Day 1: Garbage cookies and start of Cinnamon buns
Day 2: twisted Breads day
Day 3: Comic Slice
Day 4: Build a focaccia garden
Day 5: Carved Heart Rainbow cake
Garbage cookies
Yield: 10-12 pieces
Ingredients:
- ½ cup or 113g butter (softened at room temp)
- ½ cup or 100g granulated sugar
- 1 cup+ 1 tablespoon or 135g all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon or 2g baking soda
- ½ teaspoon or 2g baking powder
- ½ cup or 60g of any type of sprinkle (mini marshmallows, pretzels, oreo crumbs etc)
- Add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder if you want a chocolate base
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking trays with parchment.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy with a stand mixer.
- Add the egg and vanilla; mix well for about 1 minute.
- In a separate small bowl, use a whisk to combine the dry ingredients; flour, baking soda, baking powder (cocoa powder if you are using it.)
- Add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture slowly. Stop mixing as soon as the flour is combined.
- Place the sprinkles in a bowl
- scoop the dough out and tightly press into a ball, ensuring the dough has no breaks and is smooth all around.
- Roll the ball into the sprinkles and be sure all the dough is coated. Place on a baking sheet with enough room so the cookies can spread.
- Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until the cookies have large cracks, puff up and slightly golden brown on the edges.
- Allow the cookies to fully cool on the tray
Cinnamon Buns with cinnamon buttermilk glaze / 1 recipe per camper
Yield: 8 buns
For the buns:
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
½ cup unsalted butter, cold
¾ cup heavy cream, or you can
substitute buttermilk
For the filling:
½ stick unsalted butter, melted
¾ cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon table salt
* staff will make filling in bulk and divide amongst the campers
For the Glaze:
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
4 tablespoons buttermilk
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
*staff will make glaze for campers and send it home in a piping bag for each camper
To make the buns:
- Grease an 8-in-by-2-in round cake pan with non-stick cooking spray or softened butter.
- Line with parchment paper and grease again.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to a medium bowl.
- Grate cold butter into dry mixture
- Slowly add the cream, mix with a fork until the dough looks crumbly then dump the dough onto the work surface and using your hands, bring it together into a large mass. Knead the dough once or twice.
- Roll it out, into a rectangle, with the long side closest to you, lightly flouring as necessary. Now, fold the dough like you would a business letter. This fold makes for flaky layers. Lift one of the short ends of the rectangle and fold it about ⅔ of the way over the rectangle. Lift the other short end and fold that over in the other direction. Rotate the rectangle so the long side is closest to you again, and roll it out into a 14-inch-by-9-inch rectangle. Let it rest while you make the filling.
To make the filling:
- Melt the butter, then combine with the sugar, cinnamon and salt, stirring to combine.
- Spread the filling over the dough, almost all the way to the edges.
- Starting from the long edge of the rectangle closest to you, begin rolling up the dough, until a tight log is formed. Pinch the dough with your fingers to seal-in the filling along the length of the log.
- Cut the dough into eight equal pieces and place them cut side-up in the prepared pan. Place in the freezer for one hour.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350-degrees .Bake the buns for 25 to 30 minutes until the tops of the buns are nicely browned and if you stick a toothpick between two of the buns, it comes out clean. Invert the buns right side up onto a serving plate and make the glaze.
To make the glaze:
- Whisk the sugar, buttermilk, and cinnamon in a small bowl until smooth and thick. Spoon into piping bags.
Twisted Breads - Recipe Use for making fun bread shapes
Yields 8
Ingredients:
- 2 cups or 240g flour + extra flour for dusting
- 2 cups or 500 ml of 2% Greek yogurt (if you use a lower percentage of fat you will need more flour on hand)
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- egg wash (1 egg with 2 tablespoon of water)
- toppings such as poppy seeds, sesame seeds, etc
Instructions:
- Preheat your oven to 375F.
- Add flour, baking powder, and salt to a bowl, mix together. Add yogurt to bowl, stir until combined.
- Sprinkle extra flour on your counter, pour dough on top.
- Start kneading gently. If the dough is sticking to your hands, sprinkle in some flour a little at a time until your dough is soft and smooth. It should not be sticking to your hands.
- Once smooth, shape into a nice ball and cut into 8 equal pieces.
- Take one piece and roll it into your hands until you have a thick rope, then make your bagel shape by pinching the 2 ends of the rope together.
- In a small bowl, beat your egg with a small amount of water.
- Place formed bagels on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, take pastry brush and brush each bagel with your egg wash.
- Sprinkle your bagels with sesame, poppy seeds, etc and bake for 20-25 minutes.
- They are done when they are puffed up and golden brown. Let cool before enjoying.
Garden Focaccia
Yield 9 x 13’’ pan
Dough
- 5 tablespoons (60g) olive oil, divided
- 1 1/2 cups (340g) water, warm
- 1 1/4 teaspoons (8g) salt
- 3 1/2 cups (420g) AP Flour
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
Topping Options
- 1 tablespoon (13g) olive oil, for drizzling
- 3 cups (269g) sliced red onion (about 1 large red onion)
- 3 tablespoons (35g) olive oil, divided
- 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 2 teaspoons (12g) salt
- 1 pound (454g) red bliss and/or Yukon Gold potatoes
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or basil, for garnish
Instruction for mixing dough
-
Use non-stick vegetable oil spray to lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan. Drizzle about 2 tablespoons (25g) of the olive oil atop the spray; the spray keeps the bread from sticking, while the olive oil gives the bottom crust great flavor and a bit of crunch.
