The fifteen students from PS 94 huddled around a kitchen eyeing the tray of holiday cookies ready for baking and decorating, its fresh cinnamon scent lingering about.

For the kids, it was fun. For Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC) of Norwood, it was a giveback for the kids.

“I know that they don’t have a kitchen where they’re at, and maybe they don’t have the opportunity to bake,” Yuisa Santiago, director of MMCC’s culinary arts program, said of the first-ever event.

The students are part of the MMCC afterschool program installed at PS 94, with funding through the city’s Comprehensive After School System of NYC (COMPASS NYC), which offers academic- and recreation-based programming across city schools to encourage child development. The elementary school is five blocks away from MMCC’s DeKalb Avenue annex. At the lower level is the kitchen where prepared food comes in and out for MMCC’s myriad of young and old clients.

This time, MMCC head chef Dane McCarthy, sporting a Christmas cap to fit the occasion, showed off the best way to bake and decorate cookies. Usually, McCarthy works with young people ages 18 to 24. But this time, it was the kids who got his attention.

“I never worked with kids on this level, but it’s always incredible,” McCarthy said. “And they’re really smart.”

The raw materials, courtesy of a donation from Food Bazaar, stood at the ready. It wasn’t hard for the kids to stick around to hear about the subject. They certainly ate up the material.

“I could live here,” Anneris Moyeno, 10, said as the aroma of cookie dough engulfed the kitchen.

Meantime, Luis Cruz, 10, had just finished crushing a cup’s worth of crushed candy canes. “[Dane] said not to crush them too much,” Luis told the Norwood News. “I got to hit them with a pin. Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! But it was fun!”

Over at the rolling station, Luigi Thode, another student, stood fully focused on kneading cookie dough. He soon shifted, heading to the mixing station where McCarthy’s mother, Debra Barreto, was on hand to help students.

“It’s gonna hurt your hand up, right?” asked Barreto as Luigi mixed a tough batch of flour.

Santiago hopes the event takes off next year. Her plan is to target the neediest of neighborhoods.

“Some individuals just don’t have a [kitchen] and I said this is at least something they can do as a group and enjoy Christmas if they aren’t able to do so at home,” Santiago said.