This was a spur-of-the-moment idea I had one day when we didn't have many activities planned. I told the children we were going to make reservoir cookies! They are just kiss cookies with ganache filling instead of kisses. :) Of course you could use any kind of thumbprint cookies, but I'm not as fond of the "butter/shortbread cookie" as I am of peanut butter, so this is what we did. I see I haven't posted the Kiss Cookie recipe before, so here it is, modified for "reservoirs":
Reservoir Cookies
2 sticks butter or margarine (1 cup)
1 cup peanut butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
3 c. flour (about 15.8 oz.)
2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
Roll dough into balls, then roll in sugar. Bake at 375 for 9 minutes. Immediately after removing pan from oven, make an indentation in the middle of each cookie with your thumb (it didn't burn me, but maybe I'm strange) or a small lid (e.g. from a lemon juice or vinegar bottle). Pour chocolate filling (see below) into each hole to make a tiny reservoir or lake. For more complicated reservoirs, make bigger cookies and add chocolate chip dams, incoming tributaries, etc.
Chocolate Reservoir Filling:
1 c. chocolate chips or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4-1/2 c. evaporated milk or cream
Combine chocolate and 1/4 c. of milk or cream in glass bowl and microwave for 1 minute on high. Stir until smooth and glossy. Keep adding milk or cream and stirring well until the consistency is spoonable, but not too runny. You can also add 1 t. of corn syrup for glossiness, if desired.
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The real fun of this came in making bigger cookies that could convey more complicated data! We made a sample of each main type of dam, embankment dams and masonry dams.
Here is Abe's
And Seb's, an Arch Dam
Oh how we enjoyed gobbling these up!
