Creative Cooking 4.0

[Megan Sims]

Ok, you are pairing up as you post. So, the third person to post (cause Cortney will be the second), will work with Cort. It'll just keep it tidier when posting.

Megan Sims walked into classroom, well the home economics room, and over to her work station that was centred in the middle of the room so that she could watch each of the cooking stations as the students worked, and made her able to talk to the class without any of them having to move away from their benches to be able to see her.

She placed her folder on the bench-top and then took the recipes out of the folder and walked around the room, placing four sheets of paper on each of the workstations, one on a golden yellow paper and the other on key lime coloured paper, as the students had two recipes to work with that day. There were two ovens in each station so that the students could independently cook two different dishes in each oven.

Once the sheets were handed out, she headed back to her own station and laid one of each recipe out on her own bench so that she had them on had should a student ask any questions about either of them.

She smiled as each student walked in and moved into a work station. When they had all gathered, she began the lesson - knowing they would need every available minute. "Welcome to creative cooking. As you can see, everyone has two recipes today, so you can fight over who is going to do what. You may also notice that the fudge needs to refrigerate for at least two hours so you will need to return here after your equestrian classes to retrieve that." She smiled around at the students. "You don't have to put the key lime glaze on the cupcakes. If you would like to be completely creative, I can hand out a separate sheet with instructions on how to make buttercream icing if you would rather frost them, you will find lots of things you can decorate frosted icing with in your pantry." She wiggled her eyebrows. "Right, I'll leave it up to you to sort out who gets to make what and you can get started."

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Chocolate Marshmallow Fudge

[/u][/i][/b][/font] [li]3 cups sugar[/li][li]2/3 cup evaporated milk[/li][li]4 Tbsp. butter[/li][li]12 ounces chocolate chips [/li][li]1 (7 1/2 ounce) jar marshmallow cream[/li][li]1 teaspoon vanilla extract[/li][/ul]

[/i][/u][/b][/font][li]Combine sugar, evaporated milk, and butter in medium heavy sauce pan.[/li][li]Cook to soft ball stage.[/li][li]Remove from heat and add chocolate morsels, marshmallow cream, and vanilla.[/li][li]Stir until well combined.[/li][li] Pour into a foil lined 9x13" pan.[/li][li] Chill at least 2 hours until firm. Invert pan, remove foil and cut into squares.[/li][/ul]

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Key Lime Cupcakes

[/u][/i][/b][/font][li]2 cups all purpose flour[/li][li]1 1/2 cups sugar[/li][li]1/2 teaspoon salt[/li][li]3/4 cup cold water[/li][li]1/2 cup oil[/li][li]1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla[/li][li]7 large eggs, separated[/li][li]2 teaspoons grated key lime rind[/li][li]1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar[/li][/ul]

[/b][/u][/i][/font][li]Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cupcake pans with paper liners.[/li][li]Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add shortening, milk, and vanilla. Beat 7 egg yolks in a separate bowl, and add to dry ingredients along with the water, oil, vanilla and key lime rind. Mix with mixer at medium speed while scraping bowl until well blended. (approximately 2 1/2 minutes)[/li][li]In another large mixing bowl, combine egg whites and cream of tartar. Mix at high speed 2 to 2 1/2 minutes or until egg whites are stiff.[/li][li]Carefully fold flour mixture into egg whites until just blended.[/li][li]Pour cupcake batter into paper liners until 1/2 to 2/3 full.[/li][li]Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until top springs back when touched lightly.[/li][li]Cool cupcakes completely in pans then drizzle with key lime glaze.[/li][/ul]

[/i][/u][/b][/font][li]Combine 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon melted butter in a small mixing bowl. Stir in 2 - 3 tablespoons of key lime juice until slightly thin glaze consistency is reached. Drizzle over key lime cupcakes.[/li][/ul][/div]

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Calling:
@running1
Cortney Smit
Jayne Doe
Miranda Florin
@daretodream
Peter Holden

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney raced out of her history class and headed toward her next class, Creative Cooking. As she moved down the halls, smiling and nodding to people she knew, she pulled her hair into a messy up-do so that it would be out of her face and out of the way while she was in class.

She skipped her way into the home economics room and slid into her workstation. She was normally the first to arrive at Creative Cooking so she always used the same station. She pulled her recipe bonder out of her bag and then turned her attention to the sheets of paper on the edge of the bench. "Two recipes today, Ms Sims?" She asked as she picked up one of each of the coloured sheets of paper and looked at them. She opened the binder and flipped through the dividers until she got to the cakes and slices tab and opening the rings, she slipped the papers into place. She then grabbed one of the black aprons, pulled the strap over her head and tied the strings behind her back with expert ease.

