Join Kirkwood Sweet Shop's head baker Mo Chase as she leads you through her favorite focaccia recipe. As you work alongside classmates, you’ll be offered the opportunity to taste through a wine flight focused on our favorite light, summery sips. Everyone will make their own focaccia loaf and use things like herbs, veggies and spices to build a design into the dough. Students ages 21 and older only please.

Hands-on baking class with Mo. Wine flight and menu available for purchase. You leave with your focaccia loaf!

Brioche is a sweet, doughy French yeast bread that belongs in the same “not really bread but also not a pastry” category of Viennoiserie. Other examples of these types of French baked goods include croissants, pain au chocolat and Danishes. While there is so much history and French terminology surrounding brioche, it’s not an overly complicated recipe. It’s rich, light, and fortified with eggs, butter, sugar. Culinary Institute of America student Harmonie Benson (of Haven Gardens Boulangerie in Nashville, IN) is returning to our kitchen to teach you everything about brioche, from the first scoop of the flour to the best ways to eat it (French toast! a BLT sandwich! with honey-butter!) plus baking tips and more.

Active-participant class with Harmonie. You’ll eat brioche in class and leave with dough to proof and bake at home.

- CLASS IS SOLD OUT - This condensed knife skills lesson is perfect for anyone looking to build good cutting habits and increase comfortability with chopping, mincing, dicing. We’ll discuss styles of knives and how/when to use them, different kinds of cuts such as julienne or dice, and knife care and maintenance. We’ll get plenty of practice in with a simple fruit salad recipe.

Active participant class with Ava. You leave with some fruit salad.

It’s that time of year, and if you’re looking for ways to put your hard-earned summer produce to work, pickles are a great solution. Yeah, there’s cucumbers, but pickled green beans, asparagus, carrots and beets are also delicious! Chef Andrew Seamus is visiting our kitchen to demonstrate the pickling process, plus pro tips for locking in crispiness and building a flavorful brine. We'll discuss traditional methods involving water bath canning, as well as quick pickling recipes and technique. You’ll get a chance to taste all kinds of pickled produce and begin a jar of pickles for yourself.

Demonstration and hands-on class with Chef Andrew Seamus. You’ll leave with a jar of pickles!

They’re back! Rod & Juliana return for more pizza education and community love. Since 2023, Pizza Monkey has raised thousands of dollars($42,000!) for local food charities through their from-scratch pizza pop ups. How cool! This evening they are visiting the kitchen to teach you TWO VERY IMPORTANT THINGS— how to make pizza in your home oven and how to make pizza in an at-home pizza oven like Ooni, Gozney, or Solo Stoves. Rod will teach you dough recipes, explain hydration, talk toppings— all the good stuff. You’ll finish class by, yes, eating lots of pizza. You’ll even get to put your own pizza in the special oven. You don’t want to miss this one.

Demonstration and active participant style class with Pizza Monkey, Rod and Juliana. You eat pizza and leave with dough to bake up at home.

— Registration for this class has closed — Conchiglioni is a type of jumbo shell-shaped pasta from Puglia, Italy, that emerged in the 18th and 19th century. It’s fabulous stuffed with anything cheesy and baked in an ocean of basil marinara. Tonight we’ll talk about quality factors in store-bought pasta and how to build flavor in any sauce (in this case, we will practice with marinara). Ricotta, lemon and some broccoli rabe fold together to make our filling. It’s another great weeknight to be In the Kitchen! Come get inspired with us.

Demonstration style class with Ava. You’ll eat a light dinner during class and take home marinara!

The summer harvest produces a bounty of beautiful fruits, from berries to stone fruit like peaches and cherries. Luckily, you can put all of these fruits to good use in a delicious pie! Pie making is a great skill for any home cook, as the basic principles remain the same across many recipes sweet and savory. In this class you’ll:

• learn how to make pie crust and different decorative tops (lattice, crimp, braid, etc.)

• learn about pie fillings and put your knowledge into practice with three different recipes (blueberry, peach or cherry)

• take home crust and filling to pop into your oven!

Pies are great for your July 4th gathering, patio picnic, porch dinner, neighborhood BBQ and more! Demonstration + hands on class with Ava. You leave with pie crust and filling to bake at home.

An avid homesteader, Jess is no stranger to the need for food preservation. The time old method of canning is simple, but it can be daunting if no one’s ever taught you. So Jess is visiting the kitchen to teach you! An ideal method for items with lots of acid like berries, jam, jelly, tomato sauce and pickles, water bath canning uses boiling water to kill bacteria and create a pressurized seal. It’s a great skill for everyone to have, homesteader or not.

