Six little girls were fabulous bakers on Tuesday!  I caught a glimpse of many stolen licks (followed by much hand washing, and re-washing).  Here are some highlights from our Sweet Treats class for 5-7 year olds:

• Cupcakes:  The ingredients seemed strange (sour cream?) but the end result was delicious! The girls smelled and tasted several ingredients along the way :) The brown sugar smelled like raisins and the vanilla did not taste good!  Everyone cracked their own egg, and we had no shells!  (I scrambled up the extra for diner, thank you!) We talked about when to use dry measuring cups (flour, sugar) and when to use liquid measuring cups (milk, cream). We talked about how to fill dry measuring cups.  They spooned in the flour, and packed in the brown sugar. We talked about how to look at the line when using liquid measuring cups. Everyone used the big stand mixer!  They all took turns spooning the batter into the mixer, locking it in place, and turning it on (gradually!). Everyone took turns using an ice cream scoop to fill the cupcake liners.

• Frosting: That was easy! The girls tried mixing up the frosting ingredients with a spatula, but several lumps of butter remained.  So, we switched to the hand mixer and they all took turns beating the frosting to perfection!  At their age, it took 2 hands, and a gentle reminder to keep the beaters on the bottom of the bowl. They all did a great job!

• Ice Cream: Everyone had a role in measuring out and whisking the ice cream ingredients. There was a lot of peeking in the ice cream maker as it turned our liquid into ice cream.  The girls were a big help here - I initially put a room temperature mixing bowl in the ice cream maker, instead of the frozen one, so nothing was happening!

• YUM! Each girl had 3 chocolate cupcakes, a generous spoonful of frosting, and a full dixie cup of ice cream at the end.  Most of them left with a few cupcakes to share!  I wish I had taken some pictures, but we were too busy!