“Kindly send 100gms of cereal preferably rice krispies, corn flakes or cocoa pops along with snack meal for tomorrow”.
(Note from the class teacher in the kindergarten diary)
Enrolling my toddler in kindergarten resulted in all of us learning a couple of things along the way. First thing was that we all experienced school again. From getting the paper cuttings of fishes for the “ocean project” to helping him gather stones, twigs and leaves for the “village project” to sending specific things (like rice crispies, cut vegetables, diced fruits) for the home science project; we parents got into the school mode as well. Second important fact, for which it was greatly appreciated was that home science especially involving ingredients, basic mixing and appreciating cooking in general saw no gender specification. In fact there was no “it’s a girl stuff” or “it’s a boy stuff” classification. Children loved to learn and all this was a part of their experimentation.
Coming back to the initial note, the trip back home involved detailed description of their chocolate treats. Known as chocolate crackles (or choclate bubble cakes in certain areas), this popular confection had originated from Australian and New Zealand schools, especially for school fetes and birthday parties (Australian Women’s Weekly, December 1937). Predominantly these are one of the few recipes, not requiring an oven, baking or any tough steps, especially when meant as an activity for young children.
With the basic ingredients of cereal (rice bubble, rice krispies, cocoa pops, corn flakes or crispy fried noodles), vegetable shortening, icing sugar, cocoa and desiccated coconut. First the hydrogenated oil is melted and then combined with the dry ingredients. This mixture is then split into portions, either placed in cupcake pans (within cupcake papas or just as is) and made to set in the refrigerator. The hydrogenated oil re-sets to give each cake its form without baking. To add a little zing to the simple recipe, variations include addition of raisins, chocolate chips, mini-marshmallows or peanut butter. Substitutions for hydrogenated oil include melted chocolate or non-hydrogenated coconut oil.
As these simple recipes comes to life during school hours, recreating those moments, adding new recipes and photographing them creates a memorable album for the rainy days as these young minds mature into the adults in the future.
Sugar And Spice... Among Other Things 