Kid's Baking Club #3

Baking Club #3 was held Saturday, November 3

Apple Pie!

I learned a lot from our first two baking club sessions - and, knowing we were making apple pie, gave some thought to the setup and orchestration of having 5 kids in my kitchen.

Fundamental Changes:

• Setup a demo pie - very quickly walked through all steps: making pie crust, apple process, assembly and popped it in the oven so we would have a pie to sample before time to go home.
• Pre-set working spot for the kids - everyone peeled, cored and sliced theiir own apples
• Pre-prepped a double batch of Never Fail pie crust
• Employed the wax paper trick for pie crusts! Roll out your crust between sheets of wax paper - it's a no mess approach and super easy
• Seasonings were pre-measured for each pie

At the end of 3 hours, we had successfully completed 5 full-sized pies - 1 of which was baked and enjoyed by the group.

Megan spent part of the morning pre-prepping applies for the demo pie and making snacks for her guests. I have to admit, she's getting the hang of entertaining - very thoughtful hostess is emerging before my very eyes.


Process:

• Kids started peeling apples for their individual pies
• One at a time, they came into the kitchen and rolled out their bottom pie crust, placed it in the tin, to be refrigerated
• Megan "floated" - offering help to everyone. To her chagrin, no one would listen to her! (ha, ha!)
• As each participant finished peeling their apples, they put the peels in the garbage and got a lesson on how to core and chop.
• When all apples were chopped, each person added seasonings to the bowl and stirred
• One at a time, repeated process to roll out pie dough and put the top on, and practice crimping the edges

Amazingly, the process worked beautifully and largely, kids all wrapped up their work in succession and calmly. The floor was remarkably free of apple debris and the kids were HUNGRY!

Pies safely tucked in the fridge, snacks were served .... followed by a slice of the still warm demo pie (with blackberries!). I didn't hear any complaints!

Only problem is the disposable pie tins are not at all reliable, and several people (parents included) got an unexpected dousing of applie pie juice!

Apple Pie Recipes:

Never Fail Pie Crust (First time using the shortening based recipe; added a little cinnamon, as always)

Apple Pie (from my BHG cookbook):

• 2.5-3 lb of apples (today, we used Fuji)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 TBSP flour
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp All Spice
• Directions:

§  Peel, core and slice apples (we do smaller chunks; they cook faster)

§  Mix apple with dry ingredients

§  Pour into prepared pie pan

§  Add top crust – trim excess and seal

§  Bake at 350-degrees, about 1-hour (cover edges with tin foil for first 25-minutes to help keep from burning)