Contrary to what the corporate media would have you think, not all kids grow up without a clue about cooking, some even get lots of hands-on time early on. I was one of those lucky ones, as is the monstrrr in these pictures. Let's call her awesomeGrrl, because she is awesome (the kid speaks three languages already...oh, and American Sign Language...geez!) and she's learning all about being an awesome cook and baker from a very young age.
awesomeGrrl is also the star of the book's video, which you can see at the Amazon page:
Picture Yourself Cooking With Your Kids
awesomeGrrl's Aunt Marcella came to visit recently and they baked Marcella's Pie Cookies. These cookies are the cupcake of pies: tender sour cream pastry and a rich
date filling shaped into tiny little puffed flowers. In the family since the turn of the last century, the recipe for these cookies was
passed to Marcella when she was about nine years old, which would have been quite a few years
ago, since Marcella celebrated her 80th birthday a while back by throwing herself out of a perfectly good airplane, but that's another story. As you might guess, Marcella is a bit of an awesomeGrrl herself; more
than a few of women in the family point to her as who they want to be like when they are 80.
Marcella's Pie Cookies
Makes about 30 cookies
Filling
The filling has to cool before the cookies are assembled so it should be made before the dough. Otherwise, the dough should be refrigerated while the fillling cooks and cools.
dates, chopped 8 ounces
sugar 2 tablespoons
Put dates in saucepan, add enough water to just cover them and sugar. Simmer over medium heat until mixture is thickened enough to hold its shape on a spoon (about 20 minutes). Set aside to cool.
Dough
butter 8 ounces
sugar 2 cups
eggs 2
vanilla extract 2 teaspoons
nutmeg, ground 1/4 teaspoon
salt 1/4 teaspoon
sour cream 1 cup
all-purpose flour 5 cups, divided
sugar 2 tablespoons, for sprinkling
Preheat oven to 350°(f).
Cream butter, 2 cups of sugar, eggs, vanilla and sour cream. Add 3 cups of flour, nutmeg, and salt and mix until just combined.
Put remaining 2 cups of flour on counter and turn out mixture on top of it. Knead gently to form a smooth soft dough. The dough is very soft and you may want to refrigerate it before rolling it out.
Working with half of the dough at a time, roll dough 1/4 inch thick and cut into 2 inch rounds...or other shape, they just need to be the same. You should get about 15-17 rounds per half batch of dough.
Place half of the rounds on parchment-lined cookie sheets. Divide the cooled filling between the cookie bottoms, using a scant teaspoon per cookie. Top with another round, pressing the edges well to seal them, and sprinkle the top with sugar (use vanilla sugar if you have it).
Bake 20 minutes until they are lightly browned and the crust firms up a bit. Allow to cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes, the center is very hot!
