Our Community Support Team kicked off the Christmas season at Millfield Primary School last week with a fun and exciting (not to mention delicious!) Christmas cookie workshop!
HCL’s dedicated Community Support Team was an initiative set up with the sole purpose of adding greater value to our partner schools at no extra cost, with a view to encouraging and nurturing a commitment to clean living through healthy eating. The teams work closely with schools to run several different programmes designed to engage pupils into taking an interest in the food on their plates.
Cookery workshops are always a successful way to get children involved in their food, giving them a sense of ownership and an opportunity to take pride in what they have created. Getting involved in the kitchen encourages various skillsets such as critical thinking, problem-solving and creativity. Not to mention allowing children the opportunity to use the knowledge they already have and apply it to real life circumstances by counting, measuring, following sequences, and following directions, instilling the notion of cause and effect.
Upon arrival at the kitchen in Millfield Primary School, the Community Support Team promptly set up two tables, laying a bowl of Christmas coloured dough and a sprinkle of flour at every table place.
The task ahead was to create a whopping 420 cookies that would be sold at the end of the day in their after-school bake sale; all in an effort to raise money for the school. Over the course of the morning, 50 excited pupils poured into the lunch hall in two sittings, each individually tasked with making 8 creative, uniformly sized biscuits!
Support Lead, Charlotte described what they needed to achieve, using every moment as an opportunity to teach as she explained the effects the ingredients would have on the cookies once baked and in turn how pupils should consider that in their designs.
All in all, the workshop was a roaring success, the pupils chatted and laughed, encouraged one another and shared ideas; with one pupil proudly going on to say,
“This is a lot of hard work, but I’ve realised I’m really good at it”
We’re incredibly proud of the work our Community Support Team do within our partner schools and look forward to sharing more and more of the tremendous work they’re doing behind the scenes!
Below is a delicious recipe to make Gingerbread biscuits. Share your creations with us by tagging our social media accounts (@hclcatering) – we’d love to see how your delicious treats turned out!
Gingerbread Biscuits:
Ingredients:
Plain Flour 350g
Margarine 100g
Sugar 175g
Eggs, beaten 1
Golden syrup 4 tablespoons
Bicarbonate of soda 1 teaspoon
Ground Ginger 1 teaspoon
Method:
Preheat oven to 350⁰F/180⁰C.
Put all dry ingredients into the mixing bowl.
Mix on speed 1 for 2 minutes. Scrape down, add liquid then mix on speed 2 until the dough comes together.
Using a sprinkle of flour and a rolling pin, roll the dough evenly between 0.5cm - 1cm thick.
Using cookie cutters cut shapes out of the dough remember to add some more flour as and when you need. The left-over dough can be rerolled to make more.
Place onto greased baking tray to allow space for spreading during cooking. Or roll the mixture out and use cutters to cut gingerbread men.
Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes until golden.
Cool slightly then remove from tray, place on a cooling rack.
Use water icing and treats to decorate.
Gingerbread shapes will store in an airtight container for 2-3 days without icing.