Dairy in the Classroom Recipes

We have absolutely loved cooking with Dana! Here are the recipes for the goodies we've made so far. Hopefully your second grade chef will be able to make these with you at home for continued fun!

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Butter

Pour a pint of room temperature heavy cream into into a jar with a tight fitting lid. Fill only half full. Start shaking (you'll need some serious elbow grease if doing it by hand). First, the cream will turn into whipped cream with soft, then stiff peaks. Keep going until the cream breaks. At first, you’ll hear a sloshing, then when it is whipped cream, it will not make any noise. Then you’ll begin to feel something more solid hit the sides of the jar. This usually takes anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. In this process, you are separating the butter fat from the liquid. Once the butter has solidified, pour off the buttermilk and save it for baking (or drink it!). Scoop the butter into a bowl. Rinse the butter by pouring ice water over it and pressing the remaining buttermilk out with a small spatula or a spoon. Pour off the water and repeat the process. Keep rinsing and squishing the butter with the ice water until the water runs clear. The, add some salt if you like and work that through the butter.

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Simple Farmhouse Cheese

cook time: 1 hour 20 mins

total time: 2 hours 20 mins

serves: about 1 pound

Ingredients

• 1 gallon milk, not ultrapasteurized
• ½ cup white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons very fine sea salt

Instructions

1. Line a colander with a double layer of cheesecloth or a single layer of butter muslin.
2. Pour the milk into a large, heavy-bottomed kettle, and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Stir it frequently to keep the milk from scorching. When it comes to a boil, immediately reduce the heat to low, and stir in the vinegar. The milk should immediately separate into curds and whey. If it does not separate, add a bit more vinegar one tablespoon at a time until you see the milk solids coagulate into curds swimming within the thin greenish yellow whey.
3. Pour the curds and whey into the lined colander. Rinse them gently with cool water, and sprinkle the curds with salt. Tie up the cheesecloth, and press it a bit with your hands to remove excess whey. You can tie it up and let it set for an hour or two.  It’s ready to eat!

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Cheesy Kale Crisps

5 min to prep

10 minutes to cook

Ingredients:

1 bunch of kale

8oz of shredded cheddar cheese

Cooking spray

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 and spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray
2. Remove the stems and ribs from the kale, and shred the kale very thinly. Spread the shredded kale onto the baking sheet, and sprinkle evenly with Cheddar cheese.
3. Bake the kale for 10 minutes, watching carefully to prevent burning, until the kale is crisp and the cheese is browned.
4. Take out of oven, let stand to cool for a few minutes and then cut into pieces and serve.

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Pumpkin Pie Pancakes

Dry Ingredients

1 1/2 Cup All-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients

2 Tablespoons maple syrup 

1 Cup of Pumpkin (either canned or mashed cooked pumpkin)

1/2 Cup of Milk

2 Tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil

2 eggs

DIRECTIONS

Whisk flour, baking powder, spices and salt in a bowlIn a separate bowl whisk together milk, pumpkin, melted butter/oil, maple syrup, and eggs. Fold mixture into dry ingredients. Spray or grease a skillet and heat over medium heat: pour in 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook pancakes about 3 minutes per side. Serve with butter and syrup or maple whipped cream. 

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