We recently held a kids’ cooking class with the accomplished chef and cookbook author Helen DeFrance. With the Broncos readying to head to the Super Bowl, she couldn’t resist teaching the kids a few recipes for the big game.
Here are a few of her favorites, which are appropriate for any age to make and enjoy.
FOOTBALL PIZZA POCKETS
INGREDIENTS:
1 Pie crust
Pizza sauce
Pepperoni
Mozzarella Cheese
1 egg (beaten with a tablespoon of cold water)
INSTRUCTIONS:
• Roll out you pie crust (I prefer the flakiness of pie crust rather than pizza dough for this recipe). Using a round larger cookie cutter, cut round circles of the pastry. Then cut them into football shapes. Once you have one it’s easy to use it as a template and cut the rest out. Re-roll the scraps and cut out as many football shapes as you can.
• On a football cutout, place a couple pepperoni slices, a piece of mozzarella and a little pizza sauce.
• Brush a little of the egg wash around the edges and place another football shaped cutout over the stuffing and seal by pressing down on the edges
• Using a fork, crimp the edges around the pizza pocket and make slits in the top to resemble football laces.
• Brush the tops of each pizza pocket with the egg wash and place them on a baking sheet.
• Bake in an oven pre-heated to 425F for around 10-12 minutes or until the pizza pockets turn a golden brown. Serve with pizza sauce for dipping.
CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY FOOTBALLS
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
12-14 large strawberries
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
you will also need:
2 Coffee mugs
piping bag
#2 tip
Parchment paper
INSTRUCTION:
• In a microwave safe coffee mug add the dark chocolate chips. I’ve found this to be the best vessel for strawberry dipping. If the bowl you use is
too wide then the melted chocolate is too shallow, and it’s hard to get the strawberries dipped.
• Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir and repeat until melted. Don’t over heat or your chocolate will seize and there is really no coming back from that.
• Grab the strawberry by the leaves (make sure strawberries are completely dry or the chocolate won’t stick).
• Dip in the chocolate and swirl around carefully until coated
• Hold above the coffee mug for a few seconds to allow the excess to drip off.
• Place on a sheet of parchment paper to dry.
• Push forward slightly to avoid a pool of dried chocolate forming in the front of your berry.
• Allow to dry for about 15 minutes.
• In a separate coffee mug (or really, any microwave safe bowl will work for this), add the white chocolate. Microwave on high for 20 seconds and stir, repeat until melted. You have to be even more careful with white chocolate, it tends to seize quicker. It isn’t actually chocolate, its cocoa butter solids so it behaves differently. If it does seize, you can try and add a few drops of canola oil, but you might just need to toss it out and start over.
• Pour the white chocolate into your piping bag. Pipe on a stripe at the top and one at the bottom of your strawberries.
• Then pipe a line down the middle of the berry.
• Then pipe 5 or 6 lines across the middle line.
Tips:
-Let the white chocolate cool a bit, but not harden, before piping. If it’s too hot, it’ll be really runny.
-When piping the lines, double back a bit to avoid the “strings” of white chocolate from dripping down the sides.
-Serve chilled
-Don’t make more than 24 hours in advance, strawberries tend to shrink a bit as they age.
