Easy Christmas Baking Recipes to do with Children
The best part of Christmas is the food! Every year we love coming up with new and exciting festive recipes to do with the little ones as a fun family activity. So we wanted to share with you our top picks to inspire you and your family to get those aprons on and get stuck in to the festive baking spirit. There are no complicated recipes here, all simple with minimal mess but maximum fun.
Discover our favourite Christmas baking recipes to make with the children, all super easy and super yummy!
Hot Chocolate Snowmen
How cute are these little snowmen hot chocolate toppers? Plus, the best part; this involves no baking and relatively minimal mess. Our little one’s love creating these super cute snowmen and then snuggling down to enjoy their hot chocolate afterwards.
You will need –
Hot chocolate
3 regular sized marshmallows
Chocolate icing (you can buy this or make it)
Pretzel sticks
Sweets for the nose (optional)
On one of the marshmallow’s, use the chocolate icing to pipe on eyes and a mouth. You can also pipe on a nose, or cut a slit to push in a sweet like we have. Then cut a slit on the back of the marshmallow so it can be pushed onto the edge of your mug. On another marshmallow add two dots and push in two pretzel sticks as arms. On your final marshmallow add a final dot of icing and push in another two pretzel sticks for little legs. Your snowman is complete!
Prepare your hot chocolate and place all three parts of your snowman onto the top of the hot chocolate and watch your cute snowman relax and enjoy his hot chocolate bath.
Christmas Chocolate Bark
We couldn’t resist adding this one because, well, it’s just so easy! Simply use whichever flavour chocolate is your families favourite and let the children have fun decorating the top with all their favourite toppings. They will look great and all be slightly different to show your little ones personality.
You will need –
400g of your favourite chocolate (white, dark or milk)
Decorations (sprinkle, more chocolate, candy cane, edible glitter etc)
For snowmen we used white chocolate buttons, pretzel sticks and rolo chocolates halved.
For the reindeer we used pretzels cut in half, red M&M’s and flaked almonds
Line brownie tins with baking parchment. Chop up and melt your chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the water.
Whilst the chocolate is melting, prepare your decorations.
Once the chocolate has melted, pour it into the prepared tin – allow to stand for a few minutes so it starts to set, this will make it easier to decorate.
Now decorate! How you decorate is really up to you and your little ones. If you are doing the reindeer or snowman bark, it may be a good idea to show your little ones how to do it first and then they can copy. Or just let them have full rein to get creative!
Put in the fridge to set for 2 hours then cut up into shards and enjoy! These also make the perfect personalised gifts to your loved ones.
Rice Krispies Reindeer
This one is a real treat and with just a few ingredients creates such a sweet edible gift or treat for yourself to enjoy. Your little ones will love getting involved to bring their little reindeer friends to life.
You will need –
100g butter
200g golden syrup
100g white chocolate
200g Rice Krispies
For decoration
Red M&M’s
Edible eyes
Black writing icing, or chocolate icing
Lollipop sticks
Melt the butter and syrup together in a pan. Add the white chocolate and stir until smooth and melted together. Add the Rice Krispies.
Line a square tin with non stick paper. Spoon the mixture into the tin and press down firmly into the corners. Chill for 2 hours.
Flip out the mixture and cut into rectangles. Insert the lolly sticks into the top centre and chill again for 30 mins.
Now it’s time to decorate! Stick on the eyes with some icing. Add a red M&M for the nose and pipe on the antlers with your black icing. And voila! One very cute and very yummy reindeer lollipop.
Easy Peasy Mince Pies
It’s not Christmas without mince pies! Disclaimer, this recipe involves a few shortcuts and sneaky cheats to make baking mince pies with the family stress free. We all want an easy life right!? Same great yummy shop quality mince pies, just without all the mess and stress. We know, it’s genius!
You will need –
Pre-made Shortcrust pastry
Jar or 2 of mince meat mix
Caster sugar
Preheat the oven to 200°C and have ready a 12 hole tart tin. Unroll the pastry and using a 7.5cm cutter, cut out 12 discs and line the base of each hole of the tin. Cut out 12 smaller discs for the lids and set aside. Simply re-roll the pastry if needed.
Fill each case with 2 teaspoons of mincemeat, lightly wet the undersides of the lids so they stick and place them on top of each filled case. Pressing gently at the edges to seal. Brush water on top of the each mince pie and sprinkle with sugar. Make a hole in the top of each one with a knife to let steam escape. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Sprinkle with a little more sugar and leave to cool for a little while before digging in.
Stained Glass Biscuit
These taste just as good as they look. These clever biscuits are so easy to make but they look brilliant and impressive. We love hanging them on our tree so we can see the lights sparkle through the stained glass effect in the middle, although they never last long before they are all eaten up!
You will need –
150g butter
100g muscovado sugar
1 egg
250g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp vanilla extract
1tbsp mixed spice
1 pack of coloured boiled sweets
Preheat oven to 180c and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Whisk together the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and creamy. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Sift in the flour, baking powder, salt and mixed spice. Then add the vanilla extract and mix with a wooden spoon until you reach a biscuit dough consistency.
Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and roll out to about 1cm thick. Cut the biscuits out with your preferred cutters (such as stars or trees) and place onto the tray. Then using a smaller cutter, cut out the centre of each biscuit. Pop a sweet into the middle of the biscuit.
Cook for about 15 minutes. While the biscuits are still warm, use a straw or chop stick to poke a hole into the top of each biscuit so you can thread a ribbon through it later on. Once completely cooled, transfer to a rack and thread a string or ribbon through the hole. Hang the biscuits on the Christmas tree so the lights can shine through the centres and enjoy eating them in the run up to Christmas.
Our Favourite Baking Essentials
Baking can be messy business, so we have handpicked our favourite go-to products that take the stress and mess out of baking with little ones.
Liewood Cake Pans - Shop Here
Babymoov Fun Food Prep Kit - Shop Here
Liewood Cookie Cutters - Shop Here
Cape bib - Shop Here
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