How to make devil's hot chocolate; get expert tips on making dessert beverages in this free instructional video series. Expert: Scott Gottfried Bio: Scott Gottfried attained a liberal arts degree with minor in dessert food preparation from Brookdale community college. Filmmaker: Scott Gottfried
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Monday, January 2, 2012
How to Bake Chocolate Chip Cookies From Scratch
One of the most popular cookies in the world is the chocolate chip cookie said to be invented by Ruth Wakefield the owner of the toll house in back in 1933. The story would go that Ruth ran out of bakers chocolate and hoped that mixing in some broken nestle chocolate would mix as it melted, but of course this wasn't the case and delicious chocolate chip cookies were born.
There is other claims that one of Wakefields employees had discovered the recipe and she had taken all the credit. Regardless of what happened millions of people world wide are very pleased to have these delicious cookies available to them.
Baking is becoming more of a lost art these days and not many people know how to bake chocolate chip cookies from scratch instead they go to the store and buy some highly processed premade cookie dough and try and pass it off as there own. I can tell you for a fact your not fooling anyone and store bought stuff will never taste as good as homemade not to mention the envious company who will be blown away by your baking talent.
The first step is to find a cook book or go on the internet and search for chocolate chip cookie recipes that have good user feedback such as the nestle toll house recipe I mentioned already. Your going to want a recipe that's really clear with the steps and having pictures is even better to ensure your cookies come out perfect.
The main ingredients in most recipes are:
- Butter/ Margarine
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar
- Salt
- Baking soda
- Vanilla
- Flour
- Eggs
- Chocolate chips
So be sure to check your fridge and pantry and see what you have and what you don't then take a trip down to the grocery store and get whatever the recipe calls for you to use. The ingredients above are pretty standard, but the amounts will vary depending on the recipe and the texture of the cookies.
Once you have your recipe and all the required ingredients it's very simple. First your going to cream the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and butter or margarine together. Next you will add your eggs and vanilla and continue mixing it all together. Now you can add your salt and baking soda. Start to slowly mix in your flour while continually mixing it together.
Once you have a nice cookie dough you can add your chocolate chips and give it a quick stir and your done. Scoop them out on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven to bake for 10-20 minutes. Keep in mind your recipe may vary, but this is a standard method. And those are the steps to making your first batch.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Kids Party Games
Birthday party games are an essential part of your party planning process. No kids party is complete without party games. One of the most important rules when throwing a kids party is to keep them busy. It's a recipe for disaster when you don't have enough activities. Kids won't sit still, if you don't provide something for them to do they will find something to do and not necessarily what you would have chosen!
Find below a list of indoor and outdoor party games that kids will love to play! Also check out our site for a complete list of over 30 party games!
Drama in a Bag
1) Divide the kids into teams.
2) Give each team a bag with various items such as an apple, cup, comb or toy (no more than 5 items).
3) Give the children 15 minutes to create a skit that contains all the items in their bag.
4) Then have them perform the skit. If you want to have a winner then select the team that used their items best in the skit.
Silly Photo
1) Provide the kids with props like fake mustaches (cut out of felt), glasses, wigs, hats, clown noses, fake tattoos, etc.
2) Then take silly pictures of the kids to take home as a memoir of the party.
Copy Cat
1) Have the children stand in a circle.
2) The birthday boy or girl starts the game by moving a body part such as waving a hand, wiggling their hips, sticking out their tongue, etc.
3) The next child has to repeat the first child's movements and add a movement of their own. Play continues around the circle with each child repeating previous movements and adding their own.
4) When a child can't remember the previous movements or does an incorrect movement they are out.
Obstacle Course
You will need a stop watch for this game.
1) Create a crazy obstacle course. There are tons of ways to make the obstacle course fun with every day items. a) use chairs that the kids have to crawl under, b) have them run around a tree, c) tag a fence, d) sit or stomp on a balloon and pop it, e) stop and blow a bubble with gum before moving on, f) throw a basketball in a hoop, g) jump rope five times, h) do 10 push ups/jumping jacks/cartwheels. These are just a few ideas.
2) Have each child run through the obstacle course completing each task while being timed using the stop watch.
3) Whoever has the fastest time wins.
Duck Pond
1) You will need a wading pond, a small net (a fish tank net works well) several rubber ducks (as many ducks as you have guests) and as many prizes as you have ducks.
