Cooking Class

I've attended many cooking classes but I've never taught one myself.  This was very informal and more of a way to entertain 5 girls in a condo for an entire day with one of their favorite activities.  I asked my girls and their two friends to give me a list of things they wanted to make or learn to make and then we had to pare it way down.  The menu they handed me looked like this:

Appetizers:  Salsa and Chips
Main Course:  Lasagna
Side Dishes:  Salad, Chicken kebobs
Dessert:  Coconut Cookies and Vanilla cake with marshmallow mousse, butter cream frosting, and candy

I had some equipment issues (mainly that I have no mixer and one oven) so we adjusted the dessert to coconut bars and chocolate marshmallow fudge,  but I left the rest of the menu the same.

Our 4 main concepts were mis en place (the French phrase for having everything in its place and ready to use before you begin cooking), reading recipes, cleaning as you go, and timing.  I told them the main challenge of cooking a meal as opposed to one dish is timing everything so that it's done at the right time and you don't need to have multiple things in the oven at one time.  Originally, I planned to do the chicken kebobs in the oven since I don't really grill, but they wanted to grill so J took over that part and gave them a little grilling lesson while the lasagna was in the oven.

A couple of my take aways from the day . . .
* Kids really will eat things that they themselves help to make.  It might only be a bite, but they will try new stuff
* Some of the basic ideas that we have known for a long time (which "tool" will work best for the job, how to measure dry vs wet ingredients) are new and need to be explained very simply
* I should trust my kids to do more cooking at home on a regular basis

We made 6 recipes in 8 hours and honestly, all of it turned out delicious.  It was a lot of cleaning all day (the floor, the counters, washing pots), but totally worth it.  They all had a blast and felt really proud of their efforts at the end of it.

Here's one recipe I'd like to share . . . it was a new one to me and turned out so good.  My husband said he's prefer this to brownies.  They are like a coconut blondie and the texture and flavor was just perfect.

I'll post more of our recipes from that day in a future post.

Chewy Coconut Bars (makes a 9x9 pan)
from Cookies and Cups blog

1/2 cup butter
2 cups light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup flour
1.5 cups sweetened flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9x9 pan with foil and coat with nonstick baking spray.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium low heat.  Once it's melted, continue cooking until it comes to a boil and starts to brown, stirring constantly so the butter doesn't burn.  Reduce heat slightly and cook until the butter is an amber color.  Remove from heat and stir in the brown sugar until completely combined (it won't dissolve).  Using a rubber spatula, stir in the eggs, vanilla, and salt.  Then, stir in the baking powder and flour and stir until fully incorporated.  Last, stir in the coconut.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until golden.  The edges should pull away from the pan and look crispy and the center will be barely set.  The original recipe said 20 minutes but this took me closer to 35.  After 20 -25 minutes, check it every 5 minutes or so.  Cool completely before slicing into bars.