Ingredients:

• 125g soft butter
• 70g Honey 
• 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 180g plain flour
• pinch of baking powder

Instructions:

• Preheat your oven to 180c
• Line a tray with baking paper.
• Place the butter and honey into a bowl and beat until smooth and creamy.
• Add the flour and baking powder and mix together to create a smooth dough.

This is the best part to let the kids get “hands on” in their baking.  Have fun with the mess.  Memories last forever – messes can be cleaned up!

• You might find the dough to be a little sticky so carefully form it into a rectangle block, wrap in cling film, and pop it into the fridge for about 15 minutes.

Check out the other activities to play with the kids here, while waiting for the dough to chill.

• After 15 minutes remove the dough from the fridge and unwrap it before placing it onto the floured surface.
• Flour the surface where you will work on the cookies.
• Place the dough onto the floured surface and roll them out until about 1cm thickness.

If you don’t have a rolling pin – don’t stress!  There are tons of household objects that can be used.  Try some of the following rolling pin ideas at the end of this recipe.

• Cut out your rolled dough into fingers or if you wan’t to make round cookies use a cookie cutter or a drinking glass.  Have fun with the making shapes or make a patterns with a fork if you’re feeling creative. 
• Space your cookies out evenly on the baking tray.
• Place it in the fridge to chill for another 20 minutes.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the cookies start to turn a golden brown colour.
• The cookies will still be soft when they come out of the oven, but they will harden once they are cooled. 
• Remove the cookies from the baking tray and put them on a wire rack to cool completely. 
• Enjoy!

Recipe adapted 

1. A pepper grinder. If it’s a long cylindrical shape.
2. A wine bottle – empty or full….. hee hee!  You can wrap the bottle in cling wrap to keep it clean.
3. A water bottle – because our cupboards are usually full of all the kids water drinking bottles and all the freebees we receive at various events.
4. A drinking glass – just be carefull not to push the glass too hard which will cause it to crack.

History of the Rolling Pin

The rolling pin has long been used by man. It is believed that the Etruscans, an ancient civilization in Italy were the first people known to have invented different  cooking tools as well as the rolling pin.

They may have used the first rolling pins for thin-rolling pasta and making bread from the grains that they grew.  Credit goes to J.W. Reed for the invention of the modern rolling pin design in the late 19th century.

There are tons of fun and intersting household objects that could be used instead of a rolling pin – such as a plastic tubing, pvc piping and wooden dowels. So rade the cupboards and see what interesting rolling pin alternatives you can come up with.  

Let me know what fun rolling pin ideas you come up with and share your pictures with me at jacqui@ovenlylove.co.za.