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Holiday Baking with Kids
Fun and Easy Goodies to Make with Your Children
By Lisa Marie Metzler
The holidays are coming and the rush is on to purchase gifts, decorate the house and attend holiday pageants and parties. With so much going on, it's hard to slow down and enjoy the season. Now more than ever simplicity is what we long to embrace. Traditions like holiday baking can be accomplished with the easy recipes below.
Baking delicious treats for gift giving with your children is the perfect remedy to get back to the simple things in life. Set aside an afternoon to make one or all of the goodies below. Each recipe has just a few ingredients and is easy and fun to make. Even young children can participate by adding and stirring ingredients. And they're sure to have a blast making the pretzels! Warm and cozy memories are ready to be made, so put on some holiday music and get started!
1 bread dough loaf (sold in packages of five loaves)
2 tablespoons baking soda
Course salt
1 large egg
Follow the package instructions for thawing/raising the bread dough. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Lightly flour the working service. Take off pieces of the dough and roll into "snakes" about 18 inches long. Form the pretzel. Encourage the children to experiment with different shaped pretzels.
Meanwhile, fill a large, shallow pot with 2 inches of water. Bring it to a boil. Add baking soda and reduce heat to simmer. Place three pretzels in the water and poach for one minute. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a cooling rack to drain. Drain for one minute. Continue until all pretzels are poached and drained.
Beat the egg and 1 teaspoon water. Brush the egg wash on each pretzel and sprinkle course salt on each one. Place on a greased cookie sheet or line the cookie sheet with parchment paper for less cleanup later. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack and store uncovered for two days. Enjoy the pretzels within the first two days for the best taste. Yields about 10 to 14 pretzels, depending on size of pretzel.
