SAHM? Please. All you do is lay on the couch all day eating bon-bons and watching soaps!

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Dried Strawberry Flavored Craisins

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Double Chocolate Krackle Cookies

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So, several months ago I guess I signed the boy up for a weekly breakfast making, er, I mean, weekly cookie baking class!    BEST.  SPENT.  MONEY.  EVER.  It was overall a wonderful learning experience:

• learning about the chemistry of the ingredients and how they work together, taste, feel, smell, sound
• learning an important home economics skill and learning the way around an industrial kitchen
• testing levels of patience in waiting for ingredients and supplies to be passed along and cookies to be baked and cooled
• learning the importance of teamwork in helping out fellow bakers, and helping to clean up
• using hand-eye coordination in pouring ingredients INTO THE BOWL and not ONTO THE TABLE
• fine motor practice was used in measuring out ingredients in small amounts and cracking eggs
• large motor skills in mixing all the batter by hand and rolling and shaping the dough 
• and practicing good listening skills in waiting for the instructor to call out the next ingredient or to explain the steps of the recipe. 

 

And let me tell you the stress that is relieved between parent and child in being able to mess up somebody else's kitchen!   I don't care how patient a parent you claim to be, there is always that sense of OMG-are-you-freaking-kidding-me?! when you have littles in the kitchen "helping" out, especially when the project is impromptu!  AmIright?!   Anyways, it was great having another adult to be frustrated at other than mommy!  And we learned some new fun and easy recipes that kids can follow, and every week we made DOZENS of super yummylicious treats to take home!  This was by far the best extracurricular activity we have ever done and I cannot recommend it highly enough.  So much so, that we have signed up for another session! 

 

 

Double Chocolate Krackle Cookies

 

Prep Time:  ?????  Depends on how many eggs end up on the floor and how much flour is flung around the counter.

Bake Time:  8 - 10 minutes 

Makes about 30 1-inch ball cookies OR 7 or 8 ginormous misshapen mound cookies

 

 

Ingredients

 

 

1/2 cup and 2 tbsp. firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup Crisco® All-Vegetable Shortening

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. baking soda

1/3 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

2 tbsp. granulated sugar

2 tbsp. powdered sugar

 

 

Directions

 

1. Heat oven to 375°.
2. In a large bowl (or on medium speed using a stand mixer) beat together brown sugar, shortening, and vanilla until well blended.
3. Add the egg and mix well.
4. Add in the flour, salt, cocoa, and baking soda and (mix on low speed) stir gently until well incorporated.  The dough will become stiff and resemble play-dough.  Kids can dig in and use their (clean!) hands to mix the dough (sprinkle on a little flour if the dough is too sticky to work with)! 
5. Add chocolate chips.
6. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and leave in the mixing bowl watching as your kiddo gently smashes each neat little ball that you form.
7. Sprinkle the granulated sugar over the balls and shake the bowl until the balls have absorbed most of the sugar.  This will help the powdered sugar stick and give the cookies that "Krackled" look.
8. Sprinkle the powdered sugar onto the balls and shake the bowl to ensure all of the cookies are coated.
9. Place cookie balls about 2-inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  These cookies will not spread, so if you want flat cookies, you can smash them down a bit!
10. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes or until cookies are set.   Let the kiddos watch the cookies "Krackle" in the oven like dinosaur eggs!  The insides will be a little like a cakey brownie or truffle.
11. Cool completely (or as long as you can possibly stand to wait!) and enjoy these yummy rich treats with a cold glass of milk! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can also check me out over at The Krazy Coupon Mama on Facebook! Frugal living at its finest! Money-saving tips, lessons in couponing, daily deals, freebies, product samples, printable coupons, giveaways, store deals, and more! Because Budgets and Babies Can Make Anyone Krazy!

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