Sweet Shaken Cream
Sweet Shaken Cream
What's more fun than shaking up heavy cream to make a whipped cream topping? Shaking it a little longer until it becomes butter! Kids will experiment with shaking the cream so they can dollop it on their dessert instead of pouring or spreading it, but that's okay, too!
Happy & Healthy Cooking,
Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills
- measure :
to calculate the specific amount of an ingredient required using a measuring tool (like measuring cups or spoons).
- seal :
to close tightly, keeping filling inside.
- shake :
to rapidly and vigorously move a covered container filled with food up and down and side to side to combine ingredients and create a different consistency, such as shaking whipped cream to make butter.
Equipment Checklist
- Glass or plastic jar + tight-fitting lid
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
Ingredients
Sweet Shaken Cream
- 1 T granulated sugar
- 1/2 C heavy whipping cream **(for DAIRY ALLERGY substitute dairy-free/nut-free heavy cream OR coconut cream)**
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract, optional **(for GLUTEN ALLERGY use certified gluten-free pure vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla flavor—check label)**
Food Allergen Substitutions
Sweet Shaken Cream
- Dairy: Substitute dairy-free/nut-free heavy cream OR coconut cream for heavy whipping cream.
- Gluten/Wheat: Use certified gluten-free pure vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla flavor.
Instructions
Sweet Shaken Cream
measure + seal
In a glass or plastic jar with a tight-fitting lid, kids can measure 1 tablespoon of sugar with 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. Seal the jar tightly.
recipe tip
Whipped cream takes about 3 minutes of active shaking to form! Listen for a “swoosh”—this is when the consistency of the whipped cream changes and will coat the sides. Check to make sure it’s thick; when it is, it’s ready! Be careful not to overshake, or you’ll make butter instead of whipped cream (also delicious)!
shake + shake
Pass the jar around to each child to shake the cream for 10 seconds until the cream is slightly thickened. Stop shaking the jar when you have a soft, fluffy cream!
Hi! I'm Heavy Cream!
"I'm not a lightweight, like half and half. I'm full of fat and pour out much thicker. You can also call me 'heavy whipping cream.' The names refer to the same thing! Did you know that I can transform myself with your help? I turn into a fluffy topping to put on cakes and pies when you whisk me as fast as you can (or you can use a mixer). However, I go through an even bigger change when you shake me really hard in a covered container for a few minutes—I turn into butter!"
- Heavy cream is the thick, high-fat liquid at the top of raw milk. It naturally separates from the milk, rising to the top. It is skimmed off and then pasteurized to kill bacteria, which makes it safer to drink and lasts longer.
- Heavy whipping cream is made up of about 36 percent fat. In comparison, regular whipping cream is 30 percent fat, and half-and-half averages to about 14 percent.
- Heavy cream whips up better as a topping if the cream is cold, and pouring it into a cold mixing bowl before whipping also helps.
- The Guinness World Record for the most people simultaneously whipping cream by hand is 1,434 and was set on August 22, 2015, by employees of the Swiss company Nordostmilch AG in Bürglen, Switzerland.
- A dollop of whipped cream is great on fruit, cakes, and pies. The tallest recorded dollop so far was over 7 inches atop a mug of hot chocolate!
- Some of the foods heavy cream is added to include cakes, frostings, ice cream, salad dressings, sauces, soups, sour cream, scrambled eggs, chocolate ganache, crème fraîche, panna cotta, and homemade cheeses.
- One-half cup of heavy cream contains 43 grams of fat, 3 grams of protein, and the minerals calcium and phosphorus. It has more of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K than lower-fat dairy products. Fat-soluble vitamins are more easily absorbed by your body when eaten with fat.
Let's Learn About Italy!
- Italy became a unified country in 1861, only 150 years ago. It is sometimes called "bel paese" or "beautiful country."
- Italians invented the piano and the thermometer!
- In ancient Roman mythology, two twin brothers named Romulus and Remus founded Rome, Italy's capital city. The myth says the twins were abandoned and then discovered by a she-wolf before being found and raised by a shepherd and his wife. Eventually (and after many exciting adventures), they found themselves at the location of Palatine Hill, where Romulus built "Roma." The Italian wolf became Italy's unofficial national animal.
- In the 1930s and 40s, Mussolini, Italy's prime minister, and dictator tried to eliminate all foreign words from the Italian language. How did he do that? He just changed them! For example, in soccer, "goal" became "meta." Disney character names changed, too: Donald Duck became "Paperino;" Mickey Mouse became "Topolino;" and Goofy became "Pippo." Although they're not banned anymore, these words and names have stuck. So now if you go to the Italian Disneyland, called Gardaland Park, you will see Topolino and Pippo!
- About 60 million people call Italy home, and it is 116,350 square miles, slightly larger than the US state of Arizona. If you compare that to the United Kingdom, 67 million people live there, and it is about 94,350 square miles. So, the UK is smaller than Italy but has a bigger population!
- The Italian flag is green, white, and red. These colors represent hope, faith, and charity.
- The average Italian eats close to 55 pounds of pasta annually. If you think about how light pasta is, that is a considerable amount! There are more than 500 different types of pasta eaten in Italy today.
What's It Like to Be a Kid in Italy?
- Kids begin school at 6 years old. They grow up speaking Italian, but they learn English in school, so many become bilingual in Italian and English.
- The most popular sport for kids is football (soccer). The Italian word for soccer is "calcio," the same word they use for "kick." A favorite of younger kids is "Rody, the bouncing horse," a plastic horse that a small child can hop onto and bounce around the room. Rody was invented in Italy in 1984.
- The family ("la famiglia") is a central characteristic of Italian life. Children have great respect for their older relatives. It is traditional to name the first male child after the grandfather and the first female child after the grandmother.
- If kids live close to school, they can go home and have lunch with their families! Lunch at school might be pasta, meat with vegetables, a sandwich, or a salad with lots of ingredients. Families typically eat dinner later (7 to 8 pm), so kids end up staying up later, too!
- Between lunch and dinner, kids often enjoy "merenda," which is an afternoon snack that translates to "something that is deserved." It is really a mini-meal that can include both savory and sweet foods. Examples of savory foods are a salami or mortadella sandwich, a slice of rustic bread rubbed with a cut, raw tomato, or "pizza bianca" (white pizza without tomato sauce). Types of sweet foods eaten during merenda are "gelato" (a lower-fat type of ice cream), any kind of cake, or biscotti dipped in warm milk.
THYME for a Laugh
How does a cat make whipped cream?
With its WHISKers!
