Cooking With Kids

It might even be better than the Thanksgiving meal itself.

A cookie tin must.

Who doesn’t love crispy cheese?

Roasted fingerling potatoes are an easy and versatile potato side dish, ready to be enjoyed with anything from roast chicken to grilled steak. To really make them shine, I use a mixture of olive oil and butter to give them a creamy, melt-in-your-mouth quality. I also add a generous amount of minced garlic to infuse them with savory flavor, and a final flourish of parsley brightens everything up. They’re crispy, tender, and buttery.

Two cookies for the price of one.

If your refrigerator is anything like mine, half of the space is jam-packed with condiments. Those tubs of miso, sticks of butter, and bottles of salad dressing can add something special to simple weeknight meals. Instead of buying more sour cream from the store, I like to make the tangy, creamy condiment from what I already have on hand. It helps keep my grocery bill in check (something I prioritize as much as flavor when it comes to meal planning), and it avoids food waste.

I grew up making this chocolate fudge with my father, who spent a fair amount of time in the kitchen (which was rare for a man of his generation). He was always welcoming, pulling up a chair to the stove and hovering close as I stirred the molten chocolate bubbling away. This chocolate fudge recipe is a family-favorite and easy to make for the holidays (or any time of the year).This fudge is not the creamy, smooth kind.

So good you’ll go back for seconds.

Christmas Chex Mix is one of my favorite holiday treats that offers a welcome change from all the cookies and candy canes fighting for attention. This crispy, salty-sweet mixture even looks like Christmas — everything is coated in white chocolate, and red and green M&Ms peek through! My favorite Christmas Chex Mix blend is pretty simple — cereal, pretzels, and candy — but the sprinkle of flaky salt at the end is what takes it over the top.

No one has to know how easy it is to make.

There are many ways to cook carrots, but roasting them is hands-down my favorite method. It’s one of the best vegetable side dishes that pairs well with anything for dinner. Roasted carrots might seem simple, but when done right, they can rival just about any other vegetable side, be it Brussels sprouts or sweet potatoes. When it comes to glazed carrots, some recipes call for cooking them on the stovetop, but I opt for the oven so that the carrots can do their business while I do mine.

Linzer cookies might look like another pretty sandwich cookie, but these sweet-tart cookies have a rich, tender crumb, thanks to a nearly invisible ingredient. Almonds turned into almond flour make an everyday sugar cookie dough a tender, melt-in-your-mouth treat, fragrant with the warm notes of toasted nuts. Two cookies serve as the bookends to the sweet and sticky jam of your choice to transform into a holiday cookie made for customization. Here’s how to make them.

And it cooks in under 20 minutes.

It's such an easy way to please a crowd.

Struffoli is not only a fun word to say. The classic Italian dessert, also known as Italian Honey Balls, is a festive that’s traditionally served during Christmas time, just like panettone, pizzelle, and pignoli. Tiny balls of dough are fried until golden-brown. Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, they’re then tossed in a sticky-sweet honey syrup and decorated with rainbow sprinkles.

Now that winter has arrived, it’s nearly impossible to open Instagram or TikTok without being greeted by an exploding hot chocolate bomb. The tasty trend is popular for a reason: When these chocolate spheres are dropped into warm milk, they crack open in the most mesmerizing way, releasing a flurry of hot cocoa mix and marshmallows creating an decadent cup of hot cocoa.

This is the recipe to make if you got sent home with turkey leftovers.

I’m an “instant gratification” kind of baker. Any baked good that’s deemed a “project” (with the exception of pumpkin cinnamon rolls, of course!) isn’t really my speed. Give me sweets that I can mix together quickly and easily, pop in the oven, and snack on in half an hour and I’m sold. Enter: 3-ingredient peanut butter cookies. Not only are these the absolute easiest, but they’re my favorite soft and chewy peanut butter cookies too.

Of all the techniques for preparing chicken I learned in culinary school, spatchcocking is the one I return to the most. Sure, it’s great to know how to break down a whole chicken, but nothing compares to the satisfaction that spatchcocking provides. Luckily, you don’t need a culinary school degree to spatchcock. The process is simple — remove the chicken’s backbone and then flatten the bird — and immensely rewarding.

Pommes Anna is a French side dish made of just three simple ingredients: potatoes, butter, and salt. It’s classic and elegant all at the same time; potato slices are arranged in overlapping concentric circles, creating layers upon layers into a round cake that resembles a flower. The outside is golden-brown and crispy — like the fanciest hash browns you’ll ever have — and makes a satisfying crunch when you slice it into wedges.

For me, the best part of Thanksgiving dinner are the leftovers. Day one is the day for turkey sandwiches and plates of reheated dinner. And this turkey noodle soup is the ideal next step for leftovers. It not only uses up the leftover turkey meat, but also any vegetables and herbs you may have left from the big day.  It’s the best way to use leftover turkey.

My mother-in-law isn’t a baker, but she has a serious sweet tooth. When she pulled out a chocolate-smudged cookbook on our first shared Thanksgiving holiday, she turned straight to the chapter on pies — and specifically, a recipe for whipped cream-topped chocolate pie. Ever since, I’ve accepted chocolate pie as a welcome addition to any holiday spread.The version I’m sharing here is one I know she’d be proud of.

