Cooking with your children and allowing them the opportunity to try their hand at preparing food instills not only a love of cooking but also provides them with confidence. While a little patience is needed when first teaching a young child skills such as breaking an egg or measuring correctly, eventually through trial and error, the fine motor skills develop to prepare a recipe independently. The act of preparing a dish together with a parent or grandparent helps build long-term memories. Smells associated with making a certain dish have a potent and influential marker for memories. Science proves that our sense of smell has the ability to evoke long-term memories because it is strongly tied to our autobiographical memory that is often tied to experiences that are created early in life. Oftentimes, just the smell of something as simple as pie baking in the oven or chili on the stovetop can bring someone back to their childhood kitchen table.
The trick is to start small. Let your children at an early age play with bowls, mixing spoons and measuring cups. Practicing the motions in free play all helps with fine motor development. Start with letting them scoop dry ingredients in a bowl or use a rolling pen to flatten cookie dough. As they get more comfortable with being a part of the process, add in more steps that they can do with assistance or completely on their own. It is okay if the measurements aren’t just right. Expect it to be a little messy and not perfect, and that will keep your patience intact and your expectations realistic. Positive reinforcement and encouragement about their efforts will just further increase the child’s interest in cooking, and eventually they will be independent and confident in the kitchen.
These simple and delicious animal crackers are the perfect sweet treat to make with your young emerging little chef in training.
Animal Crackers
Ingredients:
1 cup and 2 tablespoons white flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup oatmeal
4 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
Optional: add 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg or cinnamon
Steps:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Put the oatmeal in a blender or food processor and pulse for about a minute, until it’s reduced to a rough powder. Add the ground oatmeal to the whole wheat and 1/2 cup of the white flour, baking soda and salt to the bowl of an electric mixer affixed with a paddle attachment, and turn on to mix. Add butter and blend on medium speed until the butter has been incorporated and the mix looks a little like wet sand. Add the buttermilk, vanilla, honey and almond extract and blend. If the dough looks too wet to roll, add the remaining flour 1/4 cup at a time until the dough forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the blender.
Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap and flatten into a disc. Cover completely and chill in the fridge for at least one hour, up to overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place dough on a lightly floured surface (using the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour). Roll out until 1/8 inch thick. Cut out with desired cookie cutters and bake for five to seven minutes, based on your preference. Five minutes will get you a softer cracker, while seven (once the edges have browned) will get you a crisp cracker.
Enjoy!
Alphabet Cookie Cutters: Cockrell Mercantile Co
Animal Cracker Cookie Cutters: Cockrell Mercantile Co
Kids Chef Coat and Hat: Crate & Barrel