Baking cookies with children is always a good activity. And especially in the run-up to Christmas, this is a popular activity before the festival. So that baking cookie is stress-free, we have simple recipe ideas and tips that you should consider when baking together.
Baking together at Christmas time
Trying out different recipes, creating creative decorations and surprising friends and relatives with the delicacies is the epitome of a contemplative and loving time. Children also like to help their parents with baking and designing. From simple butter biscuits with sugar icing to Linzer eyes and hussar donuts with jam to marzipan potatoes and vanilla crescents, there is a recipe to suit every taste.
What cookies to bake with children?
However, some cookies are too big a challenge for children’s hands. A good example is Linzer Augen, where the individual layers of pastry have to be rolled out so thinly that cutting them out and handling them after baking requires great care. If the cookies keep breaking, frustration is inevitable. So think carefully about which cookies you can bake together. As a result, you prevent mishaps like cracking cookies or cake batter collapsing. The following recipes are also suitable for baking cookies with children and ensure fun in the kitchen:
- shortbread,
- wintry cookies,
- butter cookies, and also vanilla crescents.
What tasks do children take on when baking cookies?
In some families, the mother and father take care of baking the cookies and only ask their children to help decorate them. What can definitely save time, however, takes away the opportunity for children to try things out for themselves and make new experiences. It is therefore best to plan enough time for baking when planning the weekend and to involve your children in the baking process from start to finish.
Depending on their age, children can then take on tasks as if they were under the supervision of their parents. Incidentally, children learn here that they can achieve great things themselves, which in turn strengthens their self-confidence. Because if your children not only decorate the cookies but also knead, shape, and bake them, they will be “proud as Bolle” at kindergarten age. Consequently, let them take over these tasks when baking cookies:
- weighing ingredients,
- kneading dough,
- forming balls, croissants, or cookies
- as well as cutting out and decorating the biscuits.
Observe hygiene when baking cookies
Good hygiene in the household should be a matter of course when preparing food. It is therefore important to teach children to maintain a certain level of cleanliness when baking cookies. You should make sure that you wash your hands properly before you start. This will get rid of bacteria and dirt. In addition, you should plan short hand washing cycles in between. Children in particular touch other things at work or put their fingers in their mouths.
that dough should only be touched with clean fingers. For this reason, washing your hands before baking is an absolute must. Here, any bacteria and dirt are rinsed off the fingers and do not come into contact with the cookies and dough. In addition, the following hygiene rules should be observed when baking cookies with children:
- Children with a cold should not help or you will postpone baking the cookies. Then the risk of pathogens coming into contact with dough and cookies when you sneeze or cough is lower.
- Raw eggs are a source of danger. Salmonella or other pathogens can adhere to the shell, which is why children should not eat raw dough. Or you can use a dough without eggs and a vegan egg substitute.
Bake delicious Christmas cookies
When the cold season begins, the anticipation of the Christmas season is great. Then gifts are bought, apartments and streets are decorated for Christmas and the Christmas tree is decorated. And special dishes are also prepared for the traditional festival. At Christmas, delicious and sweet foods such as gingerbread, chocolate cake, delicious biscuits, and cookies are very popular. These are not only served with a delicious Christmas meal but can also be enjoyed in the pre-Christmas period. Baking cookies together is a great winter activity for kids. The following recipe is good for baking cookies with children.
Make cookie dough instructions
To bake cookies you need the ingredients listed below. Then you can start making the cookie dough. To do this, first mix the dry ingredients such as flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla sugar in a large bowl. Then add eggs and margarine and cut into small pieces. Then quickly knead a coherent dough from the ingredients. After kneading you will get a golden-yellow dough, which you should divide into two equal halves. Form one half into a roll that should have a diameter of about 6 cm. The bright yellow rolling pin is now chilled in the fridge for about an hour or two.
Mix the other half of the dough with the cocoa powder and knead everything again. Then this role of dough also goes into the fridge. After the dough has been in the fridge for some time, the light and dark rolls of dough are cut in half lengthways so that you get two light halves and two dark halves of the dough. Then light and dark half of the dough is always put together, which gives you two-colored biscuit rolls that have a light and a dark side. Then cut the rolls into slices, which should be about one centimeter thick. Also, note our tips on how to bake grandma’s cookies easily and vegan.
- 500g flour,
- 2 eggs,
- 250g margarine,
- 130 grams of sugar,
- Salt,
- 1 packet of vanilla sugar,
- 50 grams of cocoa.
