Passing Down Tradition ~ Italian Knot Cookies with Recipe

When I was little, I remember my grandmother letting me help in the kitchen.  One of my favorite things to help with was her knotted cookies.  She would let me mix the ingredients and mold the dough.

Unfortunately, my kids were never able to meet my grandmother, but today,  I passed down that same tradition with them.  We worked together to recreate those same knotted cookies.  



Italian Knotted Cookies with Sugar Glaze


Ingredients:

Cookies:
1/2 C sugar
3 C flour
2 TBL Baking Powder
3 eggs
1/2 C oil
1 TBL vanilla

Glaze:
1 C of confectioner's sugar
3/4 C water
vanilla, lemon or orange extract


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Sift all dry ingredients together.  Slowly fold in wet ingredients.
Blend ingredients together to make a dough.  (If very sticky, add flour)


Take about 1 TBL of dough and roll into logs.  Twist logs in knots.


Bake for about 15-20 minutes.  The cookies will remain light in color.







Glaze:
Blend all ingredients together.  The glaze should be a syrupy type consistency.  If too runny, add more confectioner's sugar.


Glaze cookies once they are out of the oven.  You can add sprinkles for decoration.


Unfortunately, our attempt was nothing like the cookies that my grandmother made.  They actually look more like piles of poop and they came out too big...but the taste was still there.

Do you have any memories of cooking with your grandparents or parents?  Have you passed down that tradition to your kids?




Alexis

Kid Friendly Cooking ~ Pigs in a Blanket

"Little Ricky" is a picky eater.  His main food group consists of anything in the shape of dinosaurs with breading.  It's really annoying.


Once we got him to eat steak and he actually likes it.  Now any kind of meat that we eat, I just call it steak and serve it with ketchup and all is good. 


Sundays (aka, football days) are our fun eating days.  We like to eat finger type foods and chips and dips.  My husband calls it "buffet."  The kids LOVE it!  


Today my little chefs helped me to make pigs in a blanket.  We used mini cocktail franks and Pillsbury Crescent Rolls.  They loved rolling up the little hotdogs in the dough.  "This one's a baby all wrapped up," is what "Little Ricky" said as he tucked one in the buttery dough.
 
They loved eating the favorite finger food....especially that they helped make them!






How do you get your picky eaters to make better choices?

Alexis