Mini Nutella Cookie Cups

Mini Nutella Cookie Cups

Ingredients

(Makes enough for 2-3 dozen)

1 cup butter (softened)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Jar of Nutella (12 tablespoons per batch)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease your mini muffin tin (unless it is nonstick like mine).
Cream butter and both sugar in bowl until light, smooth and fluffy! Beat in eggs and vanilla until fully incorporated. Gradually add dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda) until all the flour is mixed in!

Roll dough into balls 1.5 inches thick.
Pop them in the mini muffin tin and bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown but not too dark around the edges.

When done, remove from oven and let sit for about 2 minutes. Then make wells for the nutella with a shot glass, a similar object or a spoon. Add 1 tbsp Nutella to each cup – it will start to melt quickly so you can swirl it around and make it nice and smooth. Let cool 15-20 minutes in tin. Remove and enjoy!!!

Lesson Plan #8

Salty and Sweet...What's not to like? Salted Caramel anything is the latest and greatest!

The kids learned the difference between a caramel sauce and a butterscotch sauce. A caramel sauce is generally made with a cream base like heavy cream, where as a butterscotch is made with butter and sugar.

The kids where taught the difference between table salt and sea salt. Sea salt is produced through evaporation of ocean water or water from saltwater lakes, usually with little processing. Depending on the water source, this leaves behind certain trace minerals and elements. The minerals add flavor and color to sea salt, which also comes in a variety of coarseness levels. The kids were all given sea salt to taste. They all agreed it tasted like ocean water.

Table salt is typically mined from underground salt deposits. Table salt is more heavily processed to eliminate minerals and usually contains an additive to prevent clumping. Most table salt also has added iodine, an essential nutrient that helps maintain a healthy thyroid.

How to Set a Table

Place the main dinner plate so that it is centered with each chair.

Fold a napkin and place it to the left of the dinner plate.

Place the forks to the left of the plate, on top of the napkin. Place the forks from left to right in the order that they will be used. Smallest fork should be the furthest away from the plate on the outside. Align the forks with the bottom of the napkin.

Place the knife to the right of the plate, with the serrated side toward the plate. If using multiple knives, place them beside one another, with the first knife to be used on the outside.

Place the soup spoon to the right of the knife or knives.

Place the desert fork above the plate, perpendicular to the direction of the other utensils. The handle of the fork must be on the left side.

Place the desert spoon between the plate and desert fork, with the handle on the right side.

Place the glasses above the knives, in the order in which they will be used, from left to right.

Place your bread plate on the left side above the plate and to the left.


***To remember the proper sides to place the knife, fork and spoon, we told the kids to remember this easy reference and refer to the number of letters in each word. Knife and spoon both have five letters, as does the word "right." Fork has four letters, just like the word "left."***

Voila, the kids are ready to set the dinner table :)

Food Plate-We discussed food groups and healthy alternatives. We also went over what type of healthy substitutions can be used for butter and sugar.

Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark

Recipe-Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark

1/2 bag of mini pretzel twists
2 sticks of butter (1 cup total)
1 cup of brown sugar
1 3/4 cups dark chocolate chips
Coarse Sea Salt

Preheat your oven to 350, and line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Throw down a single layer of pretzels. In a saucepan (medium works best), melt the butter and brown sugar together until it is bubbly and thick. Remove it from the heat and pour it over the pretzels. It will not cover all of the pretzels! (I was really concerned at this point, but I threw it in the oven anyway for 5 minutes). After the caramel-oven phase, top the whole thing with chocolate chips and use a spatula to spread the chips out a little. I put the pan back in the oven for another 5 minutes to ensure optimal melting. Take the pan out, using the spatula spread the melted chocolate throughout the pan. After five minutes, I gave the chocolate layer a sprinkle of course kosher salt, then put the whole thing in the freezer for 2 hours before breaking it up into bark. Enjoy!

I wonder what this would taste like if I used a can of sweetened condensed milk and boiled the can to make a caramel sauce, instead of using butter and brown sugar? Anyone?...

