The brand new Chemistry Club was cooking up some apple pies just a few days before the Day of Giving (November 20)—even though they didn’t have any apples.

Just created this school year by junior Danica Purtell, the Chemistry Club has already amassed around 20 students for its latest meeting.

There were only two other meetings before the pie baking, the first just discussing what the club is (surprise! It’s chemistry), and the second celebrating Mole day and Avogadro’s infamous number (one thing I certainly don’t miss from Honors Chemistry).

Don’t get the wrong impression that each meeting is just talking about chemistry ideas like stoichiometry. Instead, the club is a friendly introduction to what chemistry can be through fun themed activities like baking a pie without any apples.

“I really LOVE science (specifically chemistry) and thought it was a shame there were no science clubs [at Beaver Area]. So I took the initiative and I made the club for kids who are coming up. There are only six kids in AP Chem; that’s really bad. Hopefully people are less intimidated by chemistry if we introduce it this way,” said Purtell.

The half an hour meeting was all about how chemical reactions can trick you, and since Thanksgiving was around the corner, the best way to demonstrate this was baking apple pies. Instead of using apples, however, the club used cream of tartar to produce a weak acid that blended together with sugar, butter, and cinnamon tasted tangy like apples.

Students boiled some water, mixed together sugar and cream of tartar, added the mixture to the boiling water, added crackers to simulate the look and texture of cooked apples, poured the mixture into a pie crust, sprinkled just the right amount of cinnamon, melted butter onto the filling, covered the filling, and then baked until chemical perfection.

There are some sweet rewards beyond baking a pie, however, since students in Mrs. Obrist’s chemistry classes could send videos of their finished pies for some extra bonus points.

Future meetings aren’t regularly scheduled and will include making snow, making ornaments, and even making your own ice cream (just in time for Summer)!

Purtell said if you’re not sure about joining the club that “you won’t know what you like until you try it.”