Kids in the kitchen

The aroma wafting from the kitchen was mouth-watering.

A batch of muffins baking in the oven saturated the room with a sweet, comforting smell. Nearby 10 small chefs crowded around three stand mixers, mixing up batches of their own.

They were the namesake cooks in Flathead Valley Community College Junior Chefs Training Program this week. Ten children between the ages of 10 and 13 spent the week measuring, stirring, baking and snacking with teacher Hillary Ginepra.

The class was one of FVCC’s Kids College course offerings. Kids College offers more than 35 classes for three weeks; three of those classes were Ginepra’s Junior Chefs program.

“It’s really no different teaching adults how to cook,” said Ginepra, who heads up the college’s culinary arts program. “It’s all the same. They never measure anything.”

Kids tend to be a little better about listening and measuring than some older cooks in Ginepra’s classes, she said. The junior chefs paid attention when Ginepra barked out instructions or warnings.

“Don’t touch it,” she warned the class as she pulled a tin of muffins from the oven. “Just assume everything in this kitchen is hot.”

With the smell of fresh-baked muffins hanging in the air, class members whipped up their own batches. Once her group’s dry ingredients were combined, Claire Bradley, 10, carefully scooped the flour mixture into the mixer — and yelped when some powder flew back out.

Meagan Gillespie, 11, turned the mixer down a notch, but it wasn’t enough.

When more flour erupted from the bowl, 10-year-old Graciee Robinson jumped, startled, her mouth a perfectly round O.

Except for a little loose flour and some random ingredients scattered around, the kitchen was remarkably clean — not what one might expect from preteen chefs. No one appeared to be taking advantage of temptingly gooey beaters, spatulas or fingers either — although a few kids later admitted to sneaking a lick or two of batter.

Ginepra said she’s a stickler for a tidy kitchen, particularly during Kids College classes.

“It would quickly get out of control in here if I wasn’t a crazy clean freak,” she said.

Limiting the number of kids in class also helped Ginepra maintain control. With just 10 kids in each session, she can keep an eye on everyone.

The drawback to limiting the number of junior chefs, however, is the number of children who don’t get to cook.

“Usually it’s sold out,” Ginepra said. “There’s a waiting list.”

Parents start calling about Kids College classes in February, said Leslie Rogers, FVCC’s associate director of community education. While the college offers several popular courses, Junior Chefs is always in high demand.

It helped that Ginepra taught three sections of the class this year, Rogers said — but even with three weeks of cooking courses, some kids didn’t make it in. Rogers estimated eight to 10 kids were on the waiting list.

Shyla Crawford, 13, said she originally was on a waiting list. Her grandmother signed her up.

“I just thought it would be fun,” she said.

Eleven-year-old Delaney Lewis said her mom, who owns a restaurant, was the impetus for her participation.

“I sort of wanted to do it. [My mom] signed me up, then told me about it,” she said.

Meagan and Claire said they already loved cooking; that’s why they signed up. The decision proved delicious, but full of difficult choices.

When their basic batter was mixed on Monday, it was time for a crucial decision: What kind of muffins did they want to make?

After a quick debate, the girls decided on banana.

Then poppy seeds.

By the time they made it to the oven, they were cinnamon-poppyseed-banana muffins.

Getting the muffins to the oven proved tricky. Encouraged by Ginepra’s insistence on keeping the kitchen neat, some necessary tools ended up in the dishwasher a little too soon.

“We need the scrapey thing,” 10-year-old AJ Weller said after his group’s batter was ready to be scooped into the greased muffin tins.

But the spatula was covered with soap suds. While waiting for a new one, AJ lowered the mixing bowl so gravity could help clean the beater.

“There, it’s oozing off of there a little,” he said.

Two tables away, Claire pulled out a bag of raw sugar to top off the cinna-nana-poppy muffins before they went in the oven. In a few minutes, the batter was coated with a thick layer of sugar.

With that, Ginepra loaded three muffin tins into the oven, and the junior chefs wiped down their tables — and themselves.

“I got more goo on me than anybody,” Claire complained.

“Nuh-uh,” Graciee said. “I got goo in my hair from the dishes.”

After a short break from Monday morning’s muffins, the class made snickerdoodles. Later in the week they made vegetable stir fry, pasta from scratch and pizza.

The latter was the treat most students were excited about making.

They were also excited for the last day, when they made an entire “graduation lunch” for their families.

In the future, some families might sample more tasty meals prepared by their offspring. Graciee said she had signed up because no one else in her family could teach her how to cook.

“I didn’t know anything. My parents didn’t know anything,” she said.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.