Friday, October 13, 2017

"Cooking with [Winnie the] Pooh - Yummy Tummy Cookie Cutter Treats" - Piglet's No-Haycorn Pizzas - for my Aunt Mary's 96th birthday


Date I made this recipe:  October 10, 2017 – my Aunt Mary's 96th birthday!

Cooking with Pooh – Yummy Tummy Cookie Cutter Treats by Marlene Brown
Published by Disney Enterprises, Inc.
© 1995
Purchased at:  BPCA (Bloomington Crime Prevention Association) Annual Sale
Recipe:  Piglet's No-Haycorn Pizzas ('Haycorn' is Piglet's word for acorns)

"I'm planting a haycorn, Pooh, so that it can grow....up into an oak tree, and have lots of haycorns just outside the front door instead of having to walk miles and miles, do you see Pooh?"

I love Winnie the Pooh and his friends and his stories and his adventures.  I always have, always will. 

These characters, brought to life by A. A. Milne, informed my childhood as I read and re-read many a Pooh story.  I remember being particularly confused and scared about the "heffalumps" until I got old enough to realize that is what Pooh called "elephants."  Ah.  Makes a difference, it does!

The main character (besides Pooh), and the subject of an upcoming movie, "Goodbye Christopher Robin," was Christopher Robin, Winnie the Pooh's young owner. Christopher Robin was the real-life son of A.A. Milne, Pooh's creator and the movie preview looks great.

In fiction and in real life, Christopher Robin and his bear, Winnie the Pooh had many adventures and were the very best of friends.  When I was a kid, there was a song about Christopher Robin called "They're Changing Guards at Buckingham Palace," that played on Captain Kangaroo.  The main refrain is "They're changing guards at Buckingham Palace, Chris-to-pher Robin went down with Alice..." and even though I heard it as a young child, that song always stuck with me. I loved the Captain, loved the show, loved the song – loved

So speaking of "love," just before Andy and I got married, we bought a greeting card for someone with a quote from Pooh and Christopher Robin.  We loved it so much that we tracked down a second card, found the full quote, and decided to have it be one of our wedding readings. I asked my Aunt Mary to do the honors and  I believe I've written in a pervious blog that she got up in front of everyone, said very solemnly "This is a reading from Winnie the Pooh," and then cracked up laughing.  We did too!

Twenty six years later, my aunt is still with us and in fact, just turned 96 which is a major accomplishment.  We were always close (my birthday is the day before hers) and ever since the wedding, we have grown even closer over our love of Pooh.  Thanks to Hallmark, I am able to find a Winnie the Pooh (original illustration) for about every occasion including this year's birthday card.

The Winnie the Pooh characters in this cookbook/booklet are the more contemporary ones from Disney Enterprises. I have vague recollections of a Winnie the Pooh TV show from my earlier years and these more contemporary renderings were the one in that show.  I must confess though, that I have a fondness for the "original" characters are drawn by E. H. Shepard, and I hope I'm not the only one who found it amusing that both the author and the illustrator went by initials instead of full names.

Unlike the mega-paged The Playboy Gourmet cookbook that I used last week, this booklet contains 10 and only 10 recipes, all of which are intended to be made by kids with adult supervision. Each recipe has the name of a Pooh character and of course, all of Pooh's recipes contained honey, or "hunny" as he liked to spell it.

Since there are only 10 recipes, here's the list:

  • Pooh's Honey Cookies on a Stick
  • Eeyore's Rainy Day Cinnamon Crisps
  • Christopher Robin's Gingerbread Friends
  • Pooh's Best Lunch-Wiches
  • Piglet's No-Haycorn Pizzas
  • Rabbit's Double-Double Chocolate Cookies
  • Tigger's Bouncing Rainbow Animals
  • Pooh's Holiday Ornament Cookies
  • Kanga's Animal Biscuit Surprises
  • Roo's Painted Cookie Friends

As good as all these recipes sounded, I tend to favor savory over sweet and so made "Piglet's No-Haycorn Pizzas." Piglet calls acorns "haycorns," and I wish I could elaborate further on why it's important that this is a no "haycorn" recipe but I can't so I won't!

The pizza recipe is simple and delicious although I did not do two things called for in the recipe:  I did not use "grown-up" help to turn on my oven, and I did not cut out little pizzas with cookie cutters.  I also added an ingredient that wasn't called for in the recipe – Cipollini Onion that were marinated in balsamic vinegar – yum!  They were in the same olive bar from which I got my "ripe olive slices" and figured why not?  I cut them up in small pieces and they were a tasty addition.

Okay, true confession #4:  I did not roll out the dough as directed.  I tried it and it kept sticking to my non-stick rolling pin (How did that happen?) and still got stuck when I tried flouring first the rolling pin and then the dough.  I finally gave up and just pulled the dough into the rectangle desired and then added my toppings.  I'm just going to say again that I do not enjoy rolling out pie or pizza dough but my husband does which is why he is known as the "Pie Guy" and I am not!

I have always wished that my aunt lived closer as we have so much fun when we are together ("You're the best Pooh reader, ever, Auntie Mare!") but I'm pretty sure she would have enjoyed her Piglet Pizza as well as this charming Winnie the Pooh children's cookbook.

Piglet's No-Haycorn Pizzas – makes 12 to 14 mini pizzas or 1 large cookie sheet
1 8-ounce can refrigerated crescent roll dough
A few tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup pizza sauce
12 top 14 pepperoni slices, cut in half
12 to 14 ripe olive slices
½ cup pre-shredded cheddar or mozzarella cheese

With grown-up help, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 

Sprinkle flour on the countertop or a large cutting board.  Remove the dough carefully from the can in two sections.  Unroll one section of the dough on the board; unroll the second section of dough next to it to make a square.  With your fingers press the edges together to make one large piece of dough.  Ann's Note:  The tricky part will be pressing the edges of each crescent roll triangle and then keeping them pressed together.

Put some flour on the rolling pin.  Roll the dough carefully to make an 11x10-inch rectangle.  Dip your cookie cutters in some flour, then cut out shapes from dough.  Ann's Note:  I skipped this part but for those of you who want to use cookie cutters, follow the next steps below.

With a metal spatula, put your pizza cut-outs on the cookie sheet.  Shape the dough scraps into a ball.  Roll it out and cut more pizzas.  Put them on the cookie sheet.

With a small spoon spread some pizza sauce on each pizza.  Put two half-slices of pepperoni on top.  Put one slice of olive on each pizza.  Sprinkle each pizza with some cheese.  Try not to get any cheese on the cookie sheet.


With grown-up help, bake your pizzas for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and the cheese is melted.  With help, take them out of the oven.  Cool them for 2 minutes.  With the metal spatula, take the pizzas off the cookie sheet to serve to your friends.

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