As Christmas is round the corner, the temptation to bake up a storm gets stronger by the minute. Christmas is often categorised as a festival of giving, eating and getting really pump! To help you get into the festive mood, we have found some simple recipes which you can bake with your children. Baking with your children is a great way to bond, so get your hands busy and bake some cookies for Christmas with your children!
Old-fashioned Peanut-Butter Cookies
- Makes: 36 cookies
- Hands-on Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time Taken: 1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 cups (estimated 450ml) creamy peanut butter (store bought peanut butter is the best)
- 1.5 cups (estimated 337.5g) granulated sugar
- 0.5 cup (estimated 85g) light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 0.5 teaspoon of salt
How to make:
- Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
- Use an electric mixer (either standing or hand-held) to beat the peanut butter and both sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy (it should take you about 2 to 3 minutes). Once fluffy, reduce speed to low and add the eggs, baking soda, vanilla and salt. Continue to beat the mixture until well combined. Try not to let your young children handle this step as you may end up cleaning the kitchen instead! However, your teenage children should be able to handle the mixer with a little practise.
- Using a table spoon, take big spoonful of dough and roll it into balls. Place them on parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing them about 5cm apart. With a floured fork, press the dough to about 1cm in thickness, making a crisscross pattern on top to make the cookies. This is an excellent step for your children to get involved with. It is an easy step that requires little precision and children can easily handle it. The thickness of the cookie need not be uniform so children can enjoy the process without trying to make it perfect.
- Bake* the cookies about 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through. The edges should settle nicely before you remove them from the oven. Let the cookies cook slightly on the baking sheets before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. It can be kept for 5 days.
Children can help you with the packing of the cookies after they have cooled completely. You can be sure that they will be stealing bites from the packing!
*If your oven is not big enough to bake all the cookies at one go, you can do it multiple times.
Gingerbread Cookies
- Makes: 36 medium sized cookies
- Hands-on Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time Taken: 1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 ¾ cups (estimated 330g) all-purpose flour, spooned and levelled
- 1 ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (estimated 113g) unsalted butter, thawed to room temperature
- 2/3 cup (estimated 150g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (estimated 113g) molasses
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup icing sugar
How to make:
- Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves and salt.
- Use an electric mixer to beat the butter and granulated sugar together until smooth. Add in the molasses and egg until the mixture turns fluffy. It should take you about 2 minutes.
