'Tis the Season to Bake Cookies!

It's a busy time in my kitchen. My kids and I have been knee deep in flour-sugar-butter-molasses combinations. They decided to give their teachers cookies with elaborately decorated containers, and with six teachers to bake for, it's a time-consuming adventure! Unfortunately, the kids lost interest after the first batch was complete. Fortunately, my husband rolled and baked about 4 dozen gingersnaps last night. Which reminds me – do you know about this book? 

Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps

We love gingersnaps and adapted an old favorite family recipe to include chocolate chips. The combination is excellent. The great thing about these cookies is that you can make the dough in advance, let it sit in the refrigerator and bake them when you have time. And they freeze beautifully. Frankly there are few things as delicious as a cold cookie (right from the freezer) dipped in a hot beverage (like coffee or hot cocoa). 

Yum. 

Without further ado, here's our recipe for Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps, adapted from this family favorite. 

Ingredients
1 cup of butter, at rom temperature
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 large egg
1/3 cup molasses
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I prefer the chips with 60% cocoa or more) 
*optional: 3-4 tablespoons of sugar for rolling the dough before baking
 

Method
Preheat the oven to 350. Combine the butter and sugars until fluffy either with a hand mixer or with a spoon. Add the egg and molasses and mix well. Slowly add the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves and nutmeg making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl so that all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Add the chips and mix again. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Roll the dough into one inch balls (make sure to leave at least 1 inch of space between the balls). You can give the dough balls an extra roll in sugar at this point or not. I opted for no sugar this time. Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely before removing them from the sheets. 

Baking with preschoolers

Check out this fabulous Tuesday morning! 

The kids in my son's preschool class busily baked, frosted and decorated cookies this morning. I volunteered at the frosting/decorating table and I loved seeing the variety of cookies churned out by little hands. Some used heaps of frosting and sprinkles. Some used just a bit. Some enjoyed the feel of frosting between their fingers and others wiped frequently. Some were out for volume and others were deeply invested in slow, careful design. One thing was universal: they all wondered when they could taste the cookies! 

The cookies are a thank you gift. They will soon be delivered to the staff within the building who help the engine behind this preschool run so smoothly. 

Hooray for Giving Tuesday!

The Hungry LaLa Monsters!

The LaLa monsters are the source of much excitement around here and we're so excited to introduce them to you! If you've updated your apps, you'll notice our new monsters! (If you haven't updated, you can do so by clicking here.)

Here are the 12 friendly faces that you'll see on both LaLa Lunchbox and LaLa Breakfast:    

Cassidy

 Cassidy  loves to be outside with friends. She's happy at the park, the playground or just walking around the neighborhood. She devours nut butter on toast with banana for breakfast and her favorite lunch is a salami and cheese wrap with raspberries. 

Dino

Dino  likes drawing with colored pencils and markers. He likes funny poems. He loves eggs for breakfast and all of his favorite fruits are red! Dino likes to make his own veggie sushi for lunch.

Eva

Eva  likes magic tricks and funny jokes. She can juggle with three lemons! She loves everything with tomatoes and asks for them in omelets for breakfast and with pasta or on sandwiches for lunch. 

George

George  likes to play with anything that has wheels. Cars, trucks, vans, ambulances, fire trucks, you name it. His favorite breakfast is oatmeal with strawberries and he loves sunbutter and jam sandwiches with a plum for lunch. 

Goran

Goran  loves playing soccer and baseball in the park and painting with water colors. His favorite breakfast is scrambeled eggs and he loves grilled ham and cheese sandwiches with grapes for lunch. 

Jules

Jules  loves puzzles, especially ones that take several days to complete. He's big on waffles and bananas for breakfast and loves cream cheese and jam sandwiches for lunch.

Mario

Mario  takes a science class after school and loves flying kites. For breakfast he likes cold cereal with milk and berries and he loves to dip carrot and celery sticks in hummus for lunch. 

Martina

Martina  likes hopscotch and reading chapter books. Her favorite breakfast is a yogurt parfait with toast and for lunch, she's crazy about turkey sandwiches and pears. 

Opal

Opal loves to sit under big trees and read mysteries. Her favorite breakfast is banana pancakes and she really loves black beans and green beans for lunch. 

Pearl

Pearl  loves playing at the beach and performing fancy stunts on the monkey bars. She's a big fan of oatmeal with apple slices for breakfast and her favorite lunch is hard boiled eggs and avocado. 

Rudy

 Rudy  likes jumping rope and playing tag. He likes bagels with cream cheese and apple slices for breakfast and chicken legs and baby carrots for lunch. 

Victoria

Victoria  is learning how to do cartwheels in her gymnastics class. She loves plain yogurt with honey and banana for breakfast and slices of turkey for lunch with a couple of clementines. 

Molasses Cookies

At some point in life, I realized that cookies wouldn't save the world. It was a devastating bit of reality. I have a dear friend who loves my mom's old recipe for Fannies and every time she's going through a rough spot, I whip up a batch for her. Today I prepared a batch of cookie dough for some loved ones going through a rough time and will deliver them tomorrow. As the first batch came out of the oven I wondered - why cookies? I love cookies but they're not exactly practical. They're not a wholesome meal that someone might need to endure the anxiety of a hospital waiting room. They're not some magic batch of fairies who will come clean the house. As I thought more about my cookie baking habits I realized - of course I intend for my cookies to provide comfort to those on the receiving end. But they're also very much about finding my own comfort. I bake because it gives me quiet time in the kitchen. It's an escape of sorts. And the gesture of giving cookies is, of course, a way of letting others know they are in my thoughts.  Perhaps it's also the hug that comes with cookie delivery... hugs, like cookies, don't solve most problems but they sure do make some moments brighter. 

Molasses Double Chocolate Cookies

Today's cookies are a modified version of the Molasses Triple Chocolate Cookies from Averie Cooks. These have been an amazing new discovery in my house and a definite keeper for the cookie repertoire. I made this version with coconut oil instead of butter and omitted the third chocolate and the rolled sugar step. Still yum! My hope is that they provide my loved ones with even just a moment of comfort and deliciousness. 

Molasses Double Chocolate Cookies (adapted from Averie Cooks) 

1/2 cup coconut oil
1 extra large egg
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons grapeseed or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I like the 60% cocoa Ghiradelli)
 

Preheat the oven to 350. Combine oils, egg, sugar, molasses and vanilla together and mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt and baking soda. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ones, being sure to incorporate well. Finally, add the chocolate chips and mix. Place balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 9 minutes. Cool and enjoy! 

Broccoli's Cousin!

Three cheers for the farmer's market. We were there this weekend enjoying the unseasonably warm weather and the fantastic colors of Fall and my children spotted and ran to the Romanesco. My daughter declared that they looked like green snow-topped crystals. My son proclaimed them fancy broccoli castles. Romanesco, also known as Roman cauliflower, tastes like a cross between broccoli and cauliflower – two things we LOVE chez moi. After hearing that, my kids happily dubbed it "broccoli's cousin." 

Roman cauliflower, aka Romanesco

We bought two bunches. I steamed the first one and all five of us gobbled it up for dinner. That right there is a win! I roasted the second bunch and it barely made it out of the kitchen. Score! Now that I know my kids are enthusiastic about Romanesco, I'll play around with it in various ways. Suggestions welcomed!