Easy Kid-Approved Desserts To Make With Your Family

Getting your kids off the couch and away from the latest show streaming on TV or games released online can be challenging. But with these kid-friendly baking recipes up your sleeve, we’re sure your kids will come running to help in no time at all! These dessert recipes are super simple and make for great family bonding activity; plus, the result means you get delicious bites out of it too – three cheers! 

But there’s more to baking than just delicious bites and quality time spent. The act itself helps kids develop important life skills while improving their maths. From reading recipes to understanding measurements, your child must pay attention to the details to achieve the best-tasting results. We’ve checked in with the team to bring you a list of some of our favourite dessert recipes to get whipping up in the kitchen with your kids! So bring out your baking equipment, and let’s get to it!  

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are the perfect desserts to bake with kids. There’s no need to roll or cut anything out, and you’ll only need a few ingredients to make them. Plus, they take only 10 minutes in the oven, so there’s no need for your child to exercise a lot of patience. As with all baking, your kids can help to measure and mix the ingredients thoroughly for the cookie dough. 

To get started, all you’ll need are a hand mixer machine, a food processor or blender will also work, an electric oven, and a digital kitchen scale. 

Recipe Yield: 24 cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Baking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 125g of butter 
  • ½ cup of white sugar
  • ½ cup of brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoon of vanilla essence
  • 1 egg 
  • 1 ¾ cups of self-raising flour 
  • ¼ teaspoon of salt 
  • 150g milk chocolate chips 

Instructions

  1. Heat your electric oven to 190°C and line your baking sheets with non-stick baking paper. 
  2. Using your hand mixer or spatula, whisk together your sugars, salt, and butter until it forms a mixture with no lumps. 
  3. Add in your egg and vanilla essence. Beat until you notice light ribbons falling off your whisk. 
  4. Sift your self-raising flour into the mixture. 
  5. Gently fold the mixture with your spatula or hand mixer (if you are using one) on a slow-speed setting. Avoid overmixing, as it may cause the gluten in your flour to become tough. This can result in crumbly cookies. 
  6. Add your chocolate chips in and fold the mixture again. 
  7. Use a teaspoon to make small scoops of the mixture, spacing them out on the baking tray. This mixture should make you about 24 cookies. 
  8. Bake the cookie dough for 8 to 12 minutes or until they are light brown on the edges but still slightly soft in the centre if you press them. 
  9. Leave them on the tray to cool before lifting them into the cooling rack. Enjoy your kid-approved dessert! 

Mini Cheesecake Jars

Perfect for picnics or excursions with their friends, this dessert features cheesecake in a jar made with fresh fruit preserves. Plus, these single-serving cheesecakes in a jar are adorable and easy mini alternatives to their full-size cousins. They can bake in just half an hour and be cooked a few days ahead. This means you can make them over the weekends and have your child bring them to school the same week! 

Recipe Yield: 6 jars

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Baking Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients for the cheesecake

  • 8 ounces of cream cheese that has softened at room temperature
  • ½ cup of sugar
  • 3 large eggs 
  • ½ cup of sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
  • Salt (for tasting) 
  • 1¾ cup of fruit preserves or jam 

Ingredients for the graham topping

  • 4 graham crackers
  • 1 ½ tablespoon of melted, unsalted butter 

Steps

  1. Preheat your electric oven to 160°C first. 
  2. To make the cheesecake, beat the cream cheese using a hand or stand mixer on medium speed until smooth. 
  3. Add sugar, then beat the mixture on medium speed for 3 minutes more before reducing the speed. 
  4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  5. Raise the speed to medium again. 
  6. Add sour cream, lemon juice, and ¼ teaspoon of salt. 
  7. Beat the mixture for 3 minutes. 
  8. Once the batter has achieved even consistency, divide it amongst six 6-ounce jars – fill each till two-thirds full. 
  9. Transfer the jars to a deep baking dish. 
  10. Add boiling water to the dish, ensuring it reaches halfway up the sides of the jars. 
  11. Cover the baking dish with foil before cutting 8 slits into the top for ventilation. 
  12. Bake for 25 minutes or until the cake is set in the centre. Let it cool and refrigerate overnight to set. 
  13. Meanwhile, make the graham topping. 
  14. Use a food processor to pulse the graham crackers till it reaches a breadcrumb consistency. You can also use a high-speed blender to crumb the crackers. 
  15. Pour in the melted butter and mix well. 
  16. Bake it on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 10 minutes before letting it cool. 
  17. Once the cake and graham topping has cooled, top each cheesecake with your jam or fruit preserves. Divide your graham topping evenly between each jar. 
  18. The dessert is ready to be served!  