She bounced on the balls of her feet as she waited for the rest of the students to arrive so that they could get started. While she waited, she studied the sheets were left for her working buddy. She arched an eyebrow at the fudge recipe. The class was only an hour long and they would be going straight from class to lunch and then to their respective equestrian classes, which meant that the fudge would have to wait until next class before they could consume it.

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda was one of the first to leave her classroom, eager to get to Creative Cooking, as usual. She stopped briefly in one of the restrooms to scrub her hands, then resumed her path towards the home economics classroom, which was where the classes took place. As she entered, she smiled at Ms. Sims, "Good morning!" She looked around the empty room, smiling at Cortney before she started moving in her friend's direction. When she had reached the workstation, she put down her backpack, out of the way that no one would trip over it, but not before she grabbed her recipe binder from the bigger pocket.

She opened the binder and clipped in the recipes, then looked at Cortney, "I can do the fudge, if you want to do the cupcakes?" The fudge looked simpler to make, although she knew that she'd have to be careful with boiling the milk. Upon talking to her mother about the class, her mom had related an unfortunate tale about trying to cook something and burning the milk, something that Miranda definitely did not want to try in this class, not only because it would probably affect her grades, but she didn't want to show how bad she really was with food, since she had very little experience with anything but boiling water and pouring it into a freeze-dried pouch of food.

[Jayne Doe]

Jayne left the classroom. Rather than allowing herself to be swept along with the tide of students, she pushed her way through the throng until she felt that she had enough room to breathe in the hallway. She was pleased that she had piled her hair on the top of her head that morning before fastening is with sparkling clips, as it would keep it out of the way for her next class.

Walking into the creative cooking room, she gave the teacher a bright smile - one that almost gave the woman permission to start the class now that she had arrived - and swept into an empty work station.

She dropped her bag on the floor and used her foot to slide it over to the area beside the pantry where it would be out of the way. She followed it and grabbed her recipe binder out and then slipped one of the black aprons over her head. She headed back to the bench as she tied the cords behind her back and pulled the paper with the recipes on the closer. Taking one of each colour, she looked through what they would be making today, her eyes lighting up at the fact they were making sweet things.

Once class started, she turned her attention to the teacher and then look at her work-buddy. "I'm happy with either. What would you rather make?" Her words held more confidence than she felt, but she didn't think either of them were particularly difficult to create.

[Peter Holden]

Peter was usually eager to get through his classes that took places in the school building so that he could go see Thimble, but today he was pleased to be going to his Creative Cooking class. He had liked what they had done in the past and had hopes that today's class would be just as interesting. He walked in to find that the majority of the class had already arrived (granted, it was a small class). He smiled politely at Ms. Sims as he entered in greeting.

He'd brought his recipe binder with him, and brought it to the work station where he found two recipes. From past experience, he figured that they wouldn't have time to do both, and that he would only end up making one. Another girl was already at his workstation with him, and he smiled at her, embarrassed by the way he towered over her. He slipped on an apron just as Ms. Sims began to speak.

After listening to the teacher's instructions, he turned to the girl, whose name was Jayne if he remembered correctly, and replied, "I think I'd like to make the Key Lime Cupcakes, if that's okay with you." He hoped that she hadn't had her heart set on those, but figured that he'd have to trust her saying that she was happy with either. The Key Lime Cupcakes sounded more appealing to him, and he'd have more freedom to decorate them, and use his artistic abilities.

After clipping the recipes into his binder, he walked over to Ms. Sims. "May I please have the recipe for the butter icing?" He figured that he could make that while the cupcakes were baking and then pipe it onto the cupcakes. If they came out nicely, which he presumed they would, he could surprise Kate with them. She loved baking herself, but hadn't had much time to do it now that she was at Blue Ridge.

[Megan Sims]

Megs smiled as the students entered one at a time and quickly found their work stations.

Once she had given her instructions, and one student had asked for the icing recipe she decided that she would give everyone the sheet. "Here you go, Peter," She said with a smile as she handed him two sheets of light pink paper. "There's one there for Jayne as well." Once he had walked back to his work station, she walked over to where Cortney and Miranda were working. "Even though I get the feeling you don't need it, Cortney, here's the buttercream recipe for the two of you." She placed the papers down on their bench.

She walked back to her workstation and silently observed the students as they got to work with what they were doing. She had been impressed with how they had worked together in the previous classes. Today's task was going to be watching how they worked on their own recipe without getting in the way of each other.

