Cooking with Kids: The Sweetie Pie

"Bye, Sweetie Pie!" chimed little Ananya, all of three years, as she left my apartment. Kabir, her six year old brother had also presented me with a great big hug and a peck on the cheek at the door, while my friend Shabana, their mother, looked on with much amusement. These lavish gifts were the result of an evening the children spent with "Vir Uncle" while he showed them how to put a ridiculously simple and deliciously decadent dessert together. I didn't really have a name for this dessert, but in honour of the cherubs that visited me, I christened it, "The Sweetie Pie". Such is the magic of the taste as well as the preparation, that both kids promptly decided that the name applies as much to the chef, as it does to his creation! Oh, and did I mention that this was the first time I was meeting these children? If that doesn't make me awesome, I don't know what does!

Food is such a wonderful way of connecting with people. When prepared with a little love and care, it is a deeply personal gift from the one that prepares it to the one that receives it. Today, I discovered that it can help you bond with children just as easily as it can help you connect with an adult. 

So the next time you have children visiting you, think of treating them to this fun summer evening dessert. Perhaps you might even be willing to let them help you with the preparation! I did... and I'd do it again :-)

You will need

• A glass pie dish (I like using a regular square one, about 20 cm x 20 cm)
• A blender
• A mixing bowl
• 20-24 Oreo cookies (chocolate cream filling)
• 01 tablespoon of warm, melted butter
• 06 cups of vanilla ice cream (slightly softened)
• 3 - 4 mangoes, peeled and cubed
• 15 Marie biscuits 
• 1.5 tablespoons of honey 

And here's what you need to do

• Put the Oreo cookies in a the blender. Add the butter and blitz the mix for a few seconds. You should have a fine crumble once you're done.
• Put half this mix in the pie dish and use a spatula to spread it all over the bottom of the dish. Pat it down nicely, so that you pack it tightly into the dish.
• Stick the pie dish in the freezer for 30 minutes.
• Set the rest of the Oreo mix aside for later use.
• While the pie dish is in the freezer, blitz the Marie biscuits in the blender, to make a coarse crumble. Or, if you prefer, you could do this by hand (or if you're game, give this task to one of the kids - they like it!) 
• Put the crumble in the mixing bowl and add the honey. 
• Mix the honey into the crumble with a spoon, using a brisk strokes. It should result in the formation of a sticky mix with plenty of little lumps in it. We do not want a paste.
• Put this in the freezer for 20 minutes.
• Take the pie dish out of the freezer, once it's spent 30 minutes "chilling". The Oreo crumble base should have hardened and set. Test this by tilting the dish slightly. You're good if the base stays where it is. If anything moves, put the dish back in the freezer for a few minutes.
• Carefully layer half the vanilla ice cream over the Oreo crumble base. Try to get a nice and even layer of ice cream, without disturbing the cookie base. Don't spend too long over this or the melting ice cream will disturb the base.
• Quickly add a layer of mangoes. Make sure you pack the pieces closely together and cover the vanilla ice cream completely.
• Add the rest of the ice cream in a layer above the mangoes.
• Now take the honey biscuit crumble out of the freezer. Use your fingers to separate the lumps (which would have stuck together by this time).
• Quickly sprinkle and spread a layer of this over the ice cream.
• Finally, sprinkle the remaining Oreo cookie crumble over the honey biscuit crumble
• Use cling-wrap to cover the dish and put it back in the freezer for a couple of hours

Two hours later, take the dish out, remove the cling-wrap and dig into a perfectly set "Sweetie Pie". If you have kids with you, be sure that they're around to see you cut the slices. The cross section reveals the layers beautifully. Be prepared for all kinds of little exclamations :-)

And then... the tasting! 
Cookies, mangoes, ice cream, honey...all - at - once. 

Enough said...

Try it!