Popular Snacks to make from scratch

My youngest son loves goldfish; so, the first one is for him.  I loved to eat Vanilla wafers with frosting between them as a kid. When I taught snack time was pretzels and animal crackers; so, I include that recipes.  I was trying to give healthy snacks; but, could not resist adding one with chocolate: Oreo Cookies!

Goldfish Crackers

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 tsps. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

8 oz. cheddar cheese (Used orange cheddar for half of the fish and white    cheddar for the other half Extra sharp is great here.)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. fresh-ground pepper

A fish cookie cutter

Directions:

Pulse the flour, butter, cheese, salt, and pepper together using a food processor until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Pulse in 3 to 4 tablespoons of water, one tablespoon at a time, and only enough so that the dough forms a ball and rides the blade.

Remove, wrap in plastic, and chill for 20 minutes or up to 24 hours.

Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper and set aside.  Roll the dough out to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out as many crackers as possible.  Place them 1 inch apart on the prepared baking pans. 

Bake at 350 F until golden and crisp - 15 to 20 minutes.

Homemade Vanilla Wafers

Ingredients:

1 stick butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg, large

1 Tbsp. vanilla

1 1/4 cup All Purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

Directions:

Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.  Combine the flour and powder and mix in.  Use the tiniest ice cream scoop (or a 1/2 tsp. measuring spoon), scoop the dough onto a cookie sheet.  (Silpat is recommended) 20-24 cookies on a pan.  Bake 350 degrees for 10+ minutes.  Let their color be your guide to their doneness.  You want brown edges and tan, crispy cookies.

Homemade Animal Crackers

Ingredients:

1 Stick Butter

1 cup Brown Sugar

1 Egg

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1/4 tsp. Allspice

1/8 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 cup Oats

1 1/2 cups Flour

2 Tbsp. Cocoa Powder (Optional)

Directions:

Cream together the butter and brown sugar.

Add in the egg and vanilla and combine well.

Mix in the cinnamon, allspice, and salt.

Finally, add in the baking powder, oats, flour, and optional cocoa powder. Cocoa powder should be subbed for flour. Simply add the powder to your measuring cup and then fill the rest of the way up with flour.

Mix it up good and form into a ball. Store in the form balls in the fridge for a minimum of one hour.

When ready, pull dough from fridge, grab off a hunk and roll it out to 1/4" thick.

Cut out crackers and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment.

Bake for 5-7 minutes in an oven preheated to 350 degrees.

Homemade Oreo Cookies

Ingredients:

200 gr unsalted butter, at room temperature

80 gr powdered sugar, sifted

2 large egg yolks, at room temperature

pinch of salt

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tsp. instant coffee, dissolved in 1/2 tsp. hot water

250 gr plain flour

35 gr cocoa powder

Directions:

Sift together plain flour and cocoa powder. Beat butter and powdered sugar until smooth. Add yolks, salt, vanilla extract and coffee. Beat until smooth.

Add flour mixture and beat until just combined. Gather dough into a ball and divide in half. Wrap each half with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Form each piece of dough into a log that is about 4cm thick. Wrap the logs in plastic and chill for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 160C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Unwrap each log, then using a sharp slender knife, slice each log into cookies about 3-5mm thick. (You can make the cookies thicker if you’d like; just bake them longer.) Place the cookies on the lined baking sheets.

6. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, turning the sheet halfway through if necessary. Cool or wire rack.

Filling:

100 gr room-temperature, unsalted butter

240 gr icing sugar

2 tsp. coffee, dissolved in 1/2 - 1 tsp. hot water

Beat together butter and sugar. Add dissolved coffee and beat until filling is light and fluffy.

To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Press lightly to spread filling to the outsides of cookie. Repeat until all cookies and filling have been used up.

Share your ideas on this or anything here on the blog either here or e-mail me at stipple@verizon.net.  I look forward to hearing from you!