Desserts to Make with your Kids

Since today is National Pi Day, my 6-year-old son and I baked a pumpkin pie (his favorite). It reminded me of how fun and easy it is to make desserts with kids. Here are a few of my favorite dessert recipes that are great to make with a young assistant!

Pumpkin Pie

If you use a pre-made pie crust, making a pumpkin pie is pretty much an issue of dumping all the ingredients into a big bowl and stirring. Older kids can help measure; younger ones can break the eggs and whisk. There are hundreds of pumpkin pie recipes out there, but the one on the back of the One Pie brand canned pumpkin is easy and delicious – not too spicy for young palates, and the molasses adds extra flavor and sweetness.

Frozen pie crust
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
scant ½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin or squash
 2 eggs, beaten (with hand whisk or electric mixer)
1-1/2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/8 cup molasses
1-1/2 cups milk

Pre-bake pie crust according to package directions. Cool completely.

Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt, and spices in a large bowl. Stir in pumpkin, eggs, butter, molasses, and milk. Pour into cooled pie crust. If you have extra filling, pour it into ramekins, set ramekins in a baking dish and add water to close to level of filling and bake alongside pie. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for an additional 50 minutes. Filling should be slightly jiggly in the center, but will set as the pie cools.

Resurrection Rolls

These sweet, doughy desserts are fun as an Easter treat, since they symbolize the empty tomb, but they’re a fun treat any time of year. This recipe is great for really little ones because there’s no measuring required.

Frozen crescent roll dough
Marshmallows (full size)
Melted butter
Sugar and cinnamon, mixed together

Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray. Arrange balls of crescent roll dough, leaving about 2 inches between balls. Flatten each ball into a 3” diameter circle (it’s fun to squish with the bottom of a drinking glass). Place a marshmallow in the center and wrap the dough around it, pinching to close completely. Roll in the palm of your hand to smooth and seal. Brush generously with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Return to greased cookie sheet and cover with plastic wrap sprayed with non-stick spray. Let rise till doubled (~30-60 minutes). Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Lime Fascination

This was one of my absolute favorite desserts as a kid – to eat AND to make. The hardest part was waiting for the jello to set before moving on to the next step! If you don’t wait long enough, you end up with a layered dessert with mostly green jello on the bottom and mostly whipped cream on the top. Delicious either way, though!

Crust:
2 cups chocolate wafer cookie crumbs (a pre-made chocolate pie crust will also work, as will crushed chocolate graham crackers) - use either a food processor or a rolling pin to make crumbs
4 Tbsp melted butter

Filling:
1 (13 oz.) can evaporated milk
1 pkg lime jello
1-1/4 cups boiling water
¼ cup lime juice (can substitute lemon juice)
1 cup sugar

Combine chocolate and butter. Set aside a few tablespoons for topping (or use chocolate jimmies) and press remainder into the bottom of a 9” square baking dish.

Chill the evaporated milk by refrigerating overnight or placing in the freezer for about 15 minutes. In a medium bowl, dissolve the jello in boiling water. Add the sugar and lime juice and stir until completely dissolved. Cool slightly (you can scant the boiling water and add a few ice cubes at this point), then refrigerate until partially set.

Pour the evaporated milk into a large mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer (start on low and increase speed) until it forms a solid, whipped-cream-like foam.

When the jello is partially set, beat until a light, airy texture. Fold into evaporated milk, mixing until color is even and not streaky. Pour over the crumb crust. Smooth with spatula and sprinkle with reserved crumbs (or chocolate jimmies). Cover with plastic wrap (hold up with toothpicks if necessary to avoid sticking) and chill for several hours before serving.

Gingerbread Boys

There’s something universally appealing about making gingerbread boys. These cookies are just as delicious cut into squares with a knife or circles with a drinking glass, but kids love using a cookie cutter to make little boys and girls. This recipe is moist and delicious enough to not need icing, but if your kids are artistic, feel free to add icing decorations after the cookies are cooled.

