Online Cooking Program for Children, Ages 9-16
Membership Options Available
Where children learn to cook with confidence and joy
Follow for delicious recipes, stunning food photography, and exciting ice cream workshops/demos. We offer professional food styling and photography services to bring your culinary creations to life! 🍨📸
29/03/2026
🐰 Easter Holiday Cooking Workshop 🐣
Calling all tweens and teens (9–16)! Parents and siblings are welcome to join in and cook together. 🍴
📅 Date: 1 April | ⏰ Time: 10:00–12:30
💻 Online via Zoom – link shared in a WhatsApp group once booked
📜 Recipe card included
🎁 Club members get 15% off
Spend your screen time doing something fun, creative, and delicious-you will be rewarded with beautiful batch of hot cross buns with spiced honey butter (my special recipe I’ve been making for years!)
Confidence grows.
Pride builds.
And suddenly, your child wants to be in the kitchen.
Our Weekly Online Cooking Club is so much more than just recipes…
It’s about giving your child a life skill they’ll carry with them forever.
Each week, they learn how to:
✔️ Cook real meals from scratch
✔️ Understand ingredients and flavours
✔️ Build confidence and independence
✔️ Have fun while doing something meaningful
And the best part?
If life gets busy (as it always does), you’ll never fall behind.
All lessons are available on our Online Hub -so your child can catch up anytime or rewatch their favourite recipes again and again.
Parents are often surprised at how quickly their children grow in confidence… and start helping more at home too 🙌
✨ Our new program for next term is out now!
Give your child something truly valuable this term.
Last week in our live classes we made Apple Crumble with Custard -our Challenge Lesson of the term! 🍏🍮 Making apple crumble is easy, but homemade custard can be tricky, and that’s exactly what makes this lesson so valuable.
*We learned how to choose the right apples and balance sweetness and tartness.
*We explored a few South African apple varieties you might not know.
*We made a buttery, crumbly topping and cooked a smooth, creamy custard to serve alongside.
*We discovered the magic of gelatinisation when cornflour thickens the custard.
*A perfect recipe using simple pantry staples, ideal for autumn and the comforting food we all crave.
The students had so much fun and gained real cooking confidence -seeing them enjoy our classes and master skills week after week has been incredible! The lesson is already on our Online Hub, so you can watch and cook along anytime… but only if you’re part of the club! 😉
✨ The new program for next term is out now! Don’t let your child miss out on building kitchen skills, learning new recipes, and having so much fun doing it.
I received this message from a student at the beginning of the year.
It reminded me that our Cooking Club has never just been about cooking.
Yes, we learn to make pancakes, pasta, curries and desserts…
But something else happens in the kitchen too.
Children grow in confidence.
They try new things.
They step outside their comfort zone.
They discover that they can do things they never thought possible.
And sometimes, a cooking club becomes much more than a cooking club.
It becomes a place where a child feels welcome, capable and proud.
But I also know that there are children who would love to join, and their families simply cannot afford it.
So next term I am launching the Wooden Spoon Kids Bursary Program.
I will be opening 5 bursaries for students who are passionate about cooking and committed to attending the weekly lessons.
If you know a child who would benefit from this opportunity, applications are now open.
Because every child deserves the chance to discover their confidence in the kitchen.
Bursary students will remain completely anonymous.
❤️
16/03/2026
Last week in our live classes we made Loaded Nachos! This was our “Fake Away” lesson of the term—learning how to make your favourite take-aways at home.
*We explored the history of Nachos and how this delicious meal came to be.
*We learned why some corn chips are better than others, and which brands to avoid due to added preservatives and colouring.
*We made fresh guacamole and a flavour-packed Mexican-style mince to top our nachos. And why it is always a great idea to add a tin of beans to mince.
The lesson will be posted on our Online Hub later today, so you can watch and cook along anytime.
If you want to build real cooking confidence in your children, come and cook with us. Join our Cooking Club here: https://woodenspoonkitchen.co.za
11/03/2026
30-Minute Meal Series: Chorizo & Butter Beans with Fluffy Mash
An easy 30-minute family meal with pantry ingredients and big flavour. I sarted this meal 45 minutes before the kids got home… normally it’s a 30-minute dinner, but filming slowed me down 😅
Simple pantry ingredients, big flavour, and real family comfort food. One chorizo, two tins of butter beans, onion, garlic + passata, served over creamy mash.
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 Tins Butter Beans
1 chorizo sausage, sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 x 400 g tins butter beans, drained
± 1 cup passata (add more if needed)
3 sprigs of thyme...optional
Salt and pepper
1 tsp balsamic vinegar (optional, if too acidic)
Splash of water if the sauce thickens
Mash
1 kg potatoes, peeled & chopped
30 g butter
± ½ cup milk (add gradually)
Salt to taste
1 tsp baking powder
Method
1️⃣ Cook the potatoes. Boil in salted water until soft (15–20 min).
