The Courier

On Wednesday 5 February a group of children from Years 4-6 went to Bedstone College in Shropshire to compete in a cross country race.

Rohan and I ran in the Under 9s races. We ran 1500m round molehills, rabbit poo and through forests. The Year 5 and 6 runners even had to go through 2 streams, luckily we didn’t need to.

I ran as fast as I could all the way round so when we got to the end I didn’t have enough energy to do a big sprint to the line however I did finish 9th.If you came in the top ten you got to run in the national finals.

On 20 March, Archie in Year 6 and I will be going to represent the Midlands and Crescent School at the National Finals at Worksop College.

I am really looking forward to it!

The children at Crescent School have been nominating members of staff who they feel have stood out as being especially super this half term.

This half term’s super member of staff is…

• Mr Phillips

One of the nomations was…

Ingredients

FOR THE COOKIES:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup cocoa powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

FOR THE FILLING:

• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 3-3 ½ cups caster sugar

Method:

1. Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl, and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat until well incorporated. Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add the dry mixture to the creamed mixture, beating on the lowest speed. Continue to mix on the lowest setting until the dry ingredients are just incorporated.
2. Divide the dough in half, and shape into two discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. When the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat. Set aside. Taking only one portion of dough out of the refrigerator at a time, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough to 1/8-1/4 inch thickness. Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out cookies and transfer them to the prepared baking sheet.
4. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Once the cookies are cooled, prepare the filling. Combine the softened butter, milk, vanilla, and salt and beat until combined. Add the caster sugar slowly until the filling is smooth. It should be slightly stiffer than cupcake frosting. Add pink or red food colouring until desired colour is reached.
5. Transfer the filling to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip (or a freezer zip-lock bag with the corner snipped off.) Pipe the filling onto half of the cookies, and top with the remaining cookies to form a cookie sandwich.