Autumn Splendor

Autumn Splendor

At long last, my favorite season is here. No more humidity, no more air conditioning. Now it is time to bake. To kick off the harvest season, I returned to the preschool for another session with my favorite little chefs.

We made Apple Duff, which is a peeled, cored apple stuffed with raisins and brown sugar, then wrapped in puff pastry. I gave them each a cup of the raisin/sugar mix with which to stuff their apples, then set about helping each of them to wrap it all in the dough. By the time I got halfway around the table, I noticed that the apples were curiously void of said contents — little fingers had been pinching them to put in little mouths. It was hilarious! Then something magical happened: this beautiful little girl spontaneously ran up to me and said, “Jen, I want to give you a hug!” She threw her arms around my leg and gave me a big squeeze. I nearly melted on the spot. Something strange is happening — children usually stay far away from me…Must have been all the sugar. 😉