Archive for the 'children' Category
Star Cookies for Santa Lucia
Last week, the boys’ Waldorf school, Shining Mountain had a Santa Lucia celebration. What is Santa Lucia, you ask - a pre-Christian feature of modern day Catholicism; a mid-winter festival of light on one of the longest nights of the year. Lucia translates to Lucy, which means light, as in lucid. She is the saint of radiant clarity.
Anyway, let me not digress into religious history and away from the most important aspect, to me at least, of any festival or holiday - food!
So, what is a gluten-free mom to do for a wheat-filled, sugar laden holiday celebration? I devised a recipe for the parents who had volunteered to bake star cookies. Then I assembled bags with the recipe, parchment paper, a cookie cutter and the ingredients.
The children dressed up in white robes and spent the entire day serving star cookies to everyone from ‘kindergarteners’ to high school seniors. And the five gluten-free kids in my son’s class? They were able to eat the cookies that they gave to others and break bread with the entire school. Now that’s Lucia magic.
2 ½ cups blanched almond flour
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup coconut oil, melted
5 tablespoons agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon
- In a smaller bowl, mix together coconut oil, agave and vanilla
- Mix wet ingredients into dry, then chill dough in refrigerator for 1 hour
- Place dough in between 2 large pieces of parchment paper and roll out until ¼ inch thick
- Remove top piece of parchment paper and cut out cookies with a small star cutter
- Using a metal spatula, place stars on a parchment lined baking sheet
- Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned around the edges, 7-10 minutes
- Cool completely prior to handling cookies
Makes 32 cookies
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Subscribe by Email to elanaspantry.com:Posted on December 21, 2006 in children and desserts by Elana
you might also like: Pecan Shortbread Cookies
or Black and White Cookies
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Busy Hands, Happy Hands
Today we made pomanders. What are they, you ask? A fragrant little crafting project that I have enjoyed since childhood. All you need is an orange and cloves. My boys thought it was pretty fun too.
Here, a definition from Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
po·man·der
noun
Etymology: Middle English, modification of Anglo-French pomme de ambre, literally, apple or ball of amber
1 : a mixture of aromatic substances enclosed in a perforated bag or box and used to scent clothes and linens or formerly carried as a guard against infection; also : a clove-studded orange or apple used for the same purposes
Posted on December 13, 2006 in children by Elana
you might also like: Busy Hands, Happy Hands
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The Perfect Rolling Pin
My sons and I decided to make gingerbread cookies this afternoon.
Thus we found ourselves at the store in search of the perfect rolling pin.
We ended up with a 1¼ inch dowel that was 48 inches long, then had it cut into 3 pieces. We took our dowel pieces home, sanded them and ended up with 3 perfect rolling pins. Our total cost: $6.38 (for dowel and sandpaper).
Each rolling pin took 10 minutes to make (hand sanding) and added up to just $2.13. On top of that, a fun activity.
Posted on December 3, 2006 in children and products by Elana
you might also like: The Perfect Rolling Pin
or Agave Nectar
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