Kids in the kitchen – Bradley’s ginger crunch

Baking with kids requires a whole new level of patience. Penelope, who’s 4, likes to go in with all guns blazing and has to do everything ‘by myself.’ This means flour gets sifted onto the bench instead of in the bowl, egg shells need to be fished out of batter, and there is a lot of finger dipping going on. I just have to accept that there will be a mess and that’s quite hard for me to do.

Bradley, on the other hand, is much more laidback about the whole process. As long as he knows he’s going to be eating something at the end of it, he’s quite happy to take his time with measuring, stirring etc. And now that he’s 8, there’s also the chance to sneak a bit of maths in there at the same time.

Just like his Popsy, he’s quite fond of ginger. He’s partial to a cup of ginger tea and loves ginger crunch, so this recipe is right up his alley. It’s a great one for kids – you don’t need a cake mixer, and as long as they’re old enough to stir a pot, they can manage the whole thing.

For the base

Ingredients

230g rolled oats
60g desiccated coconut
185g brown sugar
210g butter, melted
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 9×13″ tin with baking paper and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients together until well combined.
Press into the tin, making sure it’s pretty evenly squashed out. Damp hands help.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until the slice starts to turn a light golden brown.
Remove from the oven and pour the hot icing onto the hot slice, as below.

For the icing

200g icing sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger
120g butter
2 teaspoons golden syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method

Start the icing when the base has around 5 minutes left in the oven.
Place all of the ingredients in a small saucepan and stir over a low heat, until the butter has melted and the icing is smooth.
Just before spreading it over the slice, increase the heat and bring the icing to a simmer, stirring constantly for one minute.
Remove from the heat and pour it over the hot slice, smoothing it to the edges.

Allow to cool completely before slicing.
This will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.

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