Festive Christmas recipes for children

Cooking and baking with children: What to consider

If you want to involve your children in preparing various festive meals and Christmas recipes, it must be well prepared.Cooking and baking with childrenis often a test of patience, which is why it's all the more important to set clear kitchen rules. Decide together with your child what they can already do on their own and what they may do with your support.

Especially when it comes to the very first joint cooking and baking attempts at Christmas, quick and easy recipes are best suited. This trains your child's patience and at the same time their ambition. In addition, working together in the kitchen helps your child get to know many foods and become familiar with them. For children who sometimes refuse their food, it is also helpful because they can closely follow what goes into the dish when cooking the Christmas recipes. Maybe your child will soon dare to try dishes they have so far refused.

Christmas recipes for children to join in – tips for preparation

To ensure everything runs smoothly during Christmas baking and cooking, we've collected 5 tips for preparation for you here:

Weigh all the ingredients in advance and put them in small bowls.
Discuss the rules for baking together beforehand: which tasks require caution? Where should the little ones ask for your help?
Set clear rules: who mixes the ingredients? Who cuts out the cookies? When that's clear, it's even more fun!
Suitable baking or Christmas aprons not only keep clothes clean but also create an even more festive atmosphere!
Check your baking utensils – such as child-friendly knives, handy cookie cutters & small baking tools.

Simple Christmas dishes to recreate

The classic at Christmas is of course homemade cookies. But what else can you conjure up together in the kitchen? From children's punch to starters and desserts to the stuffing of the Christmas goose, there's a lot to choose from. Here we show you a few ideas for alternatives to cookie baking.

Christmas time is punch time: delicious recipes to recreate

Quick tea punch for children

Ingredients:

4 tea bags of red fruit tea (rosehip, mallow or a fruit mix) or loose tea for 1 liter
1 packet of mulled wine spices (alternatively use a tea filter bag with a cinnamon stick, a few cloves and some cardamom)
6 oranges
Honey to sweeten

Preparation:

First, brew 1 liter of red tea and let it steep.
Next, add the spices to the tea, squeeze the juice of five oranges to add to the tea as well.
Now peel an orange, cut the flesh into small cubes and add it to the punch.
You can sweeten the tea punch to taste with honey for little sweet-tooths.

Tip:If you want some variety, use rooibos instead of fruit tea, either plain or with different flavors such as vanilla, caramel or cream.

Fruity Christmas punch

Ingredients:

1/4 l water
120 g sugar
1 packet vanilla sugar
2 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
3/4 l apple juice or red grape juice
1 lemon
2 oranges

Preparation:

First peel the lemon and the oranges.
Cut the fruits into slices and place them in a punch bowl.
Bring water, sugar, vanilla sugar and the spices (ideally in a paper tea filter bag) to a boil until the sugar has dissolved. Then you can add the juice and heat it until just before boiling.
Then remove the spices and pour the punch over the lemon and orange slices.

Tip:The fruity punch is particularly fruity and can help ward off colds if you use equal parts apple and grape juice.

Christmas recipes for little picky eaters

Delicious vegetable soup as a starter or main course for the little ones

A simple vegetable soup is suitable as a starter for the Christmas meal, where the children can actively help you chop the ingredients. For a simple vegetable soup you only need a few types of vegetables that your children like: these can be carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, peppers, soup greens or potatoes. Cut the ingredients into bite-sized pieces.

Depending on the amount needed, prepare vegetable broth in water and bring it to a boil. Then you can add all the ingredients and let the soup simmer for about 10 minutes over medium heat. Finally, season the vegetable soup with salt and pepper. Your child-friendly starter for the Christmas feast is ready. Of course, the soup is also suitable as a main course, especially if your children don't like the hearty Christmas meal so much.

Alternatives to the traditional Christmas goose

For many it belongs at Christmas: the Christmas goose. Originally it was a traditional custom around the festivities of Saint Martin. On November 11 it was customary to eat a goose to usher in the fasting period, known to us as Advent season, to be eaten. Thus the goose was lovingly called Martinsgans. On Christmas Eve the fasting period then ended, which is why a goose would also appear on the table that day. This custom has continued over the years, which is why even today the traditional Christmas goose is still served at the table in some families.

If you are not fans of the Christmas goose or at least your child cannot warm to this Christmas dish, there are numerous alternatives. For example, raclette or tasty side dishes such as mashed potatoes with carrots and even potato salad would be suitable options in which you can already involve your child in the preparations. The more there is to chop up, the more fun the children have during the preparation. Not least, this also increases the anticipation of tasting the food later.

Sweet Christmas recipes and desserts for children

Christmas pancakes with apples

Ingredients for 6 people:

375 g natural yogurt
13 tbsp flour
3 eggs
3 pinches of salt
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground anise
6 apples
some oil for frying

Preparation:

Place the yogurt, eggs and salt into a bowl and mix everything with a hand mixer.
Stir in the flour in portions until the batter has a thick, creamy consistency.
Now mix in the baking powder, cinnamon and anise powder and combine everything well. You can then let the batter rest, covered, for about 30 minutes.
In the meantime it's the apples' turn. Peel them and cut into thin slices. You can use one apple to cut out small rounds or other shapes.
Now heat some oil in the pan and use a ladle to put the pancake batter into the pan.
Arrange the already sliced apple slices in the center of the pancake so they form a circle. If you've cut out apple balls or other shapes, add them as well.
The pancake is done when it is golden brown on both sides. Repeat the process until you've used up your batter.