1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup Crisco (or butter)
1 tsp vinegar (white or cider)
1 tsp baking soda, dissolved in ¼ cup hot water
¼ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
¼ tsp salt
2-2/3 cup flour (adjust as needed)

Combine all ingredients, adding flour gradually until dough is a workable consistency. Roll out on a floured board (slightly thicker dough will result in a softer cookie) and cut with a cookie cutter or drinking glass. Bake on a greased cookie sheet (cookies will spread slightly) for 5 minutes at 400.

Crazy Cake

This is a delicious, moist cake, but what makes it special is how fun it is to make. It reminds me of making mud pies! Kids love to dig wells in the dry ingredients and pour in the liquids, then mix it all together. Adults love that there’s no big mixing bowl to wash afterwards.

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
¾ cup vegetable oil
2 Tbsp white vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups cold water

Sift together all dry ingredients in ungreased 9x13”pan. Make three wells and pour oil into one, vinegar into another, and vanilla into the third. Pour cold water over all and stir well with fork.

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely and frost as desired.

Fun Fudge

Fudge is always fun; mini marshmallows are always fun. Put them together, and you get double fun! And now that microwaves have taken the place of double-boilers in melting the ingredients, fudge is a much more kid-friendly recipe.

18 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsp margarine or butter
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups miniature marshmallows (white or multicolored)
1-1/2 tsp vanilla

Melt chocolate chips and margarine in microwave-safe bowl, 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until smooth. Add sweetened condensed milk and heat an additional 30-60 seconds, stirring till well blended. Fold in marshmallows and vanilla. Spread evenly in an 8” or 9” square pan lined with waxed paper. Chill 2 hours or until firm. Turn out onto cutting board and peel off waxed paper. Cut into squares and store in covered container in refrigerator. 

From Russia, with Love

A month or so ago, my son requested that we learn about France as part of homeschool. So we had “French Day.” We found the country on a map, we talked about what people wear in France, what the weather is like there, what kids study in school, what kind of games they play, and what kind of food they eat. We even found some recipes and planned out a meal that would be similar to what people in France would eat.

Yesterday, my son requested that we have another day like that, so I suggested a few countries he might choose from: Australia, Russia, Mexico, and Zimbabwe were all choices. He opted for Russia, so today we spent the morning studying what kind of clothes people in Russia wear (mostly the same as us, except traditional costumes for festivals and warm furry hats up north), what’s different about school (they start at age 6 or 7 and finish at age 16 or 17), what kinds of homes people live in (mostly high-rise apartments, sometimes with a shared kitchen or bathroom), and what people in Russia eat. I found dozens and dozens of delicious-looking recipes, several of which we’ll be trying later, but it seemed appropriate that for our first attempt at Russian cooking, we would make borscht.

Borscht is, of course, beet soup, sometimes made with beef and often made with cabbage and carrots, which is often served with a dollop of sour cream and a side of dark rye bread. I searched out a recipe that touted itself as being “easy,” and I went to the store for supplies.

Left to right: Russian rye bread, beets, cabbage, beef broth, carrots. Not pictured: an onion, salt, butter. I wasn’t sure if “real” borscht used red cabbage, smooth-leaf cabbage, or the “ruffled” cabbage shown, but I thought the ruffled cabbage would look the nicest, so that’s what I bought.

The first task was to peel and shred the beets and carrots. My assistant learned to use both a peeler and a grater during this lesson – and without bloodshed (although while shredding the beets, who would know?). 

We discovered that leaving the greens attached to the beet give it a nice handle to grab onto while peeling. Three beets gave us more than enough for the 2 cups of shredded beets called for in our recipe. 

We tried grating the carrots both end-wise and sideways. End-wise turned out to be more effective, although you have to be very careful not to grate your fingers!! We lost count of how many carrots we needed to make the 1 cup called for, because a certain assistant kept eating them before we finished shredding them. (This is most definitely NOT a bad thing.) But it was probably around 3 or 4 medium-sized carrots.

