These chocolate chip cookies are not only delicious, but the recipe is also easy enough to make with the kids. While they will be popular snacks at parties, they will make tasty gifts for loved ones too. Just present them in a pretty box or dish, or in a cello bag tied with a pretty ribbon.

Ingredients

Makes about 16 large cookies

• 1 cup or 140g of plain flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup or 55g of butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup or 115g of dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup or 100g of granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tea spoon of vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips or 150g of chocolate broken into small chunks

Preparation

• Preheat the oven at 180ºC, 350ºF, Gas Mark 4. Line two or three baking sheets with foil (I’m not sure why but the cookies seem to stick to even non stick surfaces – however they come off very easily if the trays are lined with foil)
• Combine the flower, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl and stir until blended
• In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until you have a smooth mixture
• Add the egg and vanilla to the mixture and mix well
• Add the flour mixture , when blended in, add the chocolate cookies and stir well
• Drop the cookie dough in small mounts onto the baking trays (about 1.5″ appart)
• Bake in the oven for 12 to 14 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and slide a spatula under each cookie and transfer to a wire rack to cool
• The cookies will keep in an airtight container for a week (if you don’t eat them before!)

Variations

• Replace the chocolate chips with sultanas or raisins
• Make double chocolate chips cookies – replace 25 g of flour with 25g of cocoa powder
• Use a mixture of white, milk and dark chocolate chips

Enjoy!

PS: for other easy party recipes to make with kids, why not check out our chocolate buns recipe and easy chocolate cake recipe?

While buns are perfect treats for parties – chocolate buns tend to be the most popular ones. They are very easy to make and the recipe is perfect for those who think they can’t cook, kids, busy people and of course for all chocolate cake lovers!

Ingredients

To make enough mixture for 12 small buns, you will need:

• 100g (1 oz) of butter
• 100g (4 oz) of caster sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 25g (1 oz) of cocoa powder
• 75g (3 oz) of self-raising flower

Preparation

• Heat oven to 180ºC, 350ºF, Gas Mark 4. Line a bun tin with bun cases.
• Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, adding a little flour with each.
• Gently fold in remaining flour and cocoa powder.
• Half fill the paper cases with the mixture and bake for about 15 minutes until firm.

To vary the recipe:

• Ice and decorate your buns
• Add chocolate chips to the mixture (white chocolate will make an interesting colour contrast)
• Sprinkle chopped candied orange peels on your buns before baking (pictured above)
• Sprinkle the buns with icing sugar after baking

Enjoy!

PS: if you like chocolate, why not check out our easy chocolate cake recipe?

Whether you’re planning a sit down meal or a party buffet, with a little thought, you can soon create a creepy menu that will put your guests in a spooky mood.

Creepy main courses

Ghoul-ash is an obvious choice but you can also use a bit of imagination with other dishes. For instance, spaghetti meatballs can become worms and eyeballs – lovely thought! Check out our baked eyeballs in bloodsauce recipe for inspiration.

It’s also amazing what a little bit of food colouring can achieve. Ever fancied dishing up green mash potato? Just don’t blame me if your guests refuse to eat anything.

Devilish desserts

Dessert is the easiest course to turn deliciously devilish. Decorate fairy cakes with black icing and spider’s webs, serve up jelly with floating eyeballs (the sweetshop kind, please), drip blood red raspberry sauce over ice cream or you could even serve up one of our cans of chocolate worms or chocolates spiders. If you want to make your own treats with the kids check out our Halloween cupcake recipe and spooky Halloween spiders.

Spooky drinks

Then there are the drinks. For the adults, mixing orange juice with Blue Caracao delivers an interestingly green punch that could easily be mistaken for witches brew. But watch out, it can be equally potent!

For the kids, supermarkets sell brightly coloured fizzy pops. However you might want to check out the ingredients and additives or you could end up with some very hyper monsters at your Halloween party.

More freaky Halloween recipes

For a more conventional menu why not try to cook an easy pumpkin soup?

You can also check out Netmums Halloween party food section for more devilish delights that are easy to make with the kids.

It’s also a great chocolate cake recipe for those who don’t like shopping and washing up as it only uses basic ingredients that you will easily find in any supermarket and a reasonable amount of pots and pans.

I tried the recipe out to keep the kids busy on a rainy afternoon. The biggest problem was to try and stop them eat the cake as soon as we took it out the oven…

Tie up your apron strings!

Ingredients for easy chocolate cake recipe:

2 tsp butter / 2 tsp flour (Cake tins)

Dry

6 oz. (175g) Flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarb of soda
5 oz (150g) sugar

Wet
2 tablespoons black treacle (molasses)
2 eggs
5 fl oz (150ml) vegetable oil
5 fl oz (150ml) milk – you can replace the milk with soy milk for a dairy free cake

Preheat oven to: 325F/Gas 3/ 170C

Grease two 7 inch shallow cake tins, flour and set aside.

Sift dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.

Add all the wet ingredients and stir for 2 minutes or until they are thoroughly blended.

Pour the chocolate cake batter into the tins and bake in the middle of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until the cakes spring back when lightly pressed with a fingertip and have shrunk away from the sides of the tins.

Remove the cake from oven and allow to cool for 2 minutes.

Loosen with a knife aroung the edges and turn onto wire racks to cool completely.
Sandwich the cake with buttercream or a mixture of whipped cream and your favourite chocolate spread.

Your chocolate cake will get moister as it is kept and will be delicious served with custard or ice cream. Enjoy!

TIPS: If like me you have only one cake tin, pour all the batter into one tin and slice the cake in half horizontally when cooled.
If you are making the cake for a birthday party or a special occasion why not decorate it with icing?

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Why not treat someone special – or yourself, to a box of chocolates? Just check out our range of mouth watering Belgian chocolates.

