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Newatdecorating
Frequent Member
Joined: Aug 03, 2005
Posts: 215
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 Posted:
Thu Oct 04, 2007 6:09 am |
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I am wanting to let my three and five year old to help decorate cookies for Christmas. This will be our first baking experience and I am in need of some kid-friendly advice. I make NFSC with RBC when I decorate, but that doesn't seem like it would be the best for that age. What are some tips that you can give me that will make it easier? |
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jobartwo
Regular Member
Joined: Mar 03, 2005
Posts: 168
Location: Limerick, PA
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Thu Oct 04, 2007 7:44 am |
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Great post. Sorry I have nothing to offer, just waiting to benefit from the information you get. I have yet to let my daughter help with baking and I feel like I am depriving her. But she always wants to end up just mixing up yukky, messy ingredients and serving it up at her pretend party. |
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vanna1487
Frequent Member
Joined: Sep 11, 2007
Posts: 301
Location: Squishing Mosquitoes in South Louisiana!
Birthday: Jan 04
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Thu Oct 04, 2007 7:50 am |
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jobarto: my 3 yr old loves mixing cake batter and tasting it too of course. I am sad to say I never make home made cookies because they never come out right, they spread all over the pan. |
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faerieelf2
Newbie
Joined: Mar 12, 2007
Posts: 8
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Thu Oct 04, 2007 7:51 am |
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when my kids were younger, they wold choose all the flavors they wanted. i then baked. afterwards i would frost with acnned frosting and let them have fun with sprinkles and wht not...they had a blast and they wern't that bad to eat either  |
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Katskakes
Forum Fanatic
Joined: Jun 15, 2005
Posts: 1614
Location: South Brunswick, NJ
Birthday: Mar 08
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Thu Oct 04, 2007 7:52 am |
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I usually let them use RI. messy, but it's somewhat the easiest for them at an early age. my avatar is of DD decorating cookies. that icing she took was a bit too stiff for her. But it worked. she did her thing w/the cookies and was very happy. |
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jkalman
Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Mar 12, 2007
Posts: 4243
Location: Southern New Hampshire
Birthday: Oct 28
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Thu Oct 04, 2007 7:53 am |
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My kids and I decorate cookies all the time.. I just have them use RI and have at it. The best thing you can do for them is to just let their creative juices flow and not restrict them. You are talking about 3 and 5 years old so don't expect perfection. Sometimes I'll decorate a few and then they try to copy mine. Have plenty of colors or at least 2 of each color if you only have a few to use so they won't fight over the colors. I use disposable bags and simple tips like round tips and star tips and leaf tips. You can let them use sprinkles or dragees.. gumdrops and chocolate chips are fun too. Be sure to stress not licking the icing from their fingers if you are sharing them with others. I do this anyway just to reinforce kitchen cleanliness. Let them have FUN.. that's the most important thing. Expect a mess.. have them wear smocks or old t-shirts and did I mention have fun??  |
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jen9936
Regular Member
Joined: Jun 21, 2007
Posts: 111
Birthday: Nov 09
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Thu Oct 04, 2007 8:03 am |
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I use those tiny little plastic(?) ponytail holders that come like 50-100 in a pack to close the piping bag after filling it with icing. This keeps frosting from going out the top and all over the place when the little ones inevitably squeeze the bag right in the middle! |
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KathysCC
Gallery Moderator
Joined: Aug 18, 2007
Posts: 543
Location: Mississippi
Gallery Supporter Member
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Thu Oct 04, 2007 8:18 am |
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We've been doing this for years. I use a simple sugar cookie recipe or better yet, the refrigerated cookie dough. You roll, they cut. They just love watching them bake.
I use buttercream icing in 4 or 5 Christmas colors. It is easy for them to squeeze (make sure you make it a soft consistency) and it tastes so good on sugar cookies and when they lick their finers  . Disposable bags are a great idea and I twist the end and put clothes pins so when they squeeze, the icing doesn't come gooping out the wrong end.
I did this with our whole Awana club and cupcakes one year(about 70 kids). Be prepared for greasy fingers and lots of licking but that's what makes it fun and take lots of pictures when you are done. I have pictures of my kids Christmas cookies from years and years ago.
I do like the idea of royal. It is less greasy but might be a little harder to squeeze for them.
