Culinary Arts

Making Cake Pops

Learn how to create your own cake pops from start to finish and make two dozen (24) to enjoy with family and friends at home. This month, we’ll be using white and chocolate cake.

During class, you’ll learn techniques for rolling cake balls, dipping them for a smooth finish, and decorating with creative details. Along the way, we’ll share tips for achieving the right texture, preventing cracks and slips, and creating cake pops that look just as good as they taste.

Class Note: If you have one, please bring a 9 x 13 inch airtight container to transport your cake pops home. A box will be provided if needed. Some samples and recipes may contain eggs, tree nuts, and/or peanuts.

Community Instructor: Jennifer Fisher

Sourdough Bread Baking

Demystify the sourdough bread-making process in this hands-on, two-part class and learn how to create wholesome, homemade baked goods with confidence.

During the first class, we’ll kick things off by breaking down how sourdough bread baking works, removing the uncertainty that often comes with this time-honored craft. Everyone will get hands-on to mix up their own starter while exploring the customs and folklore of sourdough—and, of course, sampling fresh homemade bread. Each participant will take home their starter in a quart-sized glass jar along with detailed instructions for its care.

When you return for Part Two, you’ll bring your starter back to check its progress and share your starter stories. We’ll observe the “pull and fold” method for working with sourdough dough and answer all your questions. You’ll go home with a collection of favorite recipes from the instructors, including sourdough chocolate chip cookies, English muffins, crackers, and baguettes.

You’ll leave feeling confident, inspired, and ready to bake your own delicious sourdough creations at home.

Community Instructors: Wendy Steusloff and Jan Szalkowski

Baking with Oats: Breakfast & Beyond

Learn how to make three delicious recipes using one simple, versatile ingredient: oats. Participants will help prepare healthy granola, molasses oatmeal cookies, and an oatmeal fruit crumble bar while learning techniques for working with oats in a variety of recipes. We’ll sample each recipe in class, and everyone will take home a half batch of granola, several cookies, an 8-inch by 8-inch foil pan of oatmeal fruit crumble bars, and the recipes to make them again.

Class Notes: To help us honor 577’s commitment to sustainability, please bring a reusable container for taking your baked goods home. Some samples/recipes contain eggs & wheat.

577 Staff Instructor: Beth Phlegar

Explore the Medicinal Roots of Cocktails: Bitters

Explore the medicinal roots of cocktail culture in this hands-on workshop and discover why bitter flavors have long been valued for supporting digestion. Participants will make two blends together: one cocktail bitters and one digestive bitters.

Before cocktails were fancy and full of nonsense, they were medicine, and we’ll learn how bitters support digestion, calm the stomach, and bring your belly back online. Everyone will take home their samples, recipes, and the knowledge to keep the bitter magic going in your kitchen or home bar.

Community Instructor: Lily Kunning

Fire Cider: Spicy Roots and Kitchen Resistance

Learn the fascinating story behind the popular herbal concoction called Fire Cider as you craft your own 16-ounce jar of this fiery formula to take home and infuse. Participants will also receive recipes and explore variations, so everyone can keep the tradition alive in their own way.

Fire Cider is more than just a punchy vinegar tonic. It’s part immune support, part digestive aid, and part herbal folk hero. We’ll explore the fascinating story behind this fiery formula and how it became a symbol of preserving herbal traditions while learning best practices for making your own at home, including what to put in it, how to balance the heat, and how to use it when cold season hits.

Community Instructor: Lily Kunning

Fall Cooking: Pumpkin Palooza!

Pumpkin season is here! Join us for a fun evening of pumpkin-inspired food and drink. Together in the kitchen, we’ll brew up a batch of bubbling pumpkin juice, stir a cauldron of hearty pumpkin chili, and whip up a creamy pumpkin dip to enjoy with delightful treats and fruit.

Whether you’re a pumpkin enthusiast or just looking for a fun seasonal experience, you’ll leave with delicious recipes and plenty of fall inspiration. Costumes are welcome! Come as your favorite fall character, wizard, witch, goblin, or pumpkin to add to the fun.

Community Instructors: Wendy Steusloff and Jan Szalkowski

Exploring Chocolate

Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or white chocolate—which is your favorite? Explore the delicious differences between all three while creating a variety of chocolate treats. Participants will make white chocolate bark loaded with their choice of nuts and dried fruit, a milk chocolate snack cake, and the double dark chocolate cupcakes that went viral during the 2024 Olympics. Along the way, learn about the different types of chocolate, what makes each unique, and how they can be used in baking.

We’ll sample our creations in class, and everyone will take home their white chocolate bark, an 8-inch by 8-inch milk chocolate snack cake, three to four double dark chocolate cupcakes, and the recipes to make them again. Come ready to bake, taste, and discover a little more about everyone’s favorite sweet ingredient.

Class Notes: To help us honor 577’s commitment to sustainability, please bring a reusable food container large enough to hold four cupcakes. Recipes contain eggs, tree nuts, and wheat.

577 Staff Instructor: Beth Phlegar

Creating Teas & Tisanes

Discover the difference between a true tea and a tisane by going back to the basics of the leaf and flower in this class. We’ll explore the origins of Camellia sinensis (true tea) and contrast it with the diverse world of herbal tisanes—infusions made from roots, barks, fruits, and blossoms.

Sip, savor, and learn how to craft a brew that is as therapeutic as it is delicious by unlocking a plant’s true potential. Cultivate your palate, refine your brewing technique, and enjoy botanical bliss. Everyone will also take home a bag of herbal tea.

Community Instructor: Lily Kunning

Cooking for Autumn & Winter Wellness

Learn how to build a proactive “botanical shield” to help support your immune system through cold and flu season. Explore how the immune system works and how herbs, mushrooms, and other natural ingredients can be incorporated into everyday cooking to help support its natural defenses.

Participants will learn the difference between immune stimulants, which can provide short-term support when seasonal bugs strike, and immune tonics, which are traditionally used for longer-term immune support. We’ll explore familiar ingredients like elderberry and garlic alongside other seasonal foods, herbs, and ingredients, with practical tips for incorporating them into meals throughout the colder months.

Throughout class, we’ll prepare and sample recipes with autumn and winter wellness in mind while exploring the idea of food as medicine. Participants will leave with recipes, resources, and practical ways to bring what they’ve learned into their own kitchens.

Class Note: This class is different from our August class, Fortify Your Immune System with Herbs, which focuses on making herbal remedies and supplements for seasonal immune support. This October class takes a food-as-medicine approach, with an emphasis on cooking and incorporating immune-supporting foods, herbs, and ingredients into everyday meals.

Community Instructor: Lily Kunning