Jr. Chef was Virtually the Sweetest Program Ever!

 It has been a world wind of a week.  It was our official first day camp of our 4-H Summer Program and we could not be more excited to be offering Jr. Chef virtually.  The benefits to this program being held at home was our participants could get up and go into their own kitchen and use their own equipment to make these fabulous deserts at home.  They had their own families as taste testers and the ingredients to adjust it to their taste buds as they went along.  To see our photos from the week please click this link.

  This year we did things a little different.  Each camper had their own kit to pick up from our office.  The kits contained ingredients, a cutting board, measuring cups and spoons, apron, 4-H Cookbook, and much more.  Some serious packing had to happen to get everything in their bags.  It was a lot to unpack and digest.  

Leading this virtual camp we had a whole team of folks.  Jessie Jones and Joanna Rogers were in the kitchen leading the recipes and clean up.  Jessie is our Family and Consumer Science Agent and Joanna is our Expanded Foods and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) Assistant.  Helping behind the scene we our two Extension Interns this summer, Kalani Gaddy and Peyton McMillan.  Wendy Maynor, 4-H Program Associate was on screen duty making sure everyone followed along.  Ms. Shea Ann DeJarnette, our 4-H Agent was on the camera making sure everyone could see everything as we melted, stirred, folded, and made the sweetest mess ever.

This year our campers focused on deserts.  On Tuesday (Monday was a holiday) they started learning about measuring, cleaning up (our least favorite part of everything), and we made two types of mug cakes.  One of the cakes involved melting chocolate, butter, and other yummy ingredients to make a creamy rich chocolate mug cake.  The second cake they mixed two boxes of cake mix together (angel food and then their favorite flavor).  They put 3 T of cake mix in the mug, added 2 T of water and cooked it in the microwave for 1 minute.  Although they said they liked both the decadent chocolate cake won for taste while the 3-2-1 cake won for convenience and budget.  Ms., Joanna also showed the campers how to make ice cream in a jar to go with those mug cakes.  I have a feeling there was a lot of ice cream and cake being consumed after this lesson.

Wednesday was our all about chocolate day.  Got to say this group loved some chocolate.  We started with Marshmallow Crunch Brownies.  These brownies were layers of decadence on top of chocolate and more rich decadence.  We started by making a flourless brownie.  Because it had not flour it was gooey and fudgy.  We topped the brownie with marshmallows and melted those on top during the baking process.  On top of that was layered a peanut butter fudge toping that included coca crispies rice cereal for that crunch.  These brownies had to be eaten in small amounts so as not to overload.  After that we made banana split bites.  These banana creations actually looked like a small ice cream cone.  Chunks of banana were dipped in chocolate and topped with whipped cream and a cherry.  They were simple but impressive looking and tasted devine. 

Thursday we focused on the world of cookies!  After a brief history lesson on cookies we made oatmeal bar cookies.  They had M&M's in them and were so tasty.  We also learned how to decorate cookies.  We were able to get cookie kits from a COVID startup business in Raleigh called Oakwood Cookie Company (mom's and dads you can find them on Facebook if you would like to learn more about this small business).  Each kit contained six cookies, three colors of royal icing, and sprinkles.  We learned how to professionally decorate our cookies and we might even have some professional bakers and decorators in our future.  A big  shoutout to this company for helping us with this special order for our campers.

Friday was Fry-Yay!  Our campers made their own granola from scratch using steel cut oats, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, and other ingredients.  They baked everything in the oven and when it was done they crumbled it up to add a little as a topping for their fruit parfaits.  These gorgeous creations involved laying Greek yogurt with fruit (we used strawberries and bananas) in a glass bowl or glass for presentation and topping it with granola.  From the sound of crickets as our campers tried it (and devoured it) I think it was a great success.  We also added some spicy watermelon to the mix today.  Although some said it was not their favorite others were pretty happy with the blend of taco seasoning and salt on this wet and sometimes sweet treat.  

Our campers are anxiously awaiting their 4-H Jr. Chef Cookbooks in the mail and we can't wait to see what they cook up next.  We hope they had a great time and that they check out their padlet to see more fun things being posted.  Stay tuned next week as we have our first face to face program since COVID-Animal Science day camp with be an adventure in more ways than one.