Sweet Potato Latkes with Applesauce

Last week my students harnessed their Bubbes. Out came the graters, or as the kids call them, “the shredders,” pushed back their sleeves, tied on those aprons and got down to business. Potatoes are hard for little hands to shred, especially those larger sweet potatoes. They are heavy, they are awkwardly shaped and they’re dense. As you can see in the picture above, sometimes two sets of hands (a second to hold the shredder) was needed.

The students were great sports through it all.

“Latkes? What’s that.”

“They’re potato pancakes for Hannukah.”

“What do they taste like?”

“Sort of like french fries.”

And that’s all it took to set them into a shredding frenzy.

I broke each class into three groups, each making a different latke flavor so we could explore some spices. One made plain salt and pepper, another made cumin and the third made our “dessert” cinnamon latkes. A few eggs and then we crisped them up in olive oil and enjoyed them with applesauce. (recipe at bottom)

Lemon Stained Glass Cookies

This week my classes are celebrating their second week of holidays. As Hannukah is just about leaving us, we’re busy cutting cookies for Christmas. This week, we turned boring sugar cookies into zippy cinnamony-lemon treats. We took those zippy cookies and added another element, cutting out smaller shapes in the cookies, then filling those cut outs with crushed hard candies.

The kids loved how our opaque sugar powders (ground Jolly Ranchers) turned into smooth clear centers. When held up to the light these cookies are really dazzling. Of course, in class, our cookies were eaten so quickly we didn’t even bother to poke a hole at top to hang them.

A word to those working these cookies in your own kitchen: keep an eye on the flour and dough scraps! At the end of each day I am thrilled I’m not the one to mop up the floor (and sorry for the one that does). If it’s any consolation I do have to scrape off the bottom of my shoes. (recipe at bottom, photo tk)

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Sweet Potato Latkes with Applesauce
Makes about 20 small latkes

2 pounds sweet potatoes
1 small Vidalia onion
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
Add one:
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Grate sweet potatoes and onion using the largest setting on a box grater. Spread potatoes and onions on a paper towel, cover with more paper towels and press to expel water. Transfer the potatoes and onions into a bowl. Add eggs and salt.  For regular flavored latkes, add ground pepper. For cumin flavored latkes, add cumin. For cinnamon “dessert” latkes, add the cinnamon. Alternatively, after adding the eggs and salt, divide the mixture between three bowls and add the seasoning to each for three different latke flavors.
Warm olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Place a scoop of potato batter into the pan and flatten with a spatula. Fry until darkly golden, about 6 minutes, flip and fry another 5 to 6 minutes.Transfer to serving plate and serve with applesauce and sour cream.
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Lemon Stained Glass Cookies
Makes about 30 cookies

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
7 ounces clear hard candies, broken into small pieces (Recommended: Jolly Rancher)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Note: an easy method for breaking hard candies is to put them through the coffee grinder.
With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg, lemon extract and lemon zest. Beat to combine about 1 minute more. Sift in flours, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Mix until just combined.
Form the dough into a smooth ball and transfer to a well floured surface. Flatten dough into a sphere and sprinkle with flour. Roll out dough to about 1/8-inch thickness. Cut desired shapes using large cookie cutters. Transfer cut dough to a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Use smaller cookie cutter shapes, removing shapes from the cookies, leaving approximately a 1/2-inch border around the edges. Gather scraps, form into a ball and re-roll dough for more cookies. Poke a hole at the top of the cookies (to create ornament cookies). Sprinkle a layer of hard candy in the small cookie cutter holes. Bake 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool about 10 minutes on cookie sheet before removing them with a thin spatula.

Holidays and colds have put me a little behind these days but the kids continue to cook. I’ll round up our wonton week here and follow it up later tonight with our holiday cooking from last week and this week.

The first thing one must realize when cooking with kids is that your final dish will probably look nothing like you envisioned. You know those perfectly wrapped wontons that were demonstrated about six times? Not going to happen. What does happen is something much better and something the kids can be proud of. I just provided one rule: Seal the edges. Wonton shapes that came out were fabulous– from cinched up purses to envelopes. Eventually some boys decided their wontons were looking like spaceships, which became an even easier rule: Astronauts cannot be exposed to space! Seal them in!

“Is this correct?”

“Can you see the astronauts?”

“No.”

“Then we’re set for take off.”

Our semester finishes at the end of January with a big party where all the clubs in the after school program show off what they’ve been doing with their time. Ceramics has an art display, dance shows off their dance and cooking provides the food for everyone with the 4th and 5th graders as servers. So far we’ve made butternut squash empanadas and the other week it was the wontons pictured above (our upcoming weeks are all party-centric). Most of the kids were really good sports saying how much fun it was to fill and shape these packets. (I told everyone they had to make at least 20 wontons.) Of course, some tuckered out, “planning for a party is hard work! Two more!” I told them. Some of the students even started setting up production lines: “I just made 10 at once!” My response: “Good job! See if you can now do 15 at once!”

The best part is that not only did the kids find these fun to form, they really enjoyed eating them. I had them grating ingredients by hand and while they were exclaiming how tiring it was, I caught many sneeking nibbles of shredded carrots and edamame. Once cooked, they were clamoring for more than their alloted two– “Sorry! We need to save the rest for the party!”

During the party, we’ll be frying these up and serving them with dipping sauce. In class, we boiled them, put a dash of miso in our water and had an Asian fusion dumpling soup that the kids dug.

Vegetable Wonton Soup
Makes about 60 wontons

Filling:
1 cup edamame beans, shelled
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon ginger
6 scallions, sliced
2 carrots, shredded
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1/4 head of cabbage, shredded
1/4 cup tablespoons cilantro, chopped
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

Wonton wrappers

Blitz edamame, garlic, soy sauce, honey and ginger in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and fold in remaining filling ingredients. Place a wonton wrapper on a work surface. Use your finger to brush the edges with water. Add approximately 1/2 tablespoon to the center of the wonton, fold in half, corner to corner, forming a triangle and sealing edges. Pinch the triangle corners together. Place on a cookie sheet and repeat with remaining wontons. Freeze the wontons overnight on the cookie sheet then transfer to a freezer bag or cook them to eat immediately.

To cook: (Fried) Heat sesame oil over medium high heat. Add in a few wontons. Cook 2-3 minutes each side until lightly browned. Serve with dipping sauce. (Boiled) Bring water to a boil. Drop in a few wontons. Boil 5-6 minutes. Add hot water over 1 teaspoon of miso paste (optional) and a few pieces of seaweed, stir to combine. Add wontons and garnish with chopped scallions and cilantro.