Let's Bake is a lovely fat cookbook written by Cathryn Dresser, the 2012 Great British Bake Off contestant. Aimed at new young bakers to work with an adult, or in our case a teenager, it has 52 easy and interesting recipes and is full of hints about how to do the basics, and tips to improve your baking.


We decided to make something savoury and something sweet, and we started out with Cheese And Marmite Helter-Skelters (page30) from the Spring section of the book.



Ingredients (makes 12)

2 tablespoons Marmite
15g unsalted butter
1 tablespoon plain flour for dusting
1 x 375g pack of ready rolled puff pastry
150g cheddar cheese, grated

My small boys don't like the taste or smell of Marmite and refused point blank to include it. I didn't want to just make Cheese, so we substituted our Marmite with tomato puree.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas Mark 6
Line baking trays with parchment

With an adult, melt the Marmite and butter in a small saucepan over a low heat until runny. Leave to cool for a minute or two. Meanwhile, lightly dust your surface with flour and lay out the pastry sheet.


Using a pastry brush, spread the butter mixture all over the pastry, then sprinkle cheese over the top 2/3.

Fold the non-cheesy bit of the pastry up so that it covers 1/2 the cheesy section, then fold the last 1/3 over the top so you have a neatly-folded rectangle of pastry.


Roll out the pastry again so that you have a rectangle roughly the same size you started with.


Cut the pastry into 6 equal strips and then cut each of those in half, so you have 12 long, pointy triangles. Take each of the triangles in turn and twist from the pointy end.

Put your twisted pastry on the prepared baking tray and ask an adult to put it in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes until golden.


They may not look beautiful, but they were exceedingly popular with my entire family - in fact we make another batch for tea so that everyone could have 2 more - and it only takes 10 minutes.

I really do feel the opportunity for letting your children explore with this recipe is huge. We added a little garlic to some of the later ones, and I think I can convince them to try adding some herbs to some next time - and maybe even some Marmite....

The sweet recipe we chose to try was Cat's Cookies (page 190) from the Winter section of the book.


Ingredients

150g unsalted butter, softened
75g soft light brown sugar
75g caster sugar
25g dark soft brown sugar
1 medium free-range egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
200g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
A pinch of salt
100g plain chocolate chips
100g milk chocolate chips

Instructions

Line 2 baking trays with parchment. Preheat the oven to 190C/170Fan/Gas Mark 5

Beat together the butter and the sugars in a large bowl using a wooden spoon or electric hand-held mixer.

Add the egg and vanilla and stir. Then add the flour and mix thoroughly. Finally add the chocolate chips and stir through. The mixture should be sticky and not too stiff. Put the dough in the fridge for 10 minutes to make it easier to work with.


Spoon heaped tablespoons of the mixture onto your trays and flatten with your hand or the back of a spoon. Your cookies will flatten more and spread while they are baking, so leave plenty of room between them.


Ask an adult (or teenager) to help you put the cookies into the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes. They will look pale in the middle and golden around the edges.

Give the cookies a minute or two on the tray to harden before transferring to a cooling rack. Use a palette knife to move them while they're warm or they'll bend and break.


The cookies looked really pale - these were the darkest of ours - but don't be tempted to leave them in the oven any longer because they are cooked just right. They're really tasty, crammed full of chocolate chips and the biscuit itself is just the right levels of chewy, crispy and melt-in-the-mouth.

It was incredibly quick for my children to make these recipes following the book themselves, I didn't need to interfere or explain anything - all the information they needed was there.


I thought this looked interesting before it arrived, and I'm not disappointed. The recipes are really varied, but very appealing to children and should encourage a love of cooking and understanding what goes into food. I really like this book and we'll be using it again before very long....sorry, THEY'LL be using it again before long....

Let's Bake by Cathryn Dresser is published by Orion Books and has a recommended retail price of £12.99. It's a full-colour hardback book with over 220 pages and an absolutely ideal purchase for a new young baker. Highly recommended.

Poppy The Pirate Dog And The Treasure Keeper is an Early Reader from Orion Books written by Liz kessler and illustrated by Mike Phillips. This is a red band book for a new reader to read alone with little help. My 5 year old is beginning to gain in confidence so much that he can now read this book himself without frustration, despite a couple of words he needed help with.


