Plus the world-famous pastry chef shares his best advice to create holiday magic by baking and cooking with kids.
Nowadays, you might catch him co-hostingKids Baking Championshipwith Valerie Bertinelli on Food connection.
Goldman is the leading expert on getting kids interested in baking and experimenting with recipes galore.
Photo: Photo: Charm City Cakes; EatingWell collage
But let’s face it, kids and kitchens don’t always mix.
Goldman knows how to make their time in the kitchen safe, fun and creative.
I make those every year.
Benjamin Turner
They’re kind of a big hit, and people would be mad if I didn’t.
EatingWell: Are there any recipes that you make around the holidays that were passed down through your family?
Goldman: My great-grandmother was a baker, and my mom is a really good cook.
We’re all Jews so there’s a lot of food happening.
I was really the first one to really embrace pastries.
My great-grandma was excellent at [making] rugelach, strudel, things like that.
But as far as really taking a deep dive into baking, I think I’m the first one.
For holidays, it’s brisket, right?
There’s a brisket at every holiday, and it doesn’t matter which one.
There’s Christmas brisket, Thanksgiving brisket.
Did you break your leg?
I’ll make you a brisket!
Goldman: My Texas chili is pretty great.
And we made it together when she was 3 days old.
We got home from the hospital, and my wife was upstairs resting.
EatingWell: Baking with kids can be messy and stressful.
What tips do you have for adults to make it more fun?
Goldman: You’ve got to manage expectations.
Just realize it’s gonna be a mess, so don’t worry about it!
You know, there’s gonna be flour all over the floor.
So don’t be like, “Oh my God, we gotta get the flour!”
[then] you’re learning this together, and the kids respond to that.
The other thing to remember is don’t just do everything and have them watch.
Kids don’t want to do that.
They want to do stuff!
You know, teach them about knives.
[Say] “Look, this is a tool that’s sharp and it could hurt you.
But if you use it right, you’re gonna chop this butter.”
When they make decisions, they tend to be a lot more attentive.
That’s something I’ve had to learn through not only just being a dad.
We bake it and we give you all the stuff that you get to decorate it with right there.
Because I like kids and cake.
You know, let them make the dinosaur.
You know what I mean?
Just let them do it.
It’s not going to be perfect, but that’s great!
EatingWell: Do you have some tips for easy yet impressive ways to decorate cookies for the holidays?
Goldman: There’s tons and tons and tons of really cool-looking candy out there.
So you might do sugar cookies and put fun candies on there.
Get creative with chocolate bars like Snickers and stuff.
Chop those up, put them in there.
Like, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Three Musketeers and Baby Ruths and things like that.
EatingWell:What sorts of recipes do you recommend that people start with when they’re not comfortable baking?
Goldman: Yeah, like drop cookies, right?
Drop cookies are great, and everybody loves chocolate chip cookies.
Fresh chocolate chip cookies are awesome.
Fudge cookies or peanut butter cookies, those are great.
You know, peanut butter cookies are awesome.
There’s lots of little things when you make peanut butter cookies.
You know, teach kids how to do that.
That’s a fun step to do.
EatingWell:Have you had a baking fail or mistake recently that you had a good learning experience from?
Goldman: When I was writingSuper Good Cookies for Kids,I just couldn’t get the macarons right.
It took all day, and it put us way behind schedule.
I was like, “I need to figure this out.
Like, I can’t put a bum recipe in here.”
I wanted to double-check the recipes work.
So that took a long time.
I don’t make them that often.
It was like, “Alright, I gotta figure this out.
Because if I’m the expert, I gotta know what I’m talking about.”
Goldman:Yeah, it was just letting them cure in the air.
You know, let them get a nice crust on the outside.
EatingWell:What do you always have on hand to satisfy your sweet tooth?
Goldman: My freezer is full of cookie dough.
There’s always cookie dough in there.
The problem is I have a full pastry pantry.
So I have like 10 pounds of really nice milk chocolate, 10 pounds of really nice white chocolate.
But mostly my sweets are like raisins.
I eat a lot of raisins, I eat a lot of prunes.
I love dried fruit.
I’m a Jew; we like dried fruit and salted fish and canned meat.
We just like stuff like that.
I love prunes and my daughter loves prunes [too].
EatingWell:Do you have a favorite winter fruit to bake with?
Goldman: I don’t know …
I guess maybe persimmons.
A lot of my neighbors have persimmon trees.
I’ll wake up and there’s just like grocery bags of persimmons on my front doorstep.
Because they’re like, “That guy’s a chef.
He knows what to do with all these!”
So they gather all the persimmons and bring them over.
I give back their persimmons in Ball jars.
EatingWell: You’ve co-hostedKids Baking Championshipwith Valerie Bertinelli for a decade.
What’s your favorite thing about working with her?
Goldman: Getting to hear stories about Van Halen because I love Van Halen.
Also Val’s so good at television.
She’s been doing it since she was a kid.
She’s a pro at television, and I’m a cake decorator.
I’m not good at TV.
I’m good at TV in the sense that I’m myself and I’m honest.
I’m the same guy when I go upstairs and hang out with my wife.
I’m not trying to be somebody else.
But really, it’s the Van Halen stories that I love!
EatingWell: So if you were to bake something for Valerie, what would you bake her?
Goldman: Oh, I would probably make those little frosted lemon cookies.
Because she loves lemon.
She really does love it.
And those are great cookies; they’re not too sour, not too sweet.
That, or I’d do pizza.
But it gets used when I’m there!
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
