Kids and a Cook™

Teaching kids to eat healthy & bringing families together!

Kids and a Cook™
Recipes 

Peppermint Pie –Simple & Easy (& who doesn’t need easy) Holiday dessert

Michelle Day , , , ,

PEPPERMINT  PIE

Here is a wonderful holiday desert your children certainly can help you make. With a short ingredient  list containing gelatin, cream, peppermint  candy  and  pie crust (which you make yourself or use a store bought) this can be your holiday go-to recipe for your party or if you need to bring something to a school function or work or friend’s party.

It’s great for the holiday buffet and can be made days ahead of time to alleviate some of your party prep stress.  It is also easy enough to make when you have house full of kids home from school.

This desert has all the necessities to create wintertime holiday memories. The bite and refreshment of the peppermint make a nice accent to the heavier dishes set out.  The darkness of the chocolate crust and the bright red and white sprinkles set off any décor and who doesn’t like peppermint candy canes?

Ingredients:

  • 1 envelope plain gelatin
  • ¼ cup cold water
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 1 ½ cups heavy cream, whipped
  • 8 oz. Peppermint candies, the soft type
  • Crushed hard peppermint candies (enough to cover a pie dish)
  • 1 chocolate pie/cookie crust (store bought)

Soften gelatin in water and set aside.  Using a small saucepan, combine the ½ cup heavy cream with the soft peppermint candies and cook over low heat until the candy melts. Keep your eye on this to ensure the cream does not boil over or burn.  While you are doing this, your kids can crush up the hard peppermint candies.

Make up the whipped cream if you haven’t bought pre-whipped cream.

When the candy has melted in the cream, add the gelatin mixture and mix well.   Set aside to cool.  Add in some of the whipped cream and mix until attaining a smooth consistency. Then have a kid help you fold in the remaining whipped cream.   Pour over the chocolate crust and sprinkle thoroughly with the crushed peppermint candies.

Chill thoroughly before serving, it could take several hours to come to firmness.

Michelle Day

Michelle Day has been cooking and baking since she was old enough to hold a whisk. Michelle is an expert cook and her passion for cooking and entertaining has never wavered. At the age of 10 Michelle’s Family started a bakery in Simsbury CT, where Michelle got her first taste of running a food service business. In 1994 Michelle moved to New York City, where, she found her true passion in baking. In 2001 she started “The Catering Divas” Catering business. Serving the Upper East Side, she catered numerous small dinner and cocktail parties. Her passion and attention to detail won her the attention of some of New York’s Elite. Back at home in Connecticut, Michelle is a well known culinary instructor and her cake decorating skills jump-started a side business — Devine Cake Designs — where clients clamor for her inspired and beautifully artistic designs. After 15 years in the culinary industry, Michelle’s love of cooking, baking and children, has lead to her to her newest career, offering personalized family cooking classes and creating a TV show, digital broadcasts and Cook Books like no other. Kids and a Cook is all about healthy, fun, and easy meals for kids and their families. Michelle credits her parents with her success and her love of food, helping to create so many memories being in the kitchen with them as a child. Her goal is to have a show to help viewers create the same memories with their families. A show for the kids, and by the kids, with the “cook” there as guidance. Michelle’s featured co-host is an energetic, precocious 9-year-old named Elisabeth. Although a finicky eater, Elisabeth still loves to cook in the kitchen and learn about ingredients and how to mix them to make tasty dishes. Come join us — as you and Elisabeth learn easy recipes and explore culinary adventures. Michelle Day is available for lectures and cooking demonstrations. Please contact us through this website.