27 Jul Through the eyes of a 5 year old: Cooking with Alex pt 3

Continue with Intern Laura Bartee as she details part 3 of a cooking lesson Robin hosted. Stay tuned to Robins Bite to see more sweet and healthy treats!

Recently Robin hosted a cooking lesson for a five year old little girl named Alex for her birthday. If you missed the first two dishes we made, click to see the first blog detailing how Alex made Chocolate Covered Bananas with Almonds and Baked Apples.

As mentioned in the two previous posts, the class focused on healthy sweets and treats, all of which included fruit. The final dish we taught Alex to make was a summer trifle, a recipe Robin provided from her memory!

This trifle was special because it featured delicious treats like pound cake and fresh whipped cream, but also incorporated healthy berries. Also by making the whipped cream by hand, we taught Alex how to sweeten the whipped cream herself – which included less sugar than store-bought whipped cream.

Making fresh whipped cream was the first step of this dessert! We started with heavy cream and poured it into a bowl. Laura whipped the cream with beaters while Alex dodged the flying cream specks that kept hitting her in the nose!

The process took some time, but after roughly five minutes, Alex saw the whipped cream!

This whipped cream was sweetened with 1 tsp vanilla extract and sugar to taste, approximately 3 Tablespoons. Robin added a tablespoon at a time and had Alex test it after each stir. When it was sweet enough, she stopped. This method allowed the whipped cream to be sweet, but not overly sweet from too much added sugar!

While we whipped the cream, Robin rinsed blueberries and raspberries and sliced a Sara Lee frozen pound cake.

Choosing a smaller container, Robin showed Alex how to layer the pound cake, whipped cream then berries on top of each other.

Soon the trifle layers were in place and it was time to decorate the top with berries! Alex took this job very seriously, starting with an “A” made from blueberries and decorating the rest with the raspberries.

After the trifle was completed, Alex wasted no time digging into the delicious treat! She was served her dessert in a tall glass, which displayed the pretty layers and provided a perfect kid-appropriate portion!

Upon hearing Laura wasn’t going to have any of her trifle because she doesn’t like whipped cream, Alex stated, “I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t like whipped cream!” Well, at least she’s honest!!

T
his recipe was simple and fun for Alex to make! The recipe was very affordable and hands-on, and included sweet summer berries that were fresh and delicious. With the sweet fruit, there was no need to add a large amount of sugar to the homemade whipped cream. By choosing a small container to build the trifle, Alex learned to portion control without even realizing it!

Look forward to the next and final post, where Alex decorates her recipe cards and reviews what she learned at her cooking lesson from Robin!