It's easy to understand why John Kanell has more than 2.5 million subscribers on his YouTube channel "Preppy Kitchen". When he showed the audience the skills of "delicious homemade dishes" with special emphasis on baking, he comforted the audience to show the audience an inspiring and confident demeanor, which you would expect from a former school teacher. From apple pie to lemon stick, the recipes on his blog happen to be wonderful.

Carnell has appeared in "Allen", "Kelly Clarkson", "Landscape" and more TV shows. He recently participated in a "salon talk" with me and helped us solve some of the toughest baking problems of the season. Watch the full episode of "Salon Talk" with Kanell here, or read the Q&A of our conversation below to learn more about finding simple fun in the kitchen during the holidays. 

You did not start in the professional baking field, but you have encountered the three elements that can make someone a great baker. You are a teacher, especially a math teacher, and you are an artist. Tell me how that perfect storm came together and why you ended up becoming a baker.

Basically, my father's passion is to be a painter. He loves painting and has been painting all his life. Although this is not his profession, it is his way out. My mother is from Mexico. She left her town at the age of 16 because her father did not let her go to school, and she likes to study. Learning is her passion, she has come a long way, but in the end she got a doctorate in education in San Francisco. She just retired. She has been teaching all her life and is a superstar. So I have these two inspirations in my life. I always make interesting works of art with my dad — my mother also likes to paint — and I like to learn from them both early on.

When it comes to finding a career path, I am an art major at the university. My parents allow me to do what I want to do freely. I thought, "I want to do art." They said, "Well, enjoy it." Then I became a teacher until I got my certificate and I put it all together. I like to use art and math in science classes, but I have been baking. I like baking. My mother does everything from scratch, she is really a superstar. I always say that I am a cook taught by my mother. I haven't gone to cooking school, but I have received my mother's tuxedo education in the kitchen all my life. Eventually I met Brian and we decided to start a family. Teachers have a lot of time off, but as you may know, this is very organized.

My husband’s career is very stressful and I know that if we have children, I want to spend a lot of time with them. So we turned around and I followed my passion for baking and created Preppy Kitchen, where I can be more at home with the kids and do what I like.

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I want to ask you a question about the name "Preppy Kitchen". I look at you and I think the "college style" is about your shirt-but it is not. This means something else to you.

Many times, as a teacher, I see students come to class, their intention is the best, they want to succeed, they may even like this class, but they are just not ready. Some building blocks are missing, and we are working with them one-on-one or in small groups. This is called scaffolding, where you can achieve small successes so that you can achieve a really big goal. The same thing happens in baking. Some children have math anxiety, but some adults have baking anxiety. They think they can't do it, because baking is really one of the joys of life, and I hope everyone has the opportunity to experience it. I want to apply what I learned as a teacher, where I reduce this anxiety by preparing students for all the basics and everything at hand, and apply it to baking and food making.

When someone talks about a recipe, if they watch all of my videos and read one of my recipes, they want to know all the things that might go wrong, the reasons for the things that might go wrong, and how to avoid it. If I have an accident in the kitchen, such as I just made an overturned cookie, I will keep it in the video. I showed people, "Look, this is what happened. It doesn't matter. They are still delicious. But if you don't want to happen, this is what we are going to do."

For people with baking anxiety, what advice do you have as a first step? You may not fail things, so you will feel good about yourself and build self-confidence.

I will give you a tool. This is a scale. If you can invest in something, grab the scale. This gadget will make your life easier. I tell you this because one of the things people did wrong is that they took a recipe, they followed it exactly, and it turned out to be no result. It's a bit bready, a bit dry, and maybe sticky. I want to tell you the two most important things I want to avoid. If it is bread and dry, you might scoop up flour, naively thinking you are using the correct measuring cup. But you packed all the flour, and you added about 50% to that beautiful cake recipe that melted in your mouth, so it became less beautiful and melted in your mouth.

If you use the scale every time, it's perfect, and you won't have extra measuring cups to wash at the end of the day, so it's a win-win situation. In addition, one thing to avoid is to overmix the batter. If you have ever eaten a cupcake or cake, it looks perfect when it comes out of the oven and smells great, but when it cools, it starts to sink a bit, and when you taste it, it becomes denser Or more viscous is better than you think, this is because the batter is over-mixed, maybe even just a little bit. All our batters have flour instead of bread, they just have to be mixed until combined. You just see the flour disappear, and then you can eat it. Otherwise you will activate the protein in the flour and it will become less cool.

Related: Nigella Lawson likes to "cook, eat, repeat"

I'm one of those people who don't want to buy scales—buy one more thing and another piece of equipment. However, you can get a scale for $10. It's not that bad.

And it doesn't take up space. It's as if it can be placed in your bookcase. If you are a beginner, I always think that mixing recipes is fun. People are now making a lot of pumpkin and apple recipes, almost all of which are very simple batter mixing. All you need is a wooden spoon and maybe a whisk. The advantage of this is that you can help you with children or completely inexperienced people in the kitchen without any worries. You want to reduce stress during this baking season. You don't even need to take out any equipment. There are fewer things to wash, and there are fewer problems with little fingers going to places. You can easily stir some ingredients together gently.

