Digestive Art

Fancy an easy and no-fuss bit of baking time with the kids, but can't be bothered with the mess and fuss of a full-blown cake mix extravaganza?

Fancy letting the kids indulge in their own creativity while you 'supervise' and get to eat the proceeds?

Why not try some Digestive Art?

You will need:

1 pack of cheap-ass digestive biscuits (the cheaper they are, the more you get in a pack, the more time that the kids will be 'creating' thus leaving you in peace to indulge in some 'you' time!)

1 pack of writing icing in quite a few colours

Some sprinkles

A bowl of melted chocolate (or 2 if you are feeling like some white chocolate and some milk chocolate!)

Marshmallows

Method:

First, we put two marshmallows between two digestives and blipped them in the microwave for 10 whole seconds.  This made the marshmallows nice and squishy, providing a nice sticky centre (and the kids feel like they are 'baking', ha ha!)

Next, I loaded my 'baked' goods onto a plate, laid down some tissue and let them loose with some melted in the microwave hot chocolate.

They dipped, and wrote with the icing and covered the biscuits in sprinkles.

Busy, busy, busy!

Oh, the concentration!

Ok, I might have made one too - it was pretty fun!

M is for Mum!  My biscuit!

I have to say, this has been one of my favourite activities of the holidays so far - I sat around surfing the net, watching some comedy shows and kicked back while my children made me some delicious sugary treats!

Happy days!

Fluffy's Panda Ears

This is Fluffy.

She's from China/Edinburgh Zoo gift shop.

She loves to bake!

Today she taught me her favourite delicacy from her homeland - Panda Ears!

Cute, bitesize and easy to make, I was delighted to indulge her in baking some sweet treats for the kids (oh and Dave).

You will need:

• Puff Pastry
• Granulated Sugar
• Baking Parchment
• A degree of patience to put up with a pushy panda in the corner (not looking at anyone, Fluffy.  Ahem.)
• A spoon to whack the hands of small children who insist on eating the granulated sugar before you can use it (disclaimer - I'm joking!)

First, cover your surface in granulated sugar.  Play about with it a bit and draw in it if you must.

It's quite tempting, if not slightly hypocritical when you have to start telling small children off for wanting to do the same.

Next, roll out pastry over sugar, turning and coating each side until quite thin.

Start folding each side in, until you reach the middle. Fold together and begin slicing lengthways to make inch-wide strips of sugary pastry.

                                 

Lay the individual pieces flat and roll again to make small ear shapes.

Place on baking parchment and bake in the oven at 160 degrees for around 20 minutes, or until ready.

Enjoy with a sneaky cup of tea and a cuddle from a panda!