Lesson Plan #6

Week 6 of our Elective has come and gone.

The Pazookie or Pizookie style Chocolate Chip Lava Cookies were a big hit. We had fun making these little tasty bites.

This week the kids learned the importance of reading the recipe first. We used two separate bowls for our ingredients. The kids were taught to use the bigger bowl for the wet ingredients since we would be combining the dry ingredients into the wet ingredient bowl. They learned how easy it is to create a chocolate lava. Melt chocolate chips in a Ziploc bag in the microwave, snip the corner of the baggie and use it like a piping bag. Everyone had the opportunity to help make the cookies, spoon them into the mini muffin tins, create a well, pipe in the melted chocolate and flatten out an additional piece of dough to cover the top of the cookie.

I explained to the kids that they can make these in any size muffin tin. The baking time would need to be adjusted accordingly. Get creative and add some pumpkin spices to the cookie dough. Instead of adding chocolate chips, add white chocolate chips and melt Hershey's pumpkin candy kisses in a Ziploc baggie and pipe that into the center, this will give it a nice Fall(ish) taste. :)

Lesson Plan #5

Boy was this week a hit! The kids loved every bite. These special little treats were simple and simply Devine.

I introduced the kids to a pastry cutter. I told them if they don't have this gadget at home, they could use two knives. I explained the importance of using cold butter. Butter melts fast and we wanted to "cut" the butter into the flour and not "mash" the butter into the flour. Using our pastry cutter, we cut the butter until the flour resembled coarse crumbs. We created mini bites and created a well in the center for our whipped fruit dip.

The dip is an amazing dip that compliments your favorite fruit. I told the kids they could add pineapple and coconut to the dip and add an almond flavoring to the crust. These are a perfect dessert for the upcoming Holiday parties. We placed the filling in a pastry bag and piped it onto the mini shortbread bite. We topped it with a sliced strawberry. I taught the kids a simple trick, we used an egg slicer to cut our whole berries. Everyone had a turn making their mini bites, piping the filling, slicing a strawberry and garnishing it.

Bakers Tip: I told the kids if they don't have a mini cupcake pan at home, they can use a pizza stone and create a round shortbread cookie resembling a round pizza. I let them know they could make it into a dessert pizza. I also told them a regular baking sheet works just fine.

Mini Shortbread Bites filled with a Whipped Cream Topping and Garnished with Fresh Fruit

Shortbread Crust

2 cups of all purpose flour

4-6 Tbsp granulated sugar

Pinch of salt

12 Tbsp cold unsalted butter

Directions: 

Combine flour, sugar and salt and mix together. Add butter and incorporate into dry ingredients with a food processor or with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles crumbs.

Whipped Fruit Dip

7oz. Marshmallow Fluff or Whip

8oz. Whipped Cream Cheese (if you are using a regular block, make sure it is softened).

Directions: Combine the ingredients above and whip until combined and you have perfection. 

Lesson Plan #4

Homemade Pasta with Pumpkin Sauce

We had an amazing week of pasta making! Flour everywhere along with smiling faces. I had one child comment, "at home my mom never let's us use flour because it's messy!". It truly made me laugh! I get it. I don't like my kids making messes for me at home either. What would a cooking class be without a mess? Not a fun and exciting class ;)

The kids learned how to make a simple pasta dough. They were taught that they need to allow the pasta to rest 30 mins. after mixing and before kneading to allow the gluten to relax so that the dough will roll out easily. If you do not let the gluten relax, you will find that the dough is springy and elastic, causing it to bounce back when you roll it. If this happens, wrap or cover the dough with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out, and let it rest 10-30 mins. We did not have time to allow our pasta to rest. 

I allowed the kids to choose the size of their noodles and away we went, everyone had a turn kneading their peace of dough and flattening it in the pasta machine and then cranking the handle and feeding the pasta dough into the machine and voila, created their own noodles.  

The kids learned how to infuse olive oil using whole garlic cloves, fresh rosemary and pepper flakes. Oh the smell was heavenly!!! 

We created a pumpkin sauce that was simply devine. Every child including the non pumpkin eaters liked it! We garnish it with raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds) that we roasted in a pan without adding any oil to it. 

