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Black Friday

How to keep kids entertained in the kitchen

Saturday 4th April 2020

If you’re at home looking for ways to keep the kids entertained this Easter it’s the perfect time to spark a love for baking and cooking by getting them involved in the kitchen with you. Procook think inspiring children to take pleasure from baking and cooking could be the start of a lifelong love affair with the kitchen.  Until our store re-opens here at Lakeside Village, for more ideas, recipes and to order the equipment you need head to Procook
You will need to decide for yourself which tasks are suitable for your little one but there’s always something little hands can do, and it’s a great way of keeping them out of mischief while you prepare dinner! We’ve pulled together some of our favourite ProCook recipes that are great for any chefs in the making.

Bunny Cupcakes

We love these cute bunny cupcakes for Easter and we’re sure there will be lots of giggles had by kids both big and small when tasked with making bunny bottoms! If you would prefer less icing on top of your cupcakes then let your creative juices go wild – perhaps a flat bunny face is more your style or maybe a simple pair of rabbit ears? Whatever you decide to opt for, decorating cupcakes is always good fun and is great for children of all ages.

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

  • 185 g self-raising flour
  • 120 g golden caster sugar
  • 120 g butter (softened)
  • 100 g natural yoghurt
  • 1 lemon (zested)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 250 g fondant icing

For the frosting

  • 85 g unsalted butter
  • 2-3 drops vanilla extract
  • 200 g icing sugar
  • 2-3 drops green food colouring (to your preference)

Instructions

  • Heat oven to 190°C and line your bun tin with cupcake cases.
  • Put the flour, sugar, butter, yoghurt, lemon zest and eggs in a bowl and mix until smooth in consistency. Spoon into the cases, bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and set aside to cool on a wire rack.
  • For the frosting beat the butter, vanilla extract and icing sugar until the mixture is pale, creamy and completely combined. Add a few drops of green colouring and beat it in, the fewer drops the lighter shade of green you’ll have. If piping, spoon into your piping bag and pipe stars all over the surface of your cupcake. If you’re not piping, use a spatula to gently cover the top of your cupcake with icing and gently run a fork through the icing to mimic grass.
  • Roll the fondant icing into small balls for the bunnies’ bottoms, and smaller balls to make tails. Add these to your iced cupcakes using a drop of water to stick the tails to the body.
  • Make the feet by rolling two more small balls for each bunny and shape them into ovals. Rest these at one end of the ball so they look like feet.

Chocolate Nest Cakes

Who doesn’t love the simple pleasures of a chocolate nest cake? You’ll need to keep children a safe distance from the pan as you melt your chocolate but mixing in the cereal, shaping into nests and topping with Mini Eggs is a job even the smallest of chefs can be involved in, just watch out for any stray Mini Eggs… we’re sure they won’t hang around for long!

Ingredients
  • 225 g plain chocolate broken into squares
  • 2 tbsp golden syrup
  • 50 g butter
  • 75 g cornflakes
  • 36 mini eggs
Instructions
  1. Lay out 12 silicone cupcake cases on a baking sheet, or line a 12 cupcake tray with paper cupcake cases.
  2. Fill a saucepan with a few centimetres of water and heat until simmering.
  3. Using a bowl that sits comfortably over the pan without touching the water, melt the chocolate, golden syrup and butter until smooth, stirring as you go.
  4. Turn off the heat and set the bowl on a stable surface (use a damp dishcloth to steady it if young children are helping).
  5. Gently stir in the cornflakes until they are all coated in the chocolate mixture.
  6. Fill each cupcake case with the chocolate cornflake mixture, ensuring the mixture is divided equally.
  7. Top each nest with 3 mini eggs.
  8. Eat your cakes warm for gooey yum-factor, or chill in the fridge for 1 hour to serve fully set.

 

Rainbow Pitta Pizzas

A great way to encourage little ones to eat the rainbow, these colourful pittas are not only fun to make but include a great mix of vegetables and even if your children are too young to chop the ingredients, they can get stuck in laying out the stripes of colour and spreading the tomato base. We used cherry tomatoes, orange pepper, sweetcorn, green pepper and red onion for our rainbow but you can swap these out to whatever veggies you have in the house.
Ingredients

  • 4 wholemeal pitta breads
  • 4 tsp tomato purée
  • 60 g mature reduced-fat cheddar (grated)
  • 8 cherry tomatoes (sliced)
  • ½ orange pepper (chopped)
  • ½ green pepper (chopped)
  • ½ red onion (chopped)
  • 1 can sweetcorn (drained)

Instructions

  1. Heat the oven to 180°C and place a baking sheet inside to warm up.
  2. Spread each pitta bread with 1tsp of the tomato purée using the back of the teaspoon for easy spreading.
  3. Sprinkle a quarter of the cheese evenly over each pitta then top with each of the vegetables in lines in the order of the colours of the rainbow.
  4. Carefully place the pitta pizzas on the hot baking sheet and bake in the centre of the oven for 8-10 minutes.