Hi guys, I’ve started a new round of cooking classes at work. I teach kindergarten and work in a family center that offers all kinds of extracurriculars, for kids age 1-10 as well as adults. I started kiddie cooking classes back in january and the first group was done last week. With the start of the new class, I thought I’d share all those easy peasy things we make / I’ve made with other kids for years.

I have this ongoing class that’s part of the curriculum where the focus is on getting to know different foods and making healthy things from scratch. The current participants are all 5 years old and it’s all about grains at the moment.

I also have extracurricular classes that are one-time activities, some for our 2-4 year olds accompanied by an adult, others for 6-10 year olds. In those classes, it’s all about fun foods. Easy things where the kids can do a lot, if not all the work and get an impressive result they can be proud of.

In addition to that, I do seasonal things with my whole kindergarten class, like baking christmas cookies (like the waffle iron cookies), making iced tea from the herb garden, etc.

Today was a regular class and we made a granola base. Base means, you can add other stuff like nuts or dried fruit to it to change things up to your liking.

For a 1 quart jar you need:

• 400g oatmeal or other flaked grains (the kids hand-flaked a mix of oat, wheat, rye and spelt)
• 2-3 Tbsp runny honey or maple syrup
• 2-3 Tbsp neutral oil
• cinnamon to taste (about 1 tsp)

In a big pan, gently heat up the oil and the honey / maple syrup, then add the flaked grains. Cook until everything’s slightly toasted while stirring continuously, about 5 minutes. Let the granola cool in a deep baking sheet and move it into an airtight jar once it’s cold.

If you want to add dried fruit or chopped / flaked nuts, mix them in with the cooled granola. I’d recommend about 100g of each.

At work, we like to use the granola as a crunchy topping for porridge breakfast bowls, aka as “Superhero Breakfast”.