All posts filed under: Kids in the Kitchen

Royal Icing for Beginners

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If you love arts and crafts, decorating biscuits with Royal Icing can be highly addictive. For me sitting down with a bunch of biscuits and a piping bag is like practicing mindfulness. Very easy to prepare but not so easy to use, Royal Icing is a mixture of sugar and egg whites beaten until you get a thick white paste. Once that stage is achieved, you can change its consistency and colour. This recipe is aimed at beginners and focuses on the most important tips to start decorating. It presents two difficulties: finding the right consistency and using a piping bag and I will give you tips to perfect the technique. For peace of mind, I always make my Royal Icing using meringue powder instead of raw egg whites to avoid any risk of salmonella (a bacteria that can be harmful to pregnant women, and young and elderly people). This recipe is originally from Biscuiteers with just a tiny change. If you want to make biscuits as stunning as those of Elenis in NY or …

Edible Christmas Presents!

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The biscuit dough is ready and you are looking for decorating ideas? Here are some options for your edible presents. Feliz Navidad! Biscuits to hang Once the biscuits are cut and have been chilled in the fridge, make a hole with a straw (not too close to the biscuit’s edge) and bake. 2. Pass a yarn through the hole. Ready to hang! Biscuits on a mug 1. Once the biscuits are cut and have been chilled in the fridge, cut a small rectangle with a sharp knife (I use a stencil as a guide) 2. Bake and let the biscuits cool before using them! Gingerbread men garland 1. Once the biscuits are cut and have been chilled in the fridge, make two holes with a straw and bake 2. Make a beautiful garland with a yarn! Gingerbread house You can make one of any size. I made a small one for this post. 1. Make your stencils using clean paper or cardboard Walls: draw a square and cut with scissors Roof: draw a rectangle a …

Making Cut-Out Biscuits With Children

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If they are little I recommend preparing the dough the night before and setting up the table without them so everything is ready to be used. If not they can help setting up too. Table set up: Lightly flour a work surface Line a baking tray with parchment paper** Lightly flour the biscuit cutters and place them on a plate Put some flour in a small bowl Put a non-sharp knife or an offset spatula on the table Lightly flour a rolling pin and place it on the table Leave a ball of dough for each child to roll out (if they are too little you can roll it out for them) ** If the baking tray doesn’t fit in your fridge, cut sheets of parchment paper to fit the tray but place them on a cutting board in the fridge. Transfer the sheet of parchment paper onto the baking tray once the cut out biscuits are chilled. If some biscuits are too close you can rearrange them at this point! Rolling and cutting out …

Christmas = Gingerbread Biscuits!

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To me Christmas smells of ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. I love Christmas and I’m sure many of you do too. It’s almost impossible to resist the Christmas spirit; the decorations, the lights, the music and of course the food make this time of year a special one indeed. Every country has their own food traditions but the cut-out gingerbread biscuits are a popular treat in many places. The gingerbread dough is versatile; you can use it to make decorations, little gifts or even a gingerbread house! But best of all, this dough is easy to manage so children and adults can spend time baking together. There is one must-have ingredient that gives gingerbread its characteristic golden colour. This ingredient varies and it can be honey, molasses, golden syrup or treacle. I chose to post a recipe using molasses for three reasons: first you can find molasses everywhere, second it gives the biscuit a very dark colour which contrasts with the royal icing, and third this recipe comes from a blog that I really like …

Very Moist Chocolate Cake (Dairy-Egg-Nut and Gluten Free)

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Every time I read ‘free from’ gluten, egg, nut or dairy I feel lucky not to be allergic to any of those delicious ingredients. When my baby was just one month old, she started crying in pain after every feed. The kind advice I received on how to soothe her didn’t work so in the end I decided to change my diet, quitting dairy, nuts and gluten. And it worked! To my surprise, I discovered new products that stopped me from craving dairy or wheat flour. In London the variety of products ‘free from’ you can buy is huge. Even at your local cafe it’s easy to get an oat milk latte and a poached egg over gluten free bread…what a feast! On my birthday my two older daughters were in charge of making my birthday cake ‘free from’. I read many recipes to avoid disappointing my little chefs until I found this one. It’s perfect in every way…very easy to make and yummy. The recipe was tested three times in my kitchen (I never …

Yummy British Scones!

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Scones are a quick bread, they can be savoury, sweet or plain. They are very popular in the United Kingdom, a classic treat from Devon (England) where they produce the best cream and butter of the country! For me the way to enjoy scones is to eat them hot, straight from the oven. Add regular butter and it is heaven! But the English love to have them with clotted cream (a very thick cream from Devon and Cornwall) and strawberry jam. Scones and a cup of tea are part of what is know as the Cream Tea, a kind of Afternoon Tea which is the British version of our tea time. You can enjoy your own Cream Tea wherever you are; quick and easy to prepare, this is the perfect recipe to make with the whole family. If you are making scones with kids, have all the ingredients prepared and ready to be used. Don’t worry about flour flying everywhere, just enjoy a wonderful and fun time all together! Portions 6-7 scones   Prep Time: …

Le Gâteau Au Yaourt!

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When my eldest daughter was about one-year-old I read my first ‘mummy’ book called ‘French Children Don’t Throw Food’. An interesting read for a first time mum whose child obviously loved to throw everything from the dinner table. In all honesty I can’t remember half of the book. But I do remember that I enjoyed learning about the Parisian culture and how French parents introduce their kids to cheese, in all its forms, early. What I remember most are the food-related passages and the fact that many French parents start cooking with their kids when they are very little. In the book there is an easy yoghurt cake recipe, the first cake that French kids make. It is called ‘Le Gâteau Au Yaourt’. This ‘gâteau’ has become one of my girls’ classic recipes while waiting for daddy to come home from work on Fridays. The original French recipe doesn’t contain fruits but we have modified it by replacing some of the flour with high quality cocoa powder and berries or chocolate chips. The idea is …