Henry’s been spending a lot of time in the kitchen lately cooking up dinners on Monday nights and baking desserts.  The first thing he baked was a chocolate cake…from scratch (with, plenty of direction of course). But now he bakes with little or no assistance at all! Last week he took his show on the road to Ashley’s house cooking dinner for them, and trying out their brand new appliances with Maytag featuring all fingerprint resistant stainless steel for easy clean up. For dessert he made them his very favorite chocolate chip cookies with a toddler-friendly twist…

Thanks to Maytag for sponsoring this post. If you’re interested in snagging these same kitchen appliances, you can receive up to $600 back as a rebate with the purchase of these as part of the “May is Maytag Month” promo. Check out more details here. 

Here’s how this whole jr. chef thing started. We had been watching The British Baking Show and Henry really wanted cake but no adult in the house was willing to make it, so he decided to make one himself!

Here was his first cake, he was so proud of it:

The next week was cookies (only asking for the difference between a tablespoon and a teaspoon), and he’s stuck mostly to cookies since. His favorite are chocolate chip cookies, so when I asked him what he wanted to make for Ashley’s family, that was the obvious choice.  But we added a fun twist with some mix-ins that Hazel, Ashley’s 3 yr old,  could choose from.

First up was softening the butter. Ashley’s Maytag Over the Range Microwave with sensor cooking has a special butter softening setting. So that part was really easy. Ashley loves the sensor cooking. She says, “It’s a game changer! You put in a bowl of soup, and push the soup button and it will sense how much is in there and heat it until it’s the perfect temperature.”

Hazel was excited to select her mix-ins! She picked m&ms and butterscotch chips. We also had nuts and coconut, and Henry’s favorite: mini peanut butter cups.

One thing that makes Henry’s chocolate cookies way better than mine are he actually takes the time to roll those balls nice and even, where as I just plop them on the sheet. Perfectly round cookies are so much better looking, and I swear it makes them taste better.

Time to put them in the oven! The Maytag Gas Range with True Convection and Power Preheat cooks “really consistently”, Ashley says. And the power preheat sounds amazing to preheat even quicker when you’re in a rush to get something in and on the table.

Ashley did a few dishes while the cookies were in the oven.  The Maytag Top Control Dishwasher has the most powerful motor on the market! Ashley says it feels “super roomy and our dishes come out sparkling every time”. She also says, “I really like how many different cycle options it has so I can Power Blast when I need to and conserve water and energy the rest of the time. And of course my favorite feature on all dishwashers… the delay! No more forgetting to start the dishwasher.”

Cookies are served! Thanks, Henry!

Thanks again to Maytag for sponsoring this post.