I ran three special events classes in December--Cookie Decorating, Sugar and Spice, and 3D Desserts. In Sugar and Spice we made some lovely ginger cookies, chocolate-dipped peanut butter pretzels, and sugar plums. It was the first time I let the kids use the tempering machine and I was a little worried that someone would drip water into the bowl, causing the chocolate to seize, but the kids were great and even though we had to rush to get it done, the pretzel rods looked beautiful and the chocolate was perfectly tempered. Sugar plums, a healthy treat, were a big hit with both the kids and parents, and everyone was happy with the ginger cookies. Of course, in my haste to get 10 kids through three recipes I only got one shot of a plate of sugar plums....
Not so on cookie decorating day, however! I managed to get quite a lot of pictures. Cookie decorating is always fun. I love to give kids a pile of undecorated cookies and watch them go wild with icing and sprinkles. They made fantastic treats for Santa!
Some were going to attempt to freeze them in hopes that they'd be able to keep them longer, but I have a feeling the icing probably gave them some trouble as it thawed (colors tend to run). It's always good to try, though--that's how we learn.
The final day we attempted to do some three-dimensional food art and settled on the gingerbread trees (as seen in Martha Stewart Magazine) and some enormous, but strangely cute, Rudolph cake ball heads. The size of the heads wasn't planned. In fact, I'd originally intended them to be rather small, bite-sized lollipop-style cake balls a la Bakerella, but because we made the frosting and cake that day and had a very small window of opportunity, the cake didn't cool quickly enough, and the cake balls were sliding right off their sticks. We ended up just dunking them without sticks and all was well.
After all those classes were over I went home and made piles and piles of chocolate mice and chocolate peanut butter pretzels. And because of the work the kids and I did on the Rudolph cake balls, I was inspired to make chocolate-covered peanut butter pretzel Rudolphs too!
On to winter session now. Happy New Year, everyone!!
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