 2 tablespoon boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix oatmeal, flour, sugar and coconut together.

Over low heat, melt honey and butter.  When butter it completely melted, mix baking soda and boiling water.  Watch it foam as you add to the melted butter.

Add butter mixture to dry ingredients. Drop by tablespoon on greased cookie sheet. We used parchement paper and the dough was very crumbly. Squash the dough together well.

Bake at 350 degrees till light brown. Ours took about 10 minutes, but the recipe says 18 minutes. So watch them till you know for sure 🙂

Maple Syrup Candy

We were reading Understood Betsy. Betsy made some sugar candy and then she ate it. Her favorite was crunchy that was still soft inside. Momma said we could try!

Today, because it was snowing, we boiled some maple syrup and we made it into Maple Syrup Candy. You put it (2 cups maple syrup) in a pan. Then we got a bowl and put some snow in the bowl. Momma boiled it–because it was getting to hot– and then we went outside and spooned the maple syrup on the snow. It turned into maple candy!

Then we ate it. It was good, it was sugary. I only had two pieces. It was chewy and crunchy. If you put it in longer, your candy got crunchier. I liked the crunchy one. We have some in the freezer because there was some leftover (we promised Daddy some 🙂 )

Momma cleaned the syrup pan by boiling water for hot chocolate. It had a little maple syrup taste. I liked it!

Here is the recipe:

  • Take two cups of pure maple syrup and boil it to 234 -255 degrees Fahrenheit. We did it close to 240 degrees, but Momma said we would try a little longer next time.
  • Take the pot carefully outside. Do not put it in the snow because it cools to quickly! Pour the candy on the snow. Let cool a few seconds.
  • Pick up candy and eat. We played some with it because it was like toffee and we could pull it.
  • Don’t let it sit in the snow long or it will start to dissolve and you have maple flavored snow.
  • Boil water in pan to clean out remaining syrup. Use the water for hot chocolate or your favorite tea.
  • Enjoy!

International Cooking-French Profiteroles

Momma said that whoever found her book would get a surprise. Me and Mark asked Mommy where is your bag that you brung to church. We found it!

So we got a surprise. I made something. I did not know what I was making. I did not know until they were done! 🙂 I have been wanting to make “Creamy Puffs” for a long time! Here is the recipe.

Profiteroles
Makes 12

  • 8 Tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup water
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 quart French vanilla ice cream
  • Or 1 cup whipped cream (made with 1 cup whipping cream and 1/3 cup powdered sugar)
  • Chocolate sauce

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Lightly butter baking sheet with 1 1/2 tsp butter and dust with flour. Set aside.
Add butter, water and salt to a medium saucepan. Bring to a soft boil and melt butter.
Take off of heat and add all the flour, mix well.
Place back on medium head and cook and stir about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
Pour into large bowl and cool a couple of minutes.
Add 1 egg and beat with electric mixer on low until egg is beaten in. Do the same with the remaining eggs.Dough should be shiny yellow and thick.
Scoop dough onto cookie sheet using two tablespoons. Should make 12 mounds, space them about 3 inches apart because they grow.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until puffed and golden. Remove from oven and pierce puffs with sharp knife. Return to oven and bake another 10 minutes.
Remove and cool completely.
To serve, cut each puff in half, scoop ice cream or whipped cream in center. Top with other half of cream puff and spoon chocolate sauce over.
Eat and enjoy!

German Cooking

We are learning about Germany this week. We made some cookies.

I liked Engelsaugen (Angel Eyes). They are cookies with a hole in the middle and they have blackberry jam in them. They are supposed to have raspberry. If you want the recipe, let me know.

Yesterday we made Lebkuchen. I liked it, it is a gingerbread type cookie. Mommy used a scale, because the recipe she has used weights.

We also made German Rye Bread. That was yummy, but I was not fussy about the seeds.

I want to do more international cooking. Daddy wants us to do China next week!

Scandinavian Cooking

A couple days ago, we made Scandinavian Snowflake Cookies. It was the first day we were learning about Scandinavia and it was snowing! The countries of Scandinavia are Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Some people consider Finland part too.

We made Finish Pulla bread too. I liked that! It made the house smell so good while it was rising and when it was all finished.

We made snow ice cream because it snows a lot in Scandinavia. This is the recipe for snow ice cream. You have to have some clean clean snow. You use cream or milk, cream is more like ice cream. You put some maple syrup, strawberry or chocolate syrup in it. You have to mix it really good. When the milk is all gone, you have enough snow. Eat and Enjoy!

