Sep
5
Bubble Gum got to also invite a friend of hers on a playdate last week ( before I hit the bed in the awful flu). The kids always need a snack to keep them happy and going after a day at nursery and with all the playing, scooting, dancing and twirling they end up doing. I wanted to include the girls in the making of so it would double as a “craft”. As the girls are 4 year olds, it did not make sense to do an overly difficult thing so I decided on brownies ( with the addition of fresh berries and other healthier options as snacks too). They got to decorate the brownies with some sugar fondant cutouts afterwards to make them extra fun. For the brownies I used the super simple and ridiculously good brownie cake recipe I have shared earlier on the blog in Finnish. Now you get it in english too. For the fun of it we added some white chocolate chips this time and left out the nuts ( so our playdate guest could bring some of her self made treats home where there are nut allergies). You can leave both out just as well. This recipe is very similar to many brownie recipes. They include more sugar than flour and are really not the healthiest snack ever. But a square of warm home made brownie with a glass of cold milk may sometimes just make the day that much better. And the good news is, if you are either one of those people who can´t stick to just one square or don´t like using refined sugar, dairy and white flour ( smart choise!) then there are plenty of recipes for healthy brownies online too. Like these sweet potato brownies. Just keep in mind that even though the healthy choices are definitely better for you they may sometimes be just as calorific as the real deal ( with plenty of nuts and dates etc.). So it´s best to stick to the everything in moderation mentality even with these ones. Serve with a class of home made almond mylk, add a pretty straw and no one will know they are not the “real thing”!
Brownies ( this is the cake sized recipe, for the brownies double it)
3 dl sugar
1 1/2 dl flour
2 tsp vanilla sugar or 1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbls cocoa powder
150 g butter
2 eggs
optional 0,5-1 dl (white) chocolate chips ( or a 100g of crushed walnuts)
for decorating
Sugar Fondant ( in different colours if you like)
a little sprinkling of confectioners sugar or corn starch
1. Pre heat your oven to 200°c.
2. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Melt the butter ( in a saucepan or in the microwave oven). Mix it in the dry ingredients together with the eggs. If you are using vanilla extract instead of vanilla sugar add it at this point.
4. Fold in the chocolate chips and pour the batter to a buttered brownie pan.
5. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.
6. In the meanwhile roll your sugar fondant fairly thin using powdered sugar ( or corn starch) to help keep it from sticking. Keep it thick enough for little hands to be able to handle it though ( about 2-5 mm sounds about right).
7. Cut the sugar fondant with cookie cutters to any shapes you like. Just remember to use the smaller cookie cutters so the shapes fit on to the brownie squares.
8. When the brownies are ready let them cool off and cut in to squares. Add the shapes you made on top and you have cute decorated brownies. You can obviously just leave the sugar fondant part out and eat the brownies just as or use powdered sugar ( and maybe a free printable Boo baking stencil to make them cute).
Sep
1
Tissues & tea
by Sofia - in Random
Terveiset peiton alta. Syysflunssa voitti minut ja lepäilen ainakin tämän päivän visusti omassa sängyssä. Teekupponen ja tämä kirja hoivaajinani.
I´m wishing you an early weekend. I have a cold so at least for today I´m in bed rest with a box of tissues and a cup of tea.
Hyvää viikonloppua näin hieman etukäteen! Pysykää terveinä!
Have a good one!
Lattemamma
p.s. Jos flunssa vähän helpottaa, niin huomenna olisi Korkeasaaressa kissojen yö johon tytöt olisivat kovasti halunneet mennä…
Aug
31
Bracelets
by Sofia - in DIY projects Good things for kids Random
Cotton Candy had a playdate with a sweet school friend at our house and I wanted to let them do something special for when they were finished with homework. When my girls were babies ( and probably even before I had kids) I always used to imagine all the fun things to arrange for playdates and sleepovers. I know it´s mostly about just letting the girls do their thing with their little friends but a little cute snack or craft is always a welcome addition.
This time the girls got to assemble little friendship bracelets inspired by ones I saw in a very cool children´s store in Tribeca, New York. It´s a fun project, something the girls can wear and it´s also a learning experience as they can assemble their own names from the alphabet beads. If there was more time it would be a fun project to make for all the girls ( and why not boys too) in the class. Wouldn´t it be a great bonding experience if they all had one. One of Cotton Candy´s class mates is moving to Australia so I think she will make one for her as a remember me by bracelet.
You will need…
thin rubber band on ribbon ( make sure it´s thin enough to get through the holes on the beads)
scissors
alphabet beads
regular beads, flowers, stars or whichever you like
tulle for some “bows”
If you like some pretty floral fabric for some “bows”