We've read quite a few of these books now, and they're always great bedtime reading. This is a great story about Poppy The Pirate Dog, who joins in her children's game and becomes the Treasure Keeper on their pirate ship.


What she actually does is save the day when some real treasure is lost, and Poppy finds out where it is, and who has it!


I love that the children in this book are playing with household and garden items and using their imaginations. They're having a great game and involving the family adults in a nice way, and entertaining everyone for free. It's good wholesome stuff.

There are trickier words and some more interesting ideas, but overall the language used is very familiar and easy to work out for the newer reader. The illustrations are lovely, and Poppy is a great looking dog who always seems enthusiatic in the way that Dalmatians really do!

Poppy The Pirate Dog And The Treasure Keeper  has 64 pages nicely broken into manageable chapters, and has an RRP of £4.99. There are two other Poppy books in the series - Poppy The Pirate Dog and Poppy The Pirate Dog's New Shipmate.

We've reviewed several other Early Readers from Orion Books - all my book reviews can be found here...

Our latest review from Orion Books Early Readers is The Boy Who Made Things Up, which is written by Margaret Mahy and illustrated by Jenny Williams. This is a Red Band book, suitable for readers who are just becoming confident at reading alone, and it suits our 6 year old perfectly.


This book is really quite different to most of the Early Readers I've reviewed, as it gives a real message to parents who may be reading, and I found it quite poignant. It isn't soppy or sad, it's simply a reminder that children are young for a very short time, and they have gifts to give us if we only have the time to see them.

Monstar Finds A Home is this month's new release from Orion Books in the red Early Reader range for children aged around 5+. Written by Steve Cole and illustrated by Pete Williamson, it's a 72 page story about a fluffy green pet belonging to 2 children called Jon and Jen.


The red Early Readers are designed especially for children who might still want to read with someone else, but are beginning to feel confident and can work out words alone. They're the next step along from blue Early Reader books which are designed to be read together with a brand new reader.

My son is 5 1/2 and he's pretty good with the blue band books now and can work out most of the text that he hasn't already learnt, so the obvious step is to try red band.


The obvious differences are that this red Early Reader is laid out more like a standard book with chapters, there is more text on each page and longer and trickier words throughout, with less repetition than is found in blue Early Readers.


My son spotted the difference immediately and was a bit daunted by this book at first, but after we'd sat and read a page or two he was happier when his turn came to read as he'd realised it's just the same as his other books, only slightly more of it.

The story is a simple and fairly daft one. The two children Jon and Jen have mad scientist parents who have promised they can have a pet, so they make them one - Monstar.


Somewhat as you'd expect things don't entirely go to plan and it's Monstar who saves the day.

My 4 and 5 year old boys enjoyed this story and thought it was very funny. They liked the character Monstar - although they were stunned when they fond out she was female, which led to a big discussion about monsters and aliens not always being boys! .

Monstar Finds A Home is published by Orion Books and has an RRP of £4.99, Monstar The Superhero is also available.

The Little Nut Tree by Sally Gardner is the latest in the Blue Early Readers series from Orion Books - for sharing and reading together.


Based on the nursery rhyme of the same name, it tells the story of a young girl who receives the tree for her birthday. The tree bears fruit and when word gets out about her amazing plant even royalty want to come and see it.

When we first started reviewing the Orion Books Early Readers a couple of months ago our reception class 5 year old could only pick out a few words,  but now he can really make a good effort to read them together with me.


There is a lot of repetition, few words on each page and the illustrations are really depictive, so The Little Nut Tree isn't intimidating for a newer reader.


I really like the quirkiness of this book. The starring character has her hair in a crazy Bjork style and seems to skip everywhere. The King Of Spain's Daughter wears a stunning little frock and every character has a different shape of nose. Nothing is boring about this book and it held the attention of my 3 year old throughout.


The Little Nut Tree is published by Orion Books and has 62 pages. It has an RRP of £4.99. Orion Books have a large range of Blue Early Readers for reading together, and Red Early Readers for a child ready to move on to the next step of reading the book without needing much help.

