Every time you put kids and cookies together in the kitchen magical fairy dust fills the air and amazing things start to happen. Last Saturday, a group of 3–8 year old kids helped us decorate cookies for the Beyond Wonderful kitchen Christmas tree. It was a great party for them—and a photo shoot for one of our upcoming holiday features.

I baked dozens of angels, stars, trees, snowflakes, and hearts—plus lots of gingerbread girls and boys—then set the cookies around the room for easy access.

The kids donned Santa hats and aprons and started creating their masterpieces at a long table filled with pots of colored buttercream frosting, sprinkles, luster dust, decorations, and tools. Santa would be proud!

Giggling and chatting the afternoon away, they worked busily with lots of finger licking. Some beauties got eaten straight way. Some made it to the tree for a proud display. The truly loved treasures were protected at their places, boxed, and sent home.

You’ll see all the magic and get recipes and instructions on how to create your own kids’ holiday cookie party next week on Beyond Wonderful. For now, here are our recipes for the sugar cookies and buttercream frosting.

Holiday Sugar Cookies

This dough is easy to handle and yields heavenly cookies.

Ingredients

3 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream or milk

~ For decorating: Buttercream frosting, sprinkles, luster dust, coarse or “sanding” sugar.

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, sift together dry ingredients; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
4. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and cream to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour.
5. Divide into two disks, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2–3 hours until firm.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease, spray, or line baking sheets with parchment paper.
7. Remove one of the dough disks from the refrigerator.
8. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick.
9. Cut into desired shapes and place on cookie sheets.
10. Place cookie sheets in refrigerator or freezer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, roll out second dough disk.
11. Bake the chilled cookies for 10–12 minutes until the edges are just turning light golden brown.
12. Remove from baking sheets and cool on wire racks.
13. Store at room temperature in an airtight container or freeze.

Yield: Depends on the shapes that you cut.

Buttercream Frosting

This simple buttercream frosting is the perfect complement to plain sugar cookies. Add a little food coloring and start decorating those holiday masterpieces.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, room temperature*
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract**
4 cups powdered sugar
2–3 tablespoons water***
~ favorite food coloriing

* This equals one stick of butter.

** Find clear vanilla at baking supply stores.

*** Water replaces the milk normally called for in this recipe because the sugar cookies are not refrigerated.

Directions

1. Cream the butter and vanilla together in the bowl of an electric mixer until smooth.
   
2. Set the mixer to medium and slowly add the powdered sugar.
3. Add a few tablespoons of water and beat until fluffy. If the frosting appears dry, add a bit more water.
4. Add a drop or two of your favorite food coloring and stir to mix.NOTE: You may store the frosting in an air-tight container for two weeks. Whip the frosting before using so that it an even consistency.Serves: Approximately 3 cups

   Preparation time: 5 minutes

Sometimes things that we take for granted in life change in a heartbeat. What we know to be true is no longer and we are left with memories. For many of us in the San Francisco Bay Area, fresh local seafood is an expected part of life.

There is no better meal than cracked Dungeness crab and sourdough bread eaten bayside near the fishing boats at Fishermen’s Wharf.

Unless, it’s a quick trip out to Drake’s Bay Oyster Company for freshly harvested oysters—some for dinner—and a few that simply must slide down my throat.

Neither will happen anytime soon. Last week the fully loaded container ship Cosco Busan set sail in heavy fog from the Port of Oakland to South Korea. Within minutes, it hit one of the support pilings of the Bay Bridge and sheared off approximately 100 feet of the bridge fender. While the bridge did not sustain any structural damage, the ship tore open at the bow and spilled 58,000 gallons of bunker oil in to San Francisco Bay.

You’ve probably seen the reports on CNN and the national news programs—just another disaster—unless you live here.

The spill is an ecological calamity rippling through our lives and the local economy like the tides and winds carrying the oil through the Golden Gate and up the north coast.

Officials closed beaches and sent an army of clean-up crews in protective gear to bag the gooey oil.

Over 500 oil-covered birds are confirmed dead with hundreds more being rescued and cared for.

Today, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered all commercial and recreational fishing in the San Francisco Bay Area halted until December 1, or when ever the Department of Fish and Game determines that it’s safe to eat the seafood again.

The Dungeness crab season is on hold meaning there will be no local, fresh crab for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday celebrations.

The Drake’s Bay Oyster Company that harvests over 100,000 oysters a day—3.6 million pounds per year—or 60 percent of the California oyster crop—was temporarily shut down by the State Board of Health because of the spill. If this goes on for any length of time, it could be the demise of this wonderful company.

The spill could also affect the herring, smelts, and several types of salmon.

I’ll keep you posted on the clean-up and celebrate its completion with a very fine Dungeness crab dinner—complete with chilled white wine—on a dock by the bay at twilight.

Come into my kitchen! There is a joyful sense of community when the Adams clan gathers to prepare Sunday dinner. The room pulsates with music, laughter, easy conversation—and the busy sounds of everyone chopping, grating, assembling, and tasting.

The menu is shrimp scampi with its pungent garlic-lemon sauce, fresh linguini pasta, a simple green salad, and San Francisco sour dough bread topped with lots of butter, fresh, minced garlic, and grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese.