Do you have a great international recipe we can try?

Beaver’s Tails

Stir yeastToday we went to the fair. We ate cotton candy. We ate ham sandwiches, and curly potatoes. We wanted Elephant Ears, but were not very hungry for them. When we came home we rested. We made the dough and then went to the store.  Then we made Beaver’s Tails. (Momma found the recipe on line)

We wanted something new.  We wanted something fair like. We read that they eat Beaver’s Tails in Canada where Daddy is. We thought they sounded like the best thing to make. Here is the recipe that we cut in half because they make too many. You will be sick because you eat too many!Stir

For 18 Beaver’s Tails
1/2 tablespoon white sugar
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoon softened butter
1 cup plus 6 tablespoon warm water (110 degrees F)
1/2 teaspoon salt, we omitted
2 tablespoons white sugar
Let rise2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups flour (We used 1 cup soft whole wheat and the rest unbleached all purposed flour)
Canola oil for frying
Cinnamon sugar mix for topping if desired
Nutella for topping if desired

Dissolve 1/2 tablespoon sugar and the yeast in 1/4 cup warm water. Set aside until foamy. Add butter, remaining water, salt and sugar.
Gradually mix in flour and knead to form a soft nice dough.
roll outPlace the dough in a greased bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp towel, and place in a warm place and let rise until doubled.
Form the dough into balls about the size of eggs, then roll flat to make beaver tail shapes about 1/4 inch thick. Heat the oil between 350 to 385° F in a deep fryer.
Have Momma fry the dough while the kids roll the dough out.
Fry the beaver tails one at a time, until light brown on both sides. Place on paper towels to drain. Sprinkle with white sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice (we forgot to try) while still Eathot.
Or use spread Nutella on top.

Eat and enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie

Crushing graham crackersThe other day, I made a pumpkin pie.  It was easy to make.  It tasted good.  We had it for dinner because it is the pumpkin season.  We used the pumpkin from Audrey and Adrian’s jack o lantern.

For the crust, mix these ingredients all together.  Then push into the pie pan.  Then put them in the oven for a little bit. (Ten minutes at 350 degrees).  Momma says you can use a regular pie crust too, but we did not want to make one.

6 Tablespoons butter

Mixing the pie ingredients1 1/2 cup crushed graham crackers

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Then mix all the ingredients for the pie and pour into the crust.

1 cup cooked pumpkin

Finished pie1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon vanilla

Yummy pie1 cup milk

2 egg yolks

2 egg whites beaten stiff

Then bake at  425 degrees for 10 minutes.  Reduce oven to 375 degrees and bake abut 30 minutes until filling is set.  Cool some before eating.

Making Elephant Ears

At the fair, we wanted Elephant Ears.  We asked Momma for some Elephant Ears and she said, “We can make Elephant Ears at home.”

Then we asked Daddy for some Cotton Candy. He looked at one store and it was too high a price. Then we walked through the horses and Daddy met us at the corner that turned into the gate and he had a big package of Cotton Candy. We ate it in the car.It was good.

I like to make the Elephant Ears.  It is fun.

Here is the recipe we tried.  Adrian says, “It is good!”  Mark says, “Maybe if we added a little bit more sugar.” Audrey said, “I liked my ducky Elephant Ear.” (Her’s looked like a duck.) Momma said, “It is not quite right, maybe add half the salt-we omitted it- and a little more sugar. Some recipes say to brush the hot “ear” with butter before adding the cinnamon sugar. We will have to experiment.”  Daddy said, “No” when I asked if he liked his Elephant Ear 🙂 .

Elephant Ear Recipe

  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar
  •  3/8 cup butter
  • 1 Tablespoon yeast
  • 4 cups flour
  • Oil for deep frying
  •  Powdered Sugar or cinnamon Sugar
  1. Combine milk, salt, sugar and butter. Heat until shortening melts and sugar dissolves.  Remove from heat and cool until you can put your finger in it comfortably (or 110 degrees if you use a thermometer). Sprinkle in yeast and let sit until foamy.
  2. Stir in flour to make a dough. Knead until smooth, cover and let rise 30 minutes.
  3. Heat one inch of oil in a large heavy skillet to 375 degrees.
  4. Roll out balls of dough into thin sheets. Put it in a pot with hot Canola oil.  Fry “ears” 1 to 2 minutes per side until puffed and golden.  Drain on paper towels.
  5. Put sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and then you put it on the elephant ears.  Then you eat them after they cool down.