Sassy Sunflower Pops Cookies - Healthy & Fun 25

Baking with kids can sometimes be challenging. Creating something while keeping kids occupied or interested is no simple feat. Creating a healthier cookies is on not only on parents minds but also on the minds of many health conscience individuals. I would like to introduce you to a great website with some really fun recipes. Sure to please any kid, even that inner child of yours.

...this will
tempt anyone



with visions
of healthy
lovely treats
to decorate &
devour

I was so excited to be picked for
blogging about the Snackivate website.
It came with perks from Kellogg's company -
namely 2 full size boxes of Kellogg's
Frosted Mini Wheats used to experiment
with the recipes on the site, and a cool
little plastic gadget that you put into
the freezer (the cup has gel within the
walls of the cup,to insulate the milk and
to keep it cool),which once frozen will
hold your milk,while the top (it screws
into the bottom) holds your favorite cereal.
This is a nice little gadget for mom's or
dad's toting kids around. Or even college ,
students or teenagers on the go, in be-
ween classes, who haven't the time to
grab a decent breakfast (I think we've
all been there).

The Snacktivate website is a place for anyone looking for health conscience lot's of downloadable recipes, ranging from all different meals of the day to sweet treats, some samples are pictured above, that would be fun to make with children. There are nutrition tips and more for parents, relatives and teachers. Below is one of the featured recipes from Snackivate website.

Recipe: Sassy Sun Pops
I have added some notes on making this Veg/Vegan friendly. You will need to experiment with different ingredients to find the best formulation for Veg/Vegan style cookies using this recipe.

Prep time: 10 min.
Bake time: 12-14 min.
Servings: 33

These cookies are baked at 350 °F for 12 - 14 min.
Materials Needed:Candy sticks, that are oven proof (you can find at your favorite craft store, i.e Micheal's)
Almonds
Flaxseed
Cookie Sheet
Cookie Ingredients:

• 2 cups (AP) flour
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 cup butter or margarine (soft) (supplement Earth's Balance stick for vegan cookies)
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs (if going veg/vegan there are many egg replacers out there, you may want to experiment with what works best in cookies for you - consider the extra dry ingredients by way of the cereal and try opting for something with more moisture content)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 60 frosted bite sized mini-wheats OR 60 un-frosted mini-wheats (unfrosted is the best vegan alternative due to the gelatin in the frosting) , crushed (pulse in a food processor, or put into a zip lock bag and beat w/ rolling pin)

Procedure:

1. Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2. In large mixing bowl, add peanut butter, Gran. Sugar, Brown sugar and mix on medium-high w/ electric mixer. Beat until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs & vanilla. Beat well
4. Beat in crushed cereal and flour mixture. Mix until just incorporated.
5. Drop by spoonful onto a cookie sheet . While pressing down, use back of fork to make across hatch into cookie dough.
6. Add oven proof cookie sticks by pressing stick into one side of the dough of each cookie.
7. TO create sunflower: press flax seeds into the center of each cookie dough round. Press raw whole almonds into the outer edges of each round to form the petals of the sunflower design.
8. Bake at 350 °F for 12- 14 min. or until golden brown, remove baked cookies with spatula from cookie sheets immediately and let cookies cool on wire wracks.

This recipe is adapted from Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies a recipe © of Kellogg's NA Co. 2008. All Rights Reserved.


Hope you can recreate the fun time I had creating these with my 5 yr old daughter. It was a blast. She loved adding the spoons of dough to the cookie sheets and making the "sunflower" designs. Enjoy!

Oregon Hazelnuts + Recipe : Praline Paste 18

Hazelnuts. Have you seen the groves of trees while in Oregon? . Drive toward Wilsonville, Oregon and you will see them. Interspersed between suburban sprawl and small businesses, the further you proceed --- slowly the vast quilt of these orchards starts to fully engulf the land. Hashed out in a herringbone pattern, these are stubby trees with intricate canopies. They spread their branches enveloping the crops of nuts in an umbrella of leaves


The Willamette Valley is responsible for %99 of U.S hazelnut production. A great site to find out more about Hazelnuts, including tasty formulas (recipes) and other links, is Oregon's Hazelnut Industry website.


Nuts are unfairly avoided due to misconceptions of being unhealthy and full of fat. This may be true for certain varieties of nuts, but Hazelnuts are a heart healthy choice. They contain %91 percent mono unsaturated fat and less than 4 percent saturated fat. Not to mention significant amounts of protein, fiber, iron, phosphorus, vitamin E, folate and many other essential nutrients.


Today I will share a great way to introduce hazelnuts to your palate. Learn how to make this paste from scratch. Praline paste is usually a baking item you rarely see in supermarkets. It is mostly found in specialty shops such as cake decorating suppliers. However, I couldn't find it at The Decorette Shop , Portland Oregon's own cake specialty supplier. To purchase praline paste you are most likely going to run into prices ranging from $15 -20 per 2 lb container. It can be very expensive to purchase retail.


Praline Paste Formula:

Lightly Toast whole hazelnuts on a baking sheet.

In a stainless steel sauce pan, combine equal parts sugar
and water. Do not stir . The mixture will reduce --- allow
to caramelize (you will see the sides start to color first).

Once the sugar reduction has caramelized, remove from heat.











The lightly toasted hazelnuts are
added to the sugar reduction.
They are then stirred briskly,this should
be done very quickly as the sugar reduction
will start to harden.

You want to coat the hazelnuts in the caramel.
The heat from the caramel will warm the nuts
and allow the hazelnuts essence to permeate
the caramel.

The nut caramel is then poured onto a greased
marble slab. The cooled caramel will be less reddish
brown in color.












Allow the caramel to cool. Once cool use a spatula to
spread and press the nut caramel in an even layer.

Flip the cooling layer
over. Allow to harden.







Once the nut caramel has hardened, use a rolling pin or some
other weighty tool to break up the hardened nut caramel.
The pieces should be small enough to fit in your food processor.

Put nut caramel pieces into the food processor and pulse unit the pieces begin to smooth until a paste. Continue to process until desired smoothness.






Store in an airtight container. This paste is great to jazz up your pastry cream -- just add a small amount of praline paste to the cooled pastry cream before adding to cream puffs.

Baking theory : Dairy products used in Baking 0

Functions Of Milk:

+ Color

1. Due to sugar content (lactose = milk sugar)
2. Yeast has no enzymes to metabolize Lactose

+ Absorption

+ Tenderizer

+ Nutrition

1. {the perfect protein combo = milk + wheat}
2. contributes to the overall nutritional value of bakery foods.

+ Casein

1. {75% of protein contained in Non-fat dry milk}
2. perfect protein, due to amino acid balance.

+Body & Resilience

Types of Milk Products:

*Non Fat Powdered milk

MCT Dairies - Sweet Cream Whey

Product Description -
A light colored,free-flowing powder resulting from spray drying sweet, fresh cheese whey. For applications where a smooth, creamy texture is desired, Grind A is available. (MCT-MISC-SWTWHEY)

*Sweet dairy Whey

1. Mostly Lactalbumin
2. tenderizing agent
3. causes rapid crust color development
   

All Dairy blends or cereal based blends {rarely used in bakery}