Demonstration style class with Jess.

If you’ve ever shopped at our sister business Goods for Cooks, you know we love our tinned fish around here. And for good reason— it’s a sustainable source of protein, easy to travel with, and simple to serve. During tonight’s event we will taste a plethora of tinned fish, from Goods’ best sellers like the FANGST sardines to some of the lesser known options like razor clams and and smoked mussels. It’s a great opportunity to try new flavors, brands, or maybe even your first tinned fish! We’ll taste our seafood alongside some fun coastal wines from a variety of countries. The overall salinity, minerality and crispness of coastal wines pairs beautifully with the fatty delicateness that pervades tinned fish.

Social tasting event In the Kitchen! Open house hours 6:30-8:30. Wine menu + glass sales available for purchase.

Breakfast— it’s the most important meal of the day. Well, maybe that’s up for debate, but the corn cereal every single day? There’s no debating we can improve that. In Better Breakfasts, Ava will walk you through a variety of minimal effort ways to get yourself a full, well balanced meal each morning. Egg-in-a-basket, a southern-style hash, a quick pan fried french toast (which has way more protein than you think), and layered parfaits are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to making your morning routine more wholesome. Ava will walk you through these and more during class.

Breakfast for dinner! In this demonstration style class, you’ll get a chance to eat what’s made and take home the recipes.

Who’s up for some weeknight baking? We are! Tonight Peter will teach you a simple yet essential style of French dough called pâte à choux which is exceptionally light and buttery. It’s used for many pastry style treats, including cream puffs, which can also be called chou à la crème. Don’t let the fancy words fool you; you can totally make these at home in a handful of steps. They’re delicious anytime of day and with any number of fillings. You’ll learn one of the most common, a pastry cream, during class.

Hands-on class with Peter Nemes. You leave with your cream puffs.

Vicky is passionate about local produce, eating your veggies, fueling your body, and— tasty food. She’s using her passions and skills to teach you a class packed with salad recipes, produce tips, nutrition information, and how-to for homemade dressings that’s better than the restaurants’. This time of year we start to see a bounty of fresh greens, berries, the first of the cucumbers and more. Get inspired to participate in the local season and add some summer salads to your meal routine!

Demonstration style class with Vicky. You’ll leave with recipes and dressing.

Join the very knowledgeable Andrew Appel as he walks you through a series of familiar wines backdropped against some unfamiliar wines, all with their own unique tasting notes . During class you will sip similar wines at similar price points and learn about which you prefer and why. The goal is to make you a more educated buyer and allow you to try some alternative wines that are less know (but sometimes even better) than the guys with the big name.

Wine class with Andrew Appel. Small snacks served.

— CLASS IS FULL— Croissants, no matter how you pronounce it, are one of the world’s most beloved pastries. However, they have a reputation for being difficult. Carefully layered butter, temperature, the physical rolling of dough and proper yeast proofing are all key components to a successful croissant. While they can be challenging, JT is here to take you through the process and prove it can be done. There’s nothing quite like the smell and taste of a croissant you just pulled from the oven…

Active participant class with JT Mills. You’ll leave with croissants.

— CLASS IS SOLD OUT — What’s better than unwinding the week with some baking on a Friday night? Baking on a Friday night In the Kitchen with your friends while you sample some French wines, duh. We’re excited to offer this class to baking aficionados aged 21+. Mo from Kirkwood Sweet Shop will teach you everything you need to know about making classic macarons at home, and you’ll get to try your hand at it too. Macaroons, being an essential French pastry with a variety of flavors and a one-of-a-kind texture, are the perfect pairing for some lovely little French wines. We invite you to come gather, learn, and taste with us.

Hands on baking class with Mo Chase. You eat macarons in class. Complimentary glass of wine included with registration, and an additional wine menu will be available.

Pesto is versatile, bright and keeps frozen all season long. It’s a fabulous way to use up your garden basil or to sneak in extra veggies for the kids. This hands-on class will explain the basics of pesto including origins, iterations and ratios. You’ll get a chance to see different emulsion methods like a mortar and pestle, blender and immersion blender. Ava will help you build your pesto recipe and you’ll take a batch home with you. If you can’t wait to eat, that’s okay because we’ll be boiling up some pasta and trying all our sauces in class too.

Hands on class with Ava. You leave with pesto!

