Teaching Children To Bake

Baking By Delie Updated 6 Jun 2006 , 1:24am by Tat

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Delie Posted 29 May 2006 , 1:46pm
post #1 of 22

I'm volunteering at an inner-city children's program. This summer I'm going to be teaching 2nd-5th graders how to cook in hopes that they may eat more nutriciously. But, even nutricious meals need cake. icon_biggrin.gif Should I teach them how to do a box cake or a scratch cake? I want them to be successful and they won't have a mixer to use. If you suggest scratch, I need a fail-proof recipe that can be mixed with a spoon. And then of course, I'll need an icing that's easy. Thanks a bunch!

21 replies
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naotter Posted 29 May 2006 , 2:04pm
post #2 of 22

I would recommend using a boxthat calls for oil not butter. Any recipe that calls for butter will be awfully hard to mix with a spoon. As far as a frosting. how about a ganache for the cakeicon_biggrin.gif Those are jsut might thought - but I haven't been baking many cakes - but that does seem easiest thing to teach.

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loriemoms Posted 29 May 2006 , 2:05pm
post #3 of 22

I did a volunteer job many years ago helping children who had disabilities. It was very rewarding and a lot of fun! We also were not allowed to have them use mixers, the stove, etc. So we would just have them make cake mixes, and would stir them with a big spoon. That always worked out well and the kids love just breaking eggs and measuring the liquids, and ESPECIALLY loved greasing the pans! We would just place the cakes in the oven for them, but they pretty much did everything else!

Hope that answers your question!

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Tiffysma Posted 29 May 2006 , 2:16pm
post #4 of 22

How about brownies from a brownie mix? That's pretty easy and doesn't require much stirring. Cookies might be a good fit also. Or some healthy muffins, since you're talking nutrition. Like a Morning Glory muffin that has a lot of good grains and fruits it them.

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Delie Posted 29 May 2006 , 2:41pm
post #5 of 22

Thanks for all the help. Does anyone remember cooking individual chicken breats in foil with onions and celery? The director of the program wants me to teach this, but I have no ideas. I'm also supposed to do something with ground beef. Oh gosh, what have I agreed to do? This is so hard when the cooks are so young. Thanks again. Keep those ideas flowing. icon_biggrin.gif

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leily Posted 29 May 2006 , 2:50pm
post #6 of 22

I was wondering, how many classes do you have with these kids? How long for each class?

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Doug Posted 29 May 2006 , 3:10pm
post #7 of 22

the chicken:

use breasts w/ skin ON or skinless and rub w/ oil...season to taste (the usual suspects -- pepper, salt...but for fun thyme or oregano, etc. depends upon how adventurous the kids' taste buds are). slice celery either in to long julieen or little pieces like for salad. slice onions thin and break into individual rings. warp in oiled foil (thin layer like on cake pan) warp tightly ( do butcher wrap style for ease of opening. w/ fork poke one set of steam wholes. Bake 350 until internal temp of 155 (yes, do teach them to measure internal temps of food!!! safety!!!!!).. remove and allow to rest for 5-10 min still wrapped up until interal temp of 165. open and serve. (and of course...wash, wash, wash those hands and avoid cross contamination!!!!)

as for hamburger...a fun one is:

1 lb hamburger
1 pack lipton onion soup mix
some water or beef broth
about 1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 pkg of american cheese slices

combine hamburger, soup mix, bread crumbs...mush togther with very well washed hands (kids love this!) and add enough liquid to make it nice and sticky.

divide into 16 patties. take one patty, lay broken up cheese slice on it. Top w/ second patty and press edges together.

Pan fry until brown on each side (turn once). Viola -- pocket cheeseburgers

or

touch of the orient cassarole.

1lb hamburger
1 pkg egg noodles
1 cup chopped onions
1 can mushroom soup (i prefer golden)
1 soup can of milk (or cream if you dare)
1 8oz pkg cheddar, the sharper the better
1 4ox pkg chopped almonds (usually not an allergy problem, but omit if concerns)
1/4 soy sauce
dash or two or Wierstichier (sp?!?!?) sauce
salt and peper to tastes
1 large can chow mein noodles

cook noodles about 1/2 way
brown hamburger and onions and drain
add soup, milk, soy sauce, W. sauce, salt, pepper and bring to just below boil. (i always add extra sliced mushrooms to mine)

layer noodles in botton of 9x13 pan
pour on beef mixture and bake about 20 min at 350
remove and top w/ shredded chedder, almonds and chow mein noodles
return to oven for at least 10 min, until cheese is melted and bubbly
remove, let rest for about 10 min and serve.

or

1 lb hamburger
1 pkg forzen green beens (ICK! -- the part I always picked out and wouldn't eat!)
1 pkg chili seasoning
1 can tomato sauce or paste or just use ketchup
1 pkg instant mashed potatoes or fresh homemade (yet another lesson in baking/cooking and mashing)
8oz shredded cheddar

brown hamburger and drain
add chili seaonsing & your choice of tomato product...simmer until thickened..shouldn't be runny nor a thick blob
put in bottom of 9x13 pan
layer on green beans (NOOOOOO!!!!!)
"dollop" w/ mashed potatos (used big serveing spoon to make individual lumps)
bake at 350 until potatos just starting to brown
sprinkle on cheddar and bake until golden and melted.

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Delie Posted 29 May 2006 , 3:17pm
post #8 of 22

There will be 6 classes - one per week. There will be 12 - 14 kids per group with the group broken down into mini-groups of 2 -3. They will have an hour with me and each mini-group will cook the recipes. I'll try to teach basic cooking skills and food safety. I'm hoping to have one recipe with chicken (perhaps the chicken in foil packets) and one with beef (perhaps a chili-beef bake with a biscuit topping). Already on the agenda is cake (naturally), cookies, and after the wonderful suggestion above, morning glory muffins. I need to find economical (mostly) recipes because a lot of these kids' families are on limitted budgets. The morning glory muffins have some expensive ingredients, but they are so healthy and it is something the kids can make ahead and have for breakfast if there is no parent around in the morning.
Thanks again for helping me think about this.