Buttercream Icing

[/b][/u][/i][/font][li]100g/4oz Softened Butter[/li][li]200g/8oz Icing Sugar[/li][/ul]
Directions:

• Place the softened butter in a mixing bowl and sift the icing sugar over the top.
• Add flavouring (see below) and cream all the ingredients together until smooth.
• Add the mixture to a piping bag and swirl buttercream onto cupcakes

To make your buttercream more tasty you can add a variety of flavours.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:

[/b][/font][li]50g/2oz Ripe Bananas, mashed[/li][li]½ tsp Vanilla Extract[/li][li]½ tsp Lemon Juice[/li][/ul]

[/b][/font][li]Either 1 tsp Cocoa or 25g/1oz Melted Chocolate[/li][li]A few drops of Vanilla Extract[/li][/ul]

[/b][/font][li]25g/1oz Desiccated Coconut[/li][/ul]

[/b][/font][li]2 tsp very finely grated Lemon Rind[/li][li]2 tsp Lemon Juice[/li][/ul]

[/b][/font][li]1 Tblsp very finely grated Orange Rind[/li][li]2 tsp Orange Juice[/li][/ul]

[/b][/font][li]A few drops of Vanilla Essence[/li]

[/font][/ul][/ul][/div]

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney grinned from ear to ear as Miranda was the next person to walk into the room and she bounced up and down as the other student walked over. "I'm so glad we're working together!" She gushed. She laughed, but not in a mean way, when Miranda chose to make the fudge. "All good!" She said as she began pulling the ingredients out of the pantry and lining them up on the bench so that the items that the girls had to share would be accessible to both of them. "Evaporated milk is a little thicker than normal milk. Put the butter in first and when it starts to melt, add the milk and sugar. The butter will finish melting quite quickly and the sugar will dissolve pretty much instantly. Just make sure you're stirring it the whole time."

She turned to the oven and turned it up to the required temperature before she turned her attention to the muffin pans. She picked the smaller sized pans and placed the liners in each hole before she turned her attention to pulling a bowl out of the cupboard and then making the batter for the cupcakes. After measuring out the flour and baking powder, she sifted them into the bowl with the sugar and salt.

It didn't take long to get the batter to the stage where she was ready to spoon it into the liners. Leaving the bowl, she walked over to the oven to see how far away it was from being at temperature, and then walked back to start spooning the mixture into the liners - being careful to only half fill the decorative paper cups. Once the oven was at temperature, she carefully slid the trays onto the shelf and closed the door. She set the timer and then turned back to the bench. "Wow, could I have made more of a mess?" She shook her head and got to work putting away whatever was no longer needed and put the dishes into the sink, which she would wash as soon as she had finished with the cupcakes.

She then pulled a smaller bowl out of the cupboard along with the electric mixer and began to put together the buttercream icing. "What flavour icing should I make?" She asked Miranda as she didn't have any preference over what she did or didn't like and since her friend would also be eating the cupcakes, she should get a say in the icing.

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda grinned and nodded, "I am too!" She liked working with Cortney, mainly because she was fairly confident that the girl wouldn't hold it against her if she did mess up, and because she knew the girl better than anyone else in the room. She watched Cortney grab her ingredients and turned to do the same, skipping the ones she couldn't find, as she noticed that her partner had grabbed some that she needed as well. Finishing up, as the list wasn't too long, she heard Cortney's advice and listened quietly, nodding at the end of it, "Thank you." She went over the instructions, making sure she remembered the order before she bent to pull out a sauce pan.

She focused on following Cortney's advice, starting with the butter and finishing with the sugar. Now came the slow, careful work of stirring the mixture, which took quite some time, before it had reduced itself into what Miranda decided had to be the 'soft ball' stage. She turned off the heat before turning at Cortney's words and grinning, "It might be possible." She picked up bag of chocolate chips and measured out twelve ounces before dumping them in. She heard Cortney's question and pondered it while she scooped out the marshmallow cream, glancing over the options, before answering, "I think the coconut would taste good." She smiled, "But it's your choice, I'm happy with any of them." She added in the vanilla extract and then started stirring, working hard to get the ingredients evenly mixed.

[Jayne Doe]

Jayne curled her nose slightly when the boy she was working with, Peter, said that he wanted to make the muffins. It wasn't that she minded what she made, it's just that the fudge seemed, well boring, and she had hoped that he would have picked to do the easier recipe. "Sure, sounds good to me." She was with a confident grin.

After tucking the frosting recipe into her folder, she went to the pantry and started pulling out the ingredients that she needed, pouting slightly on the fact that it was to be made with a jar of marshmallow cream, she would much rather have torn into a bag of mini mallows so that she could sneak a couple as she made the fudge.

She measured out everything she needed before even starting to heat anything so that it would be on hand the instant it was needed, without needing to measure anything in the middle of mixing and changing the mixture cooling. Opening the tin of evaporated milk, she measured out what she needed, cut and weighed the butter and measured the cups of sugar out into a bowl so that she could just pour all three cups in at once and then set a pot on an element and counted to thirty before she added the butter, waited for that to melt a little before adding the milk and then the sugar, constantly stirring the mixture as it heated and melted together into a ball. Removing it from the heat she stirred in the chocolate and marshmallow cream, along with the vanilla extract, and mixed it all together until well combined.

