THE weather is perfect now to spend some quality time with your kids in the kitchen, don’t you think? I strongly believe that it is never too late (or too early) to get your kids to help with cooking. I know it requires time, patience, and some extra clean-up, especially when the children are younger, but the benefits of cooking with kids are really worth it.
Simple tasks will teach your kids important life skills: an immense sense of accomplishment, hand-eye coordination, basic math skills, planning, and organisation. Most importantly, they will remember bonding with you, which is a key pillar of their emotional wellbeing. And who knows, you may even start a new family tradition: Saturday pancakes, perhaps?
I see a lot of people in the kitchen through my cooking classes and educational food programs, and I can assure you that cooking skills need to start early in life if we want to have confident and independent home cooks in the future. Baking is definitely the gateway for many people to feel comfortable in the kitchen. So, what is the easiest recipe to start with? Without a doubt, it’s pancakes (or pikelets if you want to make them smaller!). So roll up your sleeves and gather the kids for a little fun together!
Easy kids’ pancakes
Ingredients:
300g SR flour
1 egg
500ml milk
1 tbs butter
Method
- Melt butter.
- Mix flour, milk and egg in a bowl; whisk to combine.
- Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat and add a tiny bit of butter.
- Pour a bit of the batter into the frying pan.
- When bubbles rise to the surface, flip the pancake and cook the other side until golden.
- Remove the pancake and keep warm in a low oven. Use more butter every two to three pancakes, depending on how good your non-stick coating is.
- Serve with toppings of choice: maple syrup, jam, Nutella, etc.