This week we’re pleased to welcome Helen from The Crazy Kitchen. Helen is a work-from-home mum, juggling life with three children, including a toddler who loves to bake. We’ve been admiring Helen’s child friendly recipes for a while and just love her enthusiasm for getting kids involved in the kitchen!
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When I was younger I baked with my Nan, I can remember clearly how I used to sit in front of the gas fire softening the butter to make cakes, or making the scraps of pastry – left-over from a pie she’d made – into a Jam RolyPoly.
I want to help my own children create such memories, as well as standing them in good stead for the future. This means I often encourage them to help me in the kitchen.
My youngest, who is almost 3, gets to help me most and on one of his days home from Pre-school usually asks ‘do cooking Mummy?’ Jack is my inspiration behind ‘Cooking With Your Toddler’, a feature on my blog where, once a week usually, I post a recipe and photos of something that we have made together. I share this recipe with my readers and encourage them to try it out (or any other recipe) with their own children and share the results on their own blog.
Cooking with young children is not only a fun way to spend time together but it can also encourage them to try out new foods and build their confidence. The final result doesn’t have to look professional – kids really don’t care, they just want to have fun (and eat the end result). These biscuits that we made together don’t resemble Christmas trees as intended but see how proud my son looks!
We are sharing a recipe for a simple Jam Roly Poly that you can prepare in under 30 minutes. If you haven’t already tried cooking with your children why not give it a go and start creating your own memories.
You will need :
100g Self Raising Flour
50g butter (straight from the fridge)
2 tbsp Milk
3 tbsp Jam
1 Egg, beaten
Serves 4
In a large bowl rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Add milk, a little at a time, enough to bring the ingredients together to form a dough.
Roll out onto a floured surface to approximately 3mm thick
Spread the jam into the centre of the dough, leaving a gap around the edge
Roll the dough up and fold the ends in, sealing with beaten egg
Wrap the roly poly in loosely in greaseproof paper & then in foil, place in a baking dish and bake for 40 – 45 minutes in a 180 degree oven, removing the foil & greaseproof for the last 10 minutes
Serve with warm custard
©2012