So, have you made any chunky crayons yet?  What — no?  Why, you’ve had a whole day to give this a whirl!  That should have been enough time. 

I want to extend the crayon idea a wee bit.  Why not make crayon cookies?  They look absolutely adorable.  You can make the edible kind first.  Then, the coloring kind.  Then, spend time coloring and munching.  (I hope you and your grandchildren will be able to tell which cookie is for coloring with and which for munching on!)

This leads me to another fun cookie idea. Try your culinary hand at making some cookie pops. (I think these might turn out better than my cake pop fiasco . . . )  Cookie Pops:  Roll out sugar cookie dough.  Cut out shapes with cookie cutters.  Stick in a sucker stick.  Bake.  Frost.  Eat.  Life can’t get any better (or more delicious) than this!  (This recipe calls for store-bought sugar cookie dough.  I bet it will work if you use your own favorite recipe.)

Then there are the Cookie Cups, the Bull’s Eyes, the Honey Bee’s, and the Lightening Bolt cookies. Fun, fun, fun!

And hold on to your chef’s hat!  There’s even the Checkerboard Cookie.  The picture of these cookies is so cute.  Why, they look like checkers on a checkerboard.  (Imagine that!  That is probably why they named this recipe the Checkerboard Cookie.  D’ya think?)  Now the directions only say to spread red frosting on alternating squares and black frosting on the remaining squares.  Do pray tell how in the world do you spread the frosting so perfectly that it looks like a checkerboard instead of a one-year-old’s attempt at frosting cookies?  Mmmm?   Maybe for me the joy will be in the ‘attempt’ rather than a beautiful artistic end product.

Do you see a theme here?  Cookies.  Fun shaped cookies.  Cookies that grandchildren would enjoy making — and enjoy eating!  Why not invite your grandchildren over for an afternoon of baking and eating.  You’ll be baking memories that will last a lifetime.

If your grandchildren don’t live close enough to come to your house for cookie baking, why not send them the link to these cookies?  Encourage them to bake the cookies and then send you some pictures of them.  Or, you can bake the cookies and send them through the mail.

Got a fondue pot from the 70s?  Good! Drag it out from the dark corners of your cupboards because it’s party time!  You absolutely need to have a fondue party with your grandchildren.  Absolutely.  They will absolutely love it.

Start with an easy cheese fondue (here’s a good basic recipe). Dip chunks of French bread into the cheese fondue.  And possibly vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli. Mmmmmm . . . good!

For a main dish, heat up olive or canola oil.  Cut up bite size pieces of beef and chicken. (If you have teenagers and if your budget can handle it, you might want to also have shrimp to cook.)  Spear meat onto the fondue stick and put in hot oil until the meat is cooked.  Dip cooked meat in cheese sauce — or barbecue sauce.

For dessert, have a chocolate fondue.  Fudgy Milk Chocolate Fondue. Yum, yum, yum.  This recipe uses sweetened condensed milk so you know it’s going to make your taste buds turn somersaults in jubilation!  Then you have strawberries, angel food cake, apples, marshmallows, pretzels, caramels, cinnamon bears — whatever — to dip in the chocolate sauce.  (I’ve even seen small squares of Rice Krispie treats dipped in a chocolate fondue.)

For a variation, try this chocolate peanut butter fondue. They suggest dipping animal crackers in the warm fondue. Great idea!

You might want to drag some polyester clothing out of your closet (if you still have some) or go to a thrift store to get some for your grandchildren to dress up in while you have your party.  Play some 70s music and do John Travolta disco dancin’.

If you have pictures of you and grandpa from the 1970s, you could show those to your grandchildren and laugh and laugh at the hairstyles and the groovy outfits you wore back them.

A fondue party is a great activity to do with grandchildren.  You aren’t slaving over a hot stove (your grandchildren cook their own food in the fondue).  You’re serving great food and having a great time socializing with your grandchildren.  Can’t get any better than this!

I love breads, rolls, cinnamon rolls, orange rolls, raspberry rolls. BREAD!  Gimme carbs any day over chocolate.

I saw these Orange Knot Rolls on Grandma Lizzie’s site. I just had to make them.  Had to.

We had some of our children and grandchildren over for Sunday dinner and so I made the rolls.  They turned out beautiful and tasted absolutely divine.  (I just ate two of them.  TWO!!  I had to eat two so that there were enough calories for each of my hips . . .)

These are so easy to make, they would be a great for grandchildren to cut their bread making teeth on this recipe.  I recommend that you thaw the rolls before your grandchildren come over for their baking lesson.

Orange Knots

12 Rhodes Dinner Rolls, thawed but cold

1 medium orange rind, grated
½ cup sugar
¼ cup butter, melted

Citrus Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon butter melted
3 tablespoons orange juice
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix grated orange rind with sugar. Roll each roll into a 9-inch rope. Tie in a loose knot. Roll each knot in melted butter and then in rind/sugar mixture. Place on a large sprayed baking sheet. Cover with sprayed plastic wrap and let double in size. Remove wrap.

Bake at 350° F 15-20 minutes. Remove from pan and place on cooling rack. Brush with citrus glaze while still warm.

This recipe was for 12 rolls.  However, I was able to make 24 rolls with the sugar mixture and the citrus glaze.

While you are waiting for the rolls to raise, make sure you do something fun with your grandchildren.  These rolls can be your ‘treat’ after your activity. Or, you can serve them for a special meal that you make together.  Because these rolls are so easy to make, your grandchildren will feel very successful when their beautiful rolls come out of the oven.

Happy baking!

It’s winter where I live.  Snow.  Freezing temperatures.  Short days.  Long, dark nights.  (Well of course nights are dark.  If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be nights, now would they?  That sure was a stupid adjective to use.  Oh well.)

It’s not the type of weather that is conducive to sitting around the campfire making S’mores, now is it?  I didn’t think so.  If you have a gas stove, you can roast your marshmallows over your stove element to make your S’more.  Or, you could nuke them in your microwave.  Or, you can make these sinfully yummy S’more cookies.

Risa, at Baked Perfection, has a wonderful recipe for S’mores Cookies.  And we all know that making cookies is a staple do-with-grandma-activity, huh?    So, grab a grandchild and whip up some of these delectable delights.  Now.  If not sooner.  Go on.  What are you waiting for?

I’m warning you that you’d better not spend much time on her site looking at the Butter Scotch Pecan Sandies, or the Winter Sugar Cookies, or the Egg Nog Sandwich Cookies, or the Peanut Butter and Nutella Balls.  (My cake pops turned out almost as pretty as her Nutella Balls.  Almost . . .)  I’m warning you because I love you.  I care for you.  I don’t want you to jump off your New Year’s Resolution wagon for losing weight.  DO NOT SPEND TIME ON HER SITE.  I can just hear battalions of cholesterol and cellulite reinforcements marching through your body if you do . . .

I’m going to make some S’mores Cookies this evening.  I’m going to eat them all. All of ‘em, did you hear me.  Every last one of them.  Hmm. . .  I might let Grandpa eat one.  If he is on his best behavior, that is. Well, maybe.