Margaux Lestage Photo Editor
On Thursday, February 24, 2022, Merrimack’s own Pastry Chef, Sean Pierce, held a baking class in Sparky’s dining facility. This was the first ever baking class offered here at Merrimack. Chef Sean made the event a St.Patrick’s Day theme, so we ended up learning how to make Irish Soda Bread and Leprechaun Hats. The event ended up starting at 1:30 p.m., and we started the class off by making Irish Soda Bread. Irish Soda Bread is fairly easy to make. Here are the ingredients to combine:
4 cups of flour
4 tablespoons of white sugar
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 tablespoon of baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup of soft margarine or butter
1 cup of buttermilk
1 egg
(You will also need more buttermilk and melted butter to brush on top of the dough before baking)
Put all the ingredients together and mix to form a ball. Once all the ingredients are combined and are in a ball, cut a cross over the dough and brush the buttermilk and melted butter over it. You will bake the bread for 50 minutes at 375 degrees. Once it is out of the oven it is ready to eat and enjoy.
While we waited for the bread to bake, we made Leprechaun Hats out of marshmallows, Oreos, and white chocolate. You dip both the Oreo and marshmallow in the white chocolate which you can dye green. You put the marshmallow on the top of the oreo, you wait a few minutes for the chocolate to set making it hard, and the marshmallow and oreo become one solid piece. After this, you get the frosting to add fun details. After this just eat and enjoy!
This class was a lot of fun. I am so glad Merrimack is doing new things like this. Chef Sean said he would love to do this again, but doing it more so around the holidays. Chef Sean was very educational and was very open to talking to each person that was there. If he does this again I would recommend checking it out because it was a lot of fun and had delicious food that you were able to take back with you to enjoy for yourself and with friends!
