Even though it’s messy, takes longer and sometimes results in slightly imperfect results, one of my favorite ways to spend time on the weekends with my almost-two-year-old is baking! Since he turned one, we’ve made egg-free chocolate cake (eat that batter, little guy!), dozens of chocolate chip cookies and cut-out sugar cookies. That last item – sugar cookies – was Will’s favorite, I think because we got to bake, make fun shapes, and decorate our cookies.
We use a family recipe for our sugar cookies (shared below), and because we don’t have a learning tower, I often do a lot of baking with Will on the countertop (he sits there while I safely monitor him) or on our kitchen floor, after I have mopped it and put down a towel or wax paper. He LOVES to help scoop flour and sugar, stir, and add final items like chocolate chips or nuts. Here’s how we’ve made baking together work:
1) Give easy-to-hold tools to little hands: Will manipulates the measuring cups to scoop out dry ingredients, while I work with the tablespoon/teaspoon measurements and most wet ingredients. If we’re making more finicky things – like cake – I’ll monitor Will’s measurements carefully, but if we’re making cookies, I tend to just add a bit of extra flour when he’s done, in case we were short. Baking is a science but cookies can typically stand extra flour as they bake.
3) Bake at kid level. For us, this has meant on the counter or the floor, as I mentioned above. It also means doing things a bit more slowly, and explaining as we go what we’re doing. Will has learned the steps to the baking process after doing it half a dozen times with me now. He knows we scoop our dry ingredients, then I mix our wet ones, then we add the dry, pour or scoop, and put in a hot oven. He knows what the dangerous parts are – the mixer when it’s turning and the oven when we’re near it – and that we can taste our creation before Mama adds the eggs (though I guess we should be careful after we add flour, too!)
4) Choose recipes you know. I note this because I’ve chosen to bake items that I know what the batter should taste like so I can gauge whether little hands have altered it too much with imperfect measuring before we bake it. This means we get a tasty product when all is said and done – which is part of the fun of baking!
5) Let little hands do more as they learn. Each time we’ve baked together, I’ve added a step that I let Will do himself. I began by letting him scoop just the flour and help stir. Then, I asked him to also measure the white sugar, then the brown sugar. He also now helps to pour the table/teaspoon ingredients after I’ve measured them, and when we make drop cookies I let him scoop and drop them. I plan to make the yogurt cake from Bringing Up Bebe with Will this week and let him do everything himself because we’ve been building up to it!
Click here for a printable pdf of this recipe!
What I (and Will) love about this sugar cookie recipe is how fluffy the cookies are when you roll them thicker – about 1/4 of an inch – and bake them not too long (not even brown on the bottom – just until they’re no longer shiny on top!). We also adore decorating them with sprinkles – well, William does, ha! This recipe comes from my grandmother who passed away last fall and these cookies were one our favors at our wedding, so they hold a special place in our heart.
Let me know if you try out baking with your toddler OR this recipe!
kiwi / 595 posts
I’ve been baking with my 4yo forever! One of her favorite recipes is for carrot muffins. She can do most of it herself now- I just grate the carrots and supervise pouring. We are always prepared for a clothes change, and usually a quick bath!
coconut / 8079 posts
Thanks for the recipe! We will have to try it sometime soon. We made Rice Krispie treats a few weeks ago and the popping Rice Krispies made LO giggle as he stirred them!