K/1s take turns to fill the pan with their cornbread batter.
Rebellion of one sort was avoided last week with the baking of Cranberry Upside Down Corn Muffins. I felt triumphant as the week began: eggs cracked gracefully without a trace of shell, a student telling me of his new-found love of the tart ruby berry (that’s what this class is all about!), requests to copy the recipe so it can be made over Thanksgiving.
The call for sweets subsided with batter-caked hands patting full bellies. Students left happy, having their fill of a play on an easy favorite: cornbread.
I envision this recipe as a perfect way to use up that unfinished cranberry sauce post-holiday. Or use it up pre-holiday with this bread serving as a quick and delicious breakfast with a cup of tea (or glass of milk) before the feast. The recipe is easy: your favorite cornbread batter covers cranberry sauce, bake and flip. It can be made as a muffin or a whole “cake” in a cast iron skillet. Beautiful. Think crimson tarte tartin. No cranberry sauce? Use a favorite jam– blueberry, cherry, strawberry, raspberry…
The students were loving it. I forecasted them toasting holiday meals (in my honor, of course). Yet somehow, the week, along with that “teaching is rewarding” cliche, were hijacked.
A (slightly sinister) dare on my part to try the raw cranberry ended with seized fruit needing to be pried out of little fingers to provide enough for our jam making: “but they’re like Sour Patch Kids!” I didn’t expect them to enjoy the raw fruit. Never underestimate a first grader’s taste buds. Later in the week, a student looks up at me and smiles, “Hey! I remember you from last week.” I hope you remember me since we have had nine weeks of classes now. And then… As I’m collecting a K/1 class, I see a student that hasn’t been with us for a while, “We’ve missed you. Where have you been?” I inquire.
“When my mom picks me up from school on cooking day she says: ‘Do you want to go to McD’s, or cooking?'”
“What?”
“Yeah, so I tell her I want to go to McD’s.”
“Thanks. I’m so glad you told me that. It really makes me feel like you want to be here and there is a purpose to my work here.”
“Yeah, wanna know what else she says?”
“No. Get in line.”
I wished we were making another Thanksgiving classic: overly-boiled brussels sprout mush. I’d feed him the whole plate.
Cranberry Upside Down Corn Muffins
This muffin can be made in a cake, pie tin, or a cast iron skillet as a “cake” version.
Makes 16 mini-muffins (12 regular-sized muffins or 1 cast iron “cakes”), with sauce leftover
Cranberry Sauce:
2 cups (about 12 ounce bag) fresh cranberries
3/4 cup cane sugar
zest and juice of 1 orange
Cornbread:
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon cane sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup buttermilk (or milk + 2 tablespoons vinegar)
1/3 cup hot water
4 tablespoon melted butter
1 egg
Heat oven to 400 degrees F. In a small pot over medium-high heat on the stove top, combine cranberries, sugar, orange zest and juice. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened and reduced. While cooking, make batter.
Combine and stir dry ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add buttermilk, water and butter. Stir to combine until batter comes together.
Butter muffin tins and divide cranberry sauce to just cover muffin tin bottoms. Add batter over top. Bake 15-20 minutes, for mini-muffins, longer for larger sized muffins (25-30 minutes) or full cakes (35-40 minutes), until golden.
Invert immediately and serve warm.
That’s a sad story Stacey. It sounds like his mother has some serious insecurities about her food choices and is trying to “prove” herself right (to herself) through manipulating her son, because it is too deep and too hard for her to accept that the food she was taught to eat as a child and is now teaching her son to eat is inferior.
Yes I like to psychoanalyze people without any certifications. But my point is try not to feel too bad, the battle against corporate America and industrialized “food” is a tough one because food is so important psychologically and emotionally, not to mention the other side has a lot more resources.
You are making a difference for all the kids, even for that one, although it may not feel like it right now.
Plus, he did choose your class over McD’s THAT day, right?
Really sad, I know. He wasn’t in class yesterday and I even said to the other students, “Not here? Hmm, must be at McD’s.” They laughed and then said, “To the potato lab!” Which I guess is their new term for the kitchen, or some brilliant thought-play on McD’s.
I like to psychoanalyze people too. When I psychoanalyze my students it’s always in terms of the parents and what little I may know about them.
“I remember you from last week”?! That made me laugh out loud!