Every year around this time, I am hard at work planning my Summer Kids Baking Camp. I have been teaching these mini week long baking courses for kids in middle school to high school for over 16 years!
Although it is lots of work and takes oodles of patience I LOVE IT! I meet all sorts of kids from different geographical areas. Some of the kids are quiet and some not so much. However, once the quiet ones start feeling comfortable watch out…
I am excited about this summer’s first week. We begin the week with home made marshmallows. They are super simple to make and the kids love taking them home to make S’mores with their parents. I even put a home made S’mores recipe in my new cookbook, “Baking with Success” with graham cracker cookies that you make from scratch.
Some marshmallow recipes start out with a meringue using egg whites that have a boiling sugar syrup beaten into them with a bit of gelatin. And some recipes just use a lot of unflavored gelatin instead of the meringue with the boiling syrup beaten in as well. Both ways work well and taste great.
I know what you are thinking. Why don’t we just use store bought marshmallows?Well, buying them is no fun, and I find that kids love to explore how to make an item that seems so hard to do and yet is not. When they see the food science of how air can be beaten into egg whites, or gelatin, and then stabilized by using the gelatin itself, it becomes an edible science experiment. The kids are amazed that they actually made something that they never thought they could.
If you are looking for a fun and educational activity for your middle schooler or high schooler this summer, please look into my Professional Baking Course for Kids at Schenectady County Community College.
Remember to never take the simple things in life, like marshmallows for granted!
Happy Baking!
Chef Gail