The good life: recipes to enjoy with the kids

The school holidays have arrived! Children everywhere will barely be able to contain their excitement at what seems like an eternity without school, meanwhile parents’ secret dread reaches its peak as they realise they’ll need to keep the little monsters busy and out of trouble for weeks on end.

Particularly on a rainy day, a spot of culinary fun is a great way to entertain the little ones. It’s cheap and you can keep an eye on them whilst teaching them the basics of an important life skill. I remember many happy hours in the kitchen with my mum; floury hands and hair, and licking cake mix from the mixing bowl. As long as you’re prepared for the kitchen (and the kids) to get a little messy, all will be fine.

If you have a kitchen table, cover it in a plastic tablecloth for the kids to use as a preparation area, and get them in some aprons to minimise mess.

Fairy cakes

These are a simple classic that you can personalise any way you like.  You’ll need some paper cake cases and a 12 hole cake tray (this recipe should make 24 cakes).

For the cake mix:

200g softened unsalted butter

200g self-raising flour

200g caster sugar

4 free-range eggs

Cream the butter and sugar together – the kids can use a spoon and if it gets tough help them out with an electric whisk. Then beat the eggs in one by one and fold in the flour until the mixture is smooth and light. Divide the mixture between the cases. If you want to add anything extra you can put a spoonful of jam in each paper case between two layers of mixture, or add blueberries, sultanas or chocolate chips to the mix.

Bake in the oven at 200°c/Gas 6 for about 15 minutes until they are light golden brown on top. Meanwhile you can make the topping.

For the icing:

If you want to ice the cakes, try making fresh fruit icing (thanks Jamie Oliver for this genius idea). Mix 50g of fresh berries – raspberries, strawberries, blackberries etc. with 150g of sifted icing sugar.

Alternatively you can make plain icing (just the 150g icing sugar and water – add the water in gradually as you always need less than you think) and then top with just about anything – pieces of fruit, chocolate chips, hundreds and thousands….

Mini Pizzas

Great fun to make and personalise! If you’re a purist, you can make the base from scratch by using my bread recipe with white bread flour. After the hour of proving, divide up the mixture and let the kids roll out mini bases (these should be about 1/2 centimetre thick).

Then lay the bases on a greased sheet of tin foil and cook for 4-5 minutes in a preheated oven at 200°c/Gas 6. Meanwhile you can prepare the toppings. You’ll need:

1/2 tube of tomato puree

1 tbsp olive oil

1tsp dried oregano

a pinch of salt and pepper – mix all this together in a bowl and then spread it over the cooked bases with the back of a spoon

2 sliced mozzarella balls (supermarket budget own-brand are fine) – spread these out over the tomato base

a selection of chopped vegetables (to make faces on your pizzas – sliced mushrooms, sliced peppers, sliced onion and halved cherry tomatoes are particularly good, but you can really use just about anything)

Once all the toppings are laid out an done, return the pizzas to the oven for about 8-10 minutes until the edges of the base start to crisp up.

These are great served with a lovely side salad – and also a good way to get the kids eating lots of veg!

{Photo: Hollie W.}