Saturday, October 15, 2011

Weekend Cooking; Whipping up something yummy with Groovy Girl

[photo credit]
Did you know October is National Cookie Month?  I didn't until we visited the library a few days ago and they had a table display of kid's cookbooks laid out (just for us, I'm sure) and we picked just a few!


Jennifer Low
176 pages including index/glossary

We didn't make cookies but we did read through the whole book cuddled together in our comfy chair. Wednesday night after she thumbed through it again she found a recipe she really wanted to make and said in her sweetest voice:  "We have all the ingredients!  It will be so simple."  I'd already made a pan of our favorite eggplant lasagna for dinner and wasn't looking forward to more time not relaxing after dinner but after I perused the recipe I agreed. I couldn't resist her or the recipe.  Could you have resisted?

Gooshy S'More Cakes
[makes 4 ramekin cakes]

Cakes:
4 large marshmallows
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup all-purpose flour [spoon in, level]
1/3 cup whole wheat flour [spoon in, level]
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Chocolate Goosh:
1/4 cup water
2 T. packed brown sugar
1 T. unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Pop the marshmallows into the freezer.
2 Preheat the oven to 350*
3. To make the cake, melt the butter in a bowl at 50 % power in the microwave (about 1 minute). Use a whisk to stir in the sugars.  Cool slightly.  Stir in rest of ingredients for the cakes (so not the Goosh) until smooth.  Spoon into four ramekins or baking cups, filling 2/3 full.  Put a cold marshmallow in the middle of the cake.
4. To make the Goosh, put the ingredients in a cup and heat at 50% power in the  microwave, until hot.  Stir smooth.  Pour over the marshmallows and cake batter.
5. Put the ramekins or cups on a baking sheet.  Bake 23 minutes or until puffed, the chocolate is bubbling and the marshmallows melt into top crusts.  Cool until warm.  Don't unmold.

Eat it right up!  You could lick your bowl but you might get your nose stuck in the ramekin!  I would have taken my own photo of them but I couldn't find my camera fast enough and then... they were gone.

The cookbook is well-designed with lots of photographs to ooh and aaah over.  6 sections are divided into  1. breakfast, lunch and dinner
2. breads and crackers
3.cookies
4. cakes
5. pies, pastries and squares
6. candies, confections and cool treats.

You can see where the emphasis is; kid-friendly sweets.  Low also provides an interesting section on organizing the kitchen for your child, tools and measuring instructions.

We liked the Paddy Thai Noodles from the first section, the big soft pretzels from the second section, alphabet cookies from the third section and candy marbles from the last section.  Most recipes don't include as much microwaving as the s'mores cakes, which is good because I'm a little weird about using the microwave too cook.  Many recipes in the book are done in smaller sizes or kid-sized.  This is definitely one book you will want to read the recipe through before making something just to make sure you will have enough.  I'm pretty sure we'll make a few more recipes before we return it to the library.

Jennifer Low's website.

Weekend Cooking is hosted at Beth Fish Reads.  Stop over there and find many other food-related posts.

12 comments:

Uniflame said...

This does sound like a great recipe. We don't have s'mores in the Netherlands so making it would be difficult here, but it does sound yummy!

TheBookGirl said...

I never knew about National Cookie Month :)

Love s'mores...this recipe sounds yummy. I like that these recipes make small portions -- good for my lack of willpower :)

Beth F said...

I know what you mean about the microwave, but it's pretty kid friendly. Those sound really good. I also like that it made only four small desserts so you aren't encouraging your child to over-indulge.

Chinoiseries said...

I'm with Uniflame (being a Dutchie too), but this does sound very tasty. It's a treat every child will undoubtably love!

Anonymous said...

That sounds really delicious! Just enough and suspect it is a little rich on the tummy as well, so small portions are likely best.

Tami said...

Sounds wonderful. Great way to get kids in the kitchen, learning some basic cooking/baking skills.

Nan said...

I know a couple grown-up kids who would love this! Thanks.

Carrie O'Connor said...

I love this blog! I, too, have been making eggplant dishes (the last of the harvest). Thanks for the recipe!

Dawn @ sheIsTooFondOfBooks said...

This does sound yummy and easy - great combo of flavors (that I likely have in my pantry).

Little Nell said...

I have all the ingredients too - even have the ramekins. WIll I have to wait until the grandchildren come to stay? I don’t think so.

Beth(bookaholicmom) said...

These look wonderful and gooey! It seems like an easy enough recipe too!

caite said...

but where are the cookies??