Gather the family and make some memories. Have the younger children read the recipes and the older ones do the mixing. Snap lots of pictures and take note of changes in recipes or reactions at first bite.
Compile the recipes, pictures and comments into an album dedicated solely to cooking projects.
These are among the suggestions for making small moments big in Rebecca Miller Ffrench’s “Sweet Home: Over 100 Heritage Desserts and Ideas for Preserving Family Recipes.”
There is a nostalgic bliss to eating familiar foods. One bite can evoke an emotional response and carry your mind back to happier — or sadder — times. Now’s the time to create memories to last a lifetime, and train little hands to become big helpers in the kitchen.
Together Time
Baking cookies and turning them into ice cream sandwiches is a good way to bring together the family.
• Thin, flat cookies work best for ice cream sandwiches.
• Freeze the cookies after they've cooled.
• Thaw the ice cream just slightly.
• Place cookie on plate. Scoop ice cream onto bottom of one cookie. Place bottom of second cookie on top of ice cream, and with the palm of your hand press down gently on the top cookie.
• Place ice cream sandwiches in freezer until firm.
• Enjoy.
Chocolate chip cookies
These cookies will spread during baking and be the perfect thickness for sandwiches.
Makes 2 to 3 dozen cookies
Ingredients
2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1½ sticks butter, melted and cooled
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips
Instructions
In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars together until well mixed. Add whole egg and egg yolk and vanilla. Mix until light in color, about two minutes. Add dry ingredients and chocolate chips to butter and sugar mixture. Mix until incorporated.
Form dough into golf ball-sized balls. Chill dough. Bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Don't overbake.
This recipe is also from Jennifer Wik of Salida.
Peanut butter-oatmeal cookies
These cookies will flatten as they bake and be the perfect thickness for ice cream sandwiches.
Makes about 30 cookies
Ingredients
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup plus 1½ tablespoons light brown sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
7 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ cups plus 1 tablespoon old-fashioned oatmeal
Instructions
Cream butter with both sugars until pale and fluffy. With the mixer on low speed, drizzle in egg and then add the vanilla extract and peanut butter.
Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix in oats. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Turn off mixer and stir with a wooden spoon to form a soft dough. Roll cookies into golf ball-sized balls. Chill dough.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake cookies, spacing 3 inches apart, for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown and firm to the touch.
This recipe is also from Jennifer Wik of Salida.
Molasses cookies
Makes 2½ to 3 dozen
Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar, divided use
1 cup unsulphured molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pint vanilla ice cream
Instructions
In a bowl, stir together flour, ginger, cinnamon, white pepper, salt and soda. In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and a ½ cup of sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add molasses and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
Turn mixer off. Add in dry ingredients. Turn mixer to low and mix until just combined.
Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill two hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Using a teaspoon, scoop out a small ball of dough. Roll dough into a ball between the palms of your hands, then roll in the remaining ½ cup sugar. Place on cookie sheet and flatten with a glass bottom dipped in butter to ¼-inch thickness. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool for five minutes. Sandwich ice cream between two cookies and eat.
This recipe is from "Sweet Home: Over 100 Heritage Desserts and Ideas for Preserving Family Recipes," by Rebecca Miller Ffrench (Kyle, $24.95).
Old-fashioned cookie doughice cream sandwiches
Makes enough for a dozen or more sandwiches
Ingredients
1 quart cookie dough ice cream
½ cup vegetable shortening
1¼ cups light brown sugar, packed
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
½ cup dark or Dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted
½ teaspoon instant espresso powder
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
Line a 9-by-9-inch baking pan with foil or parchment paper. Soften ice cream slightly and spread in prepared pan. Freeze overnight or until firm.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, beat together shortening and sugar with an electric mixer for 2 to 3 minutes. Add baking powder, salt, cocoa powder, espresso powder and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Mix in 1 cup flour, followed by 2 tablespoons of water, and then the remaining 1 cup flour and 2 more tablespoons water, mixing well until no dry ingredients remain. Dough should be soft and pliable but not sticky. Add more water if necessary.
On a lightly floured surface, turn out half the dough and roll it to an even ¼-inch thickness. Cut dough into 3-inch squares.
Transfer cookies to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. With chopstick, poke an even pattern on each cookie's surface. Place sheets of cookies in the freezer for 10 minutes. Bake seven to eight minutes, or until tops are matte and cookies just set. Do not overbake. Cool two or three minutes on baking sheets, and then on racks. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Place the block of firm ice cream on a cutting board. Cut block into equal squares. Place ice cream between cookies, press lightly, freeze until ready to serve.
This recipe is from "The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook," by Lindsay Landis (Quirk, $18.95).
Chocolate chocolate nut cookies
Makes 2 dozen
These cookies don't spread much during baking, so shape them with your hands and then flatten with the bottom of a glass.
Ingredients
1 pound semisweet chocolate chips, chopped
4 tablespoons butter (½ stick)
¾ cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups toasted walnuts, chopped
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt half of the chopped chocolate with the butter in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Let cool. Mix in the sugar, eggs and vanilla. In a small bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir dry ingredients into the melted chocolate mixture. Stir in remaining chopped chocolate and nuts. Cover dough and refrigerate for one hour.
Lightly butter two baking sheets. Take 2 tablespoon measures per cookie and roll round between thumb and forefinger while flattening with the other thumb and forefinger. Place on cookie sheet and flatten with the bottom of a glass. Bake until cookies just start to crack, 12 to 13 minutes.
Cool cookies. Place in freezer and serve cold or, for a more indulgent treat, sandwich vanilla ice cream between two cookies.
This recipe is from "The Hamptons: Food, Family and History," by Ricky Lauren (Wiley, $40).
Oatmeal cookies
Makes several dozen
Ingredients
4 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1½ cups raisins
1½ cups butter
1½ cups brown sugar
1½ cups white sugar
3¾ cups flour
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
3 teaspoons baking soda
3 cups oatmeal (not quick cook oats)
Instructions
Mix eggs, egg yolk and vanilla. Put raisins in mixture and let soak for at least one hour.
Cream together butter and both sugars until nice and creamy and mixture turns a soft yellowish color. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon and baking soda and whisk to blend. Add flour mixture to butter-sugar mixture and blend. Add oatmeal and mix. Add raisin-egg mixture and blend. Dough should be stiff. If not, add a little flour. Roll dough into golf ball-sized balls. Chill dough. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
This recipe is from Jennifer Wik of Salida. These cookies will flatten as they bake and be the perfect thickness for ice cream sandwiches.
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