I've started to feel that Caspar could be more independent when baking. He could bake along side me, making his own thing rather than us baking together. How? I wondered.
Bake simply?
Honestly, everything we bake is simple and easy. But for him to bake on his own I found our most simple and uncomplicated recipe.
Halve the recipe?
By halving our recipe all of the ingredients fit into his child sized mixing bowl. He can mix much better using this bowl as he can grip it better (it also has a great handle). Now he can mix all of the ingredients together - no help needed. Halving the recipe means less volume, the recipe takes less time to complete. This is better suited to his concentration span.
Illustrate the recipe?
He obviously still needs a lot of help with the recipe but by looking at the pictures he can take leadership. Rather than me telling him what is required he can get started and I can help when needed. Illustrating is a bit like singing, your child doesn't even notice how bad you are at it.
Manual timer?
I find the old manual/dial egg timer works better too. It helps him to visualise the time it takes to bake. I give him control over the baking, he tells me when it is complete and we go to the oven together.
So far it's worked.
Would you like our recipe? Yes?
Caspar's Banana Muffins
1 banana mashed
1 egg
1 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup honey yoghurt
1/4 cup milk
Mix together and spoon into pre-greased/lined mini muffin tray. Bake in oven at 180oC for 20 minutes. Let cool, then eat. Makes 12 mini muffins.
