Spring Break Invasion

by Connie Miller (CCKC “House Mistress”), a weekly peek into one of CCKC’s special events.

This week is SPRING BREAK and for the Culinary Center of Kansas City™ that means one thing!  KIDS CLASSES !

Monday Miss Diana taught 9 – 14 year olds how to make apple bars, flower shaped sugar cookies on a stick and pizza cookies.  She had a “sprinkle table” ready to go once the cookies were baked and cooled.  I took some close up photos of the pizza cookies and they looked like the real thing. Iced with red glaze and topped with green sprinkles and slices of red licorce whips they looked like they could have come right out of the ovens at Waldo Pizza.

Wednesday was the day for making snacks.  Miss Shawn-Marie was the original instructor.  Unfortunately, she came down with a bug and our own executive Chef Matt stepped in to teach this one.  I love doing kids classes with Matt.  He is 6’6″ and can be an imposing figure in his black chef jacket. During the introduction I make sure to mention that he does ice carving with chain saws and has his black belt in Shotokan Karate.  That usually illicits some “ooohs” from the boys in the class.  Then I tell them about his 4 year old triplet daughters and I get “aaahs” from the girls.

The kids made Irish soda bread in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, crepes (was that a challenge!), baked chicken fingers, cinnamon & sugar tortillas and fruit salsa.  They were kept busy for 3 hours and we all had a great time.

This morning Chef Matt and I are making breadsticks and pizza with 18 of our little buddies. The kids will make their dough and learn how to knead. We’ll have an ingredient table and I am sure there will be some interesting combinations.  I think I’ll be making my own pizza today!