Lemon Raspberry Streusel Muffins

Lemon Raspberry Streusel Muffins

with Lemon Curd

 --- Kids In The Kitchen ---

Streusel Topping:

1/3  Cup  Sugar

1/4  Cup  Flour

2  Tablespoons  Cold Butter

2  Cups  Flour

1/2  Cup  Sugar

2  teaspoons  Baking Powder

1/2  teaspoon  Baking Soda

1/2  teaspoon  Salt

8 oz.  Lemon Yogurt  -or-  3 Tablespoons Lemon Juice and Plain Yogurt to fill a 1-Cup measure

1/2  Cup  Oil

1  teaspoon Lemon Peel, finely zested (optional)

2  Eggs

1  Cup  Fresh Raspberries -or- frozen, unthawed Raspberries

Butter or Lemon Curd for serving

1.  Wash your hands thoroughly with Soap and Water.  Read this recipe through completely and gather your ingredients.

2.  Ask an Adult to help preheat oven to 400*.
3.  Line a Muffin Tin with baking cups.
4.  In a small bowl, mix together the Streusel Ingredients with a pastry cutter until the Butter is the size of small peas.  Set aside.
5.  In a medium bowl, mix together the five Dry Ingredients; set aside.
6.  In another medium bowl, mix together the four Wet Ingredients, then stir the Wet Ingredients into the Dry Ingredients just until blended.  Then gently stir in the Raspberries.
7.  Using a cookie scoop or soup spoon, fill the Muffin cups 3/4 full.  (This will make about 14 muffins.)
8.   Using a teaspoon, carefully sprinkle the Streusel onto the Muffin tops.
9.  Ask an Adult to help you put the Muffins into the 400* oven; bake for 11-13 minutes.
10.  Ask an Adult to help you remove from Muffins from the oven.
11.  Cool in the Muffin Tin for 5 minutes; carefully remove from the Tin.
12.  Serve Warm, with Butter or Lemon Curd.
13.  Don't forget to clean up your dirty cooking bowls!

"Train up a child in the way he should go:

and when he is old,

he will not depart from it."

Proverbs 22:6 

Teaching children to cook.  This takes fortitude to endure!  I am of the mind that children should must be taught to cook.  I cannot think of anything more disheartening than going off to college or getting married and only knowing how to make toast or top ramen.  

But oh my.
The mess time and patience it takes to teach a child this skill!

I personally believe that the best time to being teaching cooking is when the child can both fluently read AND understand simple fractions.  In other words, she should be able to read the recipe and not get 1/3 and 2/3 mixed up.  Most children have mastered these two skills by the end of Third or Fourth Grade.  Yes, there are kitchen terms like 'dice' and 'cube' which you'll need to teach, but the most important things, in my opinion, are the basic skills of reading and math.  A close second to this come safety.  Never forget safety.

When teaching safety skills, begin with Heat and Sharpness.  Most kiddos have the heat down; that is, they know that the stove and oven are hot.  If you are allowing your child to cook at the stove, my first bit of advice is to never leave the room.  My second piece of advice is to make sure you use an appropriately-sized step stool.  A nine-year-old isn't quite tall enough to safely stir a hot pan, but is much too big to stand on a chair.  Accidents can happen if she isn't the right height.  If you have a double wall oven, use the lower oven.  Teach your child how to properly use hot pads.  I, personally, don't let my kids use oven mitts because I feel the mitts make hands too clumsy to safely grip hot pans.  Also, I like to keep the stove turned down slightly lower than what the recipe calls for; this might make it take a bit longer but it does help reduce the risk of bad burns.

Knives and graters and vegetable peelers and mandolines.
All can be so very sharp.  Unfortunately, the easiest way to demonstrate how sharp a knife is, is to accidentally cut yourself.  Not the best object lesson, but unfortunately it happens.  Please, as a parent, you know your child's hand/eye coordination best of anyone.  Use proper judgement.  Use a knife  properly sized for smaller hands--I like to begin my children with a paring knife.  And always, always, always use a cutting board.

