As part of my work I teach cooking to kids in the early years of primary school. Currently I am teaching 4 groups of 5 year olds and 3 groups of 6 year olds each fortnight. I thought I might share my experiences for those who want to cook with kids and need some ideas and just because they are fun and inspiring to work with. Sadly I cannot show photos of the kids as it is through my work, but I can show some photos of the food.
Pear Pancakes
The 5 year olds only have about 20 minutes so I need to keep things pretty simple.
Over the last 2 weeks i have done pear pancakes with them. They were a great success.
The recipe is based on a jamie oliver recipe for breakfast pancakes. It conveniently has one thing for each child to measure, is ready to eat very fast and is very popular.
Ingredients1 cup flour
1 tspn baking powder
1 egg
1 cup of milk
1 pear grated (core and all)
- Combine ingredients
- Melt a little butter in a non-stick pan, add ladlefuls of mix, turn when bubbles form on the surface, turn, cook another couple of minutes.
- Serve straight away with yoghurt and honey in original recipe - but we used golden syrup.
I get each child to measure/grate their ingredient and put it into a big bowl in the middle. Then they all had a wooden spoon and they all have a go at stirring. A few of them found the look of the grated pear a little gross, but all but one were willing to eat it and then liked them.
I let them choose if they want a turn ladleing into an electric frypan after explaining where the hot parts are - they all choose to do it and no-one was burnt. Then they all wash 2 things up while they cook (sometimes I need to re-wash!) Finally they ate 2 each with a squeeze of golden syrup.
I have quite a few kids with allergies, so i have put them in one group. For that group we used gluten free flour, "no egg" egg substitute, soy milk and canola oil instead of butter in the pan.
- Nicola