My recipe is quick and easy if you buy peeled and de-veined shrimp—and it’s packed with flavor. Pair it with your favorite white zinfandel or Sauvignon Blanc and life is good.

Shrimp Scampi with Linguini Pasta Recipe

Ingredients Serves 4
Preparation time: Under 25 minutes with cooked pasta.

1 pound fresh linguini*

1 lemon, zested

1 cup flour

1 pound (21–25 count) shrimp, peeled, de-veined and patted dry

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons shallots, minced

1 tablespoon crushed garlic

1 cup dry white wine

1–2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon dried red chili flakes

1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley

~ additional chopped Italian parsley, for decoration

*Find fresh pasta in good grocery stores, delis and specialty food stores. Use dried linguini if fresh is unavailable.

Directions

1. Cook the linguini in plenty of boiling salted water until just al dente (tender with a tiny bit of “bite” remaining). Drain, reserving about one cup of the cooking water for later.
2. Sprinkle the lemon zest over the freshly cooked pasta and toss well. Set aside.
3. Place the flour in a spacious bowl and dredge the shrimp, shaking off excess flour.
4. Sprinkle the shrimp with the salt and pepper. Set aside.
5. Place a skillet over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and heat until sizzling.
6. Add the shallots and sauté until translucent, approximately 1–2 minutes. Adjust the heat as needed to prevent burning.
7. Add the garlic and cook for thirty seconds.
8. Add the shrimp and cook until just pink, approximately 3–4 minutes.
9. Pour in the wine and lemon juice and bring to a lively simmer. Remove the shrimp with a slotted spoon and set aside.
10. Continue cooking the sauce until reduced by half, approximately 2–3 minutes.
11. Add the butter and mix well.
12. Add the chili flakes and Italian parsley.
13. Return the shrimp to the sauce and stir to coat.
14. Plate the linguini and top with the shrimp and sauce. Decorate with chopped Italian parsley and serve.

NOTE: If the sauce or pasta appears dry, use the reserved cooking water to adjust the consistency before plating.

Get my printable Beyond Wonderful Shrimp Scampi with Linguini Pasta recipe.

You’ll also find cooking tips and techniques for cooking perfect pasta, zesting citrus, and peeling and de-veining shrimp and prawns.

Several times a year, the Adams clan heads to a beach house at Bodega Bay for rest and relaxation family style. Alfred Hitchcock put the place on the map in his 1963 thriller, The Birds starring Tippi Hedren. It hasn’t changed much since then—beautiful beaches, small fishing harbor, bare hills dotted with houses—and the original schoolhouse where the birds circled and sent scores of kids screaming for cover.

Hedren’s character drove the country back roads in her Aston Martin DB2/4 Drophead Coupe while I arrived in a red SUV packed with enough food and coolers to feed an army. This group loves to eat.

Of course the only vehicle the kids are interested in is the giant red wagon that transports them and all their sand toys to the beach. There the only gathered flock of birds were the seagulls resting quietly up the beach. Jackson and Sam—using their “outside voices” ran screaming towards the flock. (Did anyone tell them what Hitchcock’s birds did to little children?)

Worn out, we all returned to the house where I made my famous hot chocolate with a dollop of lightly whipped cream. It’s my secret weapon for calming tired little boys and getting them to sleep all afternoon.

With the house quiet, I put a good shot of peppermint schnapps in my chocolate and curled up in a cozy chair with Nancy Verde Barr’s Backstage with Julia: My Years with Julia Child. This is heaven!

Best Hot Chocolate

Serves 4 cups
Preparation time: 10 minutes.

Ingredients

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2+ cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

~ whipped cream topping

Directions

1. Pour the cream and milk in to a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan.

2. Combine the cocoa, cayenne pepper, and ¾ cup of the cream mixture in a small mixing bowl and mix with a fork to form a paste. (Add more cream mixture if needed to create a smooth mixture.)

3. Place the remaining cream mixture in a medium saucepan. Add the sugar and chocolate paste and mix well. Bring to a simmer.

4. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

5. Pour the chocolate into mugs and top with whipped cream.

Before I began Beyond Wonderful, I worked with a large group of corporate web producers in noisy rows of beige cubes. All of us were over-stressed with our high-tech careers and long hours. About 50% of us cooked extensively on the weekends and used spare moments during the weekly chaos to surf for recipes, cooking information, and related products. None of the culinary sites were exciting and most were filled with flashing ads and hard-to-find information

I envision a cooking site where busy professionals, mothers, and students could come for first-class recipes, how-to’s, and techniques, and editorial content. It would be be a brilliantly-colored, sensuous environment with easy-to-find information, The Recipe Page would be a central working place — recipe, cookbook-like food images, clear, easy-to-read directions, appropriate how-to’s, and other dishes of interest (site cross-marketing). Any ads would be contextual to the recipe. The site would jump out and flood the beige cubes with color, inspiration, and information.

Now Beyond Wonderful has grown into a vibrant community where visitors celebrate their passion for cooking and eating — and have a sense of belonging.