Many parents have come to me asking to teach cooking or baking for their kids. Particularly during school holidays. Suddenly your house is overrun again. Those luxurious cups of coffee you can have in the morning after you’ve packed them all to school is on hold for now. This is the time that some parents pack in the extra-curricular like tuition, swimming classes, music lessons, judo 101 just to keep their progeny from going mad and that popping by ever so often with ‘I’m bored’.

Teaching kids how to cook is really rewarding

Well I think this is a chance to spend some quality time with them in the kitchen. I love teaching kids how to cook. They are just so excited and spontaneous. I have done countless cupcake classes. I have taught them how to make a delicious buttercake and pizza from scratch. Cooking is so tactile and it keep them rapt for hours.

As to what recipes to do with your kids, well after watching Junior Masterchef who are we to say what kids can and cannot do? Just practice safety in the kitchen. Buy a kid’s knife and silicon mitts that will fit their little hands better.

For younger children, handle all the sharp stuff

Also set up the rules in your kitchen well. Like they should always ask you for help to lift hot items and stand away when they open the oven door. A kitchen can be a fun and rewarding play area for your kids, just be vigilant because there’s a lot of sharp objects and hot stuff around.

Here are some recipes I love to do with kids to get you started.

Pigs in Blankets

How cute are they?

Ingredients:
Chicken cocktail sausages
Puff Pastry

Method:
Cut the puff pastry into strips.
Take a sausage, roll it in a strip of pastry and crimp it shut.
Bake it in a 190 oven for about 8 minutes until golden brown.

Chef Says:
You can make all kinds of simple fillings to roll in puff pastry. Smash up some sardines, shred mozzarella and cheddar or even cook up spinach with a bit of feta cheese. Point is all that rolling would keep them occupied for at least an hour!

"Cooking keeps them rapt for hours..."

Peanut Butter Cookies

So crazy-good, they'll gobble this up in no time

Ingredients:
1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup shortening
2 Tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
48 milk chocolate kisses
Some extra sugar for rolling.

Method:
Set the oven to 180C.
Combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, shortening, peanut butter, milk, vanilla and egg at low speed until stiff.
Shape into 1 inch balls, roll in extra sugar.
Bake 10- 12 minutes. Put candy kiss on top of each.

You can substitute butter for the shortening but you will not get the same effect. Butter will make it too soft (still delicious though) while shortening gives it more shape.

Chef Says:
This is a really fun, tactile recipe for kids. Basically instead of using a machine, you can put all the ingredients in a bowl and they can have fun mashing the ingredients together with their pudgy little hands.
These are so tasty and so popular that everytime I make them in my kid’s cooking class, they will eat it all up to their parent's dismay (not because of the sugar rush but because they want some too!)

Chicken Pot Pie

Pretty as a picture

Chicken Pot-pie requires two main components. Making the filing and shaping the pastry. It’s easier to make this with slightly older kids who has a bit more kitchen experience but as long as you supervise, younger kids can have fun with pastry and stir the chicken chunks in.

Ingredients:
1 carrot
2 potatoes
1 packet fresh mushrooms/ 1 can button mushrooms.
¼ cup butter
1 tsp dried thyme
2-3 Tbs flour
500g chicken breast
Salt and pepper to taste
1 ½/ ¾ cup milk
1 Tbs concentrated stock
1 packet puff pastry
Flour for rolling

Method:
Par-boil the carrot and potatoes.
Melt butter and fry mushrooms and fry it with the parboiled potatoes and carrot.
Mix chicken with the flour and add to pan. Season with thyme, salt and pepper.
When the chicken is half cooked add in milk and stock.
Make sure you add in the milk little by little and adjust. The filling should be a little bit wet.
Put flour on the table and puff pastry on top.
Cut into strips. Put chicken filing into the ramekins.
Brush water at the side of the ramekins and then put strips around the sides to seal in the steam. Cut a round top and put on top of ramekins and pinch it at the side.
You need a preheated oven of 200c. Bake for 15- 20 minutes.

Chef Says:
This is another recipe where you can vary the filling. You can make a beef filling in tomato sauce or substitute fish chunks to make a fish pot pie.

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