Cook with Misslane!

Check out the link here and Video : Cooking with Misslane

Had the fun experience of being interviewed for www.abqexposed.com last month regarding our Kids cooking classes! Thanks to the kids that came out and joined me and enjoyed another fun afternoon whipping up some banana muffins, playing with baking powder and of course  my favorite part………..eating.

We love Food Science and its always fun to experiment in the kitchen and create something healthy and fun to eat.

PS:  Remember Boys love cooking too!  In fact young boys have been my most exuberant little chefs!    I know we have lots of aspiring Young Chefs out there sign up for  a class today!!!   Keep a look out for Groupon to be advertising discount Kids classes  with  cookwithmisslane.com SOON!!

Seems like most  kids like to experiment with ingredients and chemicals and see what happens!

Funny thing is, cooking is  like conducting an experiment in many ways!  When you put different food ingredients together you create a chemical reaction with the food and  Voila…… something happens to change the appearance or texture of the food . You end up with  either a tasty treat or a exciting  experience to learn from.

We did this  recently in some of our cooking classes this summer and plan to do more in the coming months.

One of the best ways to get to know what your ingredients  is to look at them and play with them and see what they do!  Foods all have chemical reactions when heated, cooled, mixed or kneaded.  What you put into your dough and how long you mix it contribute to the texture and density of the finished product.

Experiments with leavening ingredient can be lots of fun and teach kids how air pockets are created in our foods and make things rise.   In one of our lessons, we learned how sodium Bicarbonate ( baking soda) , baking powder and  yeast  interact with certain ingredients  to release Carbon Dioxide  bubbles and make our cakes, cookies and breads rise.   Then we has the pleasure to put it to work in one of our recipes!

Here is a easy fun experiment to do at home to see CO2 at work!

Baking Soda Bomb

Ingredients:

• paper towel
• Vinegar
• Baking soda
• Plastic zip lock bag or plastic water bottle with cap

Make sure that you do this experiment outside as it gets messy and your parents may not appreciate an explosion in the house!

Packet: Take a paper towel  and place 2 tablespoons of baking soda in the middle of the towel.  Take the sides of the towel and fold them in to the center and continue to  fold the paper into a small square packet.  Set aside.

Take a sandwich size zip lock bag  (make sure there are no holes in it)  pour 1/2 cup of  vinegar  and 1/4 cup of water into the bag and zip close.  Get your packet ready and go outside with the baggie. Carefully open the bag  enough to put in the packet and and quickly zip closed.  Shake  a couple of seconds  and drop on the ground and watch.

You will see the CO2 in action creating lots of  fizzy bubbles and as the air expands in the bag it will get bigger and bigger and finally……….if you have done your job right …….Boom it will explode.   You can also try this with a small plastic bottle and screw on the top  shake  it and throw into the air !

Join us for one of our upcoming sessions of Food Science and see what of fun things we can do together as we  play with our food!

This week in class  we had the pleasure of practicing our measuring and baking skills together and made Oatmeal Blondies and Silver dollar pancakes.

I think everyone had a blast  and the kids really enjoyed making and eating their creations!

The cool thing about these recipes is they use a  convenient baking mix we call Everyday Baking Mix.

It is easy to make and can be used for several different recipe variations.

I’m posting it here for all of you to try out……..it stores for up to 3 months in an airtight container.

Just be sure to mix it up before measuring out for your recipes.  Enjoy!

Everyday Baking Mix

v 6 Cups all purpose flour

v 3 Cups sugar

v 2 Tablespoons baking powder

v 1 Tablespoons salt

In a large bowl, whisk together 6 c. flour (spooned and leveled), 3 c sugar, baking powder and salt.  Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 months. Whisk before using.  Makes about 9 cups

Use it to make the following 3 Recipes

Chewy Oatmeal Blondies

• 1 stick butter room temperature
• ½ Cup  packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 ½  Cup Everyday baking mix (spooned and leveled)
• 1 Cup old fashioned oats/ not quick oats

Preheat oven 350. Brush 8’’ square baking pan with butter. Line bottom and 2 sides with parchment paper letting 2’’ overhang on both sides.

