We’re back! The Petits Chefs are back for the term! We had a huge amount of boys sign up (many many more than I can accommodate) which is heartening and hard at the same time. SO happy so many boys are interested in learning to cook, it’s hard because I can’t take everyone at the start. I’m doing a bit of creative juggling to try to accommodate as many boys as I can over the course of the whole term so hopefully I’ll teach everyone who applied to join (the good news is that my club is year-round unlike some so if they miss out this term, then can come out another time!).
Since we were starting with mostly a new group of boys, I wanted to choose an easy recipe for the first session. So, we made gougères from In the French kitchen with kids (of course!). “You made – choux pastry – with 18 boys in an hour?” Why yes I did! (total sidebar: to the Amazon reviewers questioning whether my book really is “for kids” and suggesting that the recipes involve long lists of ingredients, I point you in the direction of this recipe…).
Actually nothing could be easier than gougères, even with a huge class in a small space using very basic equipment.
We started out by grating cheese…
(for once) no fingers were harmed in the making of this recipe!
We learned how to measure liquid (getting down to eye level)…
We made “mashed potatoes” with our butter, water and flour…
We cooled the mixture off a little then we added our eggs…
(sidebar here: every choux pastry recipe out there says to mix in the eggs one at a time. I can safely assure you that if you add two at a time, the pastry still works out 😉 )
We added cheese to our pastry…
And we got to work making our gougères. I don’t have enough cookie scoops for everyone (it’s what I use at home when I am making a large amount) and piping bags often don’t work that well because the cheese gets stuck in the tip,we used the good old “two spoons method” which the boys totally took charge of (a reminder that the amount they would take home depended on the amount they made didn’t go astray either!)…
Who needs a piping bag? 😉
And then we read the recipe and cleaned up while the baked…
They’re pretty perfect, huh?
(^^^ this pretty much sums up cooking club – overhead shot with my feet in it, boys with Tupperware and everyone making sure they take home their fair share LOL!)
I don’t know abut you but this looks like a pretty great after school snack to me!
Choux pastry in under an hour with 18 boys in a very basically equipped (and too small) science lab? Yes you can!
Stay tuned for an exciting term of guest chefs, field trips and a new initiative with charity partner!
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MY BOOK! In the French kitchen with kids is out now! Click here for details and how to order!
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Welcome back LPCs
Mardi I would never doubt your skills for a moment. Maybe the reviewer didn’t know you were a teacher. Glad to hear you have a popular class and maybe more funds will go your way:) Good luck with the book.
Aw thanks so much! I’m pretty sure the book mentions my experience teaching children, once or twice, though 😉
Might just have to put my new cookie scoops to work this weekend 🙂
It really is the easiest way to make a lot of these fast!