2️⃣ Chop onion and fry with garlic.Add smoked paprika. Really love the one from . Add chorizo until it releases oils. Cook until onions are soft.
3️⃣ Add passata and butter beans and a little water if it is to thick.
4️⃣ Balance the flavour. Taste & season. Add 1 tsp balsamic vinegar if too acidic. Fresh thyme is optional.
6️⃣ Make the mash. Drain potatoes, mash with butter, milk, salt & baking powder until smooth & fluffy.
7️⃣ Serve butter beans over mash. Finish with thyme or black pepper.
✨ If you like these type of videos, please like, share, and save. It takes me at least 15 minutes longer to make lunch if I need to film it 🙂
10/03/2026
Just because I want to have more fun designing pretty things.
And my word am I juggling🍋, starting to look like a one-man circus🎪
10/03/2026
You see a muffin… I see science!
Last week in Cooking Club, we baked these fluffy blueberry muffins and uncovered the magic inside: tiny CO₂ bubbles created by a chemical reaction between bicarbonate of soda, yogurt, and baking powder. 🧪✨
👩🍳 Want to see the science (and taste the muffins) yourself? Join our Wooden Spoon Kids Cooking Club and bake your way to fun and learning!
Our students are having so much fun while learning so many new foodie things!!
09/03/2026
Last week in our live classes we made Blueberry Muffins!
* We learned about weighing and measuring ingredients using both cups and a digital scale.
* We looked at the key role of key ingredients like flour, eggs, butter, sugar, yogurt, and raising agents, and how they work together to create soft, fluffy muffins.
* We explored the difference between bicarbonate of soda and baking powder and why muffins need the right balance of raising agents.
* We also learned why it’s important not to overmix muffin batter, so our muffins stay light and tender.
The lesson will be posted on our Online Hub later today, so you can watch and cook along anytime.
If you want to build real cooking confidence in your children, come and cook with us. Join our Cooking Club here: https://woodenspoonkitchen.co.za/
05/03/2026
Every recipe in our online cooking club is tested at least three times before it goes live -so we know it works!
Homemade butter chicken is easy, economical, and delicious. No store-bought sauces or spice mixes needed ,and you can make your own spice blends in minutes. 🌶️
Every recipe in our Cooking Club has just 6 steps and simple ingredients… and yes, it tastes amazing!!
Teens in our club love making real meals from scratch- and you’ll love how easy it is too!
03/03/2026
This question came up in our cooking class last week 👩🍳
Should you wash chicken?
Short answer: No.
Let’s talk about why.
What are your thoughts on this? 👇
27/02/2026
Become a Founding Member of Wooden Spoon Kids! 🎉
We’re opening the doors to our online cooking club, and spots are limited!
👩🍳 Membership Tiers:
R150/month -Access the online hub at your own pace, short videos, rewatch lessons anytime.
R350/month -Join live 1-hour classes, private WhatsApp group, early recipe access, plus the online hub for catch-ups.
✨ Discounted yearly fee: R300/month + FREE starter kit (apron, badges & recipe folder)
📌 Only for the first 50 founding members -prices increase after!
💡 Perfect timing to join with a new month around the corner and fun recipes coming up!
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Wooden Spoon kitchen posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
If you are looking for inspiration to fall in love with cooking and your kitchen again you have come to the right place.
I am Ankie Niesing, founder of Wooden Spoon Kitchen, an online food blog for those who can, can’t and won’t cook. Simple, wholefood made easy.
I am a trained Home Economics teacher with a creative approach to cooking and styling food. I have been teaching cooking skills for the past 17 years. Over the years I have also developed a keen interest in nutrition and how food can affect our health.
If you are overwhelmed and under-inspired in the kitchen, I know how you feel. I’ve been there. I have had times I dreaded the kitchen, the endless washing up, fussy children that don’t appreciate your efforts, grabbing ready meals because life is too rushed. Eating and cooking food that is not nourishing your body and soul.
Where before my main business before was teaching people to cook at my home studio, from now on I will be sharing online cooking resources, customise meal planning for families and create e-books for a larger community, but don’t worry I still want to do occasional workshops and would love to still connect with all of you in person.
I hope to inspire you along the way to live a more healthy and beautiful lifestyle. If you want to receive more information regarding my services please get in contact and sign-up for my monthly newsletter full of inspiring foodie news and recipes
I cannot wait to meet you and begin a beautiful cooking journey together because, in my kitchen, anyone can cook!
For more child friendly recipes, school cooking programs and cooking boxes visit Wooden spoon kids
