Monday, November 17, 2008

Sugar Cookies with Cairo

On Friday night, we took a break from our regular weekend routine and hosted Cairo, a 3-year old vegan toddler that is full of energy! This gave his parents a chance to have a night off on their own. Cairo requested that we make vegan sugar cookies earlier in the week, and who am I to say no to baking?

First step... dough smashing! And of course getting flour all over the counter and on our faces (on Cairo's cheek and my nose). I pre-made the dough using the recipe from Katie at Troubled Tofu, which I highly recommend if you like soft sugar cookies! Scroll to the end to see the crossposted recipe.

After dough "smashing" we rolled out the dough... Check out the cute "Junior Baker" apron he has on!
Next, we cut out the cookies into different shapes. Cairo was especially excited about the dinosaur cookie cutters (triceratops, stegosaurus, and tyrannosaurus rex), he loves dinosaurs.
While the cookies were baking in the oven, we built a skyscraper made out of Linkin Logs. I remember playing with these as a kid, but don't think I was ever able to build anything that tall!
Once the cookies were cooled and the icing was made, Cairo got right to icing the cookies (like the stegosaurus shown below).
Then there was the question of sprinkles. Too many choices. But once Cairo made a decision on what color to use, he was committed. John tried to coax him into adding more sprinkles, but Cairo clearly had a vision. A vegan master baker in the making!
Check out the care he used in applying the sprinkles! He decorated a cookie for his mom, a cookies for his dad, a cookie for John, a cookie for me, and a few cookies for himself (smart kid!).
The finished plate of iced vanilla sugar cookies... my favorite (besides the blue T-rex that Cairo decorated for me) was Cairo's rainbow snowflake on the bottom left. He kept dipping the spatula into the different color icings saying "a little of this and a little of this and a little of this...." So cute!

Whew! Three hours with a three year old really wore us out, but Cairo was such a happy, fun, loving kid that it was worth it. As we were sitting on the couch watching a video, there was a dragon eating spaghetti and meatballs. John asked Cairo if he ever ate meatballs. His reply? "We eat spaghetti with veggie meatballs".



NoWhey's Sugar Cookies

2/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
egg replacer = to 1 egg (use ener-g, not flax)
4 teaspoons soymilk (might need to add more in later)
2 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Thoroughly cream shortening, sugar and vanilla in a mixer until a bit fluffy, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl every once in a while. Add egg replacer; beat until even more light and fluffy. Stir in soymilk until well combined. In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients and then blend into creamed mixture. It will seem a little dry at first, but keep blending and it should be moist enough to hold together well. If it is extremely crumbly, add about a teaspoon more of milk. Divide dough in half, wrapping each half in wax paper. Chill at least 1 hour.
On lightly floured surface, roll to 1/8 inch thickness (one half at a time, while still chilling other half). The thicker it is, the softer the cookie though. Cut in desired shapes. Bake on greased cookie sheet about half an inch apart at 375 for 5-7 minutes. Cool slightly, remove from pan. Cool all the way before frosting. Makes 2 dozen (depending on cookie cutters).

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great kid, he's awesome!
It looks like you all had a lot of fun >:o)

Anonymous said...

I say you haven't baked until you've baked with a 3-year-old! And dino cookie cutters? Wow, that is darn classy if you ask me! Love it!

Nicole said...

It looks like so much fun! I love me some vegan sugar cookies.

allularpunk said...

adorable! i haven't had sugar cookies in a long while. you think you could get cairo to decorate one for me? haha... you are certainly a trooper for toddlersitting. you were prepared though, which is always key (i have 4 nieces/nephews...planning is most important).

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

SO CUTE!!!

Love that recipe - yum!!

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Talk about a healthy, vibrant (not to mention artistic!) vegan kid!

Animal-Friendly said...

Cairo sounds like such an awesome kid! His cookies look beautiful :)

Anonymous said...

He's so adorable! And those cookies do look terrific (esp. that snowflake) ;)

River (Wing-It Vegan) said...

Aww, Cairo is SO cute!! I love his little apron and the cookies are adorable!

Lauren said...

So adorable! I just loved this post!

Theresa said...

He sounds like a real character. And those cookies are awesome!

Amey said...

what a sweet post. the cookies look great! Also I love how many sprinkles he put on. :) 3 year olds really are exhausting, and fun!

Amy said...

I should organize these for my kids one day! They're great and what an adorable little man you got to look after!

Unknown said...

Gosh, what a cute vegan kid! : ) You and John will make great parents someday! Kids are definitely exhausting but definitely worth it!!! This was an adorable post on your "adventures in vegan toddler-sitting"!

Anonymous said...

Cairo couldn't be any cuter!!! I bet he had a great time and planning an activity like baking was perfect for a three year old! I can't wait for my toddler to be of cookie baking age!

Tara said...

Cute kid! I remember seeing him at the chili cook-off. Right? I hope I'm not imagining things. heehee Yum...sugar cookies.

Tami said...

You are awesome! What wonderful pictures.

Bianca said...

Wow! You make babysitting look like fun! I'm not really a fan of children, but Cairo's cookie-making session looks like a blast.

aTxVegn said...

Looks like you two are having a great time. He's adorable.

Anonymous said...

Way to go guys! Sounds like you kept him busy! You got the t-rex! Awesome!! I'm surprised the cookies didn't end up in a big smushed pile by the end of the night. :)

Anonymous said...

These are the most adorable pictures. What a talented baker!

Alicia said...

You did burn all the calories of the cookies while making them, didn't you? What a sweet kid!

KitteeBee said...

Nice dinosaurs! It looks like y'all had fun. I remember making bagels with the preschoolers I used to watch every afternoon in high school (I did the after care in their montessori school). The bagels came out looking great, but I whispered in each parent's ear not to eat them. They had been all over the place, on the floor, and covered in lots of preschool snot as well.

Also, if you like my blog, a link would be much appreciated...

xo
kittee

Vegan Girl (Roni Seabury) said...

Cairo is a cutie pie. It looks like you both had a great time. Any kids in your future?

Liz Ranger (Bubble Tea for Dinner) said...

"veggie" meatballs, awwwww... cairo sounds like such a scamp!

and also, that's NoWhey's sugar cookie recipe I made once forever ago and couldn't find again, thank you!! they were so good. :)

Anonymous said...

What fun!!

Bex said...

He sounds so cute!
I need to borrow a kid so I can make sugar cookies too.

Anonymous said...

Ive made these twice now...they are so good...and a hit with all my non-vegan friends!