These creamy, caramelized coins are almost too good to be true.

Yes, you can skip the whole bird.

Bonus: The recipe uses a whole can of pumpkin.

They're not the same as gratin.

Perfect for pairing with a PSL.

Save a slice for me.

Brown butter and sage are a classic couple that will never steer you wrong. Whether you use the sauce to dress a bowl of pasta or add another dimension to a simple risotto, it’s instant success with very little effort!The process of browning butter consists of gently heating it in a skillet until the water evaporates and the milk solids begin to brown, at which point it acquires a wonderful flavor complexity and a pleasant toasty note that makes it a real treat.

Pumpkin cookie meets snickerdoodles.

Easier than apple pie.

Is there nothing more comforting and delicious than mashed potatoes? This warm, creamy, dairy-laden starch might be more of an indulgence than everyday fare these days, but even if you only have them once a year (Thanksgiving!), I say go all out and do it right. Read on for our method for classic mashed potatoes, with recommendations for potato type, dairy additions, and mashing methods. Potatoes: The best potatoes for mashed potatoes are Russets and Yukon Golds.

You’ll definitely want seconds.

A creamy, dreamy mac & cheese that you can prep days ahead of time and just pop in the oven.

Say bye-bye to the blue box.

You don't even have to boil water.

Just wait until you see how easy it is.

Sweet potato casserole is one of the most popular Thanksgiving side dishes for a reason: It serves up the vegetable in a creamy, sweet, and decadent way, and as we pile it onto our plates, it makes us feel like a kid again. Unfortunately, it’s often overthought and over-complicated, riddled with too many unnecessary steps and ingredients (I’m guilty of it, too, although this classic, meringue-topped version is delish).

Ah, pumpkin pie. It’s a recipe filled with nostalgia, a creamy combination of sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and custardy filling, baked in a homemade pie crust and topped with a dollop of whipped cream. Thanksgiving isn’t the same without it.

Editor’s Note: If you’ve cooked this beloved recipe before, it might look a little different these days! We recently improved it to make it even easier to follow and more delicious.Anyone else grow up heating bread and cheese in the microwave on unsupervised afternoons at home?

It’s a classic.

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It's even great for beginners.

Pumpkin and butternut squash seem to get all the attention this time of year, but when it comes to orange-hued vegetables, I actually prefer the humble sweet potato. I’ll take sweet potatoes any which way, but at my Thanksgiving table I prefer mashed sweet potatoes. Some mashed sweet potato recipes call for baking the them in the oven first, then slipping them out of their skins and mashing them. Other recipes call for boiling the sweet potatoes in water.

No other recipe compares.

A big bowl of classic mashed potatoes make any meal a little better. Sadly, I come from a long line of mashed potato forgetters. A familiar cry heard each Thanksgiving was, “The mashed potatoes!” This could mean one of three things: Someone forgot to start them, someone forgot they were cooking, or someone forgot them in the kitchen and they were cold by the time they hit the table. This always bummed me out. I mean, we’re talking mashed potatoes here.

It’s like the grown-up version of a chicken nugget.

I could eat it every night.

The sweet potato is arguably the most versatile veggie in the produce department. It can easily be the star of any meal, from pancakes for breakfast to the main event of dinner and can even do dessert. While baking sweet potatoes in the oven can take up to an hour, microwaving a sweet potato takes a mere five minutes. Here’s the very best way to do it, so that you can dig into your tender, steaming sweet potato ASAP. It’s lightning fast.

The secret ingredient comes from the freezer.

It tastes like childhood.

You don't even have to peel it!

Easier than apple pie.

You don't even need any measuring cups for this recipe.

Hot mulled cider is a must-have at all our fall and winter shindigs. It’s a great non-alcoholic drink option for holidays like Thanksgiving — guests of all ages never seem to turn down a mug, but grown-ups can also take the opportunity to do a little self-spiking and mix with their alcohol of choice. Slow-cooker mulled cider is the easiest way to serve a crowd.

Should we all just agree that we really go apple picking for the warm cider donuts and freshly pressed apple cider? Eating those fried donuts is one of my fondest food memories from the two years I lived on the East Coast, but unfortunately they’re harder to find now that I’m back in California. The best solution was to head into my kitchen and make a batch myself.

Whatever regular ol’ butter can do, maple butter can do better. The touch of sweetness and caramel-y, toffee notes alter butter so magically that it’s hard to believe how simple it is to make. Because maple butter has so few ingredients, it’s essential to ensure those ingredients are good-quality. Here you’ll want real-deal maple syrup — sweet, smoky, and amber-colored.

Of all the things I make in my Instant Pot, there’s nothing more convenient (or versatile!) than a batch of sweet potatoes. Topped with a pat of butter and flaky salt, Instant Pot sweet potatoes are a quick side dish to partner with whatever I’m cooking. They’re also incredibly versatile. Loaded with beans and greens, they make a wholesome vegetarian dinner. Filled with Greek yogurt or nut butter, and fruit, I have a nutritious breakfast.

The no-bake cake that goes for the gold!

Save room for seconds.