Cooking With Kids: Brownies are an all-time kiddie classic

Pic: iStock

Brownies are a failsafe with children as they do not need a lot of precision, a little over-mixing, a little too many chocolate chips, no problem.

The biggest issue in our house is stopping young ones eating them all. They are quite rich and a little goes a long way. 

If the batch is bigger than your needs, you can freeze some of the brownies for later. 

I often wrap each one in a piece of baking parchment and then pop them into a freezer container. I can take them out one by one that way.

Raspberries are nice and ripe this time of the summer and can be added to brownies, some chopped nuts or dried fruit are an alternative.

Frozen berries work as well as fresh, but you will need to add about 10 minutes to the baking time as the batter will be much colder going into the oven.

I usually use a dark chocolate for brownies even if making them with children as the other ingredients dilute it, so using milk chocolate will result in quite pale and very sweet brownies.

If you are unsure, you can add half and half.

Chocolate Chip Brownies

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

Family favourites - and a good recipe for young people to get involved in.

Servings

12

Preparation Time

 30 mins

Cooking Time

 20 mins

Total Time

 50 mins

Course

 Dessert

Ingredients

• 250g dark chocolate

• 250g butter

• 4 eggs

• 320g caster sugar

• 150g plain flour

• 150g milk chocolate chips

Method

1. Pre heat your oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4. Ask for help lining a 9-inch square tin with baking parchment.

2. Break the chocolate into small pieces. Put the butter and chocolate into a saucepan. Ask an adult to put the saucepan on the hob on a low heat until they melt together.

3. Beat the eggs, sugar and flour together with a wooden spoon or a mixer. Add in the butter and chocolate and mix this in as well.

4. Stir in the chocolate chips and scoop the mixture into the tin.

5. Ask an adult to put the tin into the oven and bake it for 25 to 30 minutes. It should be shiny on top and firm around the edges. The centre should be a little soft but not runny. As it cools the centre will get harder.

6. Leave to cool in the tin then gently slide out onto a chopping board. You can cut the brownies as big or as small as you like. I usually cut it into about 12, but smaller ones can be cute.

Gluten-Free Raspberry Brownies

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

Add razzas to the humble brownie for a bitter, fruity bite.

Servings

12

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 50 mins

Course

 Dessert

Ingredients

• 250g butter

• 250g dark chocolate

• 4 eggs

• 40g cocoa powder

• 290g of caster sugar

• 120g of gluten free flour

• 180g of raspberries

Method

1. Pre heat your oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4. Ask for help lining a 9-inch square tin with baking parchment.

2. Break the chocolate into small pieces. Put the butter and chocolate into a saucepan. Ask an adult to put the saucepan on the hob on a low heat until they melt together.

3. Whisk the eggs and sugar together until they are creamy looking and are twice the size. Stir in the cocoa powder and gluten free flour with a wooden spoon. Stir in the butter and chocolate the same way.

4. Stir half of the raspberries into the mixture and scoop it into your tin. Sprinkle the rest of the raspberries on top.

5. Ask an adult to put the tin into the oven and bake it for 30 minutes.

6. Leave to cool in the tin then gently slice out onto a chopping board. You can cut the brownies as big or as small as you like.

Activity: Collecting seeds

This is a good time of year to start collecting seeds to plant next spring. 

If you are in a garden, you will notice that lots of plants have little pods or dried-out flowers. 

You can pop the pods or shake a flower head onto a sheet of paper to collect the seeds. 

Onion flowers or dried fennel flowers are good flowers to shake out. 

Peas and beans come in pods and each pea or bean can be taken out and dried on a windowsill. 

You can design some paper packages to store your seeds in over the winter. 

Put these packages into a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid and keep them in a cool dark place.