The Best Family Cooking Class in Milan: Cook in Milano

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Back when I visited Italy in 2017, my sister, aunt, uncle and I took an amazing cooking class near Lake Como (arranged by my favorite Italy destination specialists, Exclusively Italy). When planning this recent trip to Northern Italy  with  my kids, I knew I wanted to do another cooking  experience somewhere! Through extensive research  for a family  friendly cooking class, I was so lucky  to find Clara, and Cook in Milano.

Cook in Milano

The Best Family Cooking Class in Milan

Experiencing amazing food is an important part of Italian culture. Italian cuisine can vary by region, and its fun to explore the local cuisine on your Italy trip. I contacted Clara because I had read some good reviews of the cooking  classes she had done for kids. The menu for our class included pizza, gnocchi and tiramisu. My kids love pizza, sometimes eat pasta, and although they had  never tried tiramisu, I thought they would enjoy making  it and trying it!

 

How to book a Cook in Milano Class

The  private class was available for my dates and I was able to PayPal Clara to confirm the booking. After confirming (all communication was done over email), she asked me what type of sauce we wanted to make for our gnocchi. There were four choices, and I was excited she let me pick two – tomato for the kids and pesto, which I love! She also needed all our full names to print out our diplomas upon completion of the class. It was so easy to set up!

Additionally, Clara offers classes for small groups of adults.

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To book this class with Clara, click here

Cook in Milano Review

Prior to arriving in Milan, Clara emailed me very specific directions on how to get to Cook in Milano. From our  hotel, the Four Points Sheraton, it was about a 17  minute ride. We called an Uber just to keep it simple and easy, especially  because our class started at 9:30am.

Cook In Milano

 

What I didn’t realize is that Cook in Milano is hosted out of Clara’s apartment – which was amazing to  experience a meal in a true Italian home, but I was nervous the kids were going to cause a raucous in her house!

Once we arrived, we got signed in,  and received our aprons and recipe books (the recipe books we took home, the aprons were just for use in the class). We washed our hands and got to  work!

Clara had everything ready  for us to begin in the kitchen! We started with  some grating and  chopping. Little man  grated a  big block of parmesan, baby  girl cut mozzarella, I peeled potatoes and  hubby cut tomatoes. I love that Clara had knives safe for kids!

Cook in Milano

 

Cook in Milano

Next, we got started on the pizza dough. We used some type of special mix that came with the yeast. We let the Kitchen Aid mix the dough and then we portioned it into three balls to let it rise. I had never made dough like this – and  the kids loved seeing it double in size over the course of the morning.

Next up was the sauces – Hubby and I had to strain the tomatoes to simmer, and the kids helped by reading  the pesto recipe and weighing the ingredients to add to the blender. I  loved that the kids got to do so much  of the work!

After the sauces were mostly ready, we had to start on the dessert. Clara had brewed 6 cups of decaf espresso – demi-tasse or espresso sized cups that she made with her Nespresso. So many  Italian  homes now use  the Nespresso machine, and I  love mine that I got last Christmas.

Cook in Milano

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Cook in Milano

Little man whipped the cream, and baby  girl mixed the egg yolk and mascarpone to together create the delicious creamy layer for the  tiramisu. The kids then soaked the lady fingers in the coffee and  started to make the layered dish. Clara showed us the high-tech way to  even out  the layers – see this video  of little man doing it!

At this point in the morning, all we had left to do was to make the gnocchi (the potatoes I peeled were boiling then cooling), and set up our pizzas, so of course it was time for a coffee break! Clara made me a delicious marocchino –which is one of  my  favorite Italian coffees. I believe this is regional to the Milan area, and essentially is an espresso, with a little steamed milk  foam and a cacao sprinkle on top. It’s not as milky  as a cappuccino, so you can  take this coffee later in the day!

After our coffee break, it was time to make the gnocchi! I had made gnocchi in my  first cooking  class two years ago, I had even bought a ricer and a  gnocchi board to recreate this dish at home! But when I tried at my own  house, despite being able to make the gnocchi balls, they all  feel apart when I  cooked them. I  definitely  needed to redeem myself  on the gnocchi making!

Making gnocchi is pretty easy  and  the perfect pasta for kids to make by hand. We first riced the potatoes, then combined them with flour and some other ingredients. We formed a dough ball and each took small pieces to roll out into snakes. We then cut little pieces off the snake to form the balls  for the gnocchi!

Cook in Milano

Last up – roll out our dough and prep the pizzas for baking! Clara added the pizza sauce to a  little squeeze bottle to make it easy for the kids to spread. Last step – add the cheese and  bake to perfection!

Cook in Milano

A beautiful Lunch at Cook in Milano

At the end, Clara’s assistant helped boil  the gnocchi and fix it with the sauce. We had some champagne to celebrate (Sprite for the kids) and then  got to sit and enjoy our  beautiful  lunch!

Cook in Milano

 

Cook in Milano

 

I loved the food! It was so delicious and I cannot believe we made this all together. I was so full I even forgot to get a pic of the finished tiramisu.

Cook in Milan

We all enjoyed our morning cooking and eating lunch with  Clara.  If you are visiting Milan with your kids (or with a group of adults) be sure to check out Cook in Milano. I highly  recommend this experience!

Cook in Milano

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15 Comments to “The Best Family Cooking Class in Milan: Cook in Milano”

  1. Christa

    What an incredible experience for your family! I can’t wait until my little one is a bit older so we can do something like this. I love cooking and traveling, so combining the two is perfect.

    Reply
  2. Jax

    Hello, great post on a cosy cooking class! I clicked on the link for the class and saw that the minimum age is 12, do you know if younger children like yours are still able to participate? Or do you know of other child friendly classes? Thanks!

    Reply

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