Braces Friendly Recipes

Soft Ginger Shapes

Wondering what fun goodies to make this Christmas season (or any season)? These Ginger Bread cookies will be perfect for your family, and braces friendly!

Who needs to wait for a holiday for the fun of cutting out and decorating gingerbread cookies? They’re just as good hot and simple from the oven, but this recipe is special because, with a little care, they do not harden when cooled.

    1/2 cup sugar
    1/2 cup shortening
    1/2 cup molasses
    1/4 cup water
    3/4 teaspoon salt
    1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    3/4 teaspoon ginger
    1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
    2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
    Extra flour (about 1/4 cup) for rolling and cutting
    Rolling pin and cookie cutters
    (optional: prepared frosting)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine sugar, shortening, molasses and water, using an electric mixer and beating until creamy. Mix in salt, baking soda, ginger, nutmeg and flour; dough will be stiff. Divide the dough into two mounds, wrap each in waxed paper or sealed containers, and chill them for at least one hour.

Set up a smooth, clean surface (counter or cutting board) and dust it with flour. Put one of the chilled dough mounds in the center, and sprinkle it with more flour. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until it is about 1/4-inch thick, then cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Be sure to roll out and reuse the scraps until all the dough has been shaped.

Slide cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 7 minutes at 375 degrees. If desired, decorate the cookies with frosting. Store in covered container. If they start to harden up, place a fresh slice of bread in the container and reseal it.

Lemon Pudding Yummies

¾ cup shortening
½ cup sugar
2 (3 ¾ oz.) packages of instant lemon pudding (dry)
3 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the shortening, sugar and dry pudding mix, using an electric mixer and blending until creamy. Add eggs and mix thoroughly. Add flour, baking soda, salt and milk. Mix until well blended.
Drop by tablespoons onto greased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes. Store in a covered container. Yield: about 4 dozen

So very moist, these are especially nice for those first few tender days. Serve with a glass of milk for an afternoon (or midnight!) snack.

Twisty Soft Pretzels

Just like the ones you get at the mall…these are big and soft.  Get them while they’re hot!

¾ cup warm water

½ envelope yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

Pinches of salt or cinnamon-sugar
 
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  In a small bowl, stir together warm water, yeast and sugar.  In a large bowl, mix salt and flour with a large spoon.  After 5 minutes, stir yeast mix into flour mix.

With well-floured hands, shape dough into 6-inch rods, initials, animals or traditional twisted pretzel shapes.  Brush them with the beaten egg and place on a greased cookie sheet.  If desired, sprinkle them with the extra salt or cinnamon-sugar.  Bake at 425 degrees for 12 minutes.

Crustless Quiche

Never again will the task of making piecrust stop you from enjoying classic quiche.  This super quick recipe combines just six ingredients all mixed together, yet it produces a beautifully sliceable egg and cheese quiche.  Pre-shredded cheese and a packaged biscuit mix make it extra easy but very light.

3 eggs

½ cup packaged biscuit mix (or make your own---see *recipe below)

3 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 ½ cups milk

1 ½ cups shredded mild Cheddar cheese

1 cup diced ham

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease or spray a 10” pie pan or quiche dish.  In a large bowl, with a whisk, beat the eggs, biscuit mix, vegetable oil and milk.  Pour mixture into pan; it will be lumpy.  Sprinkle on the cheese and ham.  Bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees.  Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

A nice variation substitutes Swiss cheese for the cheddar and 6 oz. crab or bacon bits for the ham.  Both versions freeze well.  Serves six to eight. 

All Recipes Are Excerpted from: The Braces Cookbook: Recipes You (and Your Orthodontist) Will Love