Top 5 Flawless Recipes for Baking with Young Children

Baking is one of those activities that everyone says is fun to do with children, especially young children. ‘They can learn so much’, apparently… little do these ‘wise’ folk without young children know, just what a chore it is to really ‘allow’ kids loose in the kitchen – the mess (!), the failed recipes, the sudden ‘I’m bored’ and ‘I’ve had enough now’ – leaving you both with a bomb-site of a kitchen and a scruffy child to deal with while your hands are all covered with flour!

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Well, I’ve been there, done that and thankfully, have managed to come out the other side. What I have found, of course, is that the recipe and what the child’s contribution can be, makes all the difference. If you’re baking with simple, pour together ingredients, or if the mix can be robust enough to handle lumps, or if rubbing butter in to flour with your hands (kids just love this!), the dough will be strong enough to be ‘over-handled’, then those are the keeper recipes.

Through my experience of sharing the kitchen with my daughter since she was about 2, I’ve found some go-to recipes which are perfect for particularly young ages. These are pretty forgiving recipes and are generally OK if over-handled. And the result is a really happy child, pleased that they have made some pretty amazing, on-par with grown up baking stuff.