What kind of recipes are the best to start kids out on?  My children seem to have a short-frame attention span: they don't want to wait for bread to rise,  a cake to cool before frosting, or beef to marinate and then roast.  I like to start them out on a one-pan-in/one-pan-out recipe: a recipe that has a single pan and a short bake time, like Muffins or Bar Cookies.  Easy to mix, quick to bake, fast to cool, and even faster to eat!  Yum, Yum, Yum!

Happy Cooking,

and even Happier Eating! 

  Far Above Rubies, page 51.

One-Strand Braided Dinner Rolls: A How-To Photo Tutorial

One-Strand Braided Dinner Rolls

A How-To Photo Tutorial 

I think everyone is familiar with the basic dinner roll shapes: Round rolls, Crescent rolls, Clover-leaf rolls, and Parker House rolls.  Every so often, however, I find I want something a bit more Special; something not so 'ordinary'.  Something a bit, well, a bit 'More'.  Recently a friend shared a video on my Facebook page on how to make shaped breads (maybe you saw it--I shared it on my blog's Facebook page, following this link *should* take you to the video: Challah .  Just be aware it's not in English--Hebrew, I think).  I've watched it several times and thought I'd show you how to make the One-Strand Braided Rolls in a step-by-step Photo Tutorial. 

You'll need one recipe of your favorite Bread Dough (here is mine )

Knead it a few turns, until it is smooth and looks like this:
(If you're using store-bought dough, you may not need to knead) 

Pinch off a piece of Dough, about this size of an in-hull Walnut (or a large golf ball--it's hard to know how to describe the amount needed)

 Roll it out into a long strand, about 12 inches long.

Look at the Dough Strand and mentally divide it into Thirds:

Bring the left side over onto the right side, at the Third position.  Your strand should look like a sideways 'b'.

Now take the right 'tail' and bring it into the center 'loop' of the 'b'.

Now twist the loop

And pull the 'tail' through.  If you have a lot of 'tail left, tuck it under the roll.  You may also want to stretch out some of the strands underneath to make them more visible, if needed.

Here it is, Step-by-Step:

 "Then said they unto Him,

Lord, evermore give us this bread.

And Jesus said unto them,

I am the Bread of Life:

he that cometh to Me shall never hunger;

and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst." 

John 6:34, 35

 

And here is a slight variation.  You'll start the same way, with a sideways 'b'.

But this time, twist your strand first, before tucking in the 'tail'.

Then bring the 'tail' over and tuck it into the 'loop'

Twist the 'loop' again

And bring the remainder of the 'tail' up through

Here are the two twists:  On the left, as instructed first; on the right, second instructions.

Let your rolls rise until doubled, then bake at 350* for 12-15 minutes.  Cool on a cooking rack and enjoy!

Here are the finished results:  top, first instructions; bottom, second instructions.

A New Year's Exhortation

A New Year's Exhortation

                   

 

"Let us run with patience the race

that is set before us, LOOKING UNTO

JESUS the author and finisher of

our faith." 

Heb. xii. 1,2

My prayer for each one of you in the coming year is

that you would come to know Jesus, the Bread of Life, more fully each day.

May all that we do and say be to His honor and glory

as we await His soon return.

Thank you to each one who has taken time to read, follow, and comment on this blog.  It is a blessing to me to be able to quietly share the things I enjoy with you, and I look forward to sharing more with you in the year ahead.  Keep looking up!  Jesus is coming!

~Carolyn

Honey-Orange Sweet Rolls

 

 

 

Honey-Orange Sweet Rolls

 

For the Dough:

2  Packages  Yeast

2  Cups  Warm Water

1/2  Cup  Fresh Orange Juice

1/2  Cup  Honey

3/4  Cup  Melted Butter

2  Eggs

2  teaspoons Finely Minced Orange Zest, optional--  (just please, please, please make certain that this Zest is finely minced, as I personally can't stand the feeling of flossing my teeth with Orange Zest.  I'm sure you won't like it either.  Thank You.)