I recommended that the kids who create this recipe at home, use coconut milk in the sauce or add veggies and chicken to the sauce or try it the way we made it and have it for a Meatless Monday! 

Overall, the pasta dish was a success! I'm getting to know all the kids better. All the different personalities are such a blessing and bring so much to the class.

Homemade Pasta with a Creamy Pumpkin Sauce

My Mother's homemade pasta recipe:

3 cups of all purpose wheat flour or 2 cups of all purpose and 1 cup of semolina flour
3 eggs
3 Tbsp cold water or milk (my mom always used the egg shell to measure the water, so do I)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 Tsp of salt

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, add remaining ingredients to the center and mix with a food processor or a stand mixer. We are doing it the good ol' way...with our hands! Knead the dough for 10 minutes. Form a round ball and cover it with plastic wrap for a minimum of 30 minutes(This is a good time to make your sauce). If you are using a pasta maker, select the type of pasta and get started. Otherwise, flour your work area and using a rolling pin, roll it as thin as possible. Cut into thin strips and drop pasta into boiling water add 2-3 Tbsp. of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil and *optional-feel free to add a pinch of salt to water). Toss pasta in a little corn or regular flour to keep it from sticking. Pasta is done when it is al dente (firm to the bite) or if you like it "well done", cook it a little longer.

Canned pumpkin puree isn't only good for pie; here, it becomes a creamy sauce for your favorite pasta, topped with deliciously crunchy fried rosemary and roasted pumpkin seeds. Add your favorite herb and make it for a Meatless Monday or add chopped chicken breast, chicken spinach sausage, the possibilities are endless. Add veggies and make it filling and a satisfying dinner :) Cooking Tip: Frying rosemary in olive oil not only turns the herb into a crispy garnish -- it also infuses the oil to create a tasty base for the pumpkin sauce.

Pumpkin Cream Sauce Recipe:

12 ounces pasta
Coarse salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
1 can (15 ounces) pure pumpkin puree
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup half-and-half
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more for garnish (optional)

Directions:


Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Reserve 2 cups pasta water; drain pasta and set aside.

In pasta pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add rosemary and fry, stirring, until starting to brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer rosemary to a paper towel, leaving oil in pot.

Carefully (oil is hot and will spatter) add pumpkin puree, garlic, half-and-half, Parmesan, vinegar, red-pepper flakes (we are mixing all of this together in a bowl first, add 1 cup reserved pasta water to the sauce/pot. Stir sauce until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add pasta to sauce, and toss to coat. If sauce is too thick, add some more of the reserved pasta water. Season generously with salt. Serve pasta sprinkled with fried rosemary and, if desired, more red-pepper flakes and parmesan cheese.

Cook's Tip: You can make this using coconut milk instead of half & half and use gluten free noodles. You can add a clove of garlic to the oil while frying the rosemary for extra flavor. Add a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg to the top of the pasta or in the sauce.

Lesson Plan Week #3

I personally had a short week with cooking class this past week due to teacher meetings and extended day. My Tuesday/Thursday classes, will need to make last weeks recipe at home, you won't be sorry if you do. The kids loved them and were so excited to have these pumpkin pie bites, even the NON-pumpkin eaters were fans of this dessert. I told them to be creative and top them off with vanilla ice cream, caramel and whipped cream. They could also add nuts to them. A great dish to share for the upcoming Holiday's :)

We had a great successful week. I taught the kids how to make their own pumpkin pie spice, especially since they are likely to already have all of the ingredients needed at home vs. a pre-made pre-mixed pumpkin pie spice. The kids learned that allspice, ground cloves and nutmeg are strong spices. A little goes a long way.

They were all involved mixing the cream cheese and pumpkin puree, along with putting the spoonful's of pumpkin mix on the dough, rolling the bites and coating them in our spiced sugar.

Cook's Tip: We added additional cinnamon and spices. Don't be afraid to add additional spice. Start with a little bit of the spice of your choice and mix it together. Taste it, add more if you need to. :)

Tuesday and Thursday Cooking/Baking Class

Attention Parents with kids in the Tuesday and Thursday Elective Cooking/Baking Class: Please remember to let your kids know that we do NOT have class this Tuesday, September 24th and Thursday, September 26th. Thank you and please let the kids know I will have an exciting recipe ready for them to make.