Make Your Own Chocolate House

For Christmas this year the boys have asked for a lot of maker sets such as ice cream makers, slushy makers make your own chocolate lollipops I love that the boys are finding their creative sides, but the one thing most of these expensive make your own sets have in common is that the majority of them come with no ingredients meaning they are not just ready to use, however, the Make your own chocolate house comes with everything you need from instructions and moulds to meltable chocolate.

We were sent this lovely set from What2buy4kids  I realised as soon as I opened it that it would be something I would have to do with one of the kids, not all of them as there was one house not only that my two-year-old is far too heavy handed! I had someone on one time with my six-year-old Adam so we decided to spend it making the chocolate house.

On opening the box inside there were two moulds a bag of white chocolate buttons a bag of milk chocolate buttons, instructions a paper hat and a colour your own garden to place the house on when you have finished.

The first job was to melt the chocolate, the instructions state to put it in the microwave for 40 seconds, we did the milk chocolate first it was perfect we set that aside to cool a little before pouring it into the bowl next the white chocolate for some reason these did not melt at all it just went a bit thick and not very runny so I placed the bowl over another bowl with hot water in it this melted it really well.

next, it was time to pop the chocolate in the moulds this was really simple and went very well, then to place into the fridge to set.

The house actually set really well, we left it for around half an hour in the fridge. Once it was set bit by bit Adam started to very carefully pop the chocolate house parts out of the mould unfortunately when he popped one of the side bits out a little bit did break off but this was easily fixed.

Once all the parts had been removed from the mould we warmed up the leftover white chocolate to use to stick the house together, I did think at the time this is not going to be easy but in actual fact it was really simple using my finger I just popped a bit of the warm chocolate on the edges a bit at a time I found it was easiest to do this with the house standing up it fixed together really well then we popped it back in the fridge for ten minutes to fuse together that was it we had a beautiful choc on choc make your own chocolate house!

I was really pleased with the results and so was Adam he had great fun helping to make it. here are a few tips for a successful looking house.

• Melt the white chocolate over a bowl of hot water rather than in a microwave.
• Don't worry if you haven't filled the chocolate to the sides once you have filled all the mould give it a good few taps on the side to even out the chocolate and get rid of the air bubbles it also should fill all the gaps.
• It doesn't take many buttons to stick the house together so you only need to save a very small handful of the white ones to stick it together at the end.
• Last but not least eat it and enjoy it the chocolate is absolutely divine really good quality.

Overall I absolutely love this Make your own chocolate house it has everything you need to get creative with the kids, have fun and for half the price of some of the popular make your own kits around this retails at £12.50 and can be purchased Here at What2Buy4kids  or alternatively you can visit the choc on choc website here this house is available to buy all year round, however, I think it would make a great Christmas gift for kids.

   This choc on choc house was sent to us to review from What2Buy4kids all opinions remain honest and my own.        

Half Term Baking with The Kids and DR.Oetker

Half term is already nearly upon us and its difficult to find things to do especially with Christmas just around the corner and probably for most like me funds are short or are being preserved for Santa, what better to do than some half term baking with the kids its fun keeps them engaged and bring out the creative in them. We were kindly sent some amazing Cake decorating items from Dr. Oetker which made the cake decorating exciting and really let them explore their creative side.

We used a really simple recipe that I remember off the top of my head and I have been using for fairy cakes since I was a little girl remember when it comes to kids baking it doesn't have to be perfect nor does it have to be a piece of art like you see splashed all over the internet, baking should be fun, messy and inexpensive that is exactly what it was in my house.

Ingredients 

• 110g/4oz butter or margarine.
• 110g/4oz caster sugar.
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten.
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional).
• 110g/4oz self-raising flour.
• 1-2 tbsp milk.

Method

• heat the oven to before you do anything to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and fill 2 x 12 fairy cake tins with paper cases.

• Mix the butter and sugar together in a bowl it should turn pale once you have done this. Beat in the eggs, a little bit at a time, and stir in the vanilla extract (you don't have to use this).

• Fold in the flour or if its kids miking them stirring is just fine use a large spoon if you can. Add a little milk until the mixture is a soft dropping consistency and spoon the mixture into the paper cases until they are half full.

• Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes, or until golden on top and using a skewer or knife insert it into one of the cakes if it comes out clean then they are cooked. Set them aside to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and cool and let them cool.

