roly poly pudding

This morning, we re-read the story of the _Roly Poly Pudding_ by Beatrix Potter. We talked about it for a few minutes, and then I asked the kids if they would like to make some roly poly pudding of their own. If you know the story, then you can imagine the looks of shock on their faces. If you haven't read the story - it is all about a mean old rat who captures a kitten and tries to make him into a pudding! Don't worry too much - Tom Kitten gets away in the end. So, the kids were a little skeptical until I assured them that we wouldn't be eating kittens. Instead we made our roly poly puddings (which were more like dumplings) with apples and nuts.

First, we made a very simple pie crust recipe.


While the crust was chilling in the refrigerator, Indigo and Willow chopped a few apples and Clover chopped about a cup full of pecans.


Since Nova didn't do any chopping, he was put in charge of sprinkling cinnamon and honey all over the apples and nuts.

By this time, the dough was chilled and ready for rolling. I cut it into eight triangles, and let the kids roll it out a little more with their small rolling pins.


I had to help the boys with this next step, but Clover was able to do it by herself. We put a spoonful of the apple and nut mixture onto the pie crust and rolled it up, tucking in the sides as we went. The kids used toothpicks to prick little designs into the tops of the roly poly puddings. Indigo and Willow both pricked one of their's with an "R", and the other with an "I" or a "W". Clover pricked a cute little kitten onto her's in honor of Tom Kitten (the kitty from the story) and her name into the other. Nova wildly pricked his all over.


Everyone helped with kitchen clean-up while the roly poly puddings were baked. That spicy sweet smell of apples and cinnamon filled the house. Yum! The "puddings" came out golden brown and *hot*! After waiting a few minutes for them to cool down, we sat and had a nice snack.