Dessert to make with small children!

[Teladi]

I'm having a cooking party for my DD, who will be four. The party is not in our house, but I will have a hob available, I can't let the kids near it though.

We're making pizza for our main course, but looking for ideas for a dessert / sweet treat that we might be able to make. There will be six mini cooks in total, so something that we could prepare 'I Can Cook' style, with them all doing their own thing, would be ideal.

Ideally it would be a no-cook dessert but I could probably do something that needs to be baked after it would be prepared, or requires addition of something that an adult could prepare (like a sauce or something)

Does anyone have any ideas? I was thinking fruit kebabs but that is perhaps not v inspiring. TIA!

Flapjack? Angel delight? Cupcakes?

What about Eton Mess with ready made meringues?
Or cupcake decorating?

Have a look on Pinterest for no cook desserts for kids - something might grab your fancy.

now I want Eton Mess

Could you make a thick chocolate sauce for fondue: give them each a small ramekin pot of the sauce and let them pick from a selection of things to dip into it: sliced bananas, grapes, strawberries, small biscuit pieces and marshmallows.

Bit of a sugar rush but hey, it's a party.

Jelly, with added fruit- they can each make a cup and choose what fruit to put in it, or you could have different types of jelly cubes for them to use.

The only downside is that it takes an age to set.

Thanks, some really good ideas here! I really like the jelly idea but we just won't have time for it to set. Eton Mess also sounds good. Will figure out the practicalities of each and decide what to go for!

Eton Mess sounds good but neither of my dc would eat it as they don't like cream and nor do any dc that I know tbh. I think cupcake or biscuit icing and decorating or the fruit kebabs sound ideal.

Thanks MumOfTheMoment that's a great point. My own DD is a bit of a food waste disposal unit so I sometimes forget that other DC have likes and dislikes!!

The other mums do know that we will be making pizza and haven't had any feedback about that so hopefully all's well with that at least.

Fruit kebabs sound great maybe include some cake pieces or marshmallows too - carefully counted out for each individual
Or see if you find inspiration on the I can cook recipe site:
www.bbc.co.uk/food/programmes/b00w1ddl

Chocolate bark?

Banana splits! Bananas, ice cream and sauce. What's not to like? Well for one of my DCs it's banana but he'd still eat the ice cream

You can do scoops of different flavours and add sprinkle, cherries, chocolate buttons... Anything.

Do not use any i can cook recipes. They are invariable disgusting.

Mmm banana splits.

Or Jamie O does a banana in foil slices open with choc chips and marshmallows then pop in oven til gooey mmmm

Pancakes? They can make the batter, you can cook and they can fill/decorate and eat.

Either Eton mess or buy a packet of rich tea biscuits and some icing/icing pens and different types of sweets and get them to decorate their own biscuits. You could even theme it e.g self portraits

Scones? They might need some help with adding the quantity of liquid but they're straightforward and the dough can take a fair bit of manhandling, plus cook quick. With jam if wanted.
Or piped biscuits? Straightforward mix and kids love piping them out, they bake quickly and then dip one end in either icing or melted choc. And if time/ skill is an issue you could make either scone dough or piped biscuit mix beforehand and let them do the shaping part.

muffins

Main ingredients : 250gr SR flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 100gr caster sugar 2 egg 250ml milk 125ml sunflower oil ,

pick one or two flavours ,

teaspoon vanilla,1 mashed banana,30gr chocolate chips,30gr sultanas,30gr chopped nuts,30gr dessicated coconut,2 tablespoon cocoa powder.

Turn oven to gas mark 6 or 200 degrees place 8 muffin cases in muffin tin chuck in all main ingredients in bowl mix until smooth.Add your chosen flavours mix, divide amongst cases then bake for 15-20mins or until you can stick with a knife and it comes out clean

or chocolate rice crispies they are easy

If you want to do jelly, you can get vegetarian jelly crystals which set really fast - like 20 minutes max. They sell them in our local health food shop. And they taste just as good!

I would do bread and butter pudding though, they can all have a go at buttering bread, and slicing it into shapes. Then do a layer each of bread, sultanas, sugar etc. And you or one of the kids can mix the custard and pour it over. Yum.

Make cranachan (without the whisky( it's a Scottish dessert with cream, honey, toasted oatmeal and raspberries. It's fun for little fingers to put together. Try googling it.

Or

Mix up equal quantities of plain natural yoghurt and whipped whipping cream together. Spoon the mix into glasses, layering each spoonful with a generous sprinkling of molasses sugar/dark brown sugar and berries of your choice. Put in the fridge to chill, et voila. The dark sugar goes soggy and forms a caramel layer. It's yummy.

My DD made jam tarts recently.
Just buy ready rolled shortcrust pastry, kids can stamp out round shape, put into the moulds and they can drop in a blob of either jam or lemon curd. Put in the oven fir 10 mins or so, job done.
They were super easy and tasted lovely xx

I let my daughters 'make their own tea' recently. They made pizzas and then while that was in the oven they put together an apple crumble (I gave them everything already prepared obviously!) that went in the oven while they ate their pizzas.
Decorating cupcakes and biscuits is always a winner here too ????

Ice cream Knickerbocker Glories, Vanilla and or chocolate ice cream, different things to sprinkle, choc drops, dolly mixtures, some fruit syrup to drizzle, some waffers. Lakeland do lots of that type of thing.

Or buy ready made gingerbread men and have some icing mixed to spoon over, and smarties etc to stick on.

If you make the jelly first in small pots and whack it in the freezer it would be set by the time you finish the pizzas.

I did these with my daughter. So easy and she liked the squishing. They can make them while the pizza and then these could cook while they do the pizza, possibly to take home in a party bag as they might not cool quick enough to eat but no party is complete without jelly and ice cream

Sorry forgot link
www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/makes/i-can-cook-freshfruitflapjacks

Rice crispie cakes, couldn't be easier.

I love Eton Mess idea.