Usually, we would make our own icing, but with Dr.Oetker there is no need for icing the decorations are easy to use taste simply divine and will have the kids squealing with excitement as they add there own individual personality to each cake it was absolute chaos but they had so much fun.

There is so much choice to choose from with Dr.Oetker and it is certainly not going to break the bank this is what the boys used to get creative with theirs.

• Super Hero Sprinkles
• Fairy Princess Sprinkles
• Chocolate Mix Sprinkles
• Bright and Bold Sprinkles
• Chocolate Footballs
• Food Colour Gels
• Easy Swirl
• Writing Icing
• Heart Marshmallows

To see more from the Dr. Oetker range of baking goodies and toppings visit www.oetker.co.uk

Below are two more recipes from Dr. Oetker if you would like something a little more challenging or with a different taste, however, if you don't fancy any of these recipes you can find plenty more inspiration over on the Dr Oetker website Here You will also find all the toppings that they make on their website through there online shop so you can purchase them and much much more!

Chocolate Heart Mallow Cupcakes 

Ingredients

For the recipe Chocolate Heart Mallow Cupcakes
For the Cupcakes:
Dr. Oetker Cupcake Cases
220 g Margarine softened
220 g Caster Sugar
Medium Eggs x 4, beaten
5 ml Dr. Oetker Madagascan Vanilla Extract (1 tsp)
2 Dr. Oetker Fine Dark Cocoa Powder (x2 sachets or 50g)
170 g Plain Flour
3 Dr. Oetker Baking Powder Sachets x 3 (3 tsp)

For the Decoration:
150 g Butter softened
350 g Icing Sugar
2 Dr. Oetker Fine Dark Cocoa Powder (x2 sachets or 50g/6 tbsp)
25 g Dr. Oetker Heart Marshmallows

Preparation

Chocolate Heart Mallow Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 190°C (170°C Fan, Gas Mark 5). Line a cupcake tin with 12 Cupcake Cases.

Beat the margarine with the sugar until light in texture.

Gradually whisk in the eggs and Madagascan Vanilla Extract.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder and Baking Powder. Using a metal spoon, fold the dry ingredients into the mixture.

Spoon the mixture into the Cupcake Cases and bake for 20-22 minutes until risen and just firm to the touch. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

For the icing, place the butter into a bowl and beat until soft. Gradually sift and beat in the icing sugar and cocoa powder to make a smooth buttercream. Add a little milk if the buttercream is too thick.

Fit a piping bag with a 1cm closed star nozzle then fill with buttercream and pipe onto the cupcakes. Place a Heart Marshmallow onto each cupcake to finish.

Strawberry Marshmallow Cheesecake Bites 

Ingredients

For the Cheesecakes :
Dr. Oetker Baking Cases
115 g Digestive Biscuits, (4oz) finely crushed
65 g Butter, (2 1/2 oz) melted
150 g Strawberries, (5oz) washed
1 Dr. Oetker Free Range Egg White Powder Sachet, (5g)
50 g Caster Sugar, (2oz)
150 g Full fat soft cheese, (5oz)
Dr. Oetker Platinum Grade Leaf Gelatine, 3 sheets
Dr. Oetker Bright Red Gel Food Colour

To decorate:
150 ml Whipping Cream, (1/4pt)
100 g Strawberry Jam, (3 1/2 oz) sieved
Dr. Oetker Heart Marshmallow, 1 bag

Preparation

For the Cheesecakes

Line a 12 cup muffin tin with Baking Cases. Put the crushed biscuits in a bowl.

Stir the melted butter or margarine into the biscuits until well coated. Divide the mixture equally between the cases and press down into an even layer to make a smooth base. Chill until required.

For the filling, remove the green stems from the strawberries, roughly chop the fruit and blend in a food processor for a few seconds until smooth. Spoon 30ml (2 tbsp) into a small bowl, cover and chill until required for decoration.

Make up the Egg White Powder according to the pack instructions and whisk until stiff. Gradually whisk in the sugar to make a thick, glossy meringue. In another bowl, beat the soft cheese until smooth.

Put the Leaf Gelatine in a shallow bowl and cover with cold water. Leave to soak for 5 minutes then drain and squeeze out the excess water. Place the gelatine in a small bowl and spoon over 45ml (3 tbsp) very hot water. Mix well until thoroughly dissolved. Stir into the remaining strawberry purée.

Using a spatula, scrape the meringue onto the soft cheese and carefully mix them together. Gradually and gently, mix in the strawberry purée until well blended.

