“What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance. They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humor, comfort, lessons in life. And, most importantly, cookies.” – Rudolph Giuliani
Zoom Cooking
These times sometimes require an abundance of grandparent ingenuity, too. Grandma Cheryl has introduced Zoom cooking to her long-distance family. To sign up for a free Zoom go to zoom.us/sign up on your computer or ask local teens to bring over a laptop or Chromebook sign you up and show how to use it. Then schedule a time to meet online with multiple people for Zoom Cooking. Facetime and Skype are also available. Fair warning, you will have only 40 minutes before being kicked off Zoom unless you pay for a subscription.
Pumpkin Cookies
Cooking something easy like pumpkin cookies is a good start. To save time, gather all of the ingredients and cooking utensils before the Zoom, heat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment. In a large bowl whisk together 2 ½ cups flour,1 teaspoon baking powder,1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. In another bowl use a mixer to mix until light and fluffy: 1 stick of softened butter with 1 cup granulated sugar, ½ cup brown sugar. Then add 1 ¼ cups of canned pumpkin puree, 1 egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla on medium speed. Fold in the dry ingredients until just combined. You want to keep the fluffiness.
Use a little scoop to drop on the cookie sheets and use a spoon to flatten slightly. The cookie does not flatten while baking. Bake 15 to 20 minutes.
While baking you can make the frosting and catch up on the latest family news. For the frosting, cream together 8 ounces of low-fat cream cheese, room and 3 tablespoons butter, and1 teaspoon. Gradually add powdered sugar until you like the consistency. When the cookies bounce back up when touched, they are done. Ice when cool.
Your time will probably be up for now. You can make arrangements to call back and have pumpkin cookies and apple cider together.
Homemade Playdough
Although it can’t be eaten, making and playing with playdough is another fun on-line activity. Mix 1 cup flour, ½ cup salt, and 1 tablespoon cream of tartar together and place in 3-quart saucepan. Stir in 1 tablespoon cooking oil and 1 cup water tinted with food coloring. Cook and stir constantly over low to medium heat until mixture looks like dough. Remove from heat, cool, and knead. Store in plastic bag in the refrigerator.
No comments:
Post a Comment