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WBM december 2013
The students, under the guid-ance
of Butcher, have spent a winter
morning preparing three different
dessert recipes in attractive Ball jars
for homemade Christmas gift-giv-ing.
All three recipes were adapted
by Butcher to create simple, pretty
and inexpensive edible gifts for the
holidays.
“We wanted to use common
kitchen pantry items for our project
that people could even prepare with
little children for easy, edible gifts,”
Butcher said.
The peppermint bark is broken
into chunks and stacked in the jar,
ready to bite into. The recipients of
the s’mores bake and cookie jar gifts
only have to add a few wet ingredi-ents,
like eggs and buttermilk, and
bake to have a delectable homemade
holiday dessert. Butcher estimates
each attractive gift jar costs a mere
$3.50 to make.
The Festive Peppermint Bark,
prepared by Butcher’s first-period
class, hardens for 30 minutes in the
refrigerator before being broken
into single-serving pieces and placed
in the decorative Ball jars. Butcher
printed the recipes and cut festive
decorative fabric circles so when the
students are finished measuring and
layering the cooled peppermint bark
in each tall Ball jar, all they have to
do to wrap the gift is add a fabric
swatch, decorative ribbon and recipe
card to each one.
Butcher’s second-period students
assemble a Fireside S’mores Bake, a
modern take on the classic campfire
treat, hearkening back to childhood
camping trips and cookouts with
crushed graham crackers, marshmal-lows
and chocolate chips. Butcher
recommends serving the baked
bar cookie warm in a bowl topped
with a generous scoop of vanilla ice
cream.
Butcher’s third and last class of
the day assembles a cookie jar, con-sisting
of a sugar cookie base with
M&M candies as a colorful, crunchy
addition.