Lesson Plan #7

Let me just say...I love mini anything! Not only are mini cupcakes the "IT" thing to have but the idea of bite size anything makes everything taste better. From bite size appetizers to bite size desserts. There's just no limit :)

The kids were introduced to a hand held immersion blender. We used it to make refried beans for our pizza. We used a round cookie cutter to cut the tortillas and make circle shaped crusts for our pizzas.

Jalapenos...most of the kids were not fans of anything spicy. I taught them what makes salsa spicy, the seeds and veins of the pepper. They were properly taught how to cut a jalapeno and removed the veins and seeds (I used gloves and told them never to rub their eyes after working with peppers. Especially, if gloves were not used).

I told the kids they could make bigger pizzas, make a salad and have this dish for dinner.

Lesson Plan #6

Happy Mother's Day!!!

I got some great feedback from the kids this past week. The kids were taught how making a "perfect cheesecake" is like "perfect science".

They were given several tips when making a cheesecake. 

1. Do not over mix.

2. Use hand mixer at the lowest mixing setting. This will insure that you are not mixing in additional air into the batter.

3. Ingredients must be at room temperature.  This includes eggs and cream cheese. 

4. When you incorporate the chocolate and strawberry sauce, make sure you simply swirl it in with a knife. Do not mix it or beat it.

5. Always place cheesecake in a water bath. (We placed our cheesecake mini pans inside a regular baking pan surrounded by water. The steam created from the water will insure that the cheesecake will cook evenly.

6. Always allow your cheesecake to cool slowly. You may even want to open the door to the oven once you have turned it down. Let cool before removing and cooling it more on the counter.

7. Always make sure your cheesecake is cooled completely before placing it in the refrigerator.

8. If your cheesecake is cracked on too, you over baked it. 

9. If your cheesecake flattens like a pancake when you take it out if the oven, the cheesecake batter was over mixed and too much air was incorporated into it.

White Chocolate Strawberry Swirled Mini Cheesecake Cups

Mother's Day Dessert~White Chocolate Strawberry Swirled Mini Cheesecake Cups


Ingredients:

Makes 24

1/2 (12 ounce box) package vanilla wafers

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (room temperature)

1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons white sugar and 1/2 TBS of all purpose flour (mix sugar and flour together before adding it to the cream cheese).

1 egg (room temperature)

1 teaspoon of lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup of white chocolate (melted)

2 TBS of Strawberry Coulis

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line miniature muffin tins with miniature paper liners. Place a vanilla wafer into each paper cup. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Measure 1/4 cup of cheesecake batter and mix it with the melted white chocolate. Then add the two Tablespoons of Strawberry Coulis to your white chocolate mixture. Using a knife, swirl this mixture into the cheesecake batter. Fill each miniature muffin liner with this mixture, almost to the top. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool. Top with a teaspoonful of the Strawberry Coulis filling.

Strawberry Coulis

1 pint fresh strawberries or frozen work fine too.

1/3 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon of cornstarch (dissolved completely in a TBS of cold water)

Directions:

Wash strawberries and remove stems; cut large berries in half or roughly chop them. Set 1/3 cup aside and cook the other 2/3 cup. Combine strawberries, sugar, and vanilla in a saucepan. Add cornstarch mixture. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. The mixture will bubble for a bit, but then juice will begin to form. Cook until sauce thickens, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat. In a blender or using a hand held immersion blender, puree the strawberry coulis. Add your remaining 1/3 cup of berries you set aside mix back into the topping. Keep in refrigerator. Top your cheesecake.


Tips:

Frozen strawberries work great too! Try using your favorite fruit like raspberries or blueberries. You can add red food coloring to give the sauce a vibrant look. If sauce isn't at your desired consistency, add teaspoon of cornstarch.

Lesson Plan #5

This week the kids were introduced to Crepes. I let the kids know that Crepes can be stuffed with anything and are not just made for dessert, regular Crepes can be stuffed with chicken and veggies.

The kids got to use a sifter this week. They had fun using it. They were introduced to a crepe pan. They learned that making a crepe is in the movement of the wrist, pouring the batter very slow and always tart pouring your crepe batter in the middle of your pan. Each child had, hands on experience in making their crepe. They were also taught how to fold them.

I gave them a tip and told them to place an uncooked tortilla in the pan and practice flipping it. Flipping a crepe is done by simply moving the wrist not your arm.