Cooking with Kids: Fun in the kitchen with berry crumbles
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Crumble is an easily adaptable recipe that is packed with fruit. It is great for engaging children of different ages. Very young children can wash the fruit or pour pre weighed ingredients into bowls. Older children can weigh the ingredients, rub in the butter, or carefully peel and chop the fruit. Before they start to chop it is good to set up the chopping board safely by placing a damp cloth underneath so that it does not slip, and to show them carefully how to begin.
There are two different crumble examples included here, but you can change them to incorporate your child's favourite fruit or berries. Little chunks of chocolate can also be sprinkled into the fruit mixture for an added treat. The results are tasty, and the recipe is very forgiving if a little too much of an ingredient is added by mistake, or the butter gets rubbed into the flour for too long.
A warm and spicy variant on the classic apple crumble. Servings Preparation Time Cooking Time Total Time Course Cuisine Ingredients 55g butter, cut into small cubes 85g plain flour 50g brown sugar a handful of porridge oats 275g cooking apples 1 dessert spoon of maple syrup the juice half an orange 1 tsp ground cinnamon Method Make sure the butter is cut into small cubes. Mix the flour and sugar together in a large bowl then add the cubes of butter. You can start to rub the butter, flour and sugar between your palms. The aim is to combine them all so the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. It will take a minute or two. You should not see any chunks of butter when you are done. Stir in the oats and put the mixture to one side. Heat your oven to 180°C. You may need to get an adult to cut the apples and take the core out of the centre. Once this is done carefully peel and then slice or chop the apples. The pieces should be about the size of lego bricks. Find a dish that can go into a hot oven and one that the crumble ingredients will fit into. Lay half of the apples into the dish and pour over the maple syrup and half of the cinnamon. Add the rest of the apples. Pour over the orange juice. Sprinkle the crumble over the top so that the apples are all covered. Press it down lightly and sprinkle on the cinnamon. Bake for about a half an hour. Ask a grown up to push a butter knife into the centre to make sure all the apple slices are soft. Leave it to cool for about 15 minutes before cutting.Apple and cinnamon crumble
Tart raspberry meets gentle coconut in this baking favourite. Servings Preparation Time Cooking Time Total Time Course Cuisine Ingredients 55g butter, cut into small cubes 85g plain flour 50g brown sugar a handful desiccated coconut 150g apples or pears 125g raspberries 1 dessert spoon of caster sugar Method Make sure the butter is cut into small cubes. Mix the flour and sugar together in a large bowl then add the cubes of butter. You can start to rub the butter, flour and sugar between your palms. The aim is to combine them all so the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. It will take a minute or two. You should not see any chunks of butter when you are done. Stir in the coconut and put the mixture to one side. Heat your oven to 180°C. You may need to get an adult to cut the apples or pears (whichever you prefer to use) and take the core out of the centre. Once this is done carefully peel and then slice or chop the pears or apples. The pieces should be about the size of lego bricks. Find a dish that can go into a hot oven and one that the crumble ingredients will fit into. Lay half of the pear or apples into the dish and sprinkle on half of the raspberries. Sprinkle over the caster sugar. Add the rest of the apples or pears and the raspberries. Sprinkle the crumble over the top so that all of the fruit is covered. Press it down lightly and sprinkle little more coconut on top. Bake for about a half an hour. Ask a grown-up to push a butter knife into the centre to make sure the fruit are soft. Leave it to cool for about 15 minutes before cutting.Coconut and raspberry crumble
Today, the 22 nd of April is Earth Day which is a day when the beauty of the earth is celebrated, and it helps us to remember how important it is to protect nature. Earth Day started over 50 years ago and is celebrated all over the world.
There are lots of activities that can help to promote nature in your area, providing food and a home for pollinators is one. Pollinators help plants to grow, and flowers are their main food. You can simply plant pollinator friendly herbs in a pot; thyme, sage, oregano, chives and rosemary are all good choices.
Once you have the ‘food’ sorted you can also make a nice cosy home for your local pollinators. Ask a grown-up to cut two ends of a large plastic bottle. You can a tube about 15 cm long, be careful of the edges in case they are sharp after being cut.
Fill the bottle with long twigs, bits of bark and moss and pinecones or dried heads of a thistle, if you can find them at this time of year. Pack everything tightly into your recycled plastic tube and sit the bug house in a quite spot. You can also tie some twine around it and hang it in a tree.
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