Making a mud pie is a children's activity or game that consists of creating a mixture of water and soil and playing or pretending to make food or a pie. Mud pies are not meant to be eaten, although they can be thrown in the face. [1] A broader category describes this activity as mud play. [2]
Mud pies are composed from a mixture of water and soil. Other ingredients are sometimes added to the basic water and soil mixture such as plants and pebbles. The 'pie' will stay together if the mud is sticky – similar to bread dough. In addition to mud pies, children often create other structures like mud sandwiches and mud-based tea parties. [2]
Creating a mud pie can be a very enjoyable activity and is thought to nurture the imagination of a child. [3] Making mud pies allows the exploration of textures, and establishes the basis of scientific reasoning as they change the variables such as the addition of less water or even freezing the mixture. Some children do not enjoy the activity. [4] A child may hesitate to "get dirty." [5]
Many people recall this childhood activity with fondness. [6] An author recounts: "As a child, I was drawn to mud. Some of my fondest childhood memories saw me covered in the stuff, head to toe." [5]
Digging a small hole, adding water and stirring with a stick is one method used by children to create the mud pie. [7] Some choose to organize a party or event for children with creating mud pies as part of the activities. [8] [9] The benefits of making mud pies include strengthening the sense of touch and developing "true" creativity. [10] Some take a more formal approach to the activity and dedicate children's play spaces to the making of mud pies. [11] [12] A mud pie kitchen can be created to make other mud play 'food'. [13] A mud center can be created in a school setting. [2] Some teachers are able to incorporate art and music into mud pie-making activities during school. [14]
Other ingredients have been proposed, including: [15]
Some desserts made out of crushed cookies and other ingredients are called mud pies or puddings. [16]
A cookie, or a biscuit, is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, nuts, etc.
Dessert is a course that concludes a meal. The course consists of sweet foods, such as candy, and possibly a beverage such as dessert wine and liqueur. In some parts of the world, such as Greece and West Africa, and most parts of China, there is no tradition of a dessert course to conclude a meal.
Caramel is an orange-brown confectionery product made by heating a range of sugars. It can be used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons, or as a topping for ice cream and custard.
Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as bakers' confectionery. The word "pastries" suggests many kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder, and eggs. Small tarts and other sweet baked products are called pastries as a synecdoche. Common pastry dishes include pies, tarts, quiches, croissants, and pasties.
Meringue is a type of dessert or candy, of French origin, traditionally made from whipped egg whites and sugar, and occasionally an acidic ingredient such as lemon, vinegar, or cream of tartar. A binding agent such as salt, flour or gelatin may also be added to the eggs. The key to the formation of a good meringue is the formation of stiff peaks by denaturing the protein ovalbumin via mechanical shear.
Mud is soil, loam, silt or clay mixed with water. It usually forms after rainfall or near water sources. Ancient mud deposits harden over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone. When geological deposits of mud are formed in estuaries, the resultant layers are termed bay muds.
Cheesecake is a sweet dessert consisting of one or more layers. The main, and thickest, layer consists of a mixture of a soft, fresh cheese, eggs, and sugar. If there is a bottom layer, it most often consists of a crust or base made from crushed cookies, graham crackers, pastry, or sometimes sponge cake. Cheesecake may be baked or unbaked.
A snickerdoodle is a type of cookie made with flour, fat, sugar, and salt, and rolled in cinnamon sugar. Eggs may also sometimes be used as an ingredient, with cream of tartar and baking soda added to leaven the dough. Snickerdoodles are characterized by a cracked surface and can be either crisp or soft depending on the ingredients used.
Cinnamon sugar is a mixture of ground cinnamon and granulated sugar used as a spice to flavor foods such as Belgian waffles, Snickerdoodle cookies, tortillas, coffee cake, French toast, and churros. It is also used to flavor apples, cereals, and other fruits. As McCormick describes cinnamon sugar, "it’s the comforting scent of Sunday morning cinnamon toast and mid-summer’s peach cobbler...the aroma of the holidays, with cinnamon cookies and spice cake."
Dirt and worms is an American cake made from sandwich cookies and vanilla pudding in combination with other ingredients to create a dessert that has a resemblance to soil or earth. It is made by combining crushed Oreo cookies on top of vanilla or chocolate pudding, and adding gummy candy worms on top. Variations include vanilla wafers, vanilla pudding, and cream cheese pudding in the recipe.
A great variety of cassava-based dishes are consumed in the regions where cassava is cultivated, and the ingredient is included many national or ethnic specialities.
Sponge cake is a light cake made with egg whites, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most of them do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated during the Renaissance, possibly in Spain. The sponge cake is thought to be one of the first of the non-yeasted cakes, and the earliest attested sponge cake recipe in English is found in a book by the English poet Gervase Markham, The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman (1615). Still, the cake was much more like a cracker: thin and crispy. Sponge cakes became the cake recognized today when bakers started using beaten eggs as a rising agent in the mid-18th century. The Victorian creation of baking powder by English food manufacturer Alfred Bird in 1843 allowed the addition of butter to the traditional sponge recipe, resulting in the creation of the Victoria sponge. Cakes are available in many flavours and have many recipes as well. Sponge cakes have become snack cakes via the Twinkie.
Egg substitutes are food products which can be used to replace eggs in cooking and baking. Common reasons a cook may choose to use an egg substitute instead of egg(s) include having an egg allergy, adhering to a vegan diet or a vegetarian diet of a type that omits eggs, or having concerns about the level of animal welfare or environmental burden associated with egg farming. There is a growing movement to address some of these concerns via third-party certifications, but because many labels in the industry remain confusing or intentionally misleading, some consumers distrust them and may use egg substitutes instead.
Christina Tosi is an American chef and cookbook author. She is founder and co-owner with Momofuku of Milk Bar and serves as its chef and chief executive officer. Food & Wine magazine included her in their 2014 list of "Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink".
Milk Bar is a chain of dessert and bakery restaurants in the United States, founded by chef Christina Tosi. As of 2023, the chain has branches in New York City; Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; Las Vegas; and Bellevue, Washington.
Kleeb lamduan or lamduan flower shortbread cookie is a Thai biscuit in the shape of white cheesewood flowers. It is traditionally made from one part of white sugar, two parts of flour, and lard. Kleeb Lamduan cookies are uniquely made by placing them in a container with a tian op (เทียนอบ) scented candle used for dessert making. When the container is closed the candle is extinguished and the aromatic smoke is trapped inside. Modern recipes are also often adapted from the original by using icing sugar instead of caster sugar, vegetable oil instead of lard and some bakers add a portion of salt.
Pie in American cuisine has roots in English cuisine and has evolved over centuries to adapt to American cultural tastes and ingredients. The creation of flaky pie crust shortened with lard is credited to American innovation.
Bulan dan mek is one of the traditional Thai desserts inspired by royal songs in the reign of King Rama II of Chakri Dynasty, 1767-1824. It is a small dessert in which the center is a circular dimple with a yellow color and a bluish-purple surrounding skin.