Almond Shortbread Cookie Dough

Tips for making cookies with kids

By Nancy Stohs of the Journal Sentinel

Dec. 3, 2013

As you read this, I'm most likely happily immersed in a world of flour spills, sprinkle dumps and misplaced frosting smears. Translation: baking Christmas cookies with a 3-year-old.
My daughter and I started this three-generation tradition last year; and yes, 2-year-olds really can "help" bake cookies.
Think about your own childhood. If cookies weren't the first thing you baked with your mom (or dad), they were probably the most frequent reason behind any hands-on project in the kitchen.
But like anything, there's a good way to bake with kids, and there's a better way.
I turned to a few local experts — instructors who teach kids' cooking classes — for their advice on making a cookie-baking project with kids the best experience it can be (for everyone). Here are their tips:
■ Have everything ready ahead before you call in the kiddos, advised Caroline Burkert of Kids Can Cook in Elm Grove. Ingredients out, equipment on the counter.
For her classes, held at Caroline's Cafe, she has cookies baked ahead so the kids sample first. "To taste what they're going to make is a big encouragement to them," she said.
■ Pace yourself. If attention spans are short, do one tray with the kids and finish the rest later yourself. Or spread it out over a couple of days, suggests Nancy Kopperud, owner of The Petite Chef kids' cooking school, which just moved from Oconomowoc to Dousman.
She suggests phases: "one for decorated cookies that are the messiest, another for simpler drop cookies."
■ Contain the mess. Kopperud gives each child a large baking sheet with sides (like a jellyroll pan) as their personal work space for decorating cookies. Just put a damp dish towel underneath to help keep it in place.
And wooden Popsicle sticks, she said, work great for kids as frosting spreaders.
■ Consider the child's age. But don't discount the littlest ones! "Really, every step of the way kids can be involved, whether it's cracking eggs or measuring ingredients," said Kopperud. Or dumping in what you've measured. Or pushing the button on the mixer.
That said, "Work fast," Burkert advised. "Don't make it too involved."
■Consider your recipe choices. Cut-out cookies are a natural. "Any sort of tool you can incorporate makes it more fun for them," Kopperud said. Working with a cookie press "is like packing it with Play-Doh," she said.
Cookies that need to be shaped by hand are also winners. "That's what kids like to do," said Burkert, "to get in there and handle the dough."
But stick to foolproof recipes, advised Laura Verage, which is what she does when doing kids' baking parties through her Colgate business,Cookies from Scratch. "This is not the time to try something new," she said.
■ With older kids, especially, dig beneath the recipe. "I like to do cookies that have some history," Kopperud said. "Bring the story into it." For example, if she does a cookie with anise, she'll explain that it's an old German tradition.
■ Don't micromanage —park your perfectionism at the kitchen door. "That's a mistake," Kopperud said of hovering parents. "I see that a lot. It's important to let the kids make their own masterpiece."
Finally, believe that it's worth the extra effort, time and mess.
"Learning baking fundamentals is something you carry with you forever," said Verage.
Nancy J. Stohs is food editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. E-mail her at nstohs@journalsentinel.com. Facebook: www.jsonline.com/food/facebook. Twitter: @NancyJStohs.

Almond Shortbread Cookie Dough

Caroline Burkert likes this recipe for kids because it can be worked and reworked (kids like to handle dough) and won’t get tough or overfloured the way sugar cookie dough can. “It’s very forgiving,” she said.

With her students, she divides a batch into three parts to make three different kinds of cookies. We’ve included one of those here.

Ingredients

½ cup granulated sugar (see note)
¾ cup slivered almonds (see note)
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) butter, room temperature
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract
3 cups flour

Preparation

If you have a food processor, process the sugar 30 to 60 seconds until powdery. Transfer to a bowl; add almonds to food processor and process until very finely chopped. Add to bowl.

Using a mixer, cut in butter and extracts. Add flour until thoroughly mixed. (Dough can be made entirely in a food processor; once flour has been added, process until a ball forms.)

Dough can now be divided and used to make a variety of cookies, such as Chocolate Thumbprints, linzer cookies or nut crescents.

Notes: If you don’t have a food processor, you can skip that step; or you can use superfine sugar. You also can substitute ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon ground almonds for the slivered almonds you would process yourself.

Chocolate Thumbprints

With her students, Caroline Burkert divides a batch of almond shortbread cookie dough into three parts to make three different kinds of cookies. We’ve included one of those here.
 

Makes 30

Ingredients

1/3 batch of almond shortbread cookie dough (see recipe)
¼ cup coarse sugar
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Using about 1 teaspoon of dough for each, shape into 30 balls. Dip in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet 1 inch apart. Press center with your thumb to make an indentation.

Bake in preheated oven 10 minutes, then turn pan around and bake 8 to 10 minutes more until lightly browned. Remove to rack to cool.

Melt chocolate chips and butter together in microwave for 20 to 30 seconds. Stir until smooth. Fill centers of cooled cookies with chocolate and let set.