Gingerbread Men

Ingredients

125g butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup golden syrup
2 1/2 cups flour
3 tsp ground ginger
1tsp bicarb of soda

chocolate chips
tubes of writing icing

1. Preheat oven to190 degrees celsius
2. beat butter and sugar until pale.
3. sift dry ingredients into bowl containing butter and sugar mixture
4. Add golden syrup
5. mix to form a dough
6. roll dough out between 2 sheets of baking paper to about 8mm in thickness
7. place in fridge for 10 minutes
8. Remove from fridge and roll out to a thickness of 5mm
9. using a gingerbread man shaped cutter, cut out the shapes and place on baking paper lined baking trays
10. decorate with chocolate chips
11. place in oven and bake for about 8 minutes or until golden
12. cool on trays and then paint faces on with writing icing gel.

These are a favourite for a bake-up! Caitie can do most things other than rolling out the dough and using the oven. We use a bench-top mixer and Caitie can put all the ingredients in the bowl. Her FAVOURITE parts are cutting out the shapes and decorating the men. Although eating them is a favourite past time of hers as well! 10/10! We love cooking these!

spinach and ricotta parcels

Ingredients

1 pack filo pastry
500g Fresh Ricotta Cheese
1 pack frozen spinach, thawed
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbs dried basil
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup grated cheese


1. Pre-heat oven to 190 degrees celsius
2. combine ricotta, spinach, eggs, basil, nutmeg and grated cheese in a large mixing bowl
3. layer several sheets of filo pastry, brushing lightly with oil between sheets
4. place desired amount of filling on filo sheets and fold into a parcel
5. repeat until filling or pastry has gone.
6. brush parcels lightly with oil and bake in oven for 20 minutes or until golden in colour.

Caitie LOVED making these! She could tip all the ingredients into the bowl and mush everything around with her fingers. She 'painted' the oil on the pastry and put big spoonfuls of mixture onto the pastry. She was then able to fold the pastry over (I had to seal it) an brush the parcels.
All in all, it was a better recipe to cook together than I thought it would be. I would have preferred to have used fresh spinach and basil but didn't have any on hand at the time but I always keep a couple of frozen packs of spinach in the freezer. Quick, easy and delicious! 9/10 for cooking with the kids!

banana and strawberry smoothie

Banana and strawberry smoothie

2 bananas
1 cup strawberries
1 tub (175g) vanilla yoghurt
1 scoop vanilla ice cream
500ml milk

blend until smooth


So Miss Caitie wanted to cook at 9am this morning but as I don't have enough time this morning, I appeased her with this smoothie!
She peeled the bananas, tipped the tub of yoghurt into the blender, put the chopped banana pieces in the blender and tipped the frozen strawberries into the blender (we didn't have fresh ones on hand unfortunately!).  She also volunteered to lick the spoon after we placed the ice cream into the mix (how considerate). After I put the lid on she pushed the start button and promptly covered her ears!
After the mix was smooth, we turned the blender off and poured into tall glasses. She drank 250 ml of the smoothie declaring through her 'smoothie mustache':  "Mmmmmmm...Delicious!"

So I would rate this a 9/10 as a cooking activity that actively involves the kids and makes a somewhat nutritious drink/snack that they will love!

choc chip hot cross buns

Ingredients:

buns:
300 ml of luke-warm milk
1 tbs dried yeast
4 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground all-spice
90g butter - chopped)
1 cup choc bits
1/2 cup sultanas
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 egg

glaze (to be brushed over buns when they are removed from the oven):
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground all-spice

cross:
150g chocolate - melted

1. place warm milk in a bowl or jug and mix in caster sugar and yeast.  cover with cling wrap and stand in a warm spot for 10 minutes until frothy.
2. sift flour and spices into a large bowl and rub in butter with fingertips until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in choc chips and sultanas.
3. whisk egg into milk mixture and pour over dry ingredients.Mix to a soft dough.Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5-10 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.
4. Place dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and a tea towel and place in a warm spot for 45 minutes or until the dough doubles in size (proving).
5. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
6. Punch dough down in bowl to release air and then knead again on a lightly floured surface until smooth.
7. Divide dough into 12 pieces and roll into round buns. Place close together on a tray lined with baking paper.
8. Cover with a tea towel and place in a warm place for 45 minutes until buns double in size.
9. Bake in oven for 15 minutes then turn oven down to 175 degrees and bake for a further 5 minutes or until buns sound hollow when tapped. Remove from oven.

GLAZE
1. Combine ingredients for glaze in a small saucepan and bring to boil on high stirring until sugar dissolves.
2.Reduce heat and simmer for 1-2 minutes without stirring.
3. Brush over hot buns.

CROSSES
Melt chocolate and then place in a snap lock or freezer bag. Cut a small corner off bag and pipe crosses onto buns.

Place buns on wire rack to cool.

VERDICT FOR THE KIDS:

Well, these buns worked a treat! Caitie could help with most of the steps which she loved but she lost interest a bit because of the 45 minute breaks waiting for the dough to rise. She kept asking if the dough was awake yet. The only steps she couldn't help with were the baking of the buns and making the glaze. She also thought the milk/sugar/yeast mix smelled delicious which, considering it smelt a bit  like beer, might be a bit of a concern! It was nice to be cooking something that was related to this special time of year and we will do it again next year.
As a cooking with the kids dish I would rate it 8/10 the main thing letting it down was the proving times and the amount of kneading required which, at 2, Caitie couldn't do effectively. She really enjoyed the final product though which is a huge part of the reason we cook together so much....to enjoy the results of our efforts!

First Post

This Good Friday is my first post in my new blogspot! I have created this blog as a mum of two who is not a great cook by any stretch of the imagination but simply the mum of a 2 year old girl who loves to cook! The name of this blog comes after I purchased an apron and chefs hat for my daughter who promptly put them on and, with hands on hips, announced that she was "Cooking Caitie to the rescue!"
We now cook together several times a week and I love hearing Caitie talk to me about the various foods we are cooking and techniques we are using.
I decided to document our adventures in the kitchen, along with our recipes for others to enjoy as they read about our successes and failures! I am writing this as I am waiting for our chocolate chip hot cross bun dough to rise so I will be back with another post and recipe later on today.....