This child chose his own bedding. He's colour-blind, he likes patterns!

This is a proper book with 74 pages split into 6 chapters. The chapters are fairly short and just the right size for a new reader to read before they begin to flag. It has challenging words and my Reception Class 5 year old would be too frustrated to read it alone, although after a read through with me he is happy to re-read by himself.

The text is large and well-spaced out, with not too many lines on a page. It's not an intimidating book and I think makes an excellent addition to the Orion Children's Books Early Reader range. Algy is very likeable, his adventures are fun, and my boys would be more than happy to find out where he and his friends go next!


We've been lucky enough to review a few Early Readers and other children's stories for Orion Books. All of my reviews can be found here on this page.

Sadly this isn't a review of a Christmas dinner, although I'm sure a lot of you would be delighted at the prospect of not having to cook one! Horrid Henry's Christmas Lunch, as written by Francesca Simon and illustrated by Tony Ross, is one of the latest releases from Orion books.


Horrid Henry's Christmas Lunch is a Red Band Early Reader, and ideal for those who are starting to read independently. My 6 year old can just about read this to himself, and the format is perfect for him with wide spacing, easy and repetitive langauge, and plenty of great illustrations.

Lottie And Dottie Sow Carrots is our latest from the Orion Books Early Readers in the blue band. The Early Readers are available in two bands. Blue band is for children who are ready to join in reading and following words with another person, and red band is for children who are more confident to read alone.




Actually, it turns out this is possibly our favourite book so far! It has mild peril and excitement and it's written mainly in dialogue between the 2 sisters, which means reading is really exciting with all the intonation and animation in the voices.



The story is the tale of 2 sisters who sow some carrots, but it's so beautifully written and informative that it genuinely fascinated my little boys. The illustrations are lovely and the characters have very sweet expressive faces, with the little sister always looking inquisitive and a little worried until the end.


This is a great book, and afterwards your child will understand a lot more about gardening and growing plants, or they will have had that knowledge reinforced without even realising. I'd heartily recommend it.

Lottie And Dottie Sow Carrots has an RRP of £4.99 and is published by Orion Books.

All of my book reviews can be found here.

When your child first learns to read it's easy to become excited about all of the books you can share with them, but some children take longer than others to become confident readers. It can easily be a couple of years before you move from books which are mainly illustration with a few words on each page, through to big books with pages entirely full of text.

While one of my younger boys leapt off into the world of books, his younger brother just hasn't had that confidence. I've put together a few ideas for anyone who wants to encourage their children through this stage and build their skills and speed without making reading become a chore.

The Dragon's Dentist is an Early Reader from Orion Books. It's in the Blue Band, so it's designed for reading together with your child with lots of repetition and short sentences. Written by John McLay, it's illustrated by Martin Brown, who also illustrates Horrible Histories books.


This is a proper book with chapters and 76 full colour pages. The illustrations are great with plenty of facial expression.


It tells the story of Harry, who is the smallest in his family and the only one who isn't a knight. He wants to be a knight and prove himself, so he sets off with his horse 'Oats' to slay a dragon.


The story really appeals to youngsters because they feel they can relate to the characters. It's a great little tale and my boys really enjoyed it. My 5 year old really did 'read it with me'. He also read it in bed to himself  for a while and the next day when we read at bedtime he proudly told me all the words he'd been able to work out for himself.

Boy no.3 is 4 and will start his first year at full time school next month. He's already started learning to read and is very interested in sounds and words. He can 'sound out' some simple words like 'Dad' and 'cat' and knows a lot of his letters, so it's time to start beginning to read.

Orion Books have a huge range of books for children, including Early Readers - with a Blue Band for experienced readers and children to share together, and a Red Band for children to read alone.


We have been sent a copy of a blue banded book 'Mondays At Monster School' by Ruth Louise Symes and illustrated by Rosie Reeve. This book tells the story of Fred, who is the youngest in his family and about to go to school for his first day. He's nervous and doesn't want to go until he finds out his friend also feels the same and he realises he isn't alone.  He talks his friend into going, and in doing so, also reassures himself.