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that almost anyone can make banana bread.

I let my kids do it themselves. I did some supervision and measured some things in advance, but I have two four-year-old boys and they had the best time. This is not without misfortune. They may have added a little more sugar than the recipe requires, but it is still delicious. They are happy to make some things by themselves and work in the kitchen.

This is an important part of learning to do anything. Maybe it will be a bit messy. Maybe it won't be perfect for Instagram-it doesn't matter. You can still have a good time. 

I want to ask you-you talked about scale. Do you have any other equipment in your kitchen that you really like? I love my miniature airplane. I am addicted to my miniature airplane.

Do you like fresh graded nutmeg?

Oh my gosh, lemon zest. Everyone also needs to buy a micro-aircraft. Mine is where I can grab it immediately. For example, if you are making a lemon cupcake or lemon loaf cake, or an orange cake, you get the lemon zest, then rub it into the sugar with your fingers, and then make a wonderful sugar that is filled with it For oily skin, it will be very fragrant and has a lot more flavor than adding it directly. It’s also fun to do so.

But back to my essential things, do you know what I like to use? Too lame, string after string. I found that ordinary wooden skewers are a life-saving straw. If you have a cake, maybe it's a layered cake, and it starts to fall over, and you will say, "Oh, no, it will fall", like the frosting is too soft, or the cake is a bit small and a bit warm. Straighten it with your fingers. It becomes a little messy, but it doesn't matter. And pop a string from the center. You can always use them to tell if something is ready, they have saved me many times.

Another thing I always thought someone in the kitchen should have is a set of round cookie cutters with scales. Use them to make biscuits and anything else, but many times people make biscuits and they are a little disappointed because it doesn't look like a picture, and they are spread more, or they are a little uneven. That's because all the pictures are lying to you. Everyone uses a round cookie cutter to roll it back so that it looks perfect when just taken out of the oven. When they came out of the oven, they rolled back those cookies with a round cookie cutter and they looked great.

John, I think what's really important here is what we call scales, miniature airplanes, cookie cutters and wooden skewers. People spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on very fancy equipment, and then they never use it. What we are talking about is that if you pay $25 for all these things together, you can achieve real accomplishments in the kitchen.

You will be much happier. It's just the little happiness in life that makes everything so bright. You grind the nutmeg into a bowl, I can see it. I can see the lemon peel here, and you are looking at the color, you just smell the sesame oil. Just a small miniature airplane can enjoy so many simple pleasures. Everyone needs one.

Many people know the classics. I can make a million versions of chocolate chip cookies, as well as apple pie and brownies. But, do you like to let people sleep on baked goods that people don’t recognize, and you think, "Do you know? These are worth a little more love."

I am willing. But I want to hear from you first, because I know you are a baker. I think you must have some great recipes for me.

I will tell you, it's not even weird. A few years ago, my little daughter said, "Mom, why don't you make those sugar cookies that I like? They are my favorite things in the world." I really don't make sugar cookies. I don't like rolling out cookies. I finally found out that she was talking about palmiers. And palmiers is the easiest thing in the world.

Two ingredients. They are my secret weapon. You can roll out some shortcrust pastry, sprinkle with sugar, and in 10 minutes you will get your child's favorite biscuit dessert. It looks so fancy, French and pleasant.

It's too fancy and easy. I like that. For me, I think Pavlova has not received the respect she deserves in this country. I am trying to spread the gospel as much as possible. If you don't know, this is a beautiful meringue with anything you want on it. Many times it will have lemon curd, or even passion fruit curd, followed by a lot of whipped cream, which is one of my favorite things to eat, as well as mountains of berries and fresh fruits. This is the most charming and wonderful way to end a meal, because it has all the desserts you want, but it is so light, airy and fresh. It's like a dessert kiss at the end of the day.

This is also the fact that it is rustic and a bit messy. This is why it is so charming and delicious.

They should never look perfect. I saw some of them on Instagram, they are beautiful, but I think, no. Pavlova is actually very messy. It should have some cracks and some seeping. It's just the way you know it will be so delicious.

Another similar dessert is angel cake because it has a lot of eggs. Oh my goodness. If you make angel cake, it's like a cake and marshmallow the most delicious baby ever, it's so delicious. With a little whipped cream and some fresh fruit, this is one of my favorite things to eat. My husband likes it. If I make one, I have to hide one piece for myself, because the rest is gone.

So let me talk to you about this time of year. This year is exciting because we may actually meet the people we love. I first want to know, what can I do to travel? Is there a way I can set myself not to arrive with a bunch of rags when baking?

Biscuit travel is good. If you want to make a small gift for the host, it is my homemade pumpkin spice mixture. It's just a mixture of all my favorite spices. It's much better than the store bought version. It's great for traveling. But if you want to be truly ambitious and make cakes, please be everyone's favorite and make German chocolate cakes. Just transport it separately so you have the cake layer and with your frosting, which is good because it is a very messy, slimy frosting. Just use an ice cream scoop to scoop it up at a party or wherever you are, and then assemble the cake. It will be delicious, it will be messy and amazing, and it will be transported very well because the frosting is just placed in a separate container.

