by Joyce Rosencrans
The Cincinnati Post Once school buses roll, life never slows down. It's time for following schedules, checking homework and driving kids to activities.
Over the years, there has been one constant, one habit that all students have in common. They're hungry after school. Ravenous might be more descriptive of the physical state that drives students directly from the front door into the kitchen.
Nostalgia dictates that the after-school snack of choice is a glass of milk, a shiny red apple and some homemade cookies.
That cold milk might be low-fat and chocolate to suit some older kids today, the milk packaged in an individual, screw-cap plastic bottle. Or the dairy preference might be a snack cup of flavored yogurt.
The fruit component of this ages-old, three-part snack might be the early apples from Michigan's harvest. A newer variety is Ginger Gold. Whatever the type, the first apples of the season, fresh from the orchard, are crisp and tart, with a delightful winey aroma. If the skin is tough, peel apple wedges for younger children.
Some kids crave kiwifruit, and those are a great source of vitamin C and potassium. Kiwis are sweet enough not to clash with cookies. Simply cut them in half crosswise and provide a small, rounded spoon for scooping out the emerald green flesh.
Mellow pears or September varieties of peaches are other fruits that fit this snack menu, and don't forget plums. They've been better quality than ever this summer. Soon, the dark prune plums of early fall will appear, and these are just perfect for pint-size eaters who can't handle the juiciness of other larger plums. But let's not kid ourselves. A parent can provide all these vitamin and calcium sources that are good for kids' growing bodies, but cookies are still the main attraction.
A single baking session cannot only fill a cookie jar, but the freezer with rolls of ready-to-bake cookie dough. Sure, you can buy slice-and-bake cookie dough at the supermarket, but we still think a buttery, homemade dough is best. An exception might be "Tic-Tac-Dough" Treats that begin with commercial sugar-cookie dough into which oats and cinnamon are kneaded. And that's fun, especially for a junior-baker with clean hands. The baking is easy, too, because the Tic-Tac's are pressed into a rectangle for bar cookies.
Chocolate chip cookies rule, but some kids also like eating their whole-grain oats in cookie form. Chips can be put into chewy oatmeal cookies, too, either chocolate or butterscotch chips or both. Dried cherries or cranberries can stand in for raisins. Chopped nuts are optional, depending on the child. Fourth-graders I know are four-square against them. Same goes for coconut in cookies; it's a love-or-hate option.
Whatever the form and flavors, warm cookies from the oven and kids just home from school are a natural combination. Cookies' size and portability are perfect for small hands to grab and go. Once outside on the porch, patio or deck, cookie-snackers can let the crumbs fall where they may.
Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
1 package (8.1-oz.) blueberry muffin mix
1-1/2 cups oats quick or old-fashioned
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbs. milk
1/3 cup peanut butter chips
Preparation:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. In mixing bowl, stir muffin mix with the uncooked oats, melted butter, honey, milk and chips until well combined. Place teaspoonfuls of dough an inch apart on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes or just until centers begin to set. Let stand on baking sheet 1 minute. Remove with a thin spatula to a rack for cooling. (Any type of berry muffin mix can be used; tested with White Lily Wild Berry).
Yield: About 2 dozen
Tic-Tac-Dough Treats
Ingredients:
1 (18-oz.) package refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1 cup oats, quick or old-fashioned
1 tsp. cinnamon
assorted decorator icings
small candies
Preparation:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or lightly spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Break up sugar cookie dough in a large mixing bowl. Add oats and cinnamon. Knead dough with clean hands until well mixed. Press dough into a 10x14-inch rectangle (about 1/8-inch thick) on a cookie sheet. Using a pizza cutter or thin-bladed knife, cut rectangle into 2-inch squares, but do not separate. Using the dull side of a table knife, gently make a ti-tac-toe grid on each cookie. Do not cut completely through cookies.
Bake 16 to 18 minutes or until edges are golden and middle is set but soft. Immediately re-cut 2-inch squares and transfer cookies to wire rack. If cookies begin to stick to cookie sheet, return sheet to oven for a minute or 2 to soften. Cool completely.
Decorate cookies as desired with icings and tiny candies, such as M&Ms, or use candy sprinkles. Peanut butter cookie dough may be substituted for sugar cookie dough. Recipe from Quaker Oats.
Yield: 35 bars
Slice and Bake Oatmeal Scotchies
Ingredients:
1 cup shortening
2 sticks butter, softened
2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
6 cups old-fashioned oats
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped nuts or golden raisins
1 (11-oz.) package butterscotch morsels
Preparation:
In a large mixing bowl, beat together the shortening, butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Add eggs, 1 or 2 at a time, beating well. Beat in the vanilla. In another bowl, stir together the soda, salt, oats and flour. Stir by hand into the shortening mixture. Stir in the nuts or raisins and butterscotch chips. Put several large spoonfuls of dough onto a sheet of waxed paper. Roll into a log, 2 inches in diameter; leave waxed paper on. Repeat to make more cookie-dough logs. Chill, at least overnight.
Heat oven to 350. Thickly slice and bake the dough on ungreased baking sheets for about 7 minutes. (If not chilled, dough may be dropped by tablespoonfuls.) Bake up to 10 minutes for crisper cookies. The dough will keep for a couple weeks, rolled up in the refrigerator (seal the waxed paper bundles in a plastic bag). Then slice and bake anytime.
Yield: 7 to 8 dozen
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.)
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