making apple pie and the best kitchen gadget ever

We did three weeks of apple themed books in the classroom. As I was planning out our days I really wanted to make apple sauce and apple pie. I figured I could use a crock pot to make sauce but how could we bake pies? The school does have a kitchen but I wanted the children to be able to see the pies get made and so, after discovering the pie making capabilities of the cupcake maker I discovered one on super sale and snatched it up. We were going to make apple pie in class! Each kiddo would get to make their very own tiny apple pie. I was super excited!

To make things easier and to allow for more play time, I used Trader Joe's pre-made pie crust (it is super tasty). The children each got a chance at using the rolling pin to roll over the dough...large motor skills!

And then use the crust cutting tool to cut out  circle, shape recognition!

I didn't turn the maker on until we were ready to bake so the children got to select which batter well they wanted their pie to bake in and got to place their crust into the well then use the push tool to press it down after they dunked it into some flour so it would not stick. They then added a few scoops of cooked apples (I made this at home) into their bottom crust (some chose one scoop while others did two, three or even four). Here the children learned new vocabulary words, methods of baking, and used hand-to-eye coordination to place their crust evenly into their wells and drop their apple filling on top.

 

 After they used the other side of the crust-cutting tool to cut out a smaller circle for their top-crust (more vocabulary and shape recognition going on) they used their "pinching fingers" to pinch up a small amount of sanding sugar for the top (fine motor skills).

The pies baked up in ten minutes and made the room smell delicious for the remainder of the day. We shared our apple pies with the Jr. K class at lunch time and there was nary a crumb left. We are totally going to make pumpkin muffins and corn bread in November!

cake mix fun with Bakerella!

If you have a box of cake mix and cupcake sprinkles and candy melts floating about, head on over to Bakerella for a wonderfully whimsical take on lollipops! The idea is brilliant and her pictures are more delightful than a pink bunny! Hop on over!

scrumdilly-doers!

Thank you to Dani, Mommy extraordinaire for sending me these pics of her kidlets frosting donuts! Check it out!

The doers:
*Elliot 15 months
*Ashley 11
*Jereb 9 years

One last berry hurrah!

 Let's make some tarts! Making jam tarts is fun and super easy especially if you use premade pie crust. It can be homemade or store bought. Just know that the store bought stuff can be salty and full of all that extra stuff but if it is a once in a long while thing then go for it and don't worry!

What you need:
*jam
*pie crust
*cookie cutters
*spoon for jam
*plastic knives for cutting doough (a pizza wheel will work also!)
*tiny bowl of milk, soy milk or an egg
*colored sugar, sugar or powdered sugar for decorating (I used black pepper!)
*cookie sheet
*parchment paper to work and bake on

scrumdilly-do it!

 

Roll or unfold the dough so that your kidlets can go to town on it. Have your wee ones use cookie cutters to cut out their tart shapes. You can also use the knives or pizza wheel to cut out rectangular pieces that can be folded in half.

After all the shapes are cut out, space them onto the parchment paper and place onto the cookie sheet. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

 Using the smallest spoon ya got, a baby spoon would be great, have your kidlets drop a spoonful of jam onto the center of half the cutouts.

 

 Next up, gently place a cutout on top of each jam dotted shape. Push down a wee bit onto the edges to seal. The jam will bubble up and seep out when baking which is why you want to use as little as possible. It's totally okay to use more and have it seep, no worries! You don't have to add a top to every shape either but the tops give your wee ones an opportunity to decorate!

 

Have your kidlet(s) "paint" each covered tart with a little bit of milk. This will help the sugar stick to the dough. Then let them go to town with their colored sugar and/or sprinkles. Once done, pop into the oven for 10 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned.


Cool and serve with pink milk or some caffeine free tea! Yay!


Have a berry delicious day!

Happy Pizza Party Day!

Tomorrow is National Pizza Party Day so why not kick it off with some cooking fun! Make some wee english muffin pizzas!

What you need:
*english muffins split
*shredded cheese of your choice
*tomato paste
*olive oil
*fresh veggies
*salt, pepper & other seasonings like oregano and garlic

scrumdilly-do it:

Set out all the ingredients in a fun and nifty manner because we all know that cute sells and what better way to get yer wee ones to expirement with flavors than to prettify the veggies and such? You can prechop for yer wee ones or pick veggies that are easy to chop. Plastic knives will slice mushrooms just dandy and cherry tomatoes only need to be halved!

Drizzle a little bit of oilive oil onto each muffin half and spread, add a dollop of tomato paste and let your kidlets spread it around with a plastic knife or back of a spoon. Now it is time to go to town! Add some cheese and then heap up as many veggies as possible...add a dash o' salt and maybe some other goodness like fresh garlic (using a press may entice your wee ones to try it!) and oregano (awesome if they grew it themselves!). Or, rather than heaping it all up, have a blast making happy faces out of the ingredients:


Pop the pizzas onto a cookie sheet or some tinfoil and broil them until bubbly about eight minutes and viola! Happy Pizza Faces!


While you're all feasting on the yummy goodness have a pizza inspired storytime with one of these books:
*Hi, Pizza Man!
*Curious George and the Pizza
*The Princess and the Pizza
*Pete's a Pizza