2  teaspoons  Kosher Salt

8 to 8-1/2  Cups  Flour

 

For the Filling, mix together:

1/2  Cup  Very Soft Butter

1  Cup  White Sugar

3  Tablespoons Orange Juice

1  teaspoon  Orange Zest, if desired (you did see the comment about finely mincing this, didn't you...)

 

For the Orange Glaze, combine:

2  Cups  Powdered Sugar

3  Tablespoons  Orange Juice

1/2  Cup  Heavy Cream, or as needed to reach desired consistency

1  teaspoon  Orange Extract or Vanilla Extract, optional

and another 2  teaspoons  Very Finely Minced Orange Zest (enough said)

 

In a large mixing bowl, combine the Yeast, Water, Orange Juice, and Honey; mix well and set aside for 5-10 minutes for the Yeast to proof.  Stir in the Melted Butter, Eggs, Orange Zest, and Salt.  Stir in the Flour in two-cup increments, mixing until thoroughly combined.  Cover with a clean towel, set in a warm spot (like a sunny kitchen window) and let rise until doubled, about 45-60 minutes.

 

When the Dough has doubled in size, turn out onto a very well floured board and knead about 60 strokes.  Divide Dough in half.  Beginning with one half of the Dough, roll out into a large rectangle, about 16" x 20".  This size is a matter of personal preference because the larger the rectangle, the more "spiral-ly" your sweet rolls will be.  Roll the dough smaller and you'll have a greater concentration of filling with a thicker, less "spiral-ly" rolls.  Anyway, back to the recipe.  Spread the Dough with half of the Filling.  Roll up, cut into 12 rolls, place them in a greased 9 x 13 dish, and repeat with the remaining Dough and Filling.  Let the Honey-Orange Sweet Rolls rise until about double in size, about 30-45 minutes. 

 

Bake in a preheated oven at 350* for 22-26 minutes.  Let cool 10 minutes, then pour Orange Glaze over the rolls.  Let come to room temperature, if you can wait that long.  I usually can't.  You'll want a glass of milk, too.

 

Makes 24 Sweet Rolls.  I won't say how many it actually serves--you know you'll want more than one...



 

"And I have come down to deliver them out of

the hand and power of the Egyptians

and to bring them up ...

to a land good and large,

a land flowing with Milk and Honey,

a land of plenty..."

Exodus 3:8, Amplified Version

 

Well, I'll bet you thought either I'd forgotten about you, or that I'd stopped cooking.

Nope.  Still been battling computer issues.  Last time I posted, the company was shipping us a new hard drive.  It came.  It was installed.  It still didn't work properly.

So, long story short, we've been sent a brand new replacement.  So far, it seems to be working properly.  Now I just need to get my camera program loaded on this computer and I should be good to go.  I have a lot of photos, so what I think I'll do is to type up the recipes and post them and then come back and add the photos in later.

 

Spring here on the West Coast has been a flurry.  We've been having wonderful, lovely, beautiful weather and have been longing (needing, Praying!)  for some rain.  Pray for Rain for us, please?

 

In February, I celebrated 3 years Melanoma Free!  Whoopee!  We went to the City as a family, spent the day at the Acadamy of Sciences--the white alligator (crocodile?) is cool! and so is the rainforest exhibit, the penguins, the Africa room, the living roof, you get the idea--and finished up after my appointment at the nifty little cupcake bakery on Fillmore: Sift.  If you get a chance, pop in there.  It's sweet.  Literally.  You'll come out with a sugar high so high you'll feel as if you have the ability to climb the Golden Gate.  But we didn't, we just drove home over it.

 

March has brought some sadness to us, as T's Grandmother passed away.  He and I, along with his brother, flew East for a quick trip for her funeral.  This was a special time with his family, and we rejoice that Grandma is Safely Home!

 

And now it's raining today!  Yippee!  My dryer is buzzing, my Dough is calling for me to come take care of it, and I must close.  But I hope to chat with you again soon!

 

Until then,

Carolyn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recipe adapted from the Lemon Sugar website.