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Friday, December 31, 2010

Baby Elephant Ears

Baby Elephant Ears


Chef Princess and I, Nanny Granny, took time for another cooking project. First we sang the hand washing song while we washed our hands. Even though this was serious business and the princess was wearing her lavender princess gown, she did put on her monkey apron. We might as well make it a zoo project--elephants and monkeys, what can I say. This easy, child's recipe makes four regular elephant ears, but we decided to make baby ones. Then we could make eight small ones instead of four large ones. Great idea, now we’ll have enough for the whole family and leftovers for the royal playgroup.

The princess moved the step stool to the counter while I preheated the oven to 425 degrees. First we got all the items we needed: A greased cookie sheet, pastry brush, large mixing bowl, wooden spoon, a glass measuring cup, dry measuring cups, and measuring spoons.

Then we got all the ingredients together:



¼ cup melted butter
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons of sugar
½ teaspoon of baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Sugar


Next I melted the butter and measured the ingredients while the princess mixed. She stirred together the flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, the baking powder, the salt, and then she added the milk and 3 tablespoons melted butter to make the dough form. She sprinkled a little flour on the dough and kneaded it 10 times. Then she placed it on a floured board. A little more flour was added and the princess lightly flattened the dough to 9x5 inches rectangle—just a little dough on the nose. My turn—I brushed the rest of the butter on the dough and sprinkled on the remaining sugar and cinnamon. I rolled the dough tightly starting on the narrow edge and cut it into 8 equal slices. The princess spaced the elephant ears evenly onto the cookie sheet and patted them each into a circle about 4 inches in diameter. Next we placed them in the oven and let them bake until they were golden brown—about 8 to 10 minutes. Finally we removed them to a wire rack to cool. The princess could hardly contain herself and had to have one, with a glass of milk, while it was still warm. Yumm!