Have you been participating in the quarantine baking craze? It seems like everyone has been baking up a storm (with or without kids) and it is a great time to try out some new recipes while we’re all stuck at home. (If you have enough flour and other baking supplies…I know it is getting hard to find flour due to the huge increase in demand, but I’m hoping that won’t be the case for too long.)
Since we’re all looking for activities to do with kids at home these days, I was thrilled when my five year-old son suddenly developed an interest in baking. Not that he can do everything yet, but he enjoys helping me add ingredients and mix them together at least. The fact that it leads to delicious sweet treats is definitely a motivating factor! I assume older kids can do more on their own, and I can’t wait for him to take over the kitchen and start making me some of these treats. (Though I know that the clean up will probably be a nightmare…)
I should add that I am really NOT a great baker (far from it) but my son has multiple food allergies, so I often find myself making food instead of buying it due to cross-contamination concerns. I have tentatively been exploring the world of baking in recent years (with varying success), and aside from all the clean up and occasional flops, I have found it to be a fun and often soothing activity. But many of the recipes I come across seem a little too labor-intensive for me (or require ingredients/tools I don’t have), so I seek out recipes that are pretty simple and also easy to make with kids.
If you are also looking to do some easy baking with kids, here are a few of my favorite recipes. I’m also including a few fave non-baking recipes that your family might enjoy.
Cinnamon Cake
This is a new recipe we tried recently that was a big hit. It was a little more complicated than past baking attempts, but still pretty simple and quite delicious. It was fun to add the layers of cinnamon sugar and batter to the baking pan (though my son needed a little help with this) and it really wasn’t super-sweet (we skipped the extra sugar on top), which was nice.
Sugar Cookies
As part of my pandemic denial, I was determined to make Easter as “normal” as possible for my son while in quarantine, which meant doing an easter egg hunt in our apartment and making Easter cookies with cookie cutters. We used this sugar cookie recipe and they turned out great. My son loved rolling and cutting shapes in the cookie dough – I was glad to see that practicing with play-doh had really paid off! We skipped the icing because we didn’t have all the supplies we needed, but appreciated the fact that they weren’t too intensely sweet…and cookies in Easter-themed shapes were plenty of fun without adding extra sugar.
Simple Vegan Pancakes
This doesn’t involve baking but it’s definitely easy and delicious and could be fun to make with kids. We are not vegan but my son used to be allergic to eggs and dairy, so I found this recipe years ago and we all love it so much that it has continued to be our go-to pancake recipe. It’s just so good as it is…why add extra dairy? We have used soy milk and coconut milk as a dairy substitute and it works great. I used to make them mostly for special occasions, but I have started making them once a week because we need special treats to brighten up our quarantine weekends…and to distinguish them from weekdays, since all the days blend together at this point.
Guacamole
Also not a baking recipe, but this is one of the first recipes my son helped us make (and enjoyed making!) in the pre-pandemic past. I recommend collecting and preparing all the ingredients before kids join, then they can help throw it all in the bowl and mix it together. So easy! (Of course, if you have older kids, they may be able to help collect and prep some of the ingredients as well.) I haven’t been able to find enough good avocados to make this since we started staying home, but my son has been requesting a taco night…so I am determined to make it happen soon.
What have you been baking/cooking during quarantine with kids? We’re always looking for suggestions! Please send ideas to margel@achildgrows.com.
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Margel Nusbaumer is a local writer and mom in Brooklyn. Thoughts? Reach out to margel@achildgrows.com.