I’m not sure if it’s just me but this year is just flying by.
(I feel like I say this every year, but this year, it seems to have stepped up to light speed.)
Life has been very full, with a baby and two kids in Primary school this year. Noey stepped up to P4, and with it came an increase in workload. The mini-tests started in in Week 5 (!!) when I had barely settled down to start the school year. Mei, on the other hand, started P1. It has been an exciting change for both her and I as we get used to a new school and new schedules and systems. Add to that a baby who needs to be carried A LOT and who equally needs attention, plus the fact that I still have to work on some days, I don’t have much bandwidth and am mostly just getting by.
Busy as I am however, the show, as they say, must go on.
Chinese New Year this year was, yes, upon me before I knew it. I must confess that I do the minimum when it comes to this festival, but I do try to make it significant for the kids, be it in decorating the house, or munching on You Sheng at any given opportunity! This year, I was delighted to add some Chinese New Year baking WITH THE KIDS to the list, thanks to Bakestarters!
When I first heard of Bakestarters, I knew this was a service I would find useful. I’m not much of a baker — cooking is more my thing. I think one of the reasons is that I hate having to measure out stuff! Cooking I can do by feel but when it comes to baking, that would be a recipe for disaster.
I do however like to bake once in a while with the kids because they really enjoy it. They love getting the mixer out and running and who wouldn’t enjoy eating the fruits of their labour? But. Have you baked with kids before? To say it can be messy is a bit of an understatement! Also, there’s all that prep work that no one talks about. It starts with thinking about what we could make and sourcing for the right kid-friendly recipe, then buying the necessary ingredients and sometimes even the necessary equipment, then finding the time and measuring out the ingredients before I even invite the kids to descend on the process.
What Bakestarters does is take most of the prep work, and I dare say most of the mess, out of your hands. On their website they offer a selection of baking kits, all tried and tested.
Pick a dessert that catches your fancy, and for each there is an assessed difficulty level, most (and soon, hopefully all) with a tutorial video to give you an idea of how the recipe would pan out. Decide on one and (this is the best part) you can order a box with all the ingredients shipped to you (minus the eggs which you have to supply yourself), measured out in the exact amounts that you need. I think this is particularly awesome especially if you don’t bake regularly. I can’t tell you how many bags of unfinished chocolate chips or cocoa powder or nuts of various varieties I’ve thrown out because I needed “some” for a recipe and then had no idea what to do with the rest. A baking kit with exactly what I need not only saves time, it also cuts waste.
We recently had the opportunity to make the classic Chinese New Year treat: PINEAPPLE TARTS!
I’ve made pineapple tarts once before a couple of years ago — on my own when the kids were off at school, of course. Would I dare to try this with the kids? Quite honestly, I wouldn’t if I didn’t have a baking kit. But since we were going to have the recipe and the ingredients, together with Bakestarters’ promise that it would be easy to create buttery tarts, Mei and I decided to give it a go.
There was great excitement when our kit came, neatly packaged. The cold ingredients came packaged separately in a cooler bag and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the kit included baking paper to line our trays. There was even a small packet of water to be used for moistening our hands, to my kids’ amusement.
We broke everything out on a Saturday morning and before we started, we took a moment to watch the tutorial video, which was really helpful in getting us all up to speed on what we were supposed to be doing. Thereafter, save for separating the eggs, I could let Mei follow the instructions on the card and mix everything herself. It was very manageable since she just had to open the packets and sift in all the dry ingredients! Because most of the ingredients had already been measured out, I could let her take ownership of the process without worrying too much about her getting it right. She was so chuffed to be in charge!
Even Noey couldn’t resist and came in to join us in rolling out the pineapple filling.
It was, I dare say, one of the most stress-free baking experiences I’ve had with my kids. Within two hours, we had our tray of tarts baked and out of the oven! I think they looked pretty good, if I may say so myself!
This was tray #1. We ended up with 39 tarts because Noey dropped one dollop of pineapple jam on the floor. Because, you know, things like that happen when you bake with kids!
Aside from looking good, the more important thing was that the pineapple tarts passed the taste test too. The pastry was lovely and buttery. In fact, my husband declared it one of the best he’s had! We all agreed that the pineapple paste lacked a bit of that homemade flavour, so maybe next time, when I’m brave enough, I might try making my own pineapple jam. That’s a very big MAYBE there! Haha. But seriously, the tarts were yummy and a big hit with everyone who tried them. We were eating them so fast that Mei protested and put an embargo on them till Chinese New Year for fear that there would be none left! She was SO PROUD of her pineapple tarts and for me, that was one of the best parts of the experience. That and the minimal mess, which is always a good thing in my books!
We enjoyed the process so much that I’ve signed us up for the Bakestarters Bake Better Subscription, completely unsolicited and sponsored out of my own pocket, so that we can continue baking new recipes together at least once a month. With the subscription, I get tried and tested recipes, exact ingredients measured out for me and delivered to my doorstep, no wastage, minimal mess, and plenty of bonding time. What’s there not to love, right? I decided on the subscription (also because I enjoy small surprises!), but Bakestarters also has a bunch of interesting baking kits which I would also love to check out.
Here’s to more baking adventures!
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