A month ago I got a Facebook message from my nephew Jonathan about a conversation he had had with his six-year old daughter—my grand niece—Emma.
“I was taking Emma to spend the day with the mule trainer that the ranch owner flew in from California for the week. I told her to listen and pay attention because one day she might be a mule trainer or a vet and it would be great to learn early. She looked at me and said “Yea, that sounds great and everything, but I’m gonna be a chef like aunt Pam.”
Hah! A story like that makes you proud, and knowing I was going to see Emma at our annual Anderson family reunion this past week, I asked Jonathan to pass along a message to Emma: start thinking about what she wanted to cook with me.
We got to the reunion last Thursday night and Emma and her younger sister Annie were waiting for me. After making a date to play with my make-up and paint nails, we turned our attention to the kitchen. What we were going to cook?
As it turns out, her mother Melissa had stopped en route at a farm in South Carolina and bought nine very large crates of rapidly ripening peaches. Bingo. Peach cobbler was our destiny.
We made a shopping list. Milk, check. Butter, check. Salt and peaches, check, check. All we needed was flour, sugar, baking powder, and almond extract.
We returned from the store and with a little help from some of the older cousins and a few sisters-in-law, we quickly peeled, stoned, and sliced the soft fragrant peaches. Now it was Emma and Annie’s turn. They unwrapped the butter and put a stick into each of three pans, which we set in the preheating oven to melt while we prepared the batter.
They took turns—very impressive for young sisters—measuring the flour, sugar, and baking powder. Then they both stirred and whisked as I poured in the milk and extract. That was it. We divvied up the peaches and batter and then set the pans in the oven to bake for a scant hour. It couldn’t have been a more kid-friendly recipe—short, simple, forgiving.
After late-afternoon games and a barbecue picnic, the seventy of us returned to the cabin for our peach cobbler, apparently so good that some of the latecomers complained of not getting any!
I don’t know if Emma and Annie will remember our peach cobbler session, but I sure will. Both girls are certainly bright enough to become vets, savvy and sensitive enough to be mule trainers. If either decides to become a chef, however, they’re off to a very good early start.
What fun it was making the peach cobbler with the girls. I had a few favorite moments, but I really loved when Annie asked if it was time to add the flour (as she was holding the baking powder).
Kids, and not just girls, love being in the kitchen. They love feeling important and feeling like they are helping. I’m not yet a parent, but I can imagine it’s hard to come up with things for them to do all the time. Cooking with kids is probably one of the best activities you can do together, it’s fun – but it’s also very productive. And delicious!
What a great photo! Terrific to see them so enthusiastic!
Emma and Annie love, love, love you three girls. They had so much fun cooking with you and spending time with you guys. Thanks for loving them so sincerely.
How great that Emma and Annie got to cook with Aunt Pam and Maggy and Sharon! They had so much fun. I was one of the lucky ones who got a piece of the peach cobbler–and it was wonderful. I’ll definitely try this recipe–as I have several bags of those SC peaches in the freezer.
You’re right, Maggy. Cooking is a great activitiy for kids–it’s fun, but they’re also learning practical skills they can use now as well as in the future.
The moral of the story is start ’em young. My grandson turns two this week and a couple of months ago I set a big mixing bowl and a spoon in front of him and announced we were going to make cookies. He patiently kneeled on the kitchen chair to reach the table and taste-tested each ingredient I added, and then he stirred them in. I don’t expect he’ll end up as a chef because he loves dirt and trucks too much, but that’s how you create a cookie monster!
Another great story! It reminds me of canning peaches with my grandmother – with peaches from the trees in our backyard. I can still feel the juice running down my elbows. I was a kid then, but it is a vivid memory even now. Thanks for sharing!
Well, I’m not close to being a chef, but I can relate to your story. My nieces and nephews think I can bake anything, since their moms don’t really love being in the kitchen. Whenever we’re together, they know they’re gonna get something fun and sweet from my kitchen and they look forward to it. : )
emma and annie are so adorable it hurts. maggy must have taken 100 pictures of them, and each one was cuter than the last. where does that photogenic-nature go? i’d like to know, so i can find it!
i am so glad mom is bringing cooking to the next generation. this photo could have easily been of me and mags 22 years ago–hands in the bowl, grins on our faces. i always tease mom that she was letting us use knives and vegetable peelers before most kids our age could read…but she taught us an amazing skill (with very few boo-boos). now annie and emma are starting, too…minus the sharp objects 🙂
Oh sweet little Emma and Annie — I have to tell this story about Emma. I was the first one at our Anderson reunion this year and then Emma arrived. She looked at me and said, “I forgot you were coming to the reunion, but I didn’t forget AUNT PAM was coming”!!! She couldn’t wait to get cooking with her famous aunt — and that peach cobbler was the best!
What adorable chefs! Sounds like a good memory for everyone involved. I’ll bet this is a story that gets told and retold through the years – especially if either girl ends up being a chef!
Love it! Those little ones will not forget it! Well done!
Once to help “control” a playday gone haywire (4 – 5 year old girls) I said ok….let’s cook something.
Well, let me tell you EVERY playdate with my daughters friends now starts off with what are we making today…lol
So very surprising how many kids have never made fresh lemonade or whipped cream – the are utterly fasinated by truning a liquid into one of the best treats ever…whipped cream – they think I am magic lol! My daughetr just turned 6 and of course she wanted a cooking/swimming party – so I sat down with her (had a meeting…ha) took notes and mad it come to life…we had food stations all over under a huge oak tree – the kids loved it!
I love cooking with little ones! They’ll never forget the memories you created with them!
I wanted to try your recipe and did so in individual ramekins. It’s delicious! Thank you for a wonderful recipe!