PIZZA

We normally use shop-bought margarita bases and add the toping, but it is really easy to make the bases yourself. This is adapted from a Rachel Allen recipe:

You need
- 350 gr white four (preferably bread flour)
- a pinch of salt
- a teaspoon of sugar
- 25 gr butter (cold and cut into cubes)
- 25 ml of olive oil
- 7 gr fast yeast
- 160 ml warn water

Mix the flour, salt and sugar. Rub the butter in like if you are going to make a crumble. Then add the yeast, and finally the oil and water. Mix well.  Cover the dough with a tea towel (clean!) and let it rest for five minutes. Then knead it for 10 minutes. Divide the dough into three balls. Cover them with a little bit of olive oil and cling film and let them rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

When you are ready to cook the pizza roll the dough out and put any toping you like on top. We used tomato sauce, ham, chorizo, cheese and basel. Cook in a preheated 200 degrees oven for 10-15 minutes until crispy.

Children love helping with all of this. Mine always use far too many toppings, but that is part of the game...

CARAMEL POPCORN

We did this for the Christmas school party and it was very successful.

You need:
- 1 packets of microwave popcorn (all supermarkets sell this)
- 125 gr of butter
- 250 gr light brown sugar
- 2 table spoons of corn syrup or golden syrup

Prepare the plain popcorn in the microwave. Separately melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup until they reach 130 degrees (if you do not have a thermometer let it boil for 10 minutes more or less). Add this caramel to the popcorns and mix well. Put the popcorns on a tray lined with baking parchment and bake it in a reheated 150 degrees oven for 45 minutes.  When you take the popcorn out of them oven let them cool down a little and break them into small bits.

Be careful when the children help you to do this as they can easily burn themselves with the caramel.

CHRISTMAS MARSHMALLOWS

This recipe is identical to the marshmallows one that we added earlier this year,but we were very pleased with the colours and it is not every day that we do something as fiddly as this so we thought we would show off and add the picture anyway.

To prepare this just follow the marshmallows recipe. As soon as you put the marshmallows mixture on the tray put a few drops of red colouring on the top and extend them around in patterns with a toothpick. It is strangely rewarding.