Tag Archives: Baking

Kids Can Cook with Handstand Kitchen + Giveaway – Ends 11/7

My kids have always enjoyed helping in the kitchen. I think it is our deep love of food that keeps them curious and wanting to learn how to do things and help out.

Over the years, I have tried to find kid friendly items for the kitchen but honestly, I haven’t had a lot of luck aside from cookie and sandwich cutters. Thanks to the folks at Handstand Kitchen, we now have all the tools necessary for the kids to create their own pizza!

What is Handstand Kitchen?

Handstand Kitchen is the perfect place for kids to learn to love food, through a hands-on cooking experience. Created in 2007 by a recent law school graduate, Yvette Garfield, Handstand Kitchen provides children their own domain in the kitchen that empowers them to eat healthy and delicious foods. It is Yvette’s hope that children will be inspired to use their new cooking skills to give back to their own communities.

Cooking with Our Handstand Kitchen Pizza Making Set

All of my kids love pizza and they love to create their own. Whenever we do homemade pizzas, we always end up making way to much for the kids. Last weekend, we let the kids use their new pizza making set from Handstand Kitchen and they had a blast. The great thing with using a set created with kids in mind is that everything is the perfect kid size!

The pizza making kit comes with everything you need to make the perfect kid size pizza including recipe cards for your own dough and sauces.

For the kids pizza, we didn’t venture into dough and sauce making this time around but I did let them create the entire pizza themselves.

Alexander, Ellie and Joey all had so much fun making their pizza together. They each took a turn adding to it each step. I love that in the end it ended up with a smiley face on it.

I was quite impressed with the entire set. I was worried that it would take longer to cook the pizza crust through and that it wouldn’t be crispy like the kids like it, but I was wrong. The crust was done and nice and crispy in less than 10 minutes. The great thing, the kids really enjoyed it and were beyond thrilled that they had made it themselves!

The Fall 2016 Collection from Handstand Kitchen

Their Fall 2016 collection is brimming with birthday present and holiday gift giving ideas. Or perhaps a back-to-school or good report card present is warranted. Look for these three fabulous kits—all gender neutral, let’s get boys cooking too!–online and in specialty stores now.

I just love products like these that get the kids in the kitchen and teach them cooking skills from a young age. I think we are going to have to check out the other sets as well and really get cooking here!

Shop & Save in Time for the Holidays

You can use code “HSK20” to save 20% off anything on the entire Handstand Kitchen site now through December 24. In addition to these great sets you will also find some cute aprons, cookbooks, and more!

Win It

Thanks to Handstand Kitchen, you can enter for your chance to win one of the 3 sets featured in this post! Enter for your chance to win using the form below.

This giveaway will end on 11/07/2016 at 11:59pm CST. Winner’s will be contacted via email and will have 24 hours to respond with their mailing information to claim their prize. The Megalomaniac Mommy is not responsible for prize. Any questions, please contact us.

*The Megalomaniac Mommy policies on giveaways can be found here.

Handstand Kitchen

Recipes

Starbucks Copycat Lemon Loaf

Anne Younger Leave a comment

If you follow me on any form of social media, you are probably aware of my tiny addiction to Starbucks. I love their coffee, food and sweet treats. One of my favorite things, aside from the coffee is their delicious iced lemon bread. I don’t like things that are lemon most of the time but iced lemon bread….you rock.

The problem with this addiction is that grabbing a slice of bread is not cheap. It is actually cheaper to make an entire loaf at home then buy one slice at Starbucks.

Thankfully, I can now feed my lemon bread addiction with this amazing copycat recipe and if you are hooked like I am, you are going to be so happy that you found this post!

Ingredients
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
3 eggs at room temp.
1 c. sugar
2 T. butter softened
1 t. vanilla
2 t. lemon extract
1/3 c. fresh lemon juice
1/2 c. oil
zest of one lemon

Glaze

1 c. powdered sugar
2 T. milk
1/2 t. lemon extract
juice of 1/4 lemon

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350

Spray a 9 x 5 loaf pan

In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt

In a medium bowl combine eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla and lemon extracts, and lemon juice with a mixer.
Scrape bottom to make sure all is combined

Pour Flour mixture into wet mixture and blend until smooth, scraping sides and bottom of bowl

Add oil and lemon zest to the mix and mix it well

Pour into prepared loaf pan(s) and bake for 45 min. (9 x 5) or 25 min. (minis.) Insert toothpick to test…it must come out clean

Remove from oven and let set 3 minutes

Prepare glaze…whisk to combine

Remove bread from pan and place onto a wire rack

Make sure and put a cookie sheet under the rack

Pour glaze over bread

Cool completely on rack, slice and serve!

Enjoy!

Recipes

Irish Soda Bread {Recipe}

Anne Younger Leave a comment

It’s hard to believe that St. Patrick’s Day is next week already. I look forward to St. Patty’s Day every year because one, it holds a very special memory for me and two, hello corned beef, cabbage and Irish soda bread. Yeah, I’m looking forward to getting my eat on!

If you enjoy preparing your own dishes on St. Patrick’s Day, here is a great recipe for Irish Soda Bread. If you’ve never had Irish Soda Bread, go….go to the store now, get the ingredients and get baking!

