Christmas Cooking for Kids

After our recent disaster with building and decorating a gingerbread house (photo above) I was a bit discouraged with holiday baking. We are already so busy and tired, yet the pressure is there to indulge the kids in their love of cooking and treats! I was so thrilled to find a cookbook that was a perfect fit for our family. “Christmas Cooking for kids” by Fiona Hammond was just a little something I found at the supermarket – even more shocking it was under $10 ($6 or 7 I think).

I posted on Facebook to show the white chocolate mousse the girls made since it was such a hit and easy to put together. (photo above) I thought I would share our weekend baking and 2 recipes from the book. I highly recommend you search for a copy as it is filled with

• 20 recipes covering classics like gingerbread and jam drops to new to us recipes and ideas like raspberry ripple icecream log and Strawberry Santa hats (recipe and photo below).
• fabulous photos of the foods + drawn illustrations of steps
• tips accompanying recipes
• an image of an elf next to steps that have adult supervision recommended
• templates for gingerbread house pieces

Vanilla wreaths: makes 15 (or more)

Ingredients:

125g (4oz) unsalted butter, softened

2/3c (145g / 5oz) caster sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups (3oog  / 10 1/2 oz) plain (all purpose) flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

15 mint leaf lollies

45 mini red M&Ms

Icing:

1 1/2c (180 g / 6 oz) icing (confectioner’s) sugar

2 TBS freshly squeezed orange juice {I just used a regular kind we had}

Method:

Put the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat with electric beaters until pale and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well combined.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. use a wooden spoon to stir the mixture into a dough.

Tear off 2 large pieces of baking paper and place one on your work surface. Put the dough int he middle and cover with the outer sheet of paper. Roll the dough out inside the paper to a large piece 5mm (1/5inch) thick.

Use a large biscuit cutter (ring) to cut out circles from the dough and place on a prepared baking tray. Then use a smaller biscuit cutter to cut out the centre of the circles, forming rings. { You can place the inner circles on another tray to bake as-is}

Gather the dough scraps into a ball. Place between the sheets of paper and roll again. Continue to cut out more rings and circles. Chill the trays of cookies in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. In the meantime preheat the oven to 180C (350F).

Bake biscuits in oven for 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden{watch closely as they can cook quickly}. Leave to cool on trays for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make icing – sift the sugar into a mixing bowl and stir in the juice until the consistency of honey. Spread the icing over the ring biscuits, allowing a little to drip down the sides.

Cut the mint leaves in half through the centre to make thinner leaves. Attach the 2 leaves + 3 red  candies to resemble holly leaves and berries.

 

{We used the extra centre bits to make little discs and called them “snowballs” – iced them with melted white chocolate left over from the Santa’s hats (below) and sprinkled coconut on them.}

Santa’s Hat Strawberries – recipe simplified

For these adorable treats simply cut the leaf end of the strawberry to be flat.

Melt white chocolate (100g)

Dip flat bottoms in white chocolate and then into dessicated coconut.

Place on dish.

Dip a white mini marshmallow in white chocolate and place on the top like a pom pom.

Easy peasy and loved by all kids and grownups alike!

 

Have you done any holiday baking – feel free to link up a photo on the Facebook page or link to a recipe or blog post on the comments for all to check out.

 

Find your simple,

Deb

 

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