Mom took charge of chopping up the onion – the white discs looked very artistic against the remaining beet and carrot shreds on the cutting board. We didn’t bother to measure one cup – one medium-sized onion, chopped, is reasonably close to one cup. See? This is why I love making soup: approximations are king. 

Pour two cups of water and ½ teaspoon salt into a large saucepan and add the shredded beets, carrots, and onion. 

It doesn’t seem like enough water, but that’s okay. Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat, covered, for 20 minutes. While this is simmering, shred the cabbage. It’s pretty difficult to shred cabbage on a grater, so I simply chopped it. I did it the same way I chiffonade basil: wrap two or three leaves together to form a tight tube, then chop along the length. In this case, I went back and chopped again at an angle so the pieces weren’t too big. 

 

I only used two leaves, but I got way more than the needed one cup. I used it all anyway. Cabbage is good for you, right? (See also: approximation comment, above.)

When the 20 minutes was up, I uncovered my simmering broth to find it nicely thickened and a gorgeous, deep purplish-red. 

I had a large box of beef broth rather than the two cans called for in the recipe, so once again, I approximated, and just used most of the box. I also dumped in the cabbage, and a tablespoon of butter. 

I realized at this point that I probably should have shredded the cabbage a lot finer, but oh well. That’s why I leave space at the bottom of all my recipes to make notes for next time!

Next we simmered for 15 minutes, but uncovered this time. The recipe called for adding a tablespoon of lemon juice right before serving, but I read in a number of comments that this is NOT traditional Russian, so I left it out (and didn’t miss it). I did, of course, top each bowl with a dollop of sour cream. 

I could not convince either my 4-year-old daughter or my husband to try it, and my 6-year-old (whose project it was to begin with) took one taste and made a face. I, however, was surprised at how delicious it was, especially considering that I dislike cabbage and am only “meh” on carrots and beets. My main objection to all three is their tendency toward bitterness, but apparently the cooking changed the chemistry in such a way that the sweetness of the onion and the hint of saltiness from the broth come forward in a very pleasant way.

If you’d like to try it for yourself, here’s the complete recipe (based on a recipe from Taste of Home)!

2 cups shredded fresh beets (about 3)

1 cup shredded carrots (about 3-4)

1 cup chopped onion (1 medium)

2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) beef broth (about 3-1/2 cups)

1 cup shredded cabbage

1 tablespoon butter

Sour cream, optional

In a saucepan, bring the beets, carrots, onion, water and salt to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add broth, cabbage and butter; simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Top each serving with a dollop of sour cream if desired. 

Prijatnovo appetita!

Photo A Day: Patterns

One of my favorite things to do with my children is to cook or bake with them. Something about working with them in the kitchen brings me back to my own childhood, and learning to cook with my own mother. I can close my eyes and picture myself in my childhood kitchen; I can see the gold-flecked white kitchen tabletop, the shiny copper-bottomed pots hanging on the avocado green pegboard, the gold-and-white fold-up stool that leaned against the wall until I needed it, the brick red block pattern of the linoleum. And I wonder if, twenty or thirty years from now, my children will be teaching their children to cook and thinking back to our round wooden table, our corner cabinet full of pots and pans, the black and white pattern of our kitchen tile.

My parents re-tiled their kitchen floor not long after I moved out, but in my minds’ eye, it will always be that brick red block pattern. That pattern was common enough that every now and then, I still stumble across a room somewhere – a friend’s house, a niece’s apartment, a church bathroom – that has the same linoleum pattern. And every time, I immediately flash back to an image of cooking with my mom in that kitchen. And suddenly, I feel very happy.

I hope that someday my children walk into a room patterned with black-and-white tiles and have a sudden memory of cooking with me in the kitchen. And I hope they smile.

Patterns.