Little Chefs: E is for Elephant Ears

I've been seriously slacking on our Alpha Bakery sessions. Going back to work has thrown me a little bit more than I thought it would - doesn't it always? It's also been fairly hot here this summer and baking is not something I care to do on a 95 degree day in a house with no air conditioning. This past week we got a nice break from both weather and household chaos though, so it was a perfect time for our next cooking adventure.

To date, this is by far everyone's favorite. Though not your typical elephant ears that you would find at a fair or your zoo, these were still very tasty and a ton of fun to make! The boys were able to do pretty much everything this time, so I'm going to try out a new format with this week's recipe.

Elephant Ears*

1/4 cup of margarine or butter
1 cup of Gold Medal all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup milk
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Sugar

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees.

2. Grease a cookie sheet with shortening.

3. Heat margarine until melted; set aside. Stir flour, 2 Tbsp sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in milk and 3 Tbsp of the melted margarine until dough forms.




4. Sprinkle surface lightly with flour (or not so lightly if your kids are anything like mine)



Turn dough onto surface. Knead 10 times. Roll dough with a rolling pin or pat with hands into a rectangle, 9x5 inches. (toddlers with a rolling pin = constant supervision)




Brush with remaining melted margarine, using a pastry brush;




Sprinkle with mixture of 3 Tbsp sugar and the cinnamon. (this recipe is not at all messy)




5. Roll dough up tightly, beginning at narrow end. Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal. Cut into 4 equal pieces with sharp knife. Place cut sides up on cookie sheet; pat each into a 6-inch circle. Sprinkle with more sugar.




6. Bake until golden brown, 8-10 minutes. Immediately remove from cookie sheet with a spatula. Let cool on wire rack.
Makes 4 elephant ears.

We all had so much fun with this - I think this is one that we will be making for years to come!

*Recipe taken from Gold Medal Alpha Bakery Children's Cookbook. Ordering info can be found on original Little Chefs post (A is for Apple Crisp).