A couple of weeks ago, Les Petits Chefs baking club worked with sweet shortcrust pastry – always a popular item to work with because “it’s just like Play Doh, only tastier” 😉 Lots of people are intimidated by pastry but it’s actually much easier than you think and kids, particularly, are fearless, so they just don’t have any concept that something *might* not work. Fortunately I have many years experience working with both pastry and kids, so i have a fairly good idea how to make it work in 60 minutes!
We started our by rolling and cutting the pastry (that I’d made at lunch)…
Cookie cutters for the win!
This week we used muffin tins AND we lined them with paper cases so they didn’t have any chance of sticking (the muffin tins belong to the kitchen and I didn’t want them to have to do any extra scrubbing !).
It is a perfect hack (and bonus, you can use the paper cases a few more times for this so don’t throw them out!
Meanwhile, we prepped some toppings/ fillings. We sliced strawberries…
… and made crème pâtissière…
Yep, not one but TWO intimidating things in one session! Proof that it’s time-sensitive is that there are no more photos of the process of making the pastry cream after this! Once it gets cooking, it needs your full attention…
The tart shells baked beautifully…
And we learned that you really DO have to roll the pastry to an even thickness otherwise some tarts will be more baked than others…
We got to work piping the pastry cream – full disclosure, I did this because we were running out of time, but the kids put the strawberries on top and glazed them with a bit of jam mixed with hot water…
The technique <3
NOT SHOWN: Melting chocolate chips and butter to make a quick ganache… So everyone went home with 4 mini tarts…
Not bad for 60 minutes with 12 kids under 12! It DOES take some planning and the time can get a bit crunched but it is so worth it seeing their pride in what they’ve made at the end!
Stay tuned to read about the next session and some adventures with pâte à choux and profiteroles (choux pastry and cream puffs!)
_________
Buy my books! In the French kitchen with kids and French Food for Everyone: le goûter (after school snacks), le dîner (dinner) and le petit déjeuner (breakfast) are out now!
Click here for details and how to order!
