Cooking with kids

I always wanted to organize something about food with kids. And recently, I did!  A cooking class with children and their parents. The average age was 3,5 y.o with the youngest one being 17 months. I choose an easy recipe - a tiramisu with raspberries and speculoos (Belgian biscuits). Just for the record, the normal attention span is 3 to 5 minutes per year of a child's age, and therefore, the preparation time should not go over 15-20 minutes or you will lose the little ones. With that in mind, it is best to prepare all the ingredients beforehand leaving the children to just cut, pour ingredients, mix and try!

Since cooking is not only a chemical process but a sensorial experience, when you cook with children, their 5 senses should be activated:

• Vision : they have to see how the matter is transforming
  
• Smell : especially when you add spices and/or the aroma from ingredients
  
• Touch : incite them to use their little hands to mix a dough, to taste something, they will feel different matters.
  
• Hearing : invite them to listen when the butter melt in the pan or what noise make the boiling water etc…
  
• Taste : this is the best part of cooking. Allow them to poor their finger in the mascarpone when you make a tiramisu or to try the fruits/ veggies you are using in the recipe but be careful… don’t let them eat all or you won’t have anything to cook with! ​
  

Here is the recipe for a small tiramisu to make with your kids.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs (you will need to separate the egg whites from the egg yolks)
  
• 8oz mascarpone cheese
  
• 5 dessert spoon of powdered sugar
  
• 12 oz raspberries (I prefer frozen to get more juice for the biscuits)
  
• 1 ½  package of speculoos cookies (you can find it at Trader’s Joe)
  

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until well blended.
   
2. Then add mascarpone cheese .
   
3. In the meantime, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt in a separate bowl.
   
4. With a spatula, slowly incorporate the egg whites to  yolks.
   
5. Break some biscuits to form the first layer, then add raspberries and the mascarpone mix. Repeat the same procedure for another layer..
   
6. Grind 4 biscuits to  fine powder for the topping.
   
7. Put the tiramisu in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours until set. You can as well make it a day before.
   

Bon appétit!

Please share your experiences of cooking with your kids!