Spoon the mixture on top of the biscuit bases to fill the cases. Chill for at least 1 hour until set.

Carefully peel away the cases and put the marshmallow bites on a serving plate. Whip the cream until softly peaking and load into a piping bag fitted with a large closed star nozzle. Pipe a swirl on top of each. Mix the reserved strawberry purée with the jam and drizzle a little over each cheesecake. Top with a Heart Marshmallow to serve. Serve any remaining sauce as an accompaniment.

My Perfect Pastry set from Annabel Karmel #Review

We were asked if we would like to review The My Perfect pastry set I knew the boys would be thrilled to try a Casdon Annabel Karmel My Perfect Pastry Set. Toy company Casdon has created a range of cooking tools for young chefs as inspired and approved by Annabel Karmel. These are perfectly normal kitchen utensils, only suitable for little hands. This set is aimed at children aged 5-11.

Annabel Karmel has written special recipes to go with the range (which also includes a Mini Pizza Set and an Ultimate Baker's Set).

Annable Karmel doesn't need any introductions. She is a leading expert on children's nutrition and kitchen gadgets, weaning products, and has inspired a range of baking kits for want to be little chefs.

The set comes with a lovely little book of recipe ideas so if you are short of ideas for what to make, it is all there in the little booklet and they are really simple things perfect for those that like to create and bake.

This set includes:

• 1 round baking tin
• 1 mini tart pan
• 10 cookie cutters
• 6 measuring spoons
• 1 silicone spatula
• 1 measuring jug
• 1 mixing bowl with anti-slip base
• 1 silicone handle whisk
• 10 recipes 

This pastry set is fab its eye catching bright and colourful, the majority of the items are made from plastic apart from the tins which are lightweight metal, making them perfect for children to get baking with. The yellow bowl has an anti slip base so it does help to limit the mess to an extent, if that is possible when young children are baking.

We made the lemon cookies from Annabel Karmel's recipe as printed in the leaflet.

You need; 

100g of cubed soft butter, 

50g caster sugar, 

150g plain flour  

zest of 1 lemon. 

however the dough was not the right consistency somehow, it was too crumbly and dry, there was no way I'd be able to roll it out. I added a drop of milk and water to make the dough stick together it did help with the consistency I split the dough in to two separate pieces so each of the boys had there own piece to roll out the rolling pin has a really nice feel to it as you can hold the handles and the body of the rolling pin rotates around great for little hands.

The boys loved the cookie cutters and choosing there shapes although Liam being his usual self picked out two that he liked the house and the fish and refused to use any others, but Adam was excited by the choice he had to choose from they loved cutting and putting them on the tray once they had finished making them I popped them in the oven they had to be cooked for 10 minutes at 180'C, I must admit I left them a little bit too long and the edges were a bit overly brown.  Now the idea was that they were going to decorate them with icing once they had done however the boys ad a very much different idea of just eating them all whilst they were warm, so this time they didn't get decorated - but by the enjoyment the boys got from this set I can see it is going to be very loved and used a lot in this house.

Overall myself and the boys loved this set, the set does state that it is for children of ages 5 - 11 but Adam who is three got on perfectly well using it as well as Liam did. This amazing pastry set is packed full of bits and I certainly think you get your moneys worth from it RRP £20 from Amazon , my only small gripe is that I think the cookie cutters could do with being slightly bigger, however I can see the makers way of thinking that they are for small hands - we loved this set though!

   

We were sent this fabulous Perfect Pastry set for the purpose of this review all opinions remain honest and my own.

Watching the spring bloom, We get creative!

This time of year is one of my favorites, watching the flowers and wildlife coming to life again after everywhere has looked naked throughout the winter months it is always guaranteed to put a smile on my face alongside the fact that the sunshine is brightening up the days, I think it always makes people feel better and it certainly lifts the mood.

This Month myself and the boys have been flower spotting and discussing the spring a lot, as well as looking at some of the insects that are beginning to appear - I am not such a big fan of creepy crawleys but the boys love to explore anything that moves or is brightly colored everywhere we have been they have been pointing out flowers that they can see and anything else that looks pretty.

Liam has been learning lots about the spring this month at nursery so this fits in really well that Center parks have set a challenge this month to show off your painting skills and creativity skills to re-create some of the natural beauty that is appearing everywhere you go at this time of year.

 these are some of the flowers we have spotted on our travel.

