Valentine’s day is all about celebrating that someone special, and that can be anyone that we hold dear. Girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, wife, mum, dad, granny, grandpa, if you love them, then Valentine’s day is the perfect opportunity to show them. That’s why I loved it when my 4-year-old nephew came up to me and asked me to help him do something special. ‘What do you mean, something special?’ I asked, thinking we were just going to play some bizarre game where we’re Ghostbusters or something. (Don’t ask, it’s his latest obsession.) He told me about how Valentine’s Day is all about showing someone that you love them, and the person he loved most in the world was his mummy, and how he wanted to make her a special valentines surprise. I know, how unbelievably cute!
Cooking With Kids… Chocolate Lollipops
There’s something about cooking with children which always seems so hard. It starts off such a good idea, and you think that there’s no way you can possibly mess it up. It’s only when it takes you twice as long, the kitchens a complete mess, and you have no idea how much of the ingredients actually made it to the bowl, that you wonder why you ever suggested it in the first place.
Cakes are always a good idea, even when they go a bit wrong they can normally always be salvaged. But then you end up wearing more flour then you use, and if you let the child crack the egg, you have half of it rolling around the table. But my nephew loves the idea of baking and cooking different things. He tries to be so helpful and do absolutely everything, that more often than not, you slightly want to give up on it, and completely take over.
Because I love baking, I think it’s important to pass on the passion. And while he’s willing, I’m up for letting Bo help me out in the kitchen any time. I wanted to do something really simple with him. Something that was impossible to mess up, and was quick and easy for him to make.
We’re not massive chocolate eaters in our house, and what we have is often left lying around until it runs out of date. So instead of wasting it all and just chucking it in the bin, I wanted to make something new out of all of it. And what better way than to melt them down and turn them into chocolate lollies. Super quick and easy to make, you can’t really go wrong.