Cooking Class #3: Stuffed Mushrooms and Chocolate Cake

Curly is really enjoying his time in the kitchen. I mean, he doesn't always want to stop reading or playing to get in the kitchen, but once he's in there... it's pretty smooth sailing.

This time our task was stuffed mushrooms and a warm chocolate cake.

I'm not sure where either recipe is from originally. My mom gave me the stuffed mushrooms, and an old friend gave me the cake. Both are pretty simple and very tasty. Neither falls into the healthy category, either, but have I mentioned they are tasty?

We started with the mushrooms. I had to help him with the stems because the mushrooms were pretty fragile. But otherwise, he was on his own again. He learned the importance of softening the cream cheese, how to cream ingredients together, measuring, and drizzling with butter. He struggled a little more with this recipe because you really need to get your hands dirty to make these. He has a very hard time with messy hands, so a lot of the steps were "disgusting" in his words. He did enjoy the end result, though!

Then we moved on to the cake. This is ridiculously simple. You just need a chocolate cake mix, cook-and-serve chocolate pudding mix, milk, and mini chocolate chips. Make the pudding according to the directions on the package, then stir in the cake mix. Once it's all mixed together, put it into a greased 9x13 and sprinkle generously with the chips. Bake 30 minutes at 350 and serve warm. 

It does take constant stirring, which wore his skinny, little arm out, but it was a good lesson in stirring so something doesn't burn.

Once again, we all really enjoyed the fruits of his labor!