So we have been getting creative at home to reinforce the boys learning skills, by using this and the help of Center Parcs top creativity tips from Emma Hill (creativity Crafter) we have , the boys have really got creative and have given there impression of what they think the flowers look like.

This is the tip we used from Center Parcs this month,

"Find materials around the house to add to the painting, giving it a 3D effect. Why not paint an old bottle cap and stick it in the centre of a flower, really bringing your painting to life?"

So this is what we have been doing, we have made some 3D effect flowers from some old artificial flowers, that I thought had seen better days combined them with lollipop sticks, stickers and some tissue paper to make there impression of a spring flower, Liam and Adam had a great time getting creative (with a little help!).

The boys loved making the 3D flowers, Adam is young still at the age of two, had, had enough after his flower making, he was tired, so off he went for his afternoon nap, which left me and Liam some fabulous quality time to paint together and to talk about spring, Liam is like a sponge he seems to remember everything you tell him but gets the words mixed up! he decided he wanted to paint some "dandy- dills" which made me laugh realising what he had said he corrected himself to daffodils, Liam loves to paint he used the brush and his fingers to create his lovely picture.

The last picture on the end is my attempt at painting some flowers, I think the boys ideas win hands down!

It has been really fun getting out and about this month, looking at flowers and watching little bits of nature appearing, the boys have really enjoyed being outside learning and then trying to re-create the flowers they have seen, I personally love daffodils at this time of year!

 ‘This is my entry to the Center Parcs and Tots 100 February challenge. If I’m chosen, I would like to visit Sherwood forest’

Indoor Fun At Half Term

Lets face it the weather has been pretty awful in the last few weeks and this week isn't any exception. The half term is here and with the weather being rain virtually all of the time, we practically have no choice but to stay at home, when we do venture out it is usually to visit friends or relatives, however this still means most of our time is being spent indoors. With two very lively boys this can be quite a challenge for me and very boring for them.

Center Parcs have set a challenge this month, to get creative with your children and to make a game to have some indoor fun. Now I am not the most creative mummy and I am certainly no Picasso - But I am partial to a bit of quieter time and laughter which making, creating and playing always seems to bring. 

Taking inspiration from Lisa's tips on indoor family time, Center Parcs challenge, Lisa's tip is;

"Screw up some old newspaper and stick it together to make a ball. Decorate it, grab some empty toilet roll holders and make your own indoor ten pin bowling alley". 

I hadn't got any empty toilet roll holders so we put our own spin on the game. Using plastic cups we made an in-door's skittle set, I got the boys to paint the cups in a colour of their choice, Liam choose blue, Adam Purple they really enjoyed painting each cup it took a little while for us to get through them, but the boys concentration and creativity really shone through they love to paint, we put the cups to one side so they had time to dry before we played skittles.

Whilst our new lovely skittles game was drying out, We moved onto a different task I gave the boys both a medium sized box each, with my help we cut out a mouth shaped semi-circle on the box, then I drew on the boxes two circles for what looked like eyes and they both painted the eyes on there boxes. The boxes eyes dried pretty quickly - quite a good job because there concentration with the creative side of making was beginning to waver slightly. My idea was to take it in turns to roll balls along the floor into the hole, The boys had very different ideas they decided to fetch all there push along cars line them up and take it in turns rolling the cars into the hole.

Even though the hole was quite big they still managed to role the cars around the boxes, but they had great fun, laughing and giggling no squabbling over anything and they played this all evening until it was time for a bath and bed.

I thought they would be fed up when they got up the next morning or have lost interest, much to my surprise they went back to the boxes again, bruming, zooming and whooshing cars and anything else they could find with wheels into the box, in which they have called "Robot" it was lovely to see them playing and most importantly using something that had cost nothing, that they had helped to create.

Of course later that afternoon the boxes were quickly losing their novelty, we fetched out the skittles/plastic cups that had dried out, again the boys wanted to use there cars to knock them down, it was great they were using there imaginations, saying "I am winning" and playing together as a team.

The games were really simple to make all that was used was,

• Plastic Cups (left over from a Party)
• paint
• Cardboard boxes (picked up from a supermarket)

 

The two games kept a two and a three year old very happy. For the cost of virtually nothing they were both really simple, but really effective, it just shows a little bit of imagination and some bits lying around the home can lead to a fun filled afternoon for children. The indoors can be just as fun as out.

‘This is my entry to the Center Parcs and Tots 100 February challenge. If I’m chosen, I would like to visit Sherwood forest’