Grandkids and grandma in the kitchen!

Last Saturday around 3 p.m. my granddaughter remembered we were going to a church potluck, where we were suppose to make a dish and share it for different contests.

The dinner, I thought started at 6:30 p.m. So we pulled out one of Seth's cookbooks, each found a recipe we wanted to try and got started.

Kalene started first with the recipe, 'Vanilla Rings'. As she was pounding whole almonds into ground almonds, Seth got his ingredients together. I went to the store to buy some yogurt as we were actually out. They did an awesome job, all by themselves and both of their cookie batches came out so delicious!

In the recipe that Kalene chose, she decided to add melted chocolate on top. What a great idea and it made the cookies.

I haven't tasted a sugar type cookie with ginger in it before, Seth's were a light type with just a little crunch as they cooled off. 'Grantham Gingerbreads' is the recipe Seth chose.

I decided to make a bread that I needed to enter a recipe for Bread Baking Day, 'Lemon Poppyseed Braid'. Post is below this one.

When we got to church, we found out the dinner started at 6 p.m., but lucky for us there were others who were late and plenty of food. Everyone was glad I brought bread as only two others did and this helped to be spread around, same with the kids bringing cookies. We must have chosen the right recipes as we didn't take anything home, yeah!

I think everyone who brought a dish should have won, everything was great! Very filling night.

Recipes:

Vanilla Rings

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

¼ cup ground almonds

3 cups flour

• Preheat the oven to 350˚F.
• Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl, or use a food processor on a low speed, until light and fluffy.
• Beat in the egg, then the vanilla extract, almonds, and flour.
• Put the paste into a decorating bag fitted with a star-shaped tip.
• Pipe 2-inch rings on to a greased baking sheet.
• Bake for 8 to 9 minutes.

Recipe by: Deborah Gray

Book: the baker’s bible

Grantham Gingerbreads

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons self-rising flour

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 stick butter or margarine

1 ½ cups superfine sugar

1 egg, beaten

• Preheat oven to 300˚F.
• In one bowl, sift together the flour and the giner.
• In another bowl, beat together the butter or margarine and sugar, then beat in the egg.
• Stir in the flour mixture and combine well.
• Roll the dough into a walnut-sized balls.
• Place the balls on a greased baking tray and bake for about 40 minutes until crisp, hollow, and lightly browned.

*Note: These round puffy gingerbread cookies should be “hollow and slightly dome-shaped, with a pleasing fawn tint.”

Recipe by: Deborah Gray

Book: the baker’s bible