Kids love to bake, so give them the chance to shine with these 50 deliciously easy kid friendly baking recipes from cookies and cakes to bars, brownies, and even breakfast!
Some of you may know I became a first time grandmother a couple of years ago. As a 2 year old my granddaughter is starting to take interest in all things cooking and baking. She’s even discovered my videos on YouTube ~ in particular the baking recipes! She’s enthralled by the music, the mixing, the pouring, and most of all the slicingof the cakes and desserts. Pretty soon it will be time to start baking with her, so I’ve collected some of my easy recipes for kids, perfect for that first intro to baking.
what makes a baking recipe kid friendly?
Don’t worry, I’m not recommending you tackle a soufflé with your toddler, but there are lots of recipes out there perfectly suited to little helping hands…just remember there’s a difference between baking for kids and baking with kids ~ the key words are: easy, quick, and delicious.
Easy-to-Follow Instructions: Clear, simple steps that kids can help with and understand.
Minimal Measuring: Recipes with fewer ingredients and easy measurements make it simpler for kids to help. You might even pre-measure to keep things moving!
Short Prep Time: Recipes that don’t take too long to prepare keep kids engaged and avoid boredom.
Hands-On Involvement: Jobs like mixing, shaping dough, or decorating, where kids can physically participate, make baking more fun.
Low-Risk Mistakes: Choose recipes where slight errors (e.g., over-mixing) won’t ruin the end result, like cookies or muffins.
Safe Procedures: Avoid recipes that require very hot liquids, sharp knives, stove top prep, etc.
Fun Decorating Opportunities: Recipes that let kids get creative with frosting, sprinkles, or toppings add excitement.
Quick Baking Time: Recipes that bake in under 20 minutes are ideal to keep kids interested while they stare at that oven window!
baking with kids: cookie recipes
Cookies are probably the way we all got started on our baking careers, but before you reach for the tube of slice and bake dough from the supermarket, consider making one of these easy kid-friendly cookie recipes.
Peanut Butter Cookies
4.92 from 25 votes
Classic peanut butter cookies are the perfect cookie. Crunchy on the outside, chewy inside, with plenty of that peanutty flavor we all crave, this one bowl recipe is easy and flawless!
Cake recipes run the gamut from easy to elaborate, and these kid friendly cake recipes are all of the former group. Single layer, easy to whip up, and quick to bake. Some even start with a cake mix.
Dorie Greenspan’s Dimply Plum Cake
4.82 from 11 votes
Dorie Greenspan's dimply plum cake can be made with any variety of plum, pluot, or aprium. It's an deliciously old fashioned snack cake!
This powdered sugar doughnut cake is an easy little snack cake that takes its cue from everybody's favorite childhood doughnut. The cakey texture, the perfect nutmeg flavor, and the thick layer of powdered sugar ~ it's all there, and it's delish!
This simple mixed berry cake is a homemade treat that goes with coffee at breakfast and whipped cream for dessert. Works with all kinds of fruit and berries!
This lemon crunch cake is an old fashioned style breakfast or snack cake with a pillowy soft texture, bright lemon flavor, and a delightful crunchy top.
Plum Blitz Kuchen, or ‘lightning cake’ is a vintage German snacking cake recipe from the 1931 edition of Joy of Cooking. It’s a quick and easy, as the name suggests, and really delicious for breakfast, brunch, coffee break or anytime snacking. Customize it with almost any fruit you like.
My Easy Strawberry Cake is a simple white layer cake filled with bright strawberry jam, frosted with an almond buttercream, and festooned with a lovely wreath of fresh strawberries. Nobody needs to know it all starts with a cake mix 🙂
Healthier than cakes and cookies, muffins are ideal to bake with little ones, especially if you’re limiting sweets and sugar. (Although, as you can see below, muffins can get as decadent as you like.) For very young children you might start with a healthy bran muffin.
Peanut Butter Muffins with Chocolate Chips
4.96 from 65 votes
Peanut Butter Muffins are super moist, full of peanut butter flavor, and stuffed with mini chocolate chips ~ these protein packed energy boosters are a family favorite!
These Apple Cider Doughnut Muffins are here for you when you just can’t wait another second for Fall. They’re soft and tender inside, with that classic cider doughnut cinnamon sugar crust…so good!
Is there anything better than a perfect blueberry muffin? If I could only bake one thing for the rest of my life, it would be a moist, fluffy muffin loaded with bright juicy blueberries. It's a recipe worth perfecting.
Fresh Cranberry Muffins are loaded with tangy pops of cranberry ~ the color and flavor of fresh cranberries are unrivaled in the food world, if you ask me. This easy one bowl recipe proves that winter food can definitely be bright and fresh!
Sheet Pan Pancakes are an ingenious (and delicious) way to batch cook breakfast for the family, simply pour your pancake batter onto a sheet pan, bake, and cut into perfect fluffy, warm pancake squares!
Toasted muesli is a yummy breakfast that's faster than overnight oats, and healthier than granola. I love the fresh texture and beautiful flavors and colors in my morning cereal. Muesli is a nutrient dense high energy start to the day.
Juicy Baked Breakfast Apples are stuffed with oatmeal, topped with a drizzle of maple syrup and a dollop of whipped cream or yogurt for the coziest breakfast around!
My quick and easy Paleo Fruit and Nut Bread is grain free, dairy free, without added sugar. This quick bread is also amazingly versatile ~ serve it for breakfast or as an energizing healthy snack. It also happens to be absolutely fabulous toasted!
This Beautiful Breakfast Tart has a gluten free granola crust filled with thick Greek yogurt, and topped with a colorful sunburst of fresh juicy fruit.
Peanut Butter Frosted Brownies are chewy chocolate brownies topped with a veritable avalanche of creamy peanut butter frosting. Don't bother trying to resist.
Hey there ~ I'm Sue. I love to make delicious food, photograph it, and write about it, but mostly, I just love to EAT. Isn't that what it's all about? My recipes are creative, vibrant, and totally approachable no matter what your skill level. Let's grab a bite together!
I’m loving your “mug” recipes, and hope to see Brownie in a mug???
I know I need to do that, sorry for the wait 🙂