This past weekend, I decided to take two four-year-olds -- my daughter and her friend -- to see Coco, Pixar's new movie. But before leaving the house, I happened to read the tweets. The many, many tweets. There were warnings, outcries, and rage-induced petitions regarding the 21-minute long Frozen "featurette" that plays before the film. It's called Olaf's Frozen Adventure, and according to those who've endured it, it's bad. Excruciating. "In addition to representing the worst elements of the crass commercialization of Christmas, the songs were lacklustre, the plotting is painfully cliched, and Olaf is annoying as shit," tweeted one viewer. Another wrote: "Even my 6yr old girl was like -- "how LONG is this??!" Many said that they were so confused, restless or irritated that they almost walked out of the theatre.

Given the festive nature of the holiday season, cooking can veer towards the elaborate, so it helps to have some quick and easy dishes that impress without a ton of effort. As such, I recommend that everyone keep a stock of puff pastry in their freezer, and use it liberally to whip up appetizers, snacks, and desserts.

Ideally bananas should be peeled before freezing, but the world is not an ideal place, and I have been known to lazily chuck an unpeeled banana in the freezer. I thought this meant having to wait for the thing to thaw before peeling, but it turns out there is an easy way to peel a frozen banana; you just need a knife.

Ice cream is supposed to be cold but, when you're scooping for a large party, the frozen dessert can seem a little too frozen. Letting it sit out for a bit renders it scoopable around the perimeter, but hard and icy in the middle. To get that silky smooth, creamy texture throughout, try using your stand mixer.

Most boozy slushies are made by chucking some booze, mixers, and ice into a blender. It's a simple process, but not a foolproof one, and can result in an overly icy, crunchy beverage. To prevent shards of frozen water from jacking up your vibe, make your slushies in an ice cream machine.

When the sun is blazing down, you need cool, icy refreshment, and you need it fast. To get delicious, fruity slushies in record time, all you need is some juice, a sheet pan, and your freezer.

The weather is warming and my thoughts have turned towards ice cream. There's something extra satisfying about whipping up your own frosty treats, but not everyone has an ice cream machine. Let's run through a few of our favourite frozen desserts that you can make without any special equipment.

Frozen, store-bought french fries are beyond convenient, but you can easily make your own. Not only are homemade freezer fries cheaper than their grocery store counterparts, but you know exactly what's going into them, and they taste a little better.

Sweetened condensed milk is a surefire shortcut for making no-churn ice cream and, when paired with frozen fruit, it can be transformed into a frozen dessert in almost no time.

As someone who grew up in 1990's America, I am no stranger to the Hot Pocket. I would love to tell you that I've grown out of them completely, but every once in a while I am hit with a nostalgic craving for the microwavable, pepperoni-packed bread vessel. Here's how to make your own.

Fried ice cream is the perfect marriage of dichotomies. It's crunchy and creamy, hot and cold, and utterly delicious, but it's not really something I want to mess with at home. Luckily, you can get a crunchy outer shell around orbs of ice cream, no frying required.

You may have heard of soffritto, that flavorful trinity of sauteed carrots, onion and and celery that adds flavour and richness to everything it graces. You could saute up some soffritto each time you need it, or you could borrow this clever trick from Food 52 and keep a roll of it in the freezer, ready for instant use.

A big, frozen rib-eye may not seem like something you can just throw on the grill at the last minute, but Cook's Illustrated has devised away to grill thick, frozen steaks to perfection in well under an hour.