Baking with Kids | Slow Family

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Last updated by suzlipman at January 30, 2016.

Happy Chinese New Year: Celebrate the Year of the Monkey with Crafts, Recipes and Fun

Posted on January 28, 2016 | 1 comment

Chinese New Year is celebrated on February 8th this year, and marks the beginning of the Chinese year 4714. The Chinese calendar is based on the lunar calendar, with the new year beginning on the darkest day of the month. New years celebrations often go as many as two weeks, until the next full moon. And a celebratory holiday it is, with red decorations, good-luck gifts of oranges and money, parades with dragon dances and firecrackers, and special foods.

Learn about Chinese Lunar New Year parades in San Francisco, Chicago and New York, as well as Chinese New Year activities around the world.

This year is the Year of the Monkey. See a Chinese zodiac calendar. Try one of these fun Chinese New Year activities:

Fingerprint Monkey Card from Crafty Morning

Year of the Monkey Papercut Printable from Craft Kids

Chinese Good Luck Ornament from Sand in My Toes

Paper dragon from Teach Kids Art

Paper Plate drums from Crafts and Art for Children

Kid-friendly Honey Prawns from Kidspot

Homemade fortune cookies from The Spiffy Cookie

Felt fortune cookies from Martha Stewart

Fruit roll-up fortune cookies from Recipe by Photo

Noisemakers from Slow Family Online

Make these easy paper lanterns

This is probably the classic Chinese New Year craft. It’s easy and satisfying. I made these as a kid and, of course, with my daughter.

You’ll need:

Construction paper
Scissors
Tape
Glitter or other decorations, as desired.

Fold a piece of paper in half length-wise.

Beginning at the fold, cut out approx. 4 very skinny triangles that go halfway up the folded section of paper.

Unfold the paper and curl together so that the two shortest ends of the paper meet and the cuts run vertically. (The cuts should now each result in a “diamond” shape.)

The paper lantern activity is adapted from Fed Up with Frenzy: Slow Parenting in a Fast-Moving World, which contains 300+ activities for family fun.

Lantern photo: Planetforward.ca

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Posted in Butter and Egg, Celebrations, Community, Crafts, Field Trip, Holidays, Recipes, Seasons

Tagged Baking with Kids, Chinese New Year, Chinese New Year Food, Chinese New Year Parade, Chinese New Years Crafts, Chinese Traditions, Cooking with Kids, Crafts, Kids Crafts, Lunar Calendar, Lunar New Year, Monkey Crafts, Paper Arts, Paper Crafts, Year of the Monkey

Bake Your Own Soft Pretzels

Posted on January 5, 2012 | 9 comments

My family has had the joy of folding and baking soft pretzels in the 150-year-old Sturgis Pretzel Factory in Lititz, Pennsylvania, the oldest commercial pretzel bakery in the U.S. There’s nothing quite like rolling and then shaping the pretzel dough into its classic shape, and then seeing it placed into giant brick ovens on large wooden boards, all in the stone basement of a building that dates back more than 200 years. Pretzels themselves date to 6th century Italy, say the folks at Sturgis, where monks molded them into the shapes of children’s praying arms.

Baking pretzels at home offers the same delights – the pleasure of working with dough, the wonderful way it smells when it’s cooking, and of course, that classic soft-pretzel taste.

You’ll need:

1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1 ½ cups warm water (110° to 115°)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups all-purpose flour
8 cups water
½ cup baking soda
Coarse salt or mixture of equal parts cinnamon and sugar
Pat of butter, to grease bowl and dough
2 bowls, 1 greased
Towel
Saucepan
Paper towels and plate
Baking sheets
Cooling racks

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.

Add the sugar, salt and 2 cups flour and beat until smooth.

Stir in remaining flour to form a stiff dough.

Turn onto a floured surface and knead about 5 minutes until smooth.

Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top.

Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place about an hour, until doubled.

Punch dough down and divide into 12 portions. Roll each into thin rope (approx. 12”) and loop both halves up and back around to the middle to twist into a pretzel shape. Apply a little pressure to make the ends stick.

Preheat oven to 425.

In a large saucepan, bring water and baking soda to a boil. Place pretzels into boiling water, one at a time, flipping once, for 15 seconds on each side.