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Cooking In The Kitchen.. Having fun – Puff Pastry

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Sometimes when cooking with children it’s not about what you actually cook its just about the experience..the mess..the textures.

Last week when Izzy asked to cook I was tired and we didn’t have many ingredients to bake cakes or bread so I was a bit stuck.

I scrabbled about in the fridge for ideas and found a roll of readymade puff pastry, a lump of mature cheddar and some tomato relish.

Bingo.

We made cheese and tomato puffs..we also had some pastry leftover so we made some brown sugar strips and a cheeky Nutella puff or two.

Izzy loved cutting out the shapes and sprinkling on the cheese and a dollop of relish ..

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Topping with a bit more pastry…

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And brushing on some beaten egg..

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They looked so good..

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Finding a bit of relish.. What a surprise..

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And of course munching them all..

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Fun to make and easy to eat – perfect toddler food. I was surprised by how much Izzy could do by herself. Lately I’m asking her to do little kitchen tasks like buttering bread and she really enjoys it and its clearly helping her feel more confident when cooking.

COOKING WITH KIDS

Apple Puff Parcels

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Last week I bought some really cheap apples thinking how bad could they be hey? It turns out pretty bad. I became a bit of an apple snob during pregnancy as I craved a particular crunch and taste .. I’m not so bad now but these just didn’t taste good. However I hate waste so yesterday I tried to think of an easy way I could use them up and ended up with these totally amazingly scrumptious apple parcels or mini puff pastry pies. So easy to make but the flavour is fantastic and a really quick and easy dessert option for people who don’t usually bake.

You will need:

A sheet of ready rolled puff pastry
2-3 apples chopped fairly small but any shape
1 tablespoon of lemon juice ( I used Jif lemon )
50grams of light brown sugar ( I used Whitworths)
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1teaspoon of nutmeg
*Optional – zest of an orange or clementine and a handful of raisins/sultanas
1 beaten egg

Preheat your oven to gas mark 4. Mix your apple in a bowl with lemon, sugar,cinnamon and nutmeg.

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Cut your pastry into an equal amount of squares. On half of the squares place a spoonful of the apple mixture in the middle then brush some egg around the rim of the square and place another square on top, press to seal with a fork around the edge and pierce the top of the parcel. Repeat until all squares are used up then brush each parcel with the egg and bake on a tray until golden brown (approx 20 mins). Dust with icing sugar.

Serve while warm (although be careful contents will be incredibly hot initially) with a dollop of thick cream. Totally delicious. You could use a cookie cutter to make different shared parcels. I did a second batch which were circular.

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