If you're looking for something fun to do with the kids during those cold winter months when everyone is shut indoors, then why not bake some kid's kitchen cookies? When the kids get bored, they can drive you crazy and it can be challenging to think up ways of entertaining them and keeping your sanity. So, baking cookies is a simple and inexpensive way to have fun and the kids love it.
While baking cookies is fun, it also gives parents and caregivers an opportunity to teach their kids useful skills such as counting, reading and safety precautions. If you've got multiple kids in your household, baking cookies is a great group activity.
The younger ones can shape the cookies and the older ones can take charge of removing them from the oven. And, who doesn't love licking the leftover batter from the spoon.
So, choose your recipe based on everyone's preferences. The most popular recipe of course is for chocolate chip cookies. You can make just about any kind of cookies to please the kids such as peanut butter, shortbread or gingerbread cookies that the kids can decorate after they come out of the oven.
Here's a secret ingredient for you that will give your cookies more tender crumbs and a wonderful texture * use cornstarch with your flour! It works well even in cakes, pie crusts and muffins too. Although cornstarch is not usually featured in many modern day recipe books, you'll find this ingredient in some of the older cookbooks.
When making cookies, you can experiment with different sizes too. And, they make a great gift. You can bake one giant cookie and place it in a special box lined with tissue paper (after it has cooled of course) or you can bake a whole bunch of miniature cookies with wire stems and create a cookie bouquet. If that sounds too complicated, you can purchase a decorated tin to store your treats. Better yet, buy a plain looking tin and have your kids help you with decorating the it. What a nice gift for a grand-parent or teacher.