Christmas cooking for kids

Hi Newnanny thanks for posting this, it sounds like fun and I shall try it with my grandson (he is coming up to 4).

The closest I've come to baking with him is to have him sit on the counter and splash stir muffin mix.

That sounds good, newnanny. I will try that with GS. We are going to make gingerbread men today if I can praise him off his iPad. He is ten, so at the stage where he can do things on the stove. We have made brandy snaps and he thought the bit where you wind them round the handle of a wooden spoon was ‘cool’!

we're decorating small christmas cakes as teacher gifts,just 4" cakes we'll use roll out icing and they can make their own decorations for them.Keeps them amused for ages ,last year we had some impressive snowmen and trees made from rice crispies ,add a nice bit of ribbon and they are very proud of their creations

In Germany (O no, here she goes again! - sorry!) there is a tradition of baking all through November so that by the beginning of Advent you have jars or tins with hundreds of different biscuits. I really don't know why they can't spread it throughout the year. It's not as if there aren't enough sweets and other goodies at Christmas.

Anyway, the idea is that you can entertain the children with rolling out and cutting out different shapes, and decorating the biscuits with icing and various little bits and bobs. All the magazines and bookshops abound with recipe ideas (how many variations can there possibly be on a basic biscuit recipe?) and aprons and rolling pins are on sale everywhere - every year they think up new designs for cutters. I still have some from my mother-in-law, but I have accumulated a huge basket full of the things: bells, trees, crib figures, musical shapes, little trains, you name it!

My point would be that children can just as easily be involved in cooking as well as baking. Peeling, chopping, grating and stirring can all be made into a game. Their attention can be held by talking to them and working together ("I'll peel the carrots and you chop them." - "Can you cut a little cross in the Brussels sprouts for me?"). If they're not old enough to use a knife safely, then they may enjoy getting their hands messy making dumplings or something.

My kids were perfectly happy to help write menus and shopping lists, go shopping and lay the table from the age of about 5. No reason why they shouldn't get involved and see what is involved in putting a meal on the table.

Sorry, Duster, I had to laugh at the idea of someone being "praised off their ipad"! I take it predictive text got the better of you!

Rocky road slices are easy and can be made Christmassy by adding a crumbled individual pudding along with the crushed biscuits, Maltesers and marshmallows to melted chocolate, butter and golden syrup. The extras options are endless.
As well as the sweet stuff, my GCs used to like making and eating pigs in blankets and caramelized onion and sausage rolls or cheese and bacon straws using bought puff pastry.
Happy baking, hope you have fun!

Well spotted, JackyB! I have to say that there wasn’t a whole lot of praising going on to get him to do anything this morning - it was like pulling teeth. But we did get the gingerbread men made before DD came to whisk him away.

Bought puff pastry, rolled out very thinly, sprinkle half generously with grated Cheddar cheese and Parmesan, fold over and roll again. Cut out shapes with Christmas cutters if you have any, sprinkle with more cheese and other bits eg poppy seeds, herbs, paprika if you wish, then BAKE!