Sweet Fairy Cakes

Fairy cakes are a great recipe to introduce your children to baking. The dessert’s lovely light sponge and buttery icing are sure to conjure smiles from family and friends alike. You can even get your child to express their creativity by decorating the fairy cake with a little drizzly icing and plenty of sprinkles. 

Recipe Yield: 12 servings

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Baking Time: 20 minutes (inclusive of cooling time)

Ingredients for the cake

  • 100g caster sugar
  • 100g softened butter
  • 100g self-raising flour 
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Ingredients for the icing

  • 200g softened butter
  • 200g icing sugar
  • Food colouring, sprinkles, or marshmallows of your child’s choice

Steps

  1. Preheat your electric oven to 180°C. 
  2. Place a paper case in each hole of a 12-hole bun tin. 
  3. Combine sugar and butter in a mixing bowl and mix it together with a spatula. You can also simplify this process by using a hand or stand mixer. 
  4. Sift in the flour. 
  5. Break the eggs into a separate bowl and mix them together before adding vanilla extract. 
  6. Divide the batter equally between the cases. 
  7. Place the tray in the oven to bake for 20 minutes. 
  8. Meanwhile, you can use this time to make the icing. 
  9. Mix the butter and icing sugar together to create creamy icing. 
  10. You can also add food colourings of your choice. 
  11. Push an icing nozzle into an icing bag before scooping in the icing. 
  12. Once the cakes have finished baking, let them cool completely in the tray. 
  13. Pipe icing onto each cake and let your child decorate it with marshmallows, sprinkles, or even cookies of their choice. 
  14. Serve the dessert! 

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

Albeit a little more complicated than the recipes mentioned above, these classic hot-weather treats are quintessential, especially in the tropical heat of Malaysia. Perfect for birthday parties or an everyday dessert, here’s how you can go about making your own vanilla ice cream at home with your kid! Put a scoop between a slice of soft, white bread, and it’s time you revel in the nostalgia. 

Recipe Yield: 8 big scoops of ice cream

Prep Time: 2 hours

Ingredients

  • 284mL of double cream milk 
  • 300mL of full-fat milk 
  • 115g of golden caster sugar
  • 1 vanilla pod
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • Lots of ice cubes at the ready 

Steps

  1. Place your freezer bowl or canister from your machine into the freezer a day before you want to make the ice cream. 
  2. Next day, pour the cream and milk into a medium heavy-based pan before tipping in half the sugar. 
  3. Slit the vanilla pod down its length with a small, sharp knife and scoop out as many of the tiny black seeds as you can into the cream mixture. 
  4. Cut the pod into three and drop it into the pan. 
  5. Heat the cream and milk over low heat and occasionally stir until it almost boils or when you see a few bubbles at the edge. 
  6. Take the mixture off the heat and set aside for 30 minutes to allow the vanilla to infuse. 
  7. Place the egg yolks with the rest of the sugar into a bowl and beat with your hand mixer for 2 minutes or until the mixture has thickened. The mixture should be paler in colour, falling in thick ribbons when you lift the beaters. 
  8. Using a measuring jug, scoop out 125mL of the cream mixture and beat in the egg yolk mixture until even. 
  9. Return the pan to a low-heat and cook. Consistently stir the mixture with a wooden spoon for 8-10 minutes until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. 
  10. Ensure that the mixture does not curdle by removing the pan from the heat once it almost reaches boiling. 
  11. Pour the custard into a heatproof bowl and sit it in a bigger bowl that’s one-third filled with ice water and let it cool. 
  12. Stir occasionally to prevent skin from forming. 
  13. Put the bowl of custard in the fridge for three to four hours, preferably overnight, to ensure that it gets really cold.  
  14. Get your ice cream maker running and scoop out the vanilla pod pieces before slowly pouring in the cold custard. 
  15. Leave the machine to churn for 10 to 30 minutes. 
  16. It will probably be too soft to eat at the moment, so spoon it into a plastic container, cover it with a cling film, then a lid and freeze for a minimum of 3 hours. 
  17. Remove from the freezer 15 minutes before serving the dessert. 

Prepare Your Kid-Approved Dessert From Scratch With Kenwood Malaysia

Kenwood Malaysia commits to making baking easy, convenient, and enjoyable for families across the world. As such, each of our baking equipment and tools is designed specially to enhance baking results whilst enriching your journey. 

Shop Kenwood Malaysia for hand mixers, stand mixer machines, stand mixer attachments, and other miscellaneous baking tools like digital kitchen scales and more. We even have food preparation appliances like food processors, choppers, and even smoothie makers to simplify your kitchen experience at home. Whatever it is you choose, enjoy the baking process with your kids and explore Kenwood Malaysia’s online store for all the equipment you could need!