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Comment RSSTea Party Cookies and Play Dough in One?
September 2, 2009 # 7:03 pm # Cooking # 22 Comments
The Wee Kahunas like to play tea party more often than any two little girls I’ve ever met. I can see why, the play time covers all the bases; undivided attention from Mommy, getting to play with tiny tiny cups and sugar servers, dress up time, and the best part is that we always make sure the tea is pretend but the sweets are real. What’s not to love about that?!
It was too early in the morning yesterday when the “please play tea party” chanting started, so to stall a bit on the eating of cakes or cookies I thought I’d add a layer of fun to it all and have us make the treats we would serve on the pink butterfly china. Kitchen time is something new, the girls have only recently stopped jumping up and down every time they get near the ten burner stove (I have no idea what causes it, but they become like popcorn and can’t stand still.) So getting to sit on the floor with mixing bowls and measuring cups and giant spoons that you can lick is a whole new form of entertainment in our house.
I have a favorite peanut butter/sugar cookie recipe that is the result of years of trying to perfect a cookie that has a peanut butter flavor but isn’t so rich with it that it makes you feel like you just took a spoon full right out of the jar. (not that I don’t do that as well.) So the girls and I set up shop and got to work on pouring and measuring out the ingredients and mixing them in two bowls (we aren’t masters of turn taking yet.)
Once we had it all mixed together into a nice dough, I realized that we could actually play with some of it like Play Doh to further stall the tea time and to give the girls a chance at playing/practicing with the cookie cutters they are always digging out of my cabinet and asking about.
So, we played… We played and smooshed, and rolled out, and cut, and it turns out, we ate and ate a lot of dough. (There aren’t any raw eggs in the recipe so it’s fine.) We ate so much of it in fact that what was left in the second bowl was barely enough to bake off for a plate of cookies at the tea party…and in fact once we finally sat down to tea with the baked cookies both girls happily drank their milk (aka tea) but pushed the baked cookies around on their plates and just at the mini chocolate morsels off the top. Oh well, more for me!
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INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Our Method:
Preheat oven to 300°F
1. Cream the butter and sugars, together for as long as a toddler is willing to mix the bowl. Add in the peanut butter and mix until smooth. Mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir into the sugar butter mixture until it forms a soft dough.
2. Take half and play with it on cutting boards and make a big mess in your kitchen and then eat as much dough as your tummy can handle.
3. Shape dough into 1/2 inch balls.(this is for tiny cookies that fit on tea party plates, big people might want 1 1/4 inch versions.) Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. We added mini chocolate morsels to the top after making thumbprint marks in each one…traditional fork marks work as well. Sprinkle with a light amount of sugar then bake until light brown, 10 to 12 minutes.
Cool on baking sheets for a minute; transfer to rack to cool completely.
Makes about 1 dozen cookies. (or two if you don’t play with half so long that you have to toss it out.)
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great post! Can’t wait to see your next post!
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Your delightful description is so vivid I feel like was there too. Sounds wonderful. Looking forward to having a tea party at Grandma’s soon!
I love this. We have twin boys , turning 3 in a month, so any chance to bake and still play is good. Not sure what my hubbie will think of tea party part. Maybe we need a boy version of that.
Just my vote, but the word might be a better place if more little boys got to play tea party…
The 300 degree oven sounds low. Is there a method to the madness or is this just one of those “it just works” things?
It is low…we kahunas like our peanut butter cookies chewy and not crunchy/sandy.
You an also cook this same dough at 375 for 9 minutes and get the classic crunch.
Also, i’m not a chef, don’t play one on tv – but this recipe is perfect for toaster oven baking (as tested and retested in my dorm room and first apartment all those years ago)
For goodness sake. Many children have severe allergies to peanuts. How careless of you to post this
Time OUT!
“Careless” ?! You know, I honestly am at a loss for words..
I get it, being responsible for a child who has life threatening allergies must be frightful and exhausting. But seriously?! I mean, I know the pictures are big close ups of cookies, but no dust is going to touch you or your child.
Allergic to peanuts? Then don’t make this recipe. Or better yet, make it but skip the peanut butter and add applesauce or some other fruit your child can eat and love them as much as we do.
Now back to our regularly schedule program……
Yes! Finally someone to help stop the madness. I feel badly for people, especially children with this allergy, but if I get one more note from school telling ne I can’t send peanut products for my own child I’m going to loose it!
Seriously, if you have a child with such allergies you just don’t make the cookies. And if you don’t have something nice to say… well… you know…
Dear Concerned,
Does this mean that no magazine or recipe book can include anything with peanuts???
I am sure that all parents of children with allergies know how to read and will not make this recipe. Why should the rest of us who live for peanut butter be deprived.
Excuse me, but I’m on a diet and I’m very concerned that you would post these delicious looking cookies. How careless of you! Jerk!
har! thanks Natalie…I needed a laugh, it’s all just so silly. How is Bake and Destroy today? Anybody tell you that you were careless for ummm, cooking?
Oh man, these cookies look delicious!! I do however have portion control issues so it is very careless of you to post this!!
Natalie, so funny!, these little peanut butter cookies are going to make my hips spread too! There goes my diet! LOL And concerned mother, that’s a joke right? she cant be serious? I noticed if it is serious she doesn’t have the nerve to post her site, or we will all unfriend her! So silly! Great recipe I love peanut butter, and as a side note, I raise my son in an old fashioned manner in every way possible, and he will be 2 in a month and hasn’t been sick a day in his life, let alone any allergies to anything.
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Well smart kahuna,
Thanks for the recipe. I am really looking forward to some tea party now. It’s simply irresistible.
My hyperactive peanut butter receptors are being activated through the roof! My peanut butter addiction is much like Bobbi’s addiction to marshmallows. But for this yummy recipe, I might have to make an exception!