SEVEN fun things to cook with children

Make school holidays delicious with these sweet and easy recipes, ideal for little hands

Cooking with children is more than just a fun activity. It can facilitate learning, as they discover new words and cooking concepts, and do simple maths. It builds their selfconfidence and can encourage them to be more adventurous eaters.

1KIWI CLASSIC: Lolly cake Makes 24

The lolly cake is New Zealand’s favourite sweet treat for a reason, filled with malt biscuits, lollies, chocolate buttons and coconut. Yum. 1 packet malt biscuits, approx 250g 170g lollies, (I use Pascall's), cut into

quarters

120g butter

½ tin condensed milk

50g chocolate buttons

½ cup coconut 1 In a kitchen processor place the biscuits and blitz until they resemble fine breadcrumbs, or place in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Place in a large bowl with the lollies. 2 Melt the butter, condensed milk and chocolate in a microwave or small pot. Add to the biscuits and mix thoroughly.

3 On a piece of baking paper roll into a log about 25cm. Roll in the coconut. Wrap in the paper and place in the fridge for 3-4 hours.

4 Remove and cut into slices.

2BRUNCH CLUB: Light-as-air pikelets

Top these light and fluffy pikelets with cream and jam for a delicious breakfast treat. Make them blueberry pikelets by adding frozen blueberries to the batter.

3AFTERNOON TEA TREAT: Banana and white chocolate loaf

Children will enjoy mixing the ingredients for this banana and white chocolate loaf, which freezes well and is perfect for lunch boxes or afternoon tea.

4BEAUTIFUL BROWNIES: Chocolate macadamia brownie

You can’t go wrong with chocolate brownies, especially when they’re studded with nuts and white chocolate bits. Kids will enjoy dusting the final result with icing sugar.

5QUICHE REVIVAL: Corn and bacon quiches

Have children cut the pastry into rounds with a cookie-cutter while you hide a few vegetables in the filling. Win-win.

6EASY PIZZA: Easy peasy pizza

Get the gang into the kitchen to make this delicious pizza recipe. With the bases made from scratch, kids will feel like authentic pizza chefs.

7PIE TIME: Hand-held beef mince pies

These hand-held pies are a breeze to make and even easier to eat — they fit perfectly in little hands.