Ingredients

1/2 C white sugar
4 C all-purpose flour….divided
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3 C raisins
1 Tbsp caraway seeds (optional)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 C buttermilk
1 C sour cream

Directions

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
-Grease a 9 inch round baking or cake pan.

-In a mixing bowl, combine flour (reserve 1 tablespoon), sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, raisins (optional) , and caraway seeds (optional)

-In a smaller bowl, blend eggs, buttermilk, and sour cream.
-Stir the liquid mixture into the flour mixture just until flour is moistened.

-Knead dough in bowl about 10 to 12 strokes.
-Dough will be sticky.

-Place the dough in the prepared pan and pat down.
-Cut a 4 x 3/4 inch deep slit in the top of the bread.
-Dust with 1 Tbsp flour.

-Bake in preheated oven for 65 to 75 minutes.
-Let cool and turn bread out onto a wire rack.

Recipes

Cotton Candy Rainbow Cupcakes {Recipe}

Anne Younger Leave a comment

With both St. Patrick’s Day and Easter fast approaching, these Cotton Candy Rainbow Cupcakes are sure to be a hit at any holiday gathering you attend.

You will need the following list of ingredients to create your cupcakes. (You can print the recipe below)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1 egg, plus 2 egg yolks, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup cotton candy

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with paper liners and place to the side.

In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter, sour cream, egg, yolks, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Stir in the cotton candy until evenly distributed -do not over mix.

Get 3-4 small bowls scoop equal amount of cake mix in each bowl. Add 1 drop of food coloring to each bowl mixing until you get the desired color of choice. Using a large spoon add a scoop of cake mix from each color filling the cupcake holder. Do not over fill.

Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Transfer to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.

FOR THE FROSTING
1 1/2 to 3 teaspoons heavy cream
1 ounce cotton candy
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter softened
4 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl, pour 1 1/2 teaspoons of the heavy cream over the cotton candy to melt it place to the side

In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until thoroughly combined. Stir in the vanilla and melted cotton candy. Beat on medium high until light and fluffy add the remaining cream.

To Decorate

Get 3-4 small bowls fill with equal parts icing. Add food coloring to each of color of choice. Mix until completely blended to the color of choice.

Use a pastry bag and a LARGE Star tip: fill the pastry bag with scoops from each color of icing using your hand start at one spot on the cupcake ago around the edge with icing continue the motion building a cone shape and covering the whole cupcake.

Now place a small piece of cotton candy on top for decoration.

[yumprint-recipe id=’43’]

Tips for Making the Best Bread at Home

Anne Younger Leave a comment

**This is a guest post**

Anyone who makes bread at home knows it can be a challenge. But if you follow our tips below, we think you will learn how to make great bread at home in no time:

Use a Baking Stone: Most people use a pan, and that is fine. But if you invest in a baking or pizza stone, your bread is going to get a lot better. A baking stone will give you more heat, and more heat will form a crisp crust like on the bread you buy at the bakery. To use your stone, you should preheat the oven with the stone inside for 30 minutes. Put your bread on the stone directly. Another possibility is to use unglazed ceramic tiles, if the bread stone is too expensive.
Ice: What does ice have to do with baking bread? A lot! Getting good results with baking bread has much to do with creating steam. But most ovens do not have a steaming ability, so we have to get creative. When you preheat, put a metal pan on the lower rack. When you put the dough in the oven, throw some ice in the pan. The steam will ensure that the bread rises more and you will get a great crust.
Try a Dutch Oven: Many bakers know to use a Dutch oven for no-knead breads, but you can use it for all types of bread, as long as you don’t mind it being round. The Dutch oven makes an oven inside your oven, so you will get a great crust on the bread.
Try a Lid: Just like the Dutch oven, using a lid can help to create a much hotter atmosphere around your bread to get you a thick crust. Preheat your large, domed lid, and when you put the dough in the oven, cover it with the lid.
Misting: Just like with ice, misting your bread works in very much the same way. It will help to create steam to help the bread to rise and make a good crust. After you put the bread in the oven, you should mist it 5-6 times with water from a spray bottle. Make sure that the spray bottle is clean of course and does not have any cleaning solutions inside. Close your oven door right away and mist it a few minutes later. Then, mist it a few minutes after that. If you are using a lid on your bread, you can spray the dough before you cover it with a lid. But, you do not need to mist it more than once, as you do not want to raise the lid over and over.
Weigh, Don’t Measure: When you are able to, use a scale to make sure you are using the precise amounts of flour and salt. Professional bakeries use baker’s percentages to ensure they get the same results every time. You can do the same. It is very important to not put too much flour into your recipe. This is what usually causes tough, dry loaves of bread at home.
Add Salt: Salt has many important chemical interactions with flour and yeast that will really add to the flavor of your bread. Many breads in Europe have a lot of salt which helps to give their breads so much flavor. Of course, government authorities do not like that much salt going into the bread and have tried to limit how much salt bakers can use there. But there is no doubt that adding enough salt is critical to get great tasting bread at home.

We hope you find these homemade bread tips useful!

Hamilton Beach is a kitchen appliance company offering a large selection of toasters, blenders and slow cookers as well as an extensive recipe collection