Baking for 'good' mothers

All good mothers know that you should attempt to bake with your child every once in a while.

It takes a lot of preparation, patience and the understanding that the cakes/biscuits will look nothing like the picture in the book, or on the internet and they will probably end up being fed to the dog as he is the only one who will stomach them. Even so, he will give them a second glance before taking them.

However, if you grin and bear the baking hour (it should not last more than an hour, if it does then declare the oven is broken and send the kids back to the TV), then you will not have to do it for at least another 6 months/ year if you are really lucky.

So, my latest attempt at baking with Scarlett started off well, like usual...full of hope, promise and lies:

'Our biscuits will look just the same, of course darling!'

I then discovered that my electronic scales had stopped working as I hadn't used them in 6 months, so I had to guess the amount of ingredients. After a bit of 'Add more flour'...'No! add more butter!' we got a ball of dough together.

We made the heart shapes then I threw them into the oven and hoped for the best- whatever that was.

Then came the 'fun' part. Making the gooey marshmallow/Chewit melting mess in the middle of the sandwich biscuits. Once the half burnt biscuits were out and I put the slime in the middle, the pan was a hot sticky mess, so I did the easiest thing and I threw it into the bin. I haven't looked back.

Scarlett decided to take the biscuits into her teachers, and after a bite I gladly wrapped them in cling film and put the in her bag for the morning.

I haven't had a chance to speak to her teachers to see if they enjoyed them, but I have seen them glaring and backing away from me, so at least the are still standing.

If your baking day with your children is coming up, I have provided the recipe below should you fancy making these for your relatives/children's teachers/enemies.

Good luck and I will feel the pain of baking for 'good' mothers again in six months...