It's a very sweet little tale, and the fact that they are monsters makes it very accessible and interesting to a 4 or 5 year old. There is plenty of repetition in the language, and simple words that can be 'sounded out' and read by a young reader. It offers a lot of encouragement and made my son feel proud when he was able to work out new words like 'bug' and 'Fred'. At the end of the book there are some simple comprehension questions which also give a sense of achievement.


The illustrations are nicely drawn and help the story without being too full of information which distracts from the text. The story itself is 41 pages long, which seems a lot, but because there is very little text on each page it's not intimidating.

I really like this book. My son really likes this book and his 3 year old brother enjoyed reading it with us. It's perfectly timed as my 4 year old will be starting school in 2 weeks, and his brother will be starting nursery, so they're both concerned about that at the moment. The subject matter is interesting and the story captivating, so neither of them realised they were actually 'learning', they just felt they were reading a story with me. We give this book a good 4/5.

Mondays At Monster School is published by Orion Books and has an RRP of £4.99. It is available from all good bookshops, or as a download.

We really do love these Early Readers from Orion Books. It's lovely watching my 5 year old gain confidence as he progresses each month. The stories are lovely and interesting and the layout is incredibly user-friendly for a new reader.


This month we're reviewing Chocolate Porridge, which is a Blue Early Reader for reading together, written by Margaret Mahy and illustrated by Terry Milne. My reception class 5 year old is now at the stage where we can both read as a team, and by half way through this book he could certainly recognise the word 'chocolate' without any help!


The story is a very sweet one about a younger brother who wants to join in helping his Mum and big sisters in the kitchen, but he is packed off to play alone and he does his baking with mud outside. My children are delighted with this book as it's a funny story and the characters look like people in our family - it's amused them greatly!

As with all of the Early Readers there is a lot of repetition of words and sounds, and the language is clear and simple. This book actually has quite a few tricky words and a couple of unfamiliar phrases, so it stretches your child's vocabulary as well as helping them learn to read.


Chocolate Porridge is a proper book with 60 pages. It has a recommended retail price of £4.99.

We've reviewed some other Early Readers from Orion Books and the reviews can be found by clicking the following links:

Horrid Henry's Christmas Play and Horrid Henry's Royal Riot
The Little Nut Tree
Mondays At Monster School
The Dragon's Dentist

If you're looking for books for a child who is 5-8 and doesn't like girlie stuff then Horrid Henry is great. Designed for Early Readers the language and layout is simple and not intimidating at all. Very short chapters and natural breaks are throughout the book, so it's easy to stop when your child has had enough. They're perfect for reading together and for a  more independent reader to read alone.

Horrid Henry's Christmas Play

This is the story of the 'Nativity' at Henry's School. He decides his part as Innkeeper just isn't big enough and expands it, with frankly hilarious consequences. My 3 and 5 year old boys spent half of this book with their hands over their mouths stifling giggles.

My 5 year old played the Innkeeper last week in his nativity, so it's ideal and he thought this book was brilliant!

This book is designed for Early Readers and the pictures that accompany the story are great and really descriptive of the story, assisting the reader in setting the tone and working out some of the more tricky words.

Horrid Henry's Christmas Play has 80 pages and an RRP of £4.99. 

Horrid Henry's Royal Riot

This is a big book. It's a full 208 pages and it's hard back. As soon as you open it though you get the familiar easy-to-read layout of Horrid Henry books, with plenty of interesting pages where the text is in different fonts and formats.


Royal Riot is actually a compendium of 4 different books - Horrid Henry's Thank You Letter, Horrid Henry Meets The Queen, Moody Margaret's School and Horrid Henry's Sports Day. Each book is broken up into short chapters exactly as in the original smaller books.

The stories in here include the day when The Queen visited the school, and Henry's plan to be helpful and rich by starting a business writing thank you letters for other people - because the task is so dreadful and boring. Needless to say none of his plans really work as he expects and it all goes a bit awry in a very funny way.

Horrid Henry's Royal Riot has 208 pages and an RRP of £12.99.

