Baking from the Better Homes and Gardens New Junior Cookbook
July 20, 2007 by Kerri Aldrich
Filed under Cooking with Kids, General Play Library Goodies
The kids and I made a couple of the recipes from the Better Homes and Gardens New Junior Cookbook I wrote about last month. I thought I’d share a few of the photos out here of our baking day!
We started off with the Creamy Berry Cups. 
The recipe called for mini-phyllo cups. I didn’t see those at the grocery, and so thought I could just whip a few up from frozen phyllo dough (which I had never used before and next time I should ask one of you for your opinion and you can tell me how incredibly silly that idea is!). Once the cups were made, the kids had a good time scooping the cream cheese fruit dip into the cups, topping it with fruit, and sprinkling over the powdered sugar. Very yummy, though next time I might search a bit harder for the pre-made cups!
The other recipe we’ve tried so far are the Rainin’ Berries Turnovers.
This time, I remembered the pre-made pie crust shortcut! The
kids enjoy any project
that allows them to use mommy’s kitchen scoop, so this one was bound to be a winner, as well. The recipe was essentially some fruit pie filling with a few pieces of chopped apple scooped into a quarter of the pie crust. The pastry brush is another 
favored kitchen utensil, and so the kids used that to brush water on the edges of the crust, pressed the edges together, and crimped the edges a bit with the fork (and moms helped with that a little). Bake and -voilà!- a yummy treat to share with friends.
Though I’m not a very structured person, and I believe in letting kids use their imaginations and have free play time, I also like an occasional planned activity when buddies are coming over. I enjoy sharing cooking time with my kids and their friends, and my friend, too, if a mom is over! It’s an opportunity to teach lessons of sharing, patience, nutrition (sweets are a sometimes food 
), kitchen safety, and more.
What about you? Are their activities that you like to have planned for your kids and their friends that share a bit of your personality and/or hobbies?