I agree with jkalman on using a few different simple tips...round and star, then show them how you do a few, lend a helping hand, but let them have at it. What fun!! |
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darandon
Forum Fanatic
Joined: Mar 15, 2006
Posts: 1127
Location: Hilliard Ohio
Birthday: Jan 19
Gallery Supporter Member
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Thu Oct 04, 2007 8:25 am |
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I had all the neighborhood kids over last christmas to decorate cookies. I cheated and bought the frozen pre-cut ones from Gordon Food Service and had them all baked up before they got there. I had bowls of different colored icing and bowls of sprinkles. All they had to do was swipe some icing on the cookie and dunk in the sprinkles. For the older kids I had disposable bags with different tips and they made fancier cookies. I think, all told, they decorated about 18 dozen cookies. Each kid took home a dozen cookies and we had some for "oops, I have to eat this one". The kids ranged in age from 4 to 13. It was messy but so much fun! |
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jkalman
Forum SuperStar!
Joined: Mar 12, 2007
Posts: 4243
Location: Southern New Hampshire
Birthday: Oct 28
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Thu Oct 04, 2007 8:57 am |
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Yes.. I use the hair elastics to close the bags too!! Works like a charm! |
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lu9129
Forum Addict
Joined: Oct 02, 2006
Posts: 544
Birthday: Dec 22
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Thu Oct 04, 2007 9:09 am |
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With my DGD I use the Wilton bottles that the tips fit on and put the different colors of RI or chocolate and BC in them. She just has to squeeze the bottle and she can change the tips when she wants to make the flowers etc.
LU |
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lu9129
Forum Addict
Joined: Oct 02, 2006
Posts: 544
Birthday: Dec 22
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Thu Oct 04, 2007 9:10 am |
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With my DGD I use the Wilton bottles that the tips fit on and put the different colors of RI or chocolate and BC in them. She just has to squeeze the bottle and she can change the tips when she wants to make the flowers etc.
LU |
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JRAE33
Forum Addict
Joined: Aug 25, 2006
Posts: 762
Location: Michigan
Birthday: Jan 10
Gallery Supporter Member
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Thu Oct 04, 2007 9:10 am |
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My oldest son just turned 6, my daughter is 4 (almost 5) and my youngest son is 1 1/2. My son started baking alongside me around the age of two. I have clear images in my mind of him helping make his red velvet cake for his 2nd birthday party. And the rest have followed right along. The first year I baked Christmas cookies with my son, daughter was too young but I put some flour on her high chair tray, gave her a cup and spoons and she was happy!!
What we do is all work together to mix up the dough. Once it's chilled the kids roll out the dough and cut them out. Mom's job is to transfer to cookie sheets and bake. Once baked, we all decorate. We've used both glaze icing and buttercream. We prefer bc for the taste and will probably stick with that from here on out. I put a bunch of icing in small bowls and the kids mix up the colors. Then we use plastic knives to spread on the bc. Of course, no cookie is complete until they've added just the right amount of sprinkles, red hots, chocolate chips, etc...
It's at least a 2 -3 day process to do our Christmas cut outs and then we make lots of other goodies as well. The kids love doing it. Okay, the cookies don't come out looking like a pro did them, but they taste yummy and the kids are happy and proud! It's one of my favorite Christmas activities. |
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Melonie1005
Regular Member
Joined: Oct 13, 2006
Posts: 135
Location: Acworth, Ga
Birthday: Apr 26
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Thu Oct 04, 2007 9:15 am |
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All of my children love to bake. My children seem to prefer the colored sugar most. I make the NFSC dough roll it out and they cut out the cookies. I put out shakers of colored sugar and bags of buttercream(for the youngest) and rolled buttercream for the oldest two. I just let them have at it and then we play a clean up game. As you can see in my avator pic, my son loves to do cookies!!! Just have fun!!! |
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yourstrulytx
Forum Addict
Joined: Aug 07, 2007
Posts: 670
Birthday: Jun 30
Gallery Supporter Member
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Thu Oct 04, 2007 9:15 am |
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I let my 5 and 2 1/2 year old decorate cookies ,cupcakes and cake all the time. I always decorate a few myself as well. I just cover the table in a plastic table cloth and set out all the frosting and sprinkles and candy and let them go to town. I give them plastic knifes to spread the frosting on, and they have free range to decorate any way they would like. They even help with rolling out the cookie dough and cutting the cookies out too sometimes. They love it and its not about making perfect cookies its about them having fun and doing something themselves. The cookies always end up with a ton of icing and sprinkles on them, and even more icing and sprinkles end up on the boys. But they have a blast! |
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