7 major benefits to teaching your kids to cook

Most children have phases during childhood when baking or cooking is a keen interest. This natural curiosity provides parents with the perfect opportunity to capitalize on a great learning experience - the art and science of cooking.

Sadly, many adults do not cook, citing lack of knowledge, not enough time to cook or shop, or having someone else in charge of cooking. In a world where home cooked meals equal healthier fare, teaching kids to cook becomes a critical element of parenting.

It's never too late, or too early, to begin the learning curve in the kitchen. For instance, during infancy, babies watch and absorb the activities of their surroundings. Naming foods aloud and hearing the whir of the blender stimulates baby's learning. The toddler figures out how things work and learns from simple tasks such as pouring and mixing ingredients together. Not a tidy task to take on, but nevertheless, a fun and stimulating one for toddlers. From around 3 years of age they have better fine motor skills that allow cracking eggs, and measuring dry and wet ingredients. From about 6 onwards you can take it up a notch with basic techniques like whisking, Tweeners can hone knife skills cooking at the stove top (with supervision) and begin to independently follow recipes. Lastly, teens, who naturally want more freedom, can gain it in the kitchen with simple, pleasing recipes like homemade cookies to more complex aspirations such as cooking an entire meal for the family.

In my cooking school I teach children from the age of 4 to not only bake but to cook appetisers and meals. We keep it age appropriate, fun and interactive and the enthusiasm and sense of pride with the finished recipe is wonderful to witness.

I have meal kits available for purchase on my website for kids everywhere to do at home, because you are never to young (or old!) to learn to cook! www.cookitkids.com and you will find lots of recipes from my kids cooking classes here.

Not only are kids of all ages interested in what goes on in the kitchen, there are many benefits from getting involved. Here's just a short list of the wisdom that gets passed on when kids cook:

1. Math Skills: Doubling a recipe requires addition (or multiplication) skills, halving it requires division, and recipe fractions like 1/2 cup and 3/4 teaspoon bring maths applications into the kitchen. Often, kids don't recognize they are practicing maths!

2. Comprehension: Reading and understanding step-by-step directions, adding ingredients in sequence, and techniques such as folding and blending, are all important components to yielding the finished food product. Helping your child fine tune their reading comprehension skills at the same time doesn't hurt!

3. Real Life Science: Cooking is a science experiment. Too much salt, baking powder, not enough flour, or the wrong timing and you're likely to have a flop on your hands. Cooking provides an opportunity for kids to get hands-on experience with basic science.

4. Self-Esteem: Cooking allows kids to get instant feedback, which helps them learn and grow in self-knowledge. Learning a new skill, such as baking or cooking, is known to help children with healthy self-esteem development.

5. Communication: A relaxed atmosphere in the kitchen offers an opportunity to talk, about anything! Parents can take advantage of this, especially with teens, as communication is a key element to raising a well-adjusted, healthy child.

6. Life Skills: Cooking is a life skill, much like driving a car, learning to read, or swimming. As children grow and get closer to adulthood, the job of feeding becomes theirs. Start the cooking lessons at a young age so the transition to adult cook is easy later on.

7. Fun! Last but not least, cooking is fun! Having fun with your child in the kitchen builds positive memories, good vibes, and good food. With all the benefits of teaching kids to cook, and no limits with starting, what are you waiting for? 

Enjoy! Jill Stout,

Founder, CookIt Kids and Jill’s Kitchen Cookery School

Pancake Kebobs

This batter is an American style pancake batter rather than a traditional crepe style we are used to in Ireland. They hold their shape better and are much better for making mini pancakes for the kebobs.

This batter is also the one you should use if you want to do love-hearts, letters for someone’s names or any shapes with the pancake batter. Great for birthday breakfasts!

Ingredients:

3 large eggs – room temp
115gr plain flour
1 heaped teasp baking powder
140ml milk
1 pinch salt

Method:

1. Separate the egg yolks from the whites into 2 different bowls.
2. Add the flour, baking powder  and milk to the egg yolks and beat well until completely combines
3. Whisk the egg whites and pinch of salt until stiff peaks form.
4. Fold into the egg yolk mixture.
5. Batter can be left in the fridge, but it’s best to us e on the same day you make it.
6. Melt a little butter in a non stick pan and create your mini pancakes.

To make the kebobs:

Use skewers of any size and whatever hard(ish)fruit you have, e.g strawberries, banana, grapes, blueberries and some nutella.
Spread some nutella on a pancake, place on skewer, add fruit and keep stacking!

Couldn't be easier!

Enjoy!
Jill

Samosas

Samosas

Samosas are great for snacks. You can serve them with a variety of dipping sauces, depending on what you have at hand. Sweet chilli or a yogurt dip work great.

For these ones I used minced beef and potatoes as the base and the spices of choice were ground cumin and coriander, turmeric and a little chilli. We swerved them with sweet chili sauce.

Ingredients:

100g Mince beef
¼ finely diced red onion
¼ tsp ground cumin
¼ ground coriander
1/8  tsp cayenne pepper
¼ tsp turmeric
Pepper & Salt to taste
1 rooster potato – cut into small cubes and cooked for a few minutes. Cool
Filo Pastry – 1 sheet makes 4 samosas
50ml stock
Olive Oil

Method:

1)      Heat the oil in a pan, add the onions and cook gently until just cooked. Remove from pan.

2)      Add mince and spices to pan and cook on medium heat. Season well with pepper & salt.

3)      Add stock and mix well.

4)      Remove from pan and add to onion.

5)      Cut potatoes into little pieces and add to mince and onions.

6)      Leave to cool while you prepare the filo pastry.

7)      Open pastry sheets. Fold 1/3 of the sheet lengthways over and brush with melted butter. Fold other 1/3 over so you have one strip with 3 layers. Cut this in half so you have 2 pieces the same size. (see pictures)

8)      Place 1 tsp of cooled filling in one corner closest to you.

9)      Fold the pastry into a triangle over the filling and use a little butter to seal the edges. Continue folding in triangle until you reach the end of the sheet. Brush the top with a little more butter.

10)   Make the remaining samosas and place on baking tray in pre-heated over 180⁰C/200⁰F/Gas Mark 4, for about 10 minutes, until golden.

11)   Serve with fresh salad and a dipping sauce of your choice.

Falafels

Falafels with Tzatziki (Yogurt dip)

The main ingredient for Falafels is Chickpeas (garbanzo beans). 

They are a great source of protein and are rich in fibre. They are sometimes overlooked as a protein but have purportedly great health benefits, from helping with weight loss to lowering bad cholesterol. I know someone who drinks the water from soaking chickpeas overnight because it has reduced their cholesteral levels quite considerably. 

It’s certainly worth looking at the health benefits of these little beans!

We made these at our last cooking class with the kids and they went down a treat. They are great hot or cold, so they could be used for picnics, lunches or as a nice addition to a snack-on-the-go list.

The dip is delicious with lamb kebabs too!

Ingredients:

Ingredients:

400g Chickpeas
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
1 garlic clove
1 small red onion
2 tbsp plain flour (make these gluten free by using almond flour)
Some fresh parsley

Method:

1.      Place all ingredients into a food processor.

2.      Whizz until combined together.

3.      Remove and place in refrigerator for up to 1 hour so falafels don’t fall apart when you try to cook them.

4.      Use a little flour to coat your hands and roll the mixture into small balls, a little smaller than golf ball size.

5.      Heat coconut/sunflower oil in a pan or pot and when sizzling, place falafels in to brown. Turn the falafels to brown all sides if using a shallow pan.

6.      Serve with pitta bread or in lettuce leaves with tzatziki  (see below)

          

Tzatziki  - Yogurt dip
A very simple version of this is.
2 heaped tbsp greek yogurt, 3 slices of cucumber cut into tiny pieces, a splash of lemon juice and pepper & salt to taste.
Mix this altogether and hey presto! Yogurt & Cucumber dip better known as tzatziki! 

A Vote for me is a vote for the Health & Well-being of Kids everywhere!

I'm a finalist in an amazing competition in Ireland in association with +SuperValuIreland and +Today FM.
I'd love your support for my Kids Cookery lessons in a box, CooKit Kids.
Everyone who votes gets entered into a draw to win €1,000.

But why not listen to these cool kids instead of me chatting on!!

Just go to www.todayfm.com/foodacademy and vote for my CooKit Kids. #foodacademy
Thanks everyone!

Profiteroles

These decadent balls of choux pastry, filled with vanilla cream and drizzled with chocolate ganache are so much easier than many think.

Choux pastry is one of the easiest pastries to make. There is very little skill and no pastry knowledge required. My sort of pastry! 

The kids at my cooking and baking class made these recently and I had to wrestle with them to ensure Mums & Dads got some brought home.

Ingredients – Makes 18 large or 36 small

120g strong plain flour – sieve this onto a piece of greaseproof paper
2 teaspoons castor sugar – add this to the flour mound
300ml cold water
100g butter – cut into small cubes
4 eggs – use a fork to mix them together in a bowl
(See below for filling and ganache ingredients)

Method:

Melt the butter with the water over a medium heat
As soon as the butter is melted and the liquid starts to bubble turn off the heat
Add all the flour & sugar and beat it together until it forms a thick dough
Add the egg in 3 stages, mixing into dough completely before adding the next bit
Dough is now ready
Prepare 2 baking sheets (for large ones) by greasing them and then run under the cold water tap
Remove excess water (the water droplets will help to make pastry crisp as it cooks)
Using 2 teaspoons, one to gather the dough the other to push it off onto the baking sheet, drop teaspoons of the mixture onto the baking sheets, leaving at least 1” space between each one, they will rise
Cook at 200⁰C/Gas Mark 6 for 10 minutes and 220⁰C/Gas Mark 7 for a further 17- 20 minutes until pastry deep golden brown.
Remove from oven and let sit for 5 mins on trays before using a palette knife to slide the profiteroles off and onto a wire rack.

Filling:

Whip some fresh cream and add a little vanilla essence to taste for the filling. Slice the profiteroles lenthways and add a teaspoon of cream to each one.

For the ganache, heat 240ml of cream and pour over 225g of milk chocolate. Mix this together until chocolate has melted, and then dip the top of each profiterole into the ganache, let it set a little before adding another coat if you like.

Nutella Bread

makes one loaf

185g plain flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
225g butter, room temperature
160g sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
One 400g jar Nutella

Preheat the oven to 325⁰/160⁰C/140⁰Fan/Gas Mark 3. 

1. Lightly grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan, tapping out any excess flour.

2. Sieve the flour ,baking powder and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

3. In a large bowl beat the butter with the sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

4. With the mixer at medium-low speed, add the eggs, making sure each one gets incorporated before adding the next one.  

5.  After each egg add 1/3 of the flour mix, this will happen 3 times.

6.  Add the vanilla extract.

7. Continue to beat for 30 seconds longer.

8.  Spread one-third of the batter in the prepared pan, then spread half of the Nutella on top. 

Note: I find it helps to microwave the Nutella to soften it and make it a little runnier

9. Repeat with another third of the batter and the remaining Nutella. Top with the remaining batter. Lightly swirl the Nutella into the batter with a butter knife. Do not overmix.

10. Bake the cake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto a wire rack, turn it right side up and let cool completely, about 2 hours. Cut the cake into slices and serve.

11.  You can make mini loaves aswell, these take a shorter time in the oven. It does depend on the size of the mini loaf pan but certainly it would need at least 30 – 40 minutes before checking to see if it has cooked by placing a skewer in the middle of the cake and checking it comes out 'clean'. (i.e no uncooked cake batter on it)

This cake can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. It can also be wrapped tightly and frozen.