Cooking not only teaches children how to make food, it is a fun way to introduce and experience some basic scientific principles. Baked Alaska is a delicious dessert that illustrates how insulation works and Maple Sugar Candy is a great introduction to the science of crystals. Try these fun projects -- they are delicious to make and educational along the way.

Make a Baked Alaska

Did you know it is possible to heat ice cream in the oven without it melting? Baked Alaska is a delicious dessert that is baked to make part of it hot, while the ice cream in the center stays icy cold.

To see this interesting science in action at home, you can make your own Baked Alaska. You will need an adult to help with the oven and the electric mixer. This recipe makes a really large single serving, or enough for two to share. You may double or triple the recipe to make more servings.

To make Baked Alaska, you will need:

- Whites from 3 eggs

- ½ cup of sugar

- ¼ tsp cream of tartar

- 1 scoop of frozen ice cream

- 1 slice of pound cake or a large, firm brownie

- A cookie sheet or baking pan

- An electric mixer

- A rubber spatula

Once you have your ingredients and tools gathered, you are ready to make your Baked Alaska:

1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Put the egg whites and the cream of tartar in a medium-sized bowl.
3. Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar for about five minutes, until they are stiff. To see whether the whites are stiff, turn off the mixer and lift the beaters up out of the mixture. If it leaves little peaks that keep standing up, it is stiff enough.
4. Turn the mixer back on and keep beating. Slowly add the sugar to the egg whites while you are beating; they will still be stiff, but should also be shiny. Set this aside for a minute.
5. Put the pound cake or brownie on the cookie sheet.
6. Place the scoop of very cold ice cream on top of the pound cake or brownie, making sure it does not go over the edge to touch the pan.
7. Use your rubber spatula to coat the ice cream and pound cake or brownie with the egg white mixture. You must cover the entire dessert; there should not be any gaps in the egg white where you can see cake or ice cream.
8. Put the baking sheet in the oven to finish your Baked Alaska. Bake until it is golden; it usually takes about five minutes.
9. Remove it from the oven and serve on a plate.
10. Eat immediately and enjoy!

So, how did we do that? You know that if you just put the ice cream in the oven, it would have melted. So, what was different?

The egg whites act as insulation. Insulation keeps warm things warm and cold things cold by preventing warm air from moving toward colder air. The whipped egg whites are filled with tiny air bubbles. These air bubbles act as insulators and slow the hot air down as it moves through the dessert, keeping the ice cream from getting hot. If you left the Baked Alaska in the oven for a long time, the heat would eventually make it to the center and you would have very brown egg whites surrounding a puddle of melted ice cream

Maple Sugar Crystal Candy

Maple syrup is a liquid form of sugar. When it is cooled, it becomes solid and forms crystals. The size of the crystals is dependent on the speed with which the syrup cools.

To make Maple Sugar Crystal Candy, you will need:

- Real maple syrup (pure)

- saucepan

- a small baking pan or pie tin filled with a thin layer of water and frozen to create a flat sheet of ice

- waxed paper

- a large heat-resistant spoon

Once you have your ingredients and tools gathered, you are ready to make your Maple Sugar Crystal Candy:

1. Several hours before you are ready to make your candy, make sure to prepare your sheet of ice. Place a thin layer of water (about one quarter of an inch) in a baking pan or pie tin and place it in the freezer until it is frozen solid.
2. Place your baking pan with the sheet of ice on the countertop.
3. On another flat area of the counter, spread a sheet of waxed paper.
4. Heat your maple syrup over a medium flame in the saucepan, stirring constantly. Bring it to a boil and allow it to cook a little more until it is very thick and concentrated. Keep stirring to ensure that it does not burn. (Make sure an adult does this part.)
5. Use your spoon to drop dollops of the hot, thick maple syrup onto the ice and onto the waxed paper. Do not touch it yet – it will still be really hot!
6. Watch as the maple syrup cools. It will form crystals and solidify.

Which one solidified faster? Do the crystals in the two kinds of maple candy look the same? Once they are totally cool, you can taste them.

Early settlers in the United States did not have ready access to sugar and candy. They used boiled maple syrup along with snow and ice in the winter to make their own sweet treats. If you have clean snow, you can even fill a bowl with it and try to make your maple candy the way the settlers did!