2) Put numbers on the bottom of each duck (use a waterproof marker) and number each prize.
3 Have each child use the net to try to catch a duck. Once they've caught a duck they get to open the prize that corresponds with the number on the bottom of their duck.
4) To make the game more exciting you can have a golden egg prize. Use a gold marker (waterproof) to draw a golden egg on the bottom of 1 duck. Whoever gets the duck with the golden egg gets the "Golden Egg" prize. This prize should be a little more exciting then the other prizes.
Toothpick Marshmallow Game
1) For this Kids Party Game divide the children into 2 groups or have 2 children compete at a time.
2) Have the children race to see who can build the highest marshmallow tower in a set amount of time.
What Candy Is It
1) For this Kids Party Game you will need several different flavors of chocolate bars such as Snickers, Milky Way, Nestle Crunch, Kit Kat, M&Ms, Hershey Bar, 3 Musketeer, Twix and so on.
2) Melt each chocolate bar in the microwave. Divide the melted candy into small portions for each child to taste.
3) Have the children taste each melted chocolate bar and guess what candy it is. Who ever guesses correct gets that chocolate bar as a prize. Of course, give fresh, unmelted candy bars as prizes.
Memory
1) For this Kids Party Game you will need a tray and party supplies for this game.
2) Put several party supplies on a tray such as a party hat, balloon (not inflated), streamer, candle, invitation, cupcake and so on. You will need at least 10 items.
3) Allow the kids to look at all the items on the tray for 1 minute.
4) Take the tray away and then have the kids guess what was on the tray. Whoever has the most correct answers wins.
What Animal Are You
1) Pass out animal stickers to each child.
2) Have each child imitate their animal and have the other kids guess what animal they are.
Hot Potato
1) Place the children in a circle. Play music while they pass an object around the circle. The object does not have to be a potato; it can be anything.
2) Stop the music and whoever has the object is the winner.
3) Keep playing until one child is left. He is the winner.
Gut Dip
1) For this Kids Party Game fill a large bowl or bucket with anything squishy such as pasta or mashed potatoes.
2) Hide small objects throughout the squishy substance.
3) Give the kids a set amount of time to put their hands in the squishy substance and find an object.
4) They get to keep what they find.
Balloon Win
1) For this Kids Party Game put notes in un-inflated balloons. Choose a couple of balloons to put notes that say winner. Blow up all the balloons and place them around the party area.
2) Tell the kids to each find a balloon.
3) One by one have each child pop their balloon to see if they are a winner.
4) The children with balloons that have with notes get a prize.
Balloon Stomp
1) For this Kids Party Game attach a 3 foot piece of string/ribbon to a balloon and attach the other end to a party guests ankle.
2) Do the same to each child.
3) The object is for the children to pop each others balloon by stomping on them while protecting their own balloon.
4) The last child with an inflated balloon is the winner.
Bubble Boy (or Girl)
1) For this Kids Party Game fill a wading pool with water and bubble mix.
2) Place a stepping stool in the center of the pool.
3) Place a hula-hoop in the pool around the stepping stool
4) Have each child stand on the stepping stool then pull the hula-hoop over the child.
5) The child will find themselves inside a huge bubble.
Musical Gifts
1) Have the children sit in a circle and play music while the children pass a wrapped gift.
2) When the music stops the child holding the gift gets to keep it.
Sack Hop
1) Divide the children into 2 teams.
2) Line them up and give the first child on each team a large pillow case.
3) Have both children stand inside the pillow case holding the edges. On go they should hop to a predetermined mark and back as fast as they can. They then hand off the pillowcase to the next member in line of their team. Each member of the each team gets a turn.
4) The team that finishes first wins.
Remember That Verse
1) This game works better with pre-teens as opposed to toddlers.
2) Prior to the party put together a list of versus from popular songs. You should have the birthday boy/girl help you with this.
3) When playing the game with the kids only read a portion of the verse and have the kids fill in the rest. If the kids are bold have them sing the remainder of the verse.
Riddle Me This
1) For this Kids Party Game put riddles on cards and then give each child a turn to pick a card.
2) If they get the riddle correct they get a prize. (You may want to help with hints depending on the age group.)
Examples of riddles: "This is the place I learn the most and play with my friends" (answer: school), "I can be used to help with homework, contact friends or play games" (answer: computer), "I'm cold or freezing depending on which door you open (answer: refrigerator).
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