— CLASS IS SOLD OUT— Chef Erika Yochum is back for another afternoon of baking. Today we will focus on an Asian flatbread/roll called bing bread, as well as traditional American style biscuits, and to top it off— compound butter technique and variations. It should be a fun two hours of baking practice and instruction!

Active participant with Chef Erika Yochum. You leave with Bing bread, biscuits and butter, and you’ll eat some during class!

— THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT — Everyone had a blast at our French Reds tasting and our New VS Old World class, so we’d like to offer Bloomington a Spanish Tapas Night. Tapas is a Spanish term for savory small plates often served during happy hour. In true Spanish fashion, they often feature seafood, fresh herbs, olives, spices and pair well with Spanish wines like Godello, Rijoa, Alvarhino, Garnachas and Bobals. We personally recommend considering this your evening meal.

ALL INCLUSIVE FOOD & WINE EVENT In the Kitchen. Come taste and socialize!

Baking Swiss rolls can be challenging, but Jailyn is here to help! Best served chilled and made of delicately rolled spongey cake and deliciously sweet cream fillings, Swiss rolls are perfect warm weather treats. Jailyn will walk you through the entire recipe and help you design your own filling with whatever flavor combination you’d like.

Active participant class with Jailyn from Bloomington’s beloved Crumble Coffee and Bakery. You leave with your Swiss roll. CURRENTLY ON A BOGO FREE SALE. AFTER YOU REGISTER FOR ONE SPOT, EMAIL TASTEONTHESQUARE@GMAIL.COM TO REDEEM YOUR SECOND FREE SPOT.

We love a good pasta, and we also love a good date night activity. May we present: Gnocchi hands-on class with Elli Hill from Mother Hubbards Cupboard. We welcome anyone to this hands-on class— single, partnered, expereicned in pasta, new cooks; it doesn’t matter. Elli will teach how to make gnocchi start-to-finish, including the best sauces to top with.

Hands-on class with Elli. You’ll eat pasta at the end of class!

Snacks. Hors d'oeuvres. Tapas. Antipasti. Whatever you want to call it— a tasty little something before a meal
(or even many eaten together and called a meal) is one of those simple pleasures. Many of you who have attended wine tastings or private events In the Kitchen have asked for an appetizer class featuring recipes we serve. This is class is it! We’ll talk a bit about menu creation and balancing, and then jump to assembling and cooking many different appetizer style recipes.

Active participant style class with Ava. You’ll leave with lots of appetizers.

Ever wondered about the difference between boiling, simmering, steaming, poaching, blanching, braising and stewing? That’s a lot of words, we know. The underlying similarity between all of these cooking processes is the presence of water, in one form or another. A good home cook should know how to poach an egg, which vegetables are best for blanching, what a recipe means when it says “braised” etc, etc. Join us on this deep dive into the world of cooking with water!

Demonstration style class with Ava.

- THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CLOSED - Our third iteration of Bubbles and Bouquets is arriving right on time for the best of spring— tulips, snapdragons, cosmos, oh— and don’t forget Mother’s Day! During this brunch, Ava will serve classics like quiche, parfaits and fruit salad. While you’re snacking, Kelsy from Three Blondes Floral Co. will teach you everything you need to know about arranging a bouquet. Come join us!

Event with Ava Collins (In the Kitchen)and Kelsy Webber (Three Blondes Floral Co.) Your ticket price includes all food and all floral materials. You leave with your bouquet.

If you’ve been to any of Chef Dan’s classes, you know the drill— every element of design counts. Chef Dan leads detail-oriented classes that focus on taking your food to the next level, all while being resonably attainable in your home kitchen. Tonight he will discuss classic sauce preparations, including things like bechamel, veloute and more. These sauces are killer toppings to any cut of meat, braised cruciferous veggies and more.

Demonstration style class with Chef Dan Thomas of The Elm. Some hands-on activity will be offered.

Chelsi Tangman of Bloomington’s very own The Bishop Bar is dropping in to help you refresh your mocktail game. A new season is here, and it’s time to lean into berry, floral and herbal flavor profiles. Chelsi will teach you specific recipes, as well as skills like techniques for pairing flavors and textures, how to extract flavors from herbs, and tips for using barware equipment like shaker tins and muddlers. We’ll also taste test and discuss some new zero proof distilled beverages.

Demonstration style class with Chelsi. You’ll enjoy multiple mocktails during the span of class and leave with recipes. Not into mocktails? We’ll send ya home with spirit pairing suggestions and instructions.