Gingerbread Pirates

Arrrggghhh…we have a new book in our collection of Christmas favorites ~ The Gingerbread Pirates.

It’s Christmas Eve, and Jim and his mother are making pirate gingerbread men to leave for Santa. Jim’s favorite is Captain Cookie, who carries a gingerbread cutlass and has a toothpick peg leg. The captain is much too good to be eaten, so Jim keeps him close by his bed. But late that night, when Jim is fast asleep, Captain Cookie step taps away on a daring adventure to find his pirate crew — and rescue them from that mysterious character he’s heard about: a cannibal named Santa Claus.

After we read the book we set to work making our own crew of gingerbread pirates.

Our Captain

and his fearless crew!

Sorry Santa, I don’t think this crew will make it until Christmas!

~Cindy

Pretzels

Making pretzels with the kids is so much fun!  Emily loves to  measure, mix, and knead. 

Aiden loves to punch the dough ~ his version of kneading. 

This is the first time we have made this pretzel recipe and I will never make another!  They were so YUMMY! 

What You’ll Need:

• 4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup baking soda
• 4 cups hot water
• Optional: 1/4 cup kosher salt
• Optional:  melted butter and cinnamon and sugar

What You’ll Do:

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center; add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into a dough. If the mixture is dry, add one or two tablespoons of water. Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 to 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water.
4. When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape.  We made most of ours into pretzel sticks.                                        
   Once you have shaped all the dough, dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a greased baking sheet.  Optional: Sprinkle with kosher salt.      
   Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes, until browned.
   Optional:  melt butter and dip pretzels in butter then in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.

The best part ~ taste testing!

~Cindy