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Delie Posted 29 May 2006 , 3:20pm
post #9 of 22

Doug - thank you! You posted while I was typing. Great ideas.

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Doug Posted 29 May 2006 , 3:38pm
post #10 of 22

oh...and on those potatoes....our family fav were baked in the ovens

method one: potato w/ butter, pepper, salt and wrapped in foil. this makes a really great soft baked potato to eat or mash

method two: wet potato rolled in salt. baked plain, no foil, until you can see that skin is separating from the insides (and fork tender).. this also great to eat or pull of skin (YUM!) and mash the rest.

and of course mashing becomes a whole new adventure in adding things like butter, yogurt, cream cheese or reg. cheese.

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naotter Posted 29 May 2006 , 7:08pm
post #11 of 22

My kids favorite is a sloppy joe muffin. You take ground beef - and you don't need a lot - brown it on a stove and addd your favorite ingredients for sloppy joe. Then you take pillsbury biscuits and line a cupcake pan with them making sure you have a little dent in the center of the biscuit. Place your sloppy joe in the center, place some cheese on the top and bake according to the directions on the biscuit package - my kids make this all the time - I always make sure I have biscuits & sloppy joe on hand for them. It also works well with tuna fish - for a tune melt.

When my son to a cooking class with the family center (he was 4 at the time) they made fruit pizza - they took a soft taco shell, put vanilla yogurt on top and cut up some fresh fruit to put on top of the. He is happy because now he can have it as an afternoon snack now.

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loriemoms Posted 29 May 2006 , 8:26pm
post #12 of 22

You guys are making me hungry!

I have a recipe my kids used to make al lthe time that is ground beef, rice, red beans, canned tomotoes and a little chilli peper that you bake in a casserole. I can dig it up if you like...

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Delie Posted 29 May 2006 , 8:56pm
post #13 of 22

loriemoms - that ground beef casserole sounds good. Would you PM me with it or post it? Thanks.

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annlou Posted 29 May 2006 , 9:13pm
post #14 of 22

When I was a Girl Scout leader, we used to make the chicken packet with a nice chicken breast, cubes of potatoes and carrot slices or green beans. We of course would cook these over a fire but I have done them in the oven. No pots to wash!
If you would like, I will look up some other recipies that I did with the Brownies if you want. Just pm me. LouAnn

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loriemoms Posted 29 May 2006 , 9:22pm
post #15 of 22
Quote:
Originally Posted by Delie

loriemoms - that ground beef casserole sounds good. Would you PM me with it or post it? Thanks.




Sure! I will dig it up and post it this evening...

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ShelbysYummys Posted 29 May 2006 , 9:29pm
post #16 of 22

Hi!
I teach Home Ec class (after school enrichment course) at my daughters school.
My questions for you are:
how much time do you have?
daily, weekly??
what's your budget?
and will you have help.
In my class we do cake deco, cupcake deco, jello fun,we make breakfast, and main course dinners.
Unfortunately we don't have use of a kitchen so we can't bake.
I have lots of ideas I can share with you if ou are interested just PM me
By the way...... my vote is BOX it's easier

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Tiffysma Posted 29 May 2006 , 9:36pm
post #17 of 22

Re: Morning Glory Muffins. The neat thing about this type is you can add or delete ingredients and they are still good. Here's a link that has LOTS of muffins, including about 3 different Morning Glory Muffins. I make these for my DH to carry to work for breakfast and I use whatever I have on hand to add fiber and vitamins, like apple, carrots, drained pineapple, raisins, oats, etc.

I've finally learned the trick to muffins is to mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet in another (add the sugar or honey, etc to the wet); making sure you have equal parts of dry and wet, then just fold the wet into the dry just enough for it to be moist.

Good luck!! I think you're going to have fun with this!!

http://www.bbonline.com/recipe/muffins.html

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Doug Posted 4 Jun 2006 , 12:39am
post #18 of 22
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Helendelk Posted 4 Jun 2006 , 12:48am
post #19 of 22

How bout the kids making jello pudding pops.... Easy and safe here is the link to Krafts instructions.

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/FoodandFamily/Summer_2006/puddingpops

Here is a site that a 9 yr old made for kids recipes ... It is very cute and inspiring... Very cute must see...

http://www.angelfire.com/ab/NeedARecipeCallMom/kidspage.html

Here is a great better homes site for cooking with kids...
Very interesting ! thumbs_up.gif

http://www.bhg.com/bhg/category.jhtml?catref=C436


Hope some of these help!

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Delie Posted 4 Jun 2006 , 2:31am
post #20 of 22

OH boy, more good ideas! Thanks for all the help. I'm sure we won't have time to make all these suggestions, but I'm going to make a cookbook for each child of all these recipes. I think the kids are going to have a great time, and I will too!

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coffeecake Posted 4 Jun 2006 , 3:02am
post #21 of 22

You seem to have lots of great ideas (a few I may just use myself) but could not resist adding the suggestion of burritos - I worked with kids and they used to love making them - someone could cook the ground beef (ususally using a package) someone else would grate the cheese and they it was also a good way to sneek in some vegatable with lettuce and tomatoe.

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Tat Posted 6 Jun 2006 , 1:24am
post #22 of 22

My kids love to cook. And now they love to decorate cakes. They are constantly begging me for icing so they can have at it!!! I think it's great!

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