Friday, March 03, 2006

Making Shortcrust Cookies with the Children

-

The girl (8 years old) weighed the ingredients:

200 grams of flour, 100 grams of sugar, 150 grams of butter, a pinch of salt.

She cut the butter into the mixture with two knives and then started rubbing the course dough between her thumbs and her fingers. When the dough began to hang together she started kneading. Two mini splashes of cold water were needed to make it into one ball. Then the dough was divided into three parts, and the boys (5 and 2) were each given one as well.

They expertly rolled it out onto a placemat, using a little flour to avoid sticking. They took turns with the rolling pin. Then they cut out the cookies: stars and half-moons and ducks and bells. They rolled them back into a ball and started again. They made snakes and piled them one upon another.

Eventually there were two greased cookies sheets full of their creations.

These were baked for 15 minutes in a pre-heated 175 ยบ C oven, and allowed to cool before they were tasted.

They were delicious, simply delicious! We had one cookie, and then another.

But best of all were the half-moon smiles on the faces of the children!

No comments: