Cooking with children
Children love to cook, bake and experiment
with food. Cooking is also very beneficial for children. They are gaining a lot
of different skills and lessons from cooking. They learn science along with
fine motor skills, sequencing and direction following; as well as math and
reading. The kitchen can be a fascinating place for young kids. They see
grown-ups working briskly in there, watch the steam rise from pots on the
stove, and smell what's on the menu that night.
Plan ahead a little when deciding
what you'll prepare together. For younger kids, consider starting with simple
dishes with fewer than five ingredients. Then your child won't have to wait it
out while you tackle a complicated step. A tossed salad or easy muffin recipe
can be good starter projects. You also might set up a pizza-making assembly
line where kids can choose their own mini-crusts, sauces, cheeses, and
toppings. Older kids can take cooking to the next level and work with you on
more challenging recipes.
There are so many ways that you can
teach children in the kitchen, there are many lessons online, books and
articles that show parents ways to teach children. The one thing that I love
about having my children in the kitchen is I can get them to try things that
they would not normally try. I always tell them that they can’t cook with me if
they are not going to try what they are cooking. This runs the younger ones out,
but the older ones I can get to stick around.
My
oldest daughter loves to help me in the kitchen. I find that giving her a recipe
that I would use works just fine for her. She is almost 9, so she can read and
understand what the recipe is asking for, and anything that she doesn’t
understand she asks. She has cooked many meals completely by herself. She is
ready and eager to learn how to cook. She always asks “do I have to go to a
class to learn how to be a cook?” I always tell her that a lot of people who are
great cooks have never went to a culinary school, it’s all about learning the
craft and taking pride in what you do. The following is pretty simple recipe
that my daughter and I made together the other night.
English toffee
1 cups of butter (not salted)
1 cup of sugar
3 Tbsp. water
1/8 tsp. salt
1 ½ Tbsp. light corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¾ of a cup chocolate chips (we use more than this)
Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom pan sauce pan, over medium
heat. Add the sugar, water and salt, stir well to incorporate. Bring to a boil
and add the corn syrup. Continue boiling and stirring until the mixture reaches
280-285 degrees. Be sure to have a thermometer to check this, if you don’t get
the right temp then it won’t set up.
Remove from heat and add the vanilla extract.
Stir to combine and then pour into a cookie sheet that has been lined with wax
paper and coated with butter or cooking spray. Spread until you have a layer
that is the same thickness. At this point take the chocolate chips and pour
into a bowl and melt in the microwave then spread on the top of the toffee and
let set up. This is the hardest part for us, waiting!! It takes a while before
it is set enough that you can break into bits and eat.
