My kids love to help me in the kitchen. Is that a good thing? I guess but I am always torn between “This is so fun!” and “This is so annoying!” My goals are usually to keep them entertained for a short while, to end up with something yummy that makes us all happy, and to make it into some kind of lesson. (We homeschool, so they end up with a mini math lesson when we measure and a lesson on reading comprehension with the recipe card.)
My nine-year-old daughter is not nearly as interested in cooking or baking as my five-year old daughter is. The younger one loves to help me so much that within in a few more years I may just turn the whole kitchen over to her. I have been hoping to have a live-in cook for a while now. 😉 I just didn’t realize until recently that I was raising one. My two-year old son also likes to help and it is his “help” that makes me want to either a) scream or b) go to Vegas for the weekend.
We recently made some very fun cookies that are perfect for summertime get-togethers. My daughter loved making them and the rest of the kids loved eating them. We call them Lollipop Cookies.
Here’s what you will need:
- 3 sugar cookie mixes (or a large batch of homemade sugar cookie dough, if you have more time)
- A variety of food coloring
- Eggs
- Oil
- White lollipop sticks (found near the cake-baking supplies)
Here’s what you will not need:
- Salt
- Pepper
This is a picture of our sugar cookie mix after my son added salt and pepper. Why did I turn my back on him??
Okay, that batch got thrown out and we made more. Here is the type of mix we used, but any would work:
After we made up each package of sugar cookie mix, we split each of those into halves so that we had six bowls of cookie dough and then we added in the food coloring. Each bowl was a different color. We then had six colorful bowls of dough.
Here are the three easy steps to turn the dough into “lollipops.”
- Pinch off a little bit of a few different colors and roll it into a ball.
- Take the ball and roll it out into a “snake” on your countertop.
- Take the “snake” and twist it into a lollipop-shaped circle.
We put the circle onto the baking sheet and then stuck a white lollipop stick into it. We followed the directions on our cookie mix package and baked for eight minutes at 375 degrees.
They turned out beautifully! Okay, well some of them did anyway. Some of them, well, they tasted great! My five-year old daughter made the majority of them and although she had a fantastic time doing it, she’s not quite as particular as I am. I kept my mouth shut and told myself that it was okay if they didn’t look like the “perfect lollipop” because it was more about having fun than looking like the Pioneer Woman. However, if you are planning on serving these to impress, it can be done. Just make them yourself and don’t let your kids help.
It’s easy peasy and fun too. The kids will love them and the other moms will think you’re really talented. Go ahead and have some baking fun with your kiddos. They will have a blast, I promise!