ROSCOE VILLAGE — At Give Me Some Sugar bakery, teens spend their summer rolling out dough, melting chocolate and crafting cookies — and are smiling through it all.
The bakery, 2205 W. Belmont Ave., was founded nine years by Executive Chef Alekka Sweeney. Give Me Some Sugar started offering camp sessions five years ago, when Sweeney realized her friends with children didn't know what to do with their kids toward the end of summer break.
Sweeney, who grew up baking, "took a lot of ownership" in what she made as a child and realized she could share that with kids.
"I am a big advocate of getting kids in the kitchen and baking and cooking with you and learning at a young age," Sweeney said.
Sweeney estimates she's now worked with hundreds of children at the bakery. She offers camps during the summer and over winter break.
During a recent session, girls laughed and joked with one another as they learned how to make marshmallows, toffee and chocolate turtles from scratch. Sweeney joked with the campers while quizzing them about their ingredients and showing them how to be safe in the kitchen.
"You guys smell it? Can you smell this?" she asked the girls after demonstrating how to safely drop almonds into a mixture of butter and sugar — the beginnings of toffee.
Camp sessions are a week long and are split into two age groups: children and teens. Younger kids learn the basics of cooking and baking, like how to use measuring cups and spoons or how to make tomato sauce and dough for pizza.
Teens, though, learn everything an adult would, Sweeney said. The campers make complex recipes like macarons and croissants — spending hours rolling the dough and using a pound of butter — and simpler fare, like deep-fried doughnuts. They get to eat what they've made at the end of each day's class or bring it home to their families.
See what happens at Give Me Some Sugar's camps:
At the end of the week, the campers choose what they'd like to make for their parents, bake and "celebrate and eat" with their families, Sweeney said.
(The bakery also offers one-off classes for kids, adults and parties.)
The sessions are popular and there are repeat campers almost every year, Sweeney said. Some returning children even come early to help set up baking stations and stay after camp to help clean.
Magali Munoz, 16, of Pilsen, started with Give Me Some Sugar by taking classes with Sweeney. She now serves as a counselor during the camping sessions and is debating if she'll become a doctor or a pastry chef — either way, she'll be able to work with children, something she loves about her job at Give Me Some Sugar.
"It's a good distraction...," Munoz said. "I know it's summer break and people want to go outside with their friends and everything, and I hang out with my friends, but I would prefer to be here, helping the kids and just helping out."
Charlotte Henderson, 12, of Hyde Park, has attended classes and camps at Give Me Some Sugar since she was 9 years old. She "became really skillful" over five camp sessions with Sweeney, she said, and is dreaming of becoming a pastry chef.
"I love it. I come every time," Henderson said. "There are so many things you can do, and being a pastry chef — it's just really fun, and pastries are so delicious."
Henderson put her skills to work for a school bake sale, making s'more cakes with her best friend. She is thinking of opening a bakery like Give Me Some Sugar some day.
Henderson even has a slogan for the future bakery: "Whatever Bakes You Happy."
The classes are $80 per week and lunch is included each day. Individual classes for kids and adults vary in price.
