Heartless boys are after her for help with the cooking (5)
I believe the answer is:
herbs
'help with the cooking' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'heartless boys are after her' is the wordplay.
'heartless' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'are after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'boys' with its centre taken out is 'bs'.
'bs' put after 'her' is 'HERBS'.
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for herbs that I've seen before include "Aromatic plants used in cooking" , "Rosemary and thyme, say" , "contents of some pots" , "Medicinal plants" , "Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" .)