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Como cozinhar com crianças de todas as idades

Se está interessado em envolver os seus filhos na cozinha, mas não sabe por onde começar, veja o nosso guia sobre as atividades de pastelaria, para que as crianças de diferentes idades possam ajudar ou experimentar algumas tarefas sozinhas.

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Cozinhar com os seus filhos não é apenas uma atividade divertida para fazer em conjunto. É uma oportunidade para partilhar conhecimentos e ensinar novas competências, encorajar a criatividade e ensinar-lhes o que são os alimentos. Há também um pouco de tentativa e erro envolvido na confeção de bolos, o que por si só é uma lição de vida muito valiosa. Depois, claro, há o sentimento de orgulho de ""fazer"" algo que é só seu, especialmente quando é algo delicioso que pode partilhar com amigos e família.

Se está a pensar em como envolver os seus filhos na culinária, aqui está um guia das atividades que podem experimentar ou das competências que podem aprender, por idade. É claro que as capacidades das crianças variam, pelo que este é apenas um guia - use sempre o seu próprio critério. E lembre-se que as crianças nunca são demasiado novas para aprender a importância de utilizar a cozinha em segurança e compreender os perigos de uma frigideira quente ou de uma faca afiada, e mesmo as crianças mais velhas necessitam de supervisão quando cozinham.

Também partilhamos algumas das nossas receitas de pastelaria favoritas para fazer com crianças. Simples de confecionar e o menos confusas possível, todas estas guloseimas podem ser feitas com a sua batedeira - o que ajuda definitivamente a conter muitos dos derrames e salpicos. Embora, sejamos realistas, quando se trata de cozinhar com crianças, um pouco de confusão é praticamente inevitável.

Starting from a young age

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It’s never too early to get your children to roll up their sleeves, don an apron and get in the kitchen. For toddlers and preschoolers a baking session is an exciting way for them to explore new tastes, smells and sensations, and basically have fun. Happy experiences shared with you in the kitchen at this age will hopefully be the first step in helping them develop a really positive relationship with food and cooking, as well as some important life skills.

Break a recipe down into stages and choose quick, easy-win tasks that they can help you with, such as adding pre-measured ingredients to a mixing bowl, stirring a mixture, using a measuring spoon, brushing pastry with egg, cutting out dough or sprinkling decorations on a cake.

Obviously very young children will require constant supervision and need to be set up at a safe distance from any hazards. Most will not have the attention span to see a recipe through from start to finish but feed their enthusiasm for new experiences by encouraging them to get stuck in, and embrace the chaos!

Encouraging children to get creative

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Budding chefs aged between 6-8 years may now be ready to be introduced to slightly more advanced baking processes and equipment, and will have the reading skills to follow a simple recipe or measure out ingredients using scales.

Read through the recipe together and ask them to help you get all the ingredients and any equipment you need ready. Encourage them to develop a ‘safety-first’ attitude in the kitchen and make them aware of potential hazards as you try and give them more opportunities to perform tasks with less supervision. Good age-appropriate baking activities include cracking eggs, greasing and lining cake tins, sieving flour and icing and decorating cakes and biscuits.

Giving older children independence in the kitchen

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If they’ve done a bit of baking at home with you or perhaps at school, older kids (aged 9-12) may want to start getting more involved in choosing new recipes to try out and work more independently. As they hit the teenage years they may want to take ownership of baking a family birthday cake or special meal. Even older children will require some supervision to prevent accidents, but where possible try to step back and let them give it a go.

Guide them through any new techniques and if you feel they are ready show them how to safely use the oven and hob, along with any appliances such as stand mixers, while clearly pointing out any safety concerns they need to be mindful of.

Kids this age may feel comfortable following a simple recipe independently, and performing tasks such as melting chocolate or butter, operating a stand mixer, rolling out dough or decorating biscuits with a piping bag. Just be on hand in case they need you to step in at any point.

Child-friendly bakes

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Whether you’re baking with a toddler or a teen, kids of all ages will love making, decorating and eating these tasty treats, which are all simple to make with a little help from your Kenwood products:

S'mores doughnuts
Dipped in a rich chocolate glaze and topped with toasted marshmallow meringue and crumbled biscuit, these doughnuts may take a while to make (due to the time needed to prove the dough), but there are plenty of tasks the kids can help with, like melting the butter, rolling the dough and using the stand mixer to mix the ingredients. And we guarantee they’ll enjoy the end result.
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Salted Caramel Popcorn Squares
Kids will love measuring out the ingredients for these delicious no-bake fridge cakes, which are so quick and easy to make using your stand mixer. It only takes a couple of minutes to combine all the ingredients before you transfer them to a tray ready to chill. The real test will be whether they can wait long enough for them to set- luckily you can make them in advance.
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Speculoos blondies
Everyone will love these gooey, chewy treats, and they take just ten minutes to prepare for baking when you use your Titanium Chef Patissier XL’s EasyWarm bowl to melt the chocolate-making this recipe perfect for even short attention spans. 
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Jam tarts
Even very little ones can get involved with making these fail-safe family favourites. Get them to cut out the pastry or hand them a spoon and let them dollop the jam into the individual pastry cases. Perfect to bake for kids’ parties or a tea- time treat. 
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Berry pizza
From shaping the dough to assembling all the toppings, this berry-topped dessert pizza recipe gets kids involved at every stage, and is a great way to introduce them to new baking concepts and processes.  

You can find more family-friendly baking recipe inspiration here