Monkey Bread Cupcakes

Monkey Bread using Biscuit Dough

What You'll Need (Recipe modified from original):

2 tubes of Pillsbury Dough Dinner Rolls
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
6 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons cinnamon

What You'll Do: 

Preheat your over to 350*

Start by combining your brown sugar and cinnamon in a medium boll. Make sure the two ingredients are well mixed. 

Then, melt the butter and corn syrup in a small bowl. 

Next, roll your dinner rolls into balls. You'll want to combine two dinner rolls for each ball. Using a pizza cutter, slice each roll into six even chunks. 

Heavily grease the muffin cups of a standard muffin tray. 

Drop your dough balls into the butter mixture so that they become fully coated. Toss them in with the brown sugar and cinnamon. 

Once evenly coated, drop five sugar scrumptious dough balls into each muffin cup. I kind of pressed mine in a bit to make sure they would stick to each other. 

Bake at 350* for 15-18 minutes. 

Lesson #6 Cream Cheese Wontons and Spicy Buffalo Wontons

This was an exciting week of making wontons. We had our exchange student from Brazil join us during the week for a class. Felipe, enjoyed the wontons. He asked if it was Mexican food. I told him, "They are a combination between Chinese and American food.

Every child had the opportunity to make several wontons. We learned that making wontons is very simple. Meet also learned quickly that we should not over stuff the wontons. They tend to ooze and open when they are overstuffed.

We also used fresh minced garlic and soy sauce instead of the garlic salt. They were much tastier. 

We baked and did not fry the wontons. We still got a crispy texture without the calories. Now that's, a bonus.

The kids were introduced to a salad chopper and a handheld chopper. We used the salad chopper to shred our chicken and the handheld press chopper for our green onions. We used less hot sauce, since many kids were not fans of the spicy sauce.

Cooking Tip: We made the spicy buffalo wontons the same way as the regular cream cheese wontons. They were so much better this way. If you choose to make a mini cupcake bite, make one and see if you like the way it comes out.

Cream Cheese Wontons

Buffalo Chicken Wontons

Buffalo Chicken Wing Baked Mini Cupcake Wontons & Baked Cream Cheese Wontons

Bake Bake Bake!!!! Don't Fry...

So in my quest to be “healthier” I have found that you never need to fry anything again! These traditional FRIED Buffalo Chicken and Cheese Wontons are delish. It's only a minor change, BAKE them! I’m glad I ran across this recipe, they are delish!

Buffalo Wing Wonton Bites

3 c. cooked, shredded chicken

1 c. wing sauce

1/2 c. ranch dressing

1 c. mozzarella cheese

36 wonton papers

In a bowl combine first 4 ingredients.  This can be done prior to, and just kept in the fridge until ready to assemble. Using a large mini-muffin tin {mine holds 36}, spray each cup with non-stick spray.  Gently press wonton wrappers down into the cups.  Fill cups with the chicken mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until mixture is heated through and wonton wrappers are lightly brown and crispy.  Serve immediately.

Cream Cheese Wontons

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 tsp. garlic salt

2 green onions, chopped top to bottom

16 wonton wrappers

Pam cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400. Mix together cream cheese, garlic salt, and green onions. Place about 1/2 tsp. cream cheese mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper. Wet your finger with water and moisten the edges of the wrapper. Fold wonton in half to make a triangle, sealing the cream in the wonton well. Moisten one corner of the wonton with more water. Bring the bottom edges of the wonton together, overlapping slightly. Repeat for the rest of the wontons. Place wontons on a nonstick cookie sheet sprayed with Pam. Spray wontons with a bit of Pam to help them brown. Bake for 7-12 minutes or until brown and crispy.

Lesson 5- How to make a crepe

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

This past week the kids had so much learning how to make crepes along with homemade lemon curd. I explained to the kids that making lemon curd with the recipe I introduced to them is a "NEVER fail recipe" for lemon curd. We started by combining all of the ingredients together and then proceeded to cook it versus starting off on the stove top and adding eggs to a hot liquid; which in many cases if you don't do it perfect, you will scramble the eggs.

I explained to the kids once you are ready to cook the curd, you will have to stir it until it begins to boil. Once the curd is done, place a piece of saran wrap pushing it down on top of the curd. This will prevent a skin from forming on the lemon curd.

When we made the crepes, every child had a chance to practice making a crepe with my help. They learned that you must multi-task when making a crepe. First you slowly pour the batter by starting in the middle,(TIP: make sure the batter is runny). Second, at the same time that you are pouring the batter, make sure to slowly move your crepe pan counter-clockwise or in a slow circle, so that the crepe batter coats the crepe pan.

I gave the kids some examples of different types of crepes. Crepes can be made into dessert crepes or a lunch or dinner crepe. Some of the examples we discussed were; ham and cheese crepes, broccoli, chicken and cheese, Nutella and bananas, yogurt and strawberries...the possibilities are endless. If you can imagine it, you can make it.

Hope your kiddos are feeling more comfortable around the kitchen as well as confident. :)

Lesson 4- How to make Pepperoni Puffs

The pizza puffs were a HUGE hit! The kids enjoyed every bite. I suggested to them; when they make them at home to use a regular cupcake pan to make the puffs, add a salad and fresh fruit and dinner ready.

This week the kids learned that lavender is edible. Instead of Italian seasonings, we used Herbs de Provence which I personally love using. It has a very unique taste and the lavender really sets it apart from anything else.

They learned to make a simple dough recipe. The kids learned that adding red pepper flakes to any dish doesn't make your dish spicy, when using a pinch in your recipe it actually enhances the flavors.Some kids chose to make puffs with cheese only and others were delighted to add turkey pepperoni.

The kids were taught how to make a simple marinara dipping sauce. We started by using olive oil and infusing it with fresh garlic, fresh herbs-we chose sage and rosemary. We add some red pepper flakes and add crushed tomatoes. I reminded them not to burn the garlic and after allowing the sauce to simmer, remove the fresh herbs from the sauce.

Looking forward to the upcoming week. :)

Happy New Year 2014

Welcome BACK! Hope everyone had a great break. Happy New Year to you all. We will be learning  how to make lots of appetizers that can be made for Super Bowl parties or add salad and fruit, make it a dinner dish.

Please check the introduction to cooking class for the day and cost of your students cooking class. If you haven't made a payment please do so asap, if you need additional time to  pay please let me know ilcscookingelective@gmail.com  Checks may be made payable to Esmeralda Williams.