My boys both love Horrid Henry books, although obviously for now my 5 year old gets far more from them than my 3 1/2 year old. My 5 year old is enjoying the fact he can join in with the reading with me. They're absolutely ideal for Early Readers and encourage a real love of books and thirst for being able to read.

Horrid Henry books are written by Francesca Simon and illustrated by Tony Ross. They are published by Orion Books.

We love the Orion Books Early Readers, and I can proudly say they have helped my 6 year old learn to read, and my 4 year old is now beginning to join in with looking at the words and deciphering a few for himself.


Monstar Makes A Wish is the 3rd Monstar book we've read, and it's another fun story featuring the two children Jon and Jen, and their fluffy pet Monstar. Written by Steve Cole and illustrated by Pete Williamson, it's light-hearted and exciting, and has more than a little dash of fantasy and ridiculousness.

Here are some of our favourite reviews from the last few months for children aged around about 6-9..

Hexbug - my 6 year old chose to buy the Hexbug Black Hole set with his birthday money and it's proven incredibly popular. We didn't review it on the blog, but we later got the chance to review the Hexbug Nano Glow-In-The-Dark. They're excellent fun, and the sets are brilliant for increasing understanding of Science


Zip Stix are ace. They're so cheap they really count as a stockingfiller - they start at £2.99 for a single pack. We reviewed the Zip Stix Stunt Pack which has cones, a ramp and 2 Zip Stix and still only costs £7.99. Plenty of fun for your money.


Big books are traditional at Christmas and my children always get an annual as well as a couple of other books to keep them occupied when they need to be calm and peaceful. They lap up facts and can learn so much, as well as having a more mature brain and now being able to enjoy a story without pictures. One of the most read books in our house this Autumn has been The Top 10 Of Everything, which is where our 6 year old seems to get most of his opening conversational gambits! RRP £14.99


Early Readers - As well as the big heavy hardbacks children of this age are beginning to read stories independently and we love the Early Readers from Orion Books. Nothing like your traditional school reading books, these feature a wide variety of stories and characters, one of the best known being the ever-popular Horrid Henry.  Priced around £5.


Board Games are brilliant for this age group. They help reinforce patience and sportsmanship, and bring the family together. One of our favourites is Articulate For Kids, which we've only had for a short while, but have played tons of times. Being able to read the simple words on the cards by himself gives our 6 year old a huge sense of pride and is expanding his reading skills in a really fun way. Don't Laugh! is an excellent game for this age group. Adults will find the jokes a little lacking, but 6-9 year olds will think they're absolutely hilarious.


A slightly more unusual gift is one that keeps on giving. Children of this age really enjoy reading comics and magazines, and can get an awful lot from an annual subscription and there is something to suit everyone, from The Beano and National Geographic Kids, to Adventure Time and Playstation. Stew - The Magazine For Curious Kids is one of our favourites, a bit quirky and different, and treating children as smaller intelligent people, it'll be great to keep and revisit as my younger 2 get older.


There is an awful lot of LEGO which suits the 6+ age range. Children's hands are far more competent and strong, and their clutch power means they can build and take apart tiny pieces now. LEGO Minecraft is going to be absolutely massive this Christmas, but if your children aren't into that then there are all kinds of options. We particularly like the Ultra Agents and Arctic ranges, and of course the LEGO Movie sets, but one of the most used models with my boys is the Heartlake City Pool from LEGO Friends!


This is the modern world, so my last recommendation is technology. Children of this age are reaching the point where 'what Jacob said at school' is becoming more inspiring to them. They want to be a part of the tribe and fit in, and keeping up with what's happening on Nickelodeon alone may not cut it any more. DVD's and CD's are something I would consider for this age group, and also games. There are plenty of Playstation/X Box/Wii and PC games around that are designed especially for younger children and aren't obvious 'learning', even though they will be solving logic puzzles, building hand-eye co-ordination, reading and typing and practising all kinds of other skills. All of my children have spent time playing LEGO games on the Playstation, and Club Penguin on the PC, and I'm more than happy for them to do that. No.1 rule as far as we're concerned for this age group and technology is "always know what they're doing, and always be more of an expert than your child". I've completed LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean several times....purely for research, obviously...