-
Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Combine the remaining 3 tablespoons (35g) of the olive oil with the rest of the dough ingredients, and beat at high speed with an electric mixer for 60 seconds.
-
Scoop the sticky batter into the prepared pan, cover the pan, and let it rise at room temperature for 60 minutes — it should be quite puffy, but not fragile-looking.
-
While the dough is rising, prepare your toppings
Prepare your toppings
While your dough is rising, prepare your toppings by washing, peeling, slicing, and/or de-seeding your vegetables based on how you want to eat them. It helps to leave some pieces large and others small so you end up with a variety of colors, sizes, and textures
Arrange the scene
Now comes the fun part! When the dough is almost finished rising, gently dimple the surface with your fingertips. (Usually the dimples in focaccia are quite prominent, but you want to create a relatively flat surface to work on, so go easy on the dough.)
Preheat your oven to 375. Then drizzle olive oil over the dough.
Place your toppings on the surface of the dough, using colors, patterns, textures, and flavors to your advantage. Remember, there's no right way to create art — feel free to be creative
Bake
Bake the bread until it's golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove it from the oven, wait 5 minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Cake Decorating
Yields one 6’’ unicorn cake
Equipment:
- large straight edge or offset spatula, 10"+
- rolling pin or empty glass wine/beer bottle
- bowls to warm buttercream
- bendy spatulas/spoons
- sharp paring (small) knife
- scissors
- whisk (recommended)
- cake turntable (recommended & optional)
Vanilla Cake Ingredients:
- 160g or 1 ⅓ cups of all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp of baking powder
- ¼ tsp of salt
- 2 Eggs at room temperature
- 120ml or ½ a cup of oil
- 150g or ¾ of a cup of granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tsp of vanilla extract
- 150ml or ⅔ cup of milk at room temperature
Ingredients for the buttercream:
- 2 cups or 400g of granulated sugar
- 4 Egg whites or 1/2 cup or 120g of Egg whites
- 2 pounds or 2cups or 908g of Butter (soft and unsalted)
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla
Instructions for Vanilla Cake:
- Using the cake pan, trace the bottom onto parchment. Cut 2 parchment circles. Place circles in the pan so that it lines the bottom. Using 1 teaspoon of butter, grease the sides of the pan.
- Move the rack into the middle position of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325F.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt, mix together with a whisk and set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, mix together the oil and sugar until it is well combined.
- Whisk in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.
- Alternate adding the dry ingredients and milk, folding together with a spatula between each addition. Mix the batter until combined. Be careful not to over mix, which will lead to a tough dense cake.
- Bake the cake for approximately 20-25 minutes. Each oven at home is different. Use your oven light to check in on the cake, instead of opening and closing your over door.
- Cakes are done when you test your cake with a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean. Let the cakes cool on the counter in their pans. Once fully cool, you can remove them from the cake pans, wrap in plastic wrap and store in the freezer. Do not stack soft cakes.
Instructions for Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- In a large bowl over a double boiler on medium to high heat, combine egg whites and sugar.
- Slowly whisk the mixture together until sugar begins to melt and egg white becomes frothy. Be careful of hot steam from the double boiler. I like to wear oven mitts while mixing.
- The mixture is ready when the sugar is dissolved (no gritty sugar). The mixture will also be much more runny from when you started the process of cooking.
- Transfer the mixture to a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Starting on medium low, mix until mixture has cooled down.
- Once there's no visible steam coming from the mixture, turn the mixer to medium-high speed and continue mixing.
- The mixture will triple in volume and will become white, fluffy and glossy. You can now add the butter.
- Add softened butter gradually and whip until incorporated, then add the vanilla or the flavours of your choice.
- Flavour the buttercream however you like, whip in extract, melted chocolate, fruit purees or even Oreo crumbs, let your creativity shine!!!
American Buttercream (used in Class)
Yields enough buttercream to stack and mask a 6” round cake
Ingredients:
- 900g butter (room temperature)
- 480g icing sugar (sifted)
- Up to 250g whole milk(room temperature)
Method:
- Mix the room temperature butter using an electric mixer until the mixture is smooth and fluffy
- Add sifted icing sugar in 2-3 parts. Mix each time starting on low speed and mix until the mixture is homogeneous, light and fluffy.
- Add milk a little at a time on low speed, thoroughly incorporating any liquid before the addition of more milk and scraping down the sides of the bowl from time to time. You can add more milk for a looser texture or less milk for a firmer texture.
- Use buttercream to decorate on the same day or transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to one week or the freezer for up to three months. LET’S BAKE!
TIPS AND TRICKS:
- you can heat up your milk to room temperature in the microwave or in a saucepan
- icing sugar is also called “powdered” or “confectioner’s sugar” in some countries
- granulated sugar can be used in place of icing sugar, but the frosting will be a little bit granular in texture from the sugar crystals
- pair bold flavors which go well with butter for an ‘American’ buttercream
