These biscuits are so easy to make and are great for children to help with. They love rolling out the dough and decorating them.  We made these for Lily’s fairy birthday party which is in a couple of weeks.  We left some without icing and popped them in the freezer so we can decorate them the day before the party.

Here is the recipe if you want to give them a try.  You can use any cookie cutters to make whatever shapes you like.  The fun is definitely in the decorating though, we had pink icing EVERYWHERE!

6 oz butter

3  1/2 oz caster sugar

One egg yolk

9  1/2 oz plain flour

Method:

Cream the butter and sugar together.  Beat in the egg yolk.  Sift in the flour and bring together the dough.

Wrap dough in cling film and put in the fridge for 10 mins before rolling out and cutting.

Bake in the oven at 190 degrees for 10 minutes.

Now he is 3, I feel like we can get back into baking again and I’ve discovered the easiest thing to make with them is rock buns! They are so easy to make (even I can get this right) and it’s a real hands-on recipe for them which they love helping with.  You don’t need to get out an electric mixer or spend ages hand mixing and it takes very little time to do, meaning we can finish making them before they get bored

There is plenty of opportunity to get their hands in with the ingredients, feeling the different textures and seeing first hand how the ingredients change when they play with them. Finally, I love the fact that the dough can just be moulded in their hands and put onto the baking tray without all the sticky mess.

Here is the recipe we use for Rock Buns

100g (4 oz) butter or margarine

225g (8 oz) plain flour

10ml (2 level tsp) baking powder

2.5 ml (1/2 level tsp) ground mixed spice

100g (4 oz) Demerara sugar

100g (4 oz) mixed dried fruit

1 egg, beaten

about 5 ml (1 tsp) milk (optional)

Start off by greasing two baking sheets.  Rub the fat into the flour, baking powder and spice until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Stir in the sugar and fruit. Make a well in the centre, pour in the egg and a little milk if needed, to give a stiff crumbly consistency.

Bind together loosely using a fork.

Use your hands to make rough heaps of mixture and place them on the greased baking sheet.

Bake in the oven at 200 degrees (400 f), gas mark 6 for 15 – 20 mins.

Delicious eaten warm and fresh or pop them into lunch boxes the next day.  These work really well with gluten-free flour by they way!

Lily and Thomas working on our latest batch of Rock Buns!

What recipes do your children enjoy making?