That’s what happend recently at The Myers Memorial Library, as students through grade eight got a chance to experience the Children’s Friendsgiving Test Kitchen.

With smiles on their faces, they shared stories on how they followed recipes at home to make the dishes they shared with each other.

Some of the dishes made were individually-wrapped cinnamon popcorn balls, hamburger cupcakes, stuffed-crust pizza.

Taylor Vullo, who made the cinnamon popcorn balls said the best thing about the popcorn balls is that “they are so cinnamonny.”

Eliza Roushey is ready to eat a cupcake brownie burger. P-J Photo by Michael Zabrodsky

According to library assistant Rachel Roushey, the Friendsgiving started by way of students who check out cookbooks. She said that the library has a storytime and a messy art club, so she thought there are a lot of cookbooks for kids at the library that can be used.

“And so we thought, why not let them create something? We don’t have a full working kitchen here at the library, so we couldn’t really do a cooking class. So, we figured they could try the recipes at home — kind of like little test kitchen and then bring it (food made from recipe) in for other people,” she said.

She also noted that this is a chance to show that kids can cook.

“And even if it’s hard for parents sometimes to step back and let their kids do it. They (the kids) are very capable at making some of their own recipes be it the dessert or main dish,” Rachel Roushy added.

She thought it would be a great way to kind of get kids excited not only about reading, but about creating and making.

The children listen to library assistant Rachel Roushey read “Freindsgiving” by Nancy Siscoe. Submitted photo

“It’s kind of weird. They would take out the cookbooks, but it still gets them to read. It gets them reading and a lot of the cookbooks have a lot of pictures in them. And so they go ‘Oh, I want to try that. I want to try that.’ So we wanted to give them a way to do that (create and make),” she said.

The participants with recipes included Taylor Vullo, Strider Dahlin — mini pumpkin pies, Eliza Dahlin — apple pie bars, Annika Roushey– punch, Greta Roushey — soft pretzels, Eliza Roushey — cupcake brownie hamburgers, Evie Casel — banana bread, Cora Casel — brownies, Audrey Casel — stuffed crust pizza, Hannah Vullo — corn bread casserole, and Sebastian Cable — orange cranberry muffins.

After the children sampled the food, they sat down and listened to Rachel Roushey read “Friendsgiving” by Nancy Simcoe.

RECIPES

Stuffed Crust Pizza

2 C Flour

1 (.25 oz) pkg instant yeast

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

3/4 C warm water

2 T olive oil

1/2 C tomato sauce

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/8 tsp black pepper

4 mozzarella string cheese sticks

1 1/4 C shredded mozzarella

1/4 grated parmesan cheese

Favorite toppings: pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives–your choice

Step 1: Add flour, yeast, sugar, salt, water, and oil to a large bowl. Stir until a soft dough forms. Step 2: Add dough to a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, 5-10 minutes. Step 3: Return dough to bowl. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for 30 min. Step 4: Meanwhile, prepare sauce. Mix tomato sauce, garlic powder, oregano, and pepper. Set aside. Step 5: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease baking sheet with cooking spray. Step 6: Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Roll into a 14 inch circle. Carefully move dough to baking sheet (allowing some dough to hang over the edge.) Step 7: Tear string cheese in half lengthwise. Lay around the pizza edge, leaving 1 inch of dough as a border. Then fold the dough over the string cheese, pressing firmly to seal the cheese inside the dough. Step 8: Spread your prepared tomato sauce over the pizza. Sprinkle with parmesan and mozzarella cheese. Add your favorite toppings. Step 9: Bake 15-18 minutes, until crust is browned and cheese is bubbling. Step 10: Enjoy!

Cinnamon Popcorn

12 cups of popped popcorn

2 sticks butter

1 cup of sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Step 1: Melt butter in a pan on the stove, add sugar and cinnamon and mix well. Continue cooking and stirring for a few minutes. Step 2: Pour melted butter mixture over popcorn in a large bowl, coating evenly. Step 3: Spread popcorn out on a cookie sheet and bake in a 300 degree oven for 20 minutes. Step 4: Remove from oven and let cool. Enjoy.

Cupcake and Brownie “Burgers”

Brownies

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup veggie oil

1/3 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, Grease 9×13″ pan and line with parchment paper. In medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add oil, milk, vanilla and egg and whisk until well combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes until center comes out mostly clean. Let brownies cool and hen use a round cookie cutter to cut into 12 circles.

Butter Cupcakes

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp almond meal

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 stick plus 1 Tbsp butter, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1/2 plus 1 Tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, line 12 cupcake tins. In large bowl, whisk together flour, almond meal, baking powder, and salt. In second large bowl, beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well. At a low speed, add the flour mixture and the milk to the butter mixture a little at a time, switching back and forth between the flour and the milk. Once well mixed, pour the batter into the paper liners, filling 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees, 18-20 minutes.

Assemble the Burgers

Be sure to let the cupcakes and brownies cool completely. Cut the cupcakes in half to make top and bottom burger buns. Place the brownie circle on the bottom bun of each cupcake. Make buttercream frosting (or buy frosting) by combining butter, powdered sugar and milk, divide into two bowls and add yellow food coloring to one bowl and red food coloring to another, place frosting into piping bags. Decorate with yellow buttercream frosting to look like cheese. Add red buttercream frosting to look like ketchup or a tomato. Add green sprinkles to look like shredded lettuce. Place the top “bun” on top of each decorated burger. Add white sprinkles on top of each bun to look like sesame seeds. Place burgers on a platter and enjoy!

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