Using an electric mixer beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add egg beat until combined with mixer on low, gradually and slowly add baking mix.  Mix until combined.  Mix in ¾ cup of oats.  Pour batter into pan.

Using a butter knife, smooth batter evenly in pan, and sprinkle remaining oats on top pressing gently.   Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Using overhang on sides of pan, transfer brownies to a wire rack to cool.

Toothpick test:  The toothpick test is one of the best and most accurate ways to judge the doneness of baked items such as cakes and brownies.  One simply takes a clean toothpick and gently pushes it into the middle of the pan.  If the toothpick comes out clean without any batter attached to it, you will know that the cake is done.  If it comes out still gooey and sticky more time is needed in the oven.

Silver Dollar Pancakes with chocolate sauce

WE made these with chocolate chips instead of chocolate sauce! Just put a  handful of semis sweet chips in the batter before you  cook them .  They are great either way.

• 2 teaspoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for skillet
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1 ¼ cups everyday baking mix
• 1/3 cup store bought chocolate sauce or chocolate hazelnut spread
• ½ cup vanilla ice cream

Caution hot stove or griddle!  Adult Supervision required for young children!

1. 1. In a medium bowl, whisk together butter, egg and 2/3 cup milk. Add baking mix, whisk lightly just until moistened.

IMPORTANT ( DO NOT OVERMIX; a few small lumps are fine).

1. Preheat oven to 200. Heat a large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium, very lightly butter the bottom of the pan.
2. Drop 2 -3 tablespoons of batter onto the hot skillet or griddle.  Cook until surface of pancakes have some bubbles and a few have burst, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip pancakes with a thin spatula, and cook until browned on the underside another 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Transfer pancakes to a baking sheet, cover loosely with foil and put into the preheated oven to stay warm. Continue to make pancakes with remaining batter, adding more butter to skillet as necessary.
4. Recipe should make about 12 pancakes.
5. In a small saucepan combine chocolate sauce with 1/3 cup milk. Bring to a simmer over medium low, and whisk until smooth.

Serve pancakes topped with chocolate sauce and ice cream.

Jam Sandwich Cookies

4 cups Everyday baking mix

1 cup (2 sticks ) butter cold unsalted , cut into pieces

½ cup milk

¾ cup seedless jam or jelly any flavor

(Recipe makes 36 cookies/  18 sandwiches)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.. In a food processor, pulse baking mix and butter until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Add milk; pulse until a thick dough forms.
2. Drop dough by heaping tablespoons on to cookie sheets, 4 inches apart.
3. Bake until cookies begin to turn golden but center is still pale, approx 12-14 minutes. Rotate sheets halfway through.
4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Spread flat side of half of the cookies with 2 teaspoons jam each
6. Sandwich cookies with the remaining cookies.

Mark your Calendars!

More Kids cooking classes starting  September 2009!

I am excited to announce that we will be holding another session of  Kids Cooking classes this Fall !   Join us for Cultural recipes from around the world once again, but with a new twist!  Lots of great new recipes will be included so if you came last time, no worries, come again and try some recipes.   Sure to impress your friends and familiy !  We will be adding some fabulous desserts, and tasty pastries!  May even have my dear friend Jeff give us some pointers on pastry making.

I  hope you will join us so please tell your friends and spread the word and have a blast with us in the Kitchen!!

Register  now online at UNM Continuing Education under - Under  Youth classes ,  Course # 17414 at    http://dce.unm.edu/youth-programs.htm

Look forward to seeing you there!

• Classes will be held on Saturdays from 3 to 5pm
• One 4 week session / dates are September 26,  October 3, 10, 17th. 

I want to thank Jeff Rubin for so graciously allowing us to rent his space.  Remember to stop by Savory fare 7400 Montgomery Blvd NE,  and bring home something for dinner or join them for lunch or dinner.  A great place for meals, catering and delicious desserts!

Feel free to Contact me with any questions or comments  @ info@cookwithmisslane.com

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