I want to ask you—because I have seen you do this—you use a spoon to make the icing. what is that? When I scooped straight out of the bowl, what did I miss?

One thing is the best cake. German chocolate cake is one of my favorites all the time, it is one of those very delicate cakes. When you make a delicate cake, you cross a thin line between melting in your mouth and spreading out on the plate. You don't want to tear the cake, you don't want to press it down. You want to be very gentle with it. Therefore, when you use an ice cream scoop and sprinkle a small scoop of ice cream on it, you can use an offset spatula to gently smooth it. And you will get a nice and even frosting coating without tearing or damaging that precious and delicious cake.

You convinced me. Having said that, I want to know one way to make the simplest and most unremarkable desserts look beautiful is to use good decorations. For someone like me who hasn't gone to art school to learn baked goods, what is your favorite shortcut?

I have been practicing myself, which is very interesting, because this is when I started when I was a kid, it was swoopy rustic icing. This is something anyone can do. If you just practice the dive for a while and get countless redoes during the dive, then you can enjoy the dive as much as you want. It looks so amazing. There is something very nostalgic and beautiful about a rustic swoop cake. It is very tempting, even more so than a perfectly decorated, completely smooth cake with amazing decorations. It just said, "Come and eat me."

But if you want something very simple that you can do, think about putting a meringue on the dessert. I have a s'mores cake with a meringue crown. You can take out the kitchen flashlight and burn it. It is so simple and dramatic. This is also something you can do at a party-light the cake at the last minute. It is very amazing, but it is so simple. And it is foolproof. No matter what you do, it will look cool when you give it a small flashlight.

This is another good device for which I hesitate to pull the trigger-but now I like my flashlight.

I want to upgrade and buy the flashlight I have always wanted. I want big ones, such as garage flashlights. I have a delicate little baby; I want to be a big brother and it will be fun. This is a very good purchase, everyone can join.

As we enter the holidays, what recipes do you think are perfect for this time of year? There are classics, such as crushing some candy canes. But is there anything else you can adjust your year-round recipes to make them truly suitable for the holidays?

I like to bring the flavors of the season, and they are not necessarily the most anticipated. I like pumpkins. Our farm actually has a large pumpkin patch. This is one of my favorite flavors, but if you are not a pumpkin person and you are on holiday, what about pear? Pears cooked in a delicious sauce are so beautiful. You can add brandy and spices, lemon juice and brown sugar. Can be covered with pastry, can be chopped and added to cakes or muffins. You just want to be in Yunjiu. It gives you those wonderful mulled wine atmosphere.

I like that. That's beautiful. Finally, I want to ask you-you are a father. You have your kids in the kitchen. You grew up in the kitchen. Baking is great for introducing children to cooking because it has cookies at the end-so they are motivated. What do you like to bake with your kids? At this time of the year, what seasonal goodies can make them messy in the kitchen?

I like banana bread, banana muffins, zucchini muffins and the like. You can make many of the mixing recipes we talked about. With all these pumpkin recipes that we like now, you just need to stir them together in a few bowls. I asked Lachlan and George to help me, and actually did it myself under some guidance. This is so fun and awesome. You just see children take on more responsibilities, they have more initiative, so they can truly feel that they are empowered and helped. Because children like to help, they like to have a job. When you give them these opportunities, it's really fun.

If you, as a parent, worry about little fingers getting into your mouth and have this kind of dough experience, one thing you can do is get the flour you want to use in the recipe. You can bake it at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Just spread it on the baking tray. This will destroy any pathogens that may be present in the flour, so if they actually put the flour in their mouths, it will be fine. If you use eggs, you can easily pasteurize them with some warm water. There are instructions on the Internet. Doing these steps really makes many parents anxious in the kitchen, because children like to taste things, you don’t have to worry about them, "No, don’t do that."

I want to ask you one more question: Is what you have done—maybe not baking, maybe just a dinner or a meal—is the most difficult and tricky thing you have ever encountered?

do you know? This is what my husband calls my beluga. This is a classic French macarons. It took me a long time to learn how to make it because many recipes were not precise enough and they did not give me some important tips. When making macarons, the meringue must be very hard. It must be at a rigid peak. If it is at a softer peak, it fails completely. This is one of several stumbling blocks, so when I made a YouTube video for it, I actually showed a lot of weird cracks, just small spots of malformed meringue.

They are all delicious, and I ate them all. It was a bit uncomfortable because they are still delicious no matter what the result is. It's just its appearance and texture, but I ate all the failures, "This is delicious. Why is this not what macarons should be?" But in the end, I did it. Now it is one of my favorite things to do, just because I remember the long way to make it the right way.

I haven't conquered macarons, but I like watching your videos, though. Thank you very much for joining us. This is a treat. Happy holidays, John.

happy Holidays. I hope to see you in the kitchen soon.

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Mary Elizabeth Williams is the senior writer of "The Salon" and the author of "A Series of Disasters and Miracles".

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