BAKING WITH CHILDREN TIPS

Baking with kids…a phrase that used to fill me with dread! I would fix a smile on my face and say “you’re doing great” through gritted teeth, while internally screaming about egg shells in the bowl and mixture on the floor. And I know I’m not alone in this!

But now…my daughter (aged 4) and I love to bake together, we do it every week! And I never thought I’d be saying this, but I’m here to convince you it’s actually fab! I am also going to be sharing my baking with children tips!

1) It’s a time to bond and make memories! The reason I persevered through the baking angst is because I have such fond memories of baking when I was a child, and it’s so great knowing that I’m making these memories with her that will last. We always have a fun time when we bake together!

2) It’s a learning experience. Every time we bake I use the opportunity to test her ability to read simple recipes, measure ingredients and follow instructions. She’s not just having fun, but learning every time!

3) It stops becoming so messy! The older she gets, and the more we practice, she understands the cleaning process a bit more and there are less spills than we had at the beginning!

4) It allows your child to express some creativity! I used to cringe a bit when I felt like my daughter was “ruining” what we’d baked (I know that sounds horrible, I feel awful typing it, but the lack of control used to make me really uncomfortable) – but now, it’s so fun and liberating to see her chuck everything she can at a cake and see what happens! And if for example, we’re making cupcakes for an occasion that need to look neat, we bake a few extra and my daughter can do whatever she wants to the extras and we can be more careful with the rest.

5) It can be so easy and cheap! Anything from melting chocolate and spreading it on biscuits with some sprinkles on top, to a cheap cake mix from the supermarket, to a sponge cake or brownies or sugar cookies.

So, now that I’ve hopefully convinced you that baking with little ones can be so fun and beneficial, I thought I’d give you our favourite go-to recipe for when it’s raining, when we’re bored, when we want to whip up something tasty to gift to someone, when we need something quick and reliable. It’s a sugar cookie recipe that we’ve been using forever and it’s fool proof!

You’ll need…

– 225g unsalted butter

– 200g granulated white sugar

– 1tsp vanilla extract

– 1 egg

– 2tsp baking powder

– 1/2tsp salt

– 360g plain flour (plus extra for rolling out)

To make…

– Preheat your oven to 180°

– Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth

– Beat in the vanilla and egg

– In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients, and mix in slowly to your butter mixture

– Roll out in batches to a quarter inch thickness, let your little ones cut out whatever shapes they want!

– Bake on a lined baking sheet for 6-8 mins, they’ll still look a bit pale but don’t worry, they’re cooked!

– Decorate however you’d like to…melted chocolate, sprinkles, glace icing, tubes of writing icing…the sky is the limit!

– Then use for bribery purposes until you run out 😉

Enjoy!!

Beth xx