updates

First of all, I'm embarrassed to admit that after a year of this blog, I only just put in a proper email subscription option (see box, right).


I'd added a third-party gadget early on, but never had occasion to use it myself and so did not realize it was a giant spambot. If you ever tried to subscribe via email, I can only offer sincere apologies. The FeedBurner subscription service should be working fine now.


I would not have learned any of this had I not been working on a second blog. DH and I are starting a local chapter of Young Makers. As part of this, we were advised to set up a website; we thought it would be most fun to have a multi-author blog that the kids themselves could contribute to. Whether or not this will actually happen is anyone's guess, however. My past experience setting up (at different times) both a website and a wiki for our local homeschooling group taught me that most people have little interest in sharing resources and experience.


In the meantime, the new blog is starting to record an unknown path of making projects in a group setting. If I'm posting even less frequently than before here at unschoolplus, its likely because I'm working on things at Young Makers Yolo. Please check it out here if the projects and resources might be of interest to your family.


Oh, and you can also safely subscribe. :)

midwinter s'mores

Last summer some friends were planning a day at the beach and asked our family to bring something for roasting marshmallows. Our first thought involved sharpening some willow twigs, but soon we had another whim and were making a run to the thrift store for 10-cent forks.

In a few minutes, these:

became these:

As things turned out, fire permits were not being issued that day. We held a regular potluck at the beach and stored the willow forks in the garage until the other day when, upon cleaning the pantry and finding graham flour (why would I have bought graham flour?), I decided to make graham crackers.

Alton Brown's Graham Crackers (slightly amended, based on reader comments)

8-3/8 ounces graham flour

1-7/8 ounces all-purpose flour

3 ounces dark brown sugar

3/4 tsp aluminum-free baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

3 ounces unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes and chilled

2-1/4 ounces honey

1-1/2 ounces whole milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

Place both flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Add the honey, milk and vanilla extract and process until the dough forms a ball, approximately 1 minute. Press the ball into a 1/2-inch thick disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Unwrap the chilled dough and place it onto a large piece of parchment paper and top with a second sheet of parchment paper. Roll the dough out until it is 1/8-inch thick (or even thinner—the kids and I preferred thin, crisp crackers, while DH liked them thicker and chewier). Slide the rolled dough and parchment paper onto a half sheet pan. Remove the top sheet of parchment paper and cut the dough, using a rolling pizza cutter, into 2-inch square pieces, by making vertical and then horizontal cuts all the way across the dough. Trim off any excess. Using a fork, poke holes all over the top of the dought. Leave the crackers on the pan and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the edges just start to darken. Remove from the oven, set the sheet pan with the crackers on a cooling rack, and allow to cool completely. Once completely cool, break into individual crackers and store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

That evening, we built a fire in the fire pit and finally got to use our willow-and-thrift-store roasting forks.

It wasn't quite a summer cookout on the beach, but s'mores are always a treat—the more so with these very easy homemade graham crackers and free-trade chocolate.

sugru cookie cutter

We'd never heard of sugru before this year's Maker Faire, where it caught our attention by having hands-on demos and the unabashed enthusiasm of everyone who worked in the Shed. We came home with a pack, not entirely sure what we'd be using it for but thinking it could be a fun material to have around.

Fast forward to the other day in the car, when I idly mentioned that my ideal phone mount would attach to this part of the dash and be angled just so. S's instant response was, "Why don't you just make that with some sugru?" That's how much faith we have in this sci-fi amazing material now.

Sugru is a moldable silicone that cures at room temperature in a matter of hours. It adheres, flexes, and is heat resistant. And it comes in colors, which you can mix. It's like silly putty, but brighter and more durable. It's also like the grip on your favorite kitchen utensil—one you can mold to fit the contours of your own, individual hand.

In just a year, sugru and its users have repaired, tweaked and created a full gallery of applications.

We've used it for typical fixes, like this storage bin whose lid had cracked from being stuffed too full.

Or to cover up a large picture hook which didn't seem decorative enough to hang my favorite broom from.

I'm not much of a baker and have absolutely no talent for decorated sweets; nevertheless, something in me really wanted to make this melted snowman cookie as soon as I saw it. I'm also linking to it because of its story, a likely too-common tale of an idea published for free, only to have others appropriate it as their own.

But back to the cookie: her original directions call for cutting out the melted puddle shape with a knife. I knew I would not have the patience for that and thought it would be faster to make a melted puddle cookie cutter instead. 

And yes, you guessed it, sugru was used.

In fact, this is the sum total of what was used: the metal strapping discovered at Halloween (I knew I'd be using it again!), some J-B Weld, and the sugru.

The strapping was bent into shape and epoxied.

Sugru was applied to the top, both to seal the shape and as a bit of a grip.

Had I meant for this to be a lasting cookie cutter, I would have used enough to cover the entire top; but I really wanted to just try this as an experiment first. What is on here is the contents of a single packet. It might take 2-3 packets to cover the entire top edge.


Here are the melted snowmen, made in gingerbread instead of sugar cookie dough (not an improvement, I have been told by the kids) and with the lazy-baker modifications of half a marshmallow for the head and candy-covered sunflower seeds for the nose.

Thank you, Meaghan Mountford, for sharing a fun and adaptable cookie idea. May you regain all the credit you deserve.