Have you ever heard about the Cambrian Explosion? These Burgess Shale cookies are a great addition to any earth science unit!
Children learn via imitation. They use their hands to comprehend complex adult tasks and mimic adult actions in order to create their own repertoire of replicable actions. Baking as a family is a wonderful example of purposeful work and engages children’s hands, hearts, and heads. When baking cookies, children can participate in adding ingredients, rolling out the cookie dough, using cookie cutters, decorating the baked goods, tasting the cookies, etc. Songs and finger plays can be used to further support your child’s understanding of the task.
Last night, I realized that I hadn’t shared recipes from our baking Tuesday for a little while. And what better day to share Burgess Shale fossil cookies than the Wednesday before Earth day. This shortbread cookie dough is super easy to make and tastes really good. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
3.5 ounces unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
A dash of salt
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line a tray with baking paper.
Combine the butter and sugar with a hand mixer until a smooth paste forms.
Beat in the eggs and spices.
Stir in the flour.
Roll the dough out (1/2 inch).
Cut out circles with an upside down glass.
Using toy fossils (I used a safari Toob of Cambrian fossils), create imprints.
Bake for 9 minutes. Let cool and dust with cinnamon.
Comments