M is talking about dinosaurs in her room at pre school so I thought this would be a fun way to extend on that and teach both kids a bit about fossils. This idea came from the Martha Stewart website http://www.marthastewart.com/
Ingredients
- 1 cup walnuts, toasted
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- Salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar ( is that caster sugar?)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Pulse walnuts in a food processor until finely ground. Transfer to a bowl, and whisk in flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
- Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla with a mixer on high speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Gradually beat in walnut mixture.
- Divide dough into eighteen 1 1/2-inch balls, and press into irregular stone shapes using the palm of your hand; transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Dust food-safe plastic insects with flour to coat; press into dough to make fossil impressions. Freeze until dough is very firm, 20 to 30 minutes.
- Bake until golden brown and firm in center, 25 to 28 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack, and let cool.
The recipe doesn't say what temperature to bake them at so I went for 180o C. They didn't come out as well as Martha's did ( even after a full hour in the freezer) but we had fun and they taste nice. ITou caould even argue that they're healthy-ish since they have walnuts in them : ). I'm thinking if you follow the recipe you're bound to get better results than I did as I'm not a baker and we have a terrible oven that just decides if it's going to be too hot or not hot enough depending on what you're trying to cook!
one of our best- a scorpion |
Martha's fossil biscuits- she's clearly an expert at making them : ) |
I love this idea!! Fun and educational!!
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