Friday, July 22, 2016

Best Ever Eggless Egg-free Sugar Cookie Recipe for Kids with Egg Allergies

Life is Good: we're making cookies!


Tomorrow, we are celebrating our newly minted five-year old's birthday! After sweating and fretting about making the "every green super hero" cupcakes that he requested, I am happy to report that I "suggested" that since we are making pizzas at his party (his idea!), that we should have "pizzas" on his cupcakes, too. True to his personality, he smiled and said, "That's a SPLENDID idea, mommy!"

So we are baking cookies shaped like slices of pizza today. And using our tried & true, eggless sugar cookie recipe that my mom created for us. 

Elsie's Sugar Cookies
Quantity depends on the cookie cutter you use. Plan on 30.

Ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable or Canola oil
1 cup butter, partially softened (still maintains shape)
4-4 1/2 cups flour (Start with 4 cups and add more if you need to. I use all-purpose.)
2 t. baking soda
1 t. cream of tartar
2 T. vanilla (I use Madagascar)
1 t. arrowroot (this is the egg replacement)

Directions:
1. Mix the dry ingredients together.
2. Then, add the wet ingredients and mix.
NOTE: A Kitchenaid mixer works best for this recipe, but in a pinch, you can use a spoon. If you use a spoon, you may find that you need a little more "binder" for this recipe. Add a spoonful of milk until the dough sticks together, but is still stiff.
3. Cool in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
4. After one hour in the fridge, roll dough flat with a rolling pin and then use cutters to make shapes.
5. Bake small cookies at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.


This recipe has opened up a whole new world for us! It is our "go to" cookie recipe.
I keep a recipe in our freezer in a roll wrapped (in waxed paper and then in foil) so that I can cut off a few cookies when we need a treat in a pinch. glazing them with a powdered sugar "frosting" is simple, but my kiddos like them even without frosting! Enjoy!

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Felt Pizza Pennant Banner Bunting Garland

Life is Good: we have five years worth of good times to celebrate!

Our Little Kid turned FIVE YEARS OLD yesterday! SO...
Today's office: party prep for the weekend.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

BEST Eggless, Egg free, Light and Fluffy Doughnut Donut Recipe

Life is Good: we finally have a good eggless doughnut recipe!


I have tried so many times to convert doughnut recipes to be eggless for our kids. This egg allergy is always a challenge and doughnut recipes have been a pain. Every time I try to make doughnuts, they end up being really dense and cake-like. Now, nobody is crying or complaining about that. However, I have longed to give my family a true, light, melt-in-your-mouth EGG FREE doughnut.

This past week, our Big Kid and Little Kid went to Vacation Bible School (VBS) and so, as usual, I was charged with the task of recreating any of the week's snacks that my kids could not eat (because they contained eggs, nuts, or other of their food allergies). The theme was "Surf Shack" so, of course, there was a powdered doughnut decorated like life preservers. ACK!



I have determined that cake and cookie decorating (and now, doughnut decorating) are God's way of keeping me humble! ; ) Martha Stewart need not be afraid of me taking her job!

Like I said, I have struggled to find the right recipe that is not a dense cake shaped like a doughnut. This week, I finally found the right recipe from sweetestkitchen.com. Thank you!!!

I adjusted the recipe to be eggless as well as the nutmeg and vanilla amounts. I've made the recipe three times already and everyone of all ages were satisfied. Sift some powdered sugar on them or roll them in cinnamon & sugar--either way, yum! These honestly taste very similar to the mini doughnuts that you get at the MN State Fair or out of food trucks and at carnivals around here. On second thought, I may need to lose this recipe unless I want to buy all new pants in the next size up.



Ingredients:
In a separate bowl, combine & mix thoroughly:
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 quick dashes of ground nutmeg
1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In a separate bowl, mix together:
1/4 cup applesauce 
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Then, add:
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a separate bowl, cream together with a hand mixer:
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a mini doughnut pan with spray oil.
2. In a bowl, mix together the baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and flour with a spoon.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together applesauce & baking soda mixture with milk and vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, cream together softened butter and sugar with a hand mixer until fluffy.
5. Add half of the wet ingredients to the creamed mixture, being sure not to use the hand mixture too much so that your doughnut batter doesn't become tough. Too much use of the hand mixture can make baked goods end up tough and not light & fluffy.
6. Add half of the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture.
7. Add the rest of the wet ingredients to the creamed mixture.
8. Add the rest of the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture.
9. Spoon the batter into a ziplock bag, zip it and then cut the very tiny corner out of the bag.
10. Push on the ziplock bag to pipe the batter into the doughnut pan. ONLY fill the circles halfway. TRUST ME. Do not fill the circles all the way full unless you are in the mood to clean oozed out, burnt doughnut batter off of the bottom of your oven. I'm speaking for a friend, of course.
11. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown and spring back when you lightly touch them.
12. Let the doughnuts cool in the pan completely. Then, tap the pan on the counter to release them from the pan. This is the tricky part. I tried several different ways including trying to gently pop them out using forks, knives, spoons, etc and often, they were breaking apart. Tapping the pan on the counter was the best way to keep the doughnuts intact. 


13. To coat the doughnuts with cinnamon & sugar (our favorite), I melted two teaspoons of butter in the microwave in a small bowl. Then, I mixed 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon and 2 Tablespoons of sugar together in another small bowl. 
12. Lightly tap each doughnut in the melted butter, just enough to make them "wet" but not soggy. Then, roll them in the cinnamon & sugar mixture. Another option is to put the cinnamon & sugar mixture in a big baggie and then put the buttered doughnuts in the bag, ziplock and then shake the mixture around the doughnuts.
13. Try not to eat all of them.
14. This recipe makes approximately 36 mini doughnuts, which appears to be enough for one small human at our house. 
15. I got my pan from Michael's with a coupon. This one from amazon.com is similar.