I do not bake. When my kids were younger they had a hard time accepting this, and continually tried to get me to make cookies and even chocolate truffles. Now that my daughter is ten, she's discovered that she can do it herself. She's progressed past pre-made cookie dough, and actually makes cookies from scratch. For the bakers at your house (whatever their ages) here are some kid-friendly holiday treats. Have a safe and happy holiday season!
"The young State of Israel has created many of its own customs. One is serving Hanukkah sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts), which are fried in oil to symbolize the miracle of the oil that lasted eight days instead of one." This holiday tradition reflects Israel's melding of East and West. The fritter is of Sephardic origin. But the jelly filling and sugar coating come from European immigrants who ate apricot-filled glazed doughnuts on Hanukkah. This sufganiyot recipe from Epicurious divides the work into adult and child steps.
Yum! Chocolate is always in season. Although delicious sounding, these recipes are not specifically for kids, so plan on lots of supervision. After perusing the featured recipe, choose a holiday (Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza) from the vertical menu on the right-hand side. The site also offers a personalized online recipe box to store your favorite Hershey recipe (free registration required) and a free email newsletter which includes a Kids in the Kitchen section.
Mrs. Claus' twenty-five recipes are divided into three categories: Elf Bedtime Snacks, Santa's Favorites, and Reindeer Cravings. All her recipes are easy and full of kid-appeal. For example, did you know reindeer love wormy apples? You can make them by spreading peanut butter on apple slices, and topping with yummy, gummy worms. Most of these recipes don't even require baking! When you're ready to leave the kitchen, there's lots to explore in the rest of Santa's Village.
At the NorthPole.com, Mrs. Claus has been very busy collecting and sorting holiday recipes from her all friends, so her cookbook has hundreds of recipes. Focusing on sweets (with four out of six categories) her collection includes Creamy Chocolate Truffles (which actually look pretty easy), Two Minute Microwave Fudge and Microwave Peanut Brittle. Each recipe can be emailed to a friend; and the link to send Mrs. Claus your own recipe is on the cookbook start page.
Why are the red and yellow M&M's the only ones with bright ideas? Does this mean that the other colors are, umm, less than bright? Anyway, their seasonal ideas include recipes, family activities, homemade gifts and decorations made with all varieties of Mars candies (not just M&Ms.). The photographs are mouth-watering, and every kid I know loves cooking with candy. If you'd like regular ideas in your email box, you can sign up for Red & Yellow's Bright Ideas Newsletter.
Buy Holiday Sweets Printable for $2.00
or try a FREE trial of the Printables ClubThe following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!
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