Stuffing cupcakes

When the holiday season rolls around (aka anytime after Halloween for Japan), I get the urge to bring cooking to almost all of my classrooms!  As long as your teachers like you, and you plan ahead in advance (I start talking about cooking 3-4 weeks before the actual day), this is really easy and a BIG hit.   I completed the following recipe within two periods (washing/clean-up included) for a 5th grade elementary class of 16 kids.  I split them up into two groups for the stuffing and the mashed potatoes.  The only prep work done for this beforehand was the applesauce, because it doesn’t exist in Japan.  I just grated an apple and cooked the mushy part and juice down with some cinnamon which only took 15-20 minutes.  You can do all of this in a big batch and save it in the freezer for other recipes in the future.   It might also help if you measure stuff out for your kids beforehand, so they just have to put it together. 

I also wanted to mention that my students and teachers wanted this recipe so I translated it and put it on a Japanese cooking site called Cookpad.  もし日本語のレシピ欲しかったら，これをクリークしてください！Link to the recipe.

Happy festivus for the rest of us!

This was adapted from Ryan’s Baking Blog.  You should click on the link just because it has a cute pug in a cupcake!

Stuffing  Cupcakes

Prep time: 20 minutes                Cooking time: 35-40 minutes              Servings: 16

Budget for ingredients: ¥2000 *This is just approximate.  The teachers usually prepare all of this and I give directions in English. 

*

Equipment:

2 big bowls
2 mashers (or rice paddles)
1 pot
1 frying pan
2 cutting boards
knives
cupcake tins
Ovens
Spoons

Ingredients:

Stuffing:
2 loaves of french bread
6 strips of bacon
1 c water
1/2 c applesauce
1 t garlic powder
1 t salt
1 t pepper

Mashed potatoes:
10-12 potatoes
100 g butter
1 c cream
1 handful of cheese

Directions:

 Stuffing group

1. Cut the bread and bacon.  The bread should be 1/2 inch cubes and the bacon can just be in little strips.
2. Add applesauce and water to the bread and bacon in a big bowl.  Mix.  Add more water if it’s not moist enough.  Stuffing should be moist but NOT soggy. 
3. Mix dry ingredients together and then add it to the bread.  This part is more to taste even though I gave guidelines for them. 
4. Put the mixture in the little cupcake tins.  Bake in the oven at 180C for 35-40 minutes.

Mashed potatoes group

1. Wash and peel all the potatoes.
2. Cut them into 1 inch cubes.
3. Boil them in the big pot until they are soft and can be pierced with a fork. 
4. Drain and mash. 
5. Melt butter in a pan and add it with cream and a handful of cheese to the  potatoes.  Mix.

Putting it together:

Use spoons to put a dollop of the mashed potatoes on the stuffing.  いただきます！