Tip:It's best to preheat the oven to keep the finished pancakes warm in it. Alternatively, you can prepare the recipe without apples and cut festive shapes out of the pancake itself.

Candied apples

Candied apples are indispensable at the Christmas market and a highlight for your kids. In this Christmas recipe we show you how to prepare these delicious candied apples with your children at home.

Ingredients:

4 small apples
50 ml water
250 g sugar
30 g light sugar-beet syrup
1 tsp lemon juice
2 knife-tip amounts red food coloring paste
4 wooden skewers

Preparation:

Wash the apples thoroughly first. Dry them well and then insert a wooden skewer into each apple from the top.
Now put 50 ml water, the sugar, the sugar-beet syrup and lemon juice into a saucepan and melt everything over low heat while stirring slowly.
As soon as the mixture begins to bubble, let it continue cooking for another 6 minutes at 140 °C before removing the pan from the heat.
Next, add the food coloring and stir it in with gentle swirling movements.
Now dip the apples into the red mixture and turn them. Caution: your children should not perform this step unsupervised and only with your assistance, as the sugar mixture is very hot. It's best to tilt the pan slightly and let your child turn the apples using the wooden skewers.
To dry, place the candied apples on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. This allows the sugar glaze to harden at rest.

Cinnamon waffles

Ingredients for 4 people:

125 g butter
125 g sugar
3 eggs
1 tbsp cinnamon
250 g flour
150 ml milk
1 tsp oil for the waffle iron

Preparation:

Stir butter, milk, sugar and eggs until a frothy mixture forms.
Mix the flour first with the teaspoon of cinnamon, then stir it into the batter in portions.
Heat the waffle iron and grease it sufficiently. Then bake a waffle from 3 tablespoons of batter every 5 minutes until golden brown and crispy.

Tip:At the end, if you like, you can sprinkle the waffles with powdered sugar. But not too much — there's already enough sugar in the batter.

In the Christmas bakery: baking cookies with the children

Of course, you can't do without Christmas cookies. Cookie baking is one of the highlights of the Christmas season for every child each year. Thus it is firmly integrated into the pre-Christmas planning as a ritual in many families. Understandably: there are countless varieties, shapes and recipes that are perfect for little cookie bakers. Cookies also make great homemade Christmas gifts for friends and relatives. <Link>

On our magazine page about Christmas baking we have compiled, in addition to a simple basic recipe, further tasty ideas for you.

Ideas for baking with children at Christmas

Baking gingerbread with children

Ingredients:

½ l milk
500 g sugar
500 g margarine
1 kg flour
250 g honey
3 eggs
1 packet cinnamon
1 slightly heaped tsp baker's ammonia (hartshorn salt)
1 packet gingerbread spice
2 tbsp cocoa powder
50 g candied lemon peel
200 g sweet chopped almonds
rose water
Oblaten (wafer rounds), approx. 70 mm diameter

Preparation:

Cook milk, sugar, margarine and honey and let cool. In a cup, dissolve 1 heaped tsp hartshorn salt in rose water, brandy, or simply water (about 1 tbsp), and add to the cooled mixture.
Gradually work all other ingredients into the mixture.
Let the dough rest overnight.
Place dough onto the wafer rounds.
Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated oven (moderate heat), turning the baking sheet after 10 minutes.
After cooling, spread chocolate glaze on the gingerbread and decorate.
If you prefer a sugar glaze, you should spread the glaze on the still-warm gingerbread. That way the glaze can be distributed more easily.

Tip:To keep the gingerbread soft, occasionally put a fresh piece of bread or an apple into the gingerbread tin. By adding orange or lemon peels the gingerbread gets a particularly fruity aroma.

Properly stored, your homemade gingerbread will keep for several weeks.

Apple-pear crumble

Ingredients:

approx. 5 medium apples
2–3 pears
Cinnamon and sugar

For the crumble topping:

200 g flour
100 g butter or margarine
100 g sugar
1 packet vanilla sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
200 g walnuts

Preparation:

Peel and core the apples and pears, cut them into medium-sized cubes and parboil in boiling water for about 5–10 minutes.
Drain the fruit, leaving about 100 ml of liquid in the pot, add cinnamon and sugar and reduce. Chop the walnuts finely.
For the crumble, mix butter and sugar and combine with the flour until a crumbly consistency forms.
Place the apples and pears in a baking dish, pour over the reduced sauce and cover evenly with the crumble. Sprinkle a little cinnamon and the chopped walnuts on top.
Bake in a preheated oven at 200° C for about 15 minutes, until the crumble is nicely golden brown.

Tip:Best enjoyed warm right away with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Download recipe