She then crossed to the drawers where the baking pans were kept. "Sorry, please excuse me." She said as she bumped into Peter. She pulled out the pan she needed and lined it with foil and then used a spatchula to transfer the fudge from the bowl to the pan and after smoothing the top, she pushed it into the fridge. It was a little annoying that they would have to come back after school before they could have any, but at least it gave her the chance to do the dishes while Peter did whatever he needed to do with the cupcakes when they came out of the oven and cooled down. "If you put the cakes on a plate in the fridge once they are out of the pans, then they'll cool down faster." She suggested as she filled the sink with hot water and squirted washing up liquid under the running water. One of her foster mothers had done baking for preschool birthday parties, and that's what she had done, when short on time, so that she could still take beautifully decorated cupcakes or muffins to the parties. "That is if you want to put frosting on them instead of the glaze."

[Peter Holden]

Peter thanked Ms. Sims for the recipe when it was handed to him and returned to the station. He gave Jayne the extra copy that the teacher had told him to give to here. "Here's the recipe for the Buttercream Frosting, from Ms. Sims." He then got quickly to work, preheated the oven and then getting out all of the ingredients. Pulling out the cupcake tins, he filled them with liners and then got to work measuring and combining the dry ingredients. He then added the shortening, milk, and vanilla as well, stirring well after each addition.

He then got to work separating the egg yolks and whites, putting them in separate bowls and then beating the yolks together. He then grated the key lime rind, taking care to keep his fingers out of the way. He then added them as well as the water, oil, and vanilla. He then beat the mixture together, scraping the side with a rubber spatula every so often.

He wiped the beaters clean before mixing the egg whites and cream of tartar until the egg whites were stiff, and then carefully folded the flour mixture in. Now that it was time to fill the tins, he grabbed a gallon plastic bag and snipped off a corner after filling it with the batter. He then efficiently filled the tins so that they were all even. Popping the oven, which was now ready, he set the timer for the minimum time of 20 minutes.

He then got to work with the frosting. When Jayne bumped into him, he just smiled and quietly noted, "It's no problem." and moved away.  He'd decided to use vanilla flavoring in it, thinking that the pure flavor would compliment the tangy flavor of the lime. He looked up when Jayne suggested putting the cupcakes in the fridge to help them cool faster. "Oh, thanks, what a good idea. I will certainly do that."

[Megan Sims]

Megan watched her students as they worked, impressed that no arguments had broken out from either group as they moved around each other - in fact there was almost no sound at all as they spoke amongst themselves and got on with what they were going.

The woman glanced at the clock and her eyebrows shot up. "Look at that, time does fly when you're having fun." She commented with a smile, even her tone sounded like a smile. "We only have fifteen minutes left. At this stage you should be putting the finishing touches on your cupcakes." She got the feeling that neither of the students making the cupcakes would use the glaze that was suggested on the cupcake recipe sheet.

She glanced at the clock again. "Since the fudge won't be ready until after school, I'll judge the presentation of that then." She told her students. "Your cupcakes however will be judged on presentation and creativity." She flashed them a quick grin. "I know, I judge everything on creativity. Today you are also being judged on how well you have worked together even while working on your own tasks. And just to let you know, you all passed that part of it. And while you're worried that you are going to run out of time, do remember that you are heading to lunch after this so if you are still decorating cupcakes after the bell rings, you don't have another class to run to."

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney finished making the base of the icing and nodded her head to Miranda's suggestion. "Good idea. Coconut is a step above vanilla in flavouring and anything else I think would take away the flavour of the cupcakes." She added the coconut and a hint of green food colouring to the icing as she spoke and used a spatula to fold it all together and then spooned a little into a piping bag.

Carrying the bowl of icing, piping bag and nozzles, edible glitter that she had found in the pantry and iced shapes over to the bench beside the elements where she had placed the cupcakes after removing the cooled cakes from the fridge. Then, picking them up one at a time she used the piping bag and using a circular movement gave the cupcakes a softserve-like topping. Once all of the cakes were iced, she decided not to use the iced shapes but did give each cupcake a tiny dusting of silver glitter.

Taking a pate out of the cupboard, she arranged the cupcakes artistically. Running the tap, she dipped her finger under the water and drew a line around the edge of the plate, she then graded the zest of one of the limes around the plate so that the zest stuck to the ring she had created. Using a paint brush that she had found in the drawer, she brushed away the excess zest and then placed the plate on the front bench for Ms Sims to be able to inspect before she split the cupcakes into the two cardboard boxes she had waiting under the bench.