This has to be without a doubt, one of the most fun times of the year to get the kids into the kitchen and create some Christmastastic treats. Kids love being helpful and coming up with fun ways to create festive snacks and treats for parties or even a Christmas breakfast. Some of my kid’s happiest memories were made while they were covered in Christmas sprinkles and watching snowman marshmallows float to the bottom of their hot chocolate! We’ve chosen some of our favourite festive goodies that are easy to make and you can turn into a fun, family activity.

WARNING – CHOCOLATE OVERLOAD!

Marshmallow Snowman

Do ya wanna build a snowman….. Kids absolutely love creating their own snowmen made from marshmallows, pretzel sticks and tubes of coloured icing. Arrange them on trays, pop them on top of cakes or float them in cups of yummy hot chocolate.

Christmas Tree Brownies

Start with a regular pan of gooey decadent brownies and cut it into triangles and allow to cool. You can decorate the trees with sprinkles, candy stars and make different shapes or swirls with coloured icing. Finish off the trees by inserting a stick of candy cane into the brownie to create a stem.

Santa Hat Brownies

This one has to be a firm Christmas favourite and can be made by using small round shapes cut from either a tray of chocolate brownies or a cheesecake. Slice the strawberries at the base and position them on top of the brownie and pipe-on your whipped cream or vanilla frosting to create perfect little santa hats!

Perfect Festive Pancakes

For years in our house this was the Christmas staple breakfast. Make up a batch of fluffy buttermilk pancakes and let the kids create their own versions using their favourite cookie cutter shapes. You can choose from either a gingerbread man shaped pancake or use the cut pancake to make a chocolate sandwich style treat. Another fun breakfast option is to add a little green food colouring to the batter mix and use different size cookie cutters to create a variety of star or circle shapes to create a breakfast pancake tree. Add some seasonal sprinkles to give breakfast that extra little sparkle!

Candy Cane Hearts

This one looks pretty impressive but is actually quite easy. Place pairs of different size candy canes, facing each other to form a heart shape on a baking paper lined oven tray. Pre-heat your oven to 120 degrees C and place the candy canes shapes into the oven for approx 5-8 minutes, keep checking as they can soften quite quickly as the candy heats up. The trick is to only soften them enough to bend them into shapes, so keep an eye on them. Once soft enough to bend, gently press the tips of the candy canes together to fuse them into one solid shape and leave them to cool.

Put smaller candy canes or odd pieces into a plastic bag and crush them into small pieces with a mallet.

Meanwhile start melting your chocolate in small pans and then carefully fill the center of the candy cane hearts and smooth it into an even layer. To make swirled bark, drop alternating spoonfuls of white and dark coating inside the candy cane heart and then drag a toothpick through the chocolate to create a swirled pattern.

While the chocolate is still soft, top the hearts with a generous sprinkle of candy cane pieces and then refrigerate the trays until the hearts have completely chilled before you remove from the trays. Ta Da some very impressive Christmas candy hearts!

Most of all enjoy and have a very Merry Christmas.

Editors note: parents don’t panic we have a healthier version too!