They’re very enthusiastic – but aged only three and four, so simple, straightforward recipes are a must – chocolate and sugar sticky kitchen worktops and floors are definitely NOT favourites of mine.

This easy chocolate truffle recipe got a huge thumbs up from me (limited mess and washing up), the kids (fun and had chocolate in it) and Dad (the truffles are actually delicious).

To turn our chocolate truffles into novelty Easter gifts for friends and family, we decorated them with colour sugar vermicelli to give them a “spring look”. Why not experiment with different coatings to give your truffles a look to match the season, occasion or even your outfit!

If I’m being honest, the results were way above my expectations, although you might want to try the recipe peacefully on your own before letting your kids join in.

Word of warning:
If you decide to cook with children, as always make sure an adult is present to do anything that calls for anything sharp, hot or otherwise dangerous.

So, it’s time to tie up your apron strings and gather the ingredients.

To make about 40 chocolate truffles you will need:

• 225g / 8oz of plain chocolate roughly chopped
• 175g / 6oz of unsalted butter chopped
• 60ml / 4 table spoons of double cream
• 100g / 4oz of icing sugar
• 75 / 3oz of grounded almonds
• Cocoa powder, icing sugar and chocolate or coloured vermicelli to coat the truffles
  Paper cases for sweets or petit fours

To make the chocolate truffles:

1. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a bowl placed over a saucepan of hot water or in the microwave, stirring with a wooden spoon
2. Remove from the heat, stir in the cream then gradually stir in the sugar and almonds
3. Cover and leave to cool in the fridge for a few hours or if time allow overnight
4. Form the mixture into small balls. Roll them in your hands – the warmth of your hands will slightly melt the chocolate and allow the coatings to stick
5. Roll each ball in one of the coatings and place in paper cases. Chill in the fridge until firm…

Eat your truffles up – as they do not contain any preservatives or additives, they will only keep for a few days. Even I couldn’t dream up a better excuse to eat lots of chocolate!

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If you don’t have the time or the inclination to make your own chocolate truffles, why not try our Crispy gourmet chocolate truffles, Cappuccino truffles and Dark chocolate orange truffles (they are not home made but still delicious!).

These peppermint cream sweets are easy to make, even with small children. My children who are three and four very much enjoyed the cooking although dipping the peppermint creams in melted chocolate turned out to be a rather messy affair.

Tie up your aprons, you will need:

• 1 egg white
• 350g of icing sugar
• 3 drops of peppermint essence
• 2 drops of green food colouring
• 125g of dark chocolate broken into pieces

Preparation

1. Whisk the egg white until white and frothy, sieve in the icing sugar, peppermint essence and food colouring and mix well.
2. Roll teaspoon size amount of the mixture into small balls and place them on a tray.
3. Flatten each ball with the back of a fork to form flat discs with stripes on top. Place in the fridge for at least an hour until firm.
4. Melt the Chocolate and dip each sweet into the chocolate until half covered. Place the sweets on a tray lined with greaseproof paper. Keep in the fridge until needed!

These peppermint creams will make a great gift for loved ones on Valentine’s day and other special occasions. Just don’t eat all the sweets while you’re making them!!

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Are you looking for a valentine gift that’s guaranteed to impress? Why not try our Large Valentine Teddy bear or Valentine Balloon Bouquet? A great surprise to impress your Valentine.

The quantities are very generous so it will be just right if you are hosting a Halloween party. This recipe is also good for kid’s Birthday parties.

The bravest Mums might attempt it with a group of kids and give each child a bag of cookies to take home.

Halloween cookies ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup of margarine
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 cups of smooth peanut butter
• 3 teaspoons of baking powder
• 7 cups of oatmeal
• 3/4 cup of chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup of pecans nuts, chopped
• 3/4 cup of coloured chocolate coated sweets like Smarties

Preparation:

Beat together eggs, margarine, sugars, vanilla and peanut butter in a large bowl until smooth.

In a separate bowl, mix together the baking powder and oats. Mix into peanut butter mixture. Add chocolate chips and pecans and stir well until the mixture is perfectly blended.
Place large spoonfuls of dough at regular intervals on non-stick baking tray. Flatten each cookie into a round shape with the back of a spoon. Press the Smarties on top of the cookies (that was my children’s favourite part of the recipe).

Bake at 180C, 350F for 10-12 minutes or until cooked. Allow cooling for 5 minutes on backing sheet before removing.

This Halloween recipe makes 2 to 3 dozen large cookies – plenty for little (and big) monsters to enjoy!

Halloween Witch’s tip: if the dough seems too moist, add 1/2 to 1 cup all-purpose flour until it reaches the right consistency.

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Stuck for a unique Halloween gift idea? Why not try sending Halloween Balloons (delivered filled with helium to the address of your choice) or some Creepy Chocolate spiders from Big Fat Balloons?

Ingredients for our Halloween cupcake recipe:
(Filling)

• 8 ounces (200g) of softened cream cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup of caster sugar
• Yellow and red food colouring

(Cupcake dough)

• 8 ounces (200g) of margarine
• 8 ounces (200g) of caster sugar
• 4 eggs size 3
• 6 ounces (150g) of self raising flour
• 2 ounces (50g) of cocoa powder

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F.

Prepare cupcake mix as follows:
Cream the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy, beat in the eggs – one at a time, adding a little flour with each.
Gently fold in the remaining flour and cocoa powder.

To make filling:
Blend in the cream cheese, egg and sugar. Add 2 drops of yellow food colouring and 1 drop of red food colouring. Add more colouring if necessary to reach the perfect shade of orange.

Finish your Halloween cupcakes:
Fill cupcake liners half full with cupcake mixture and place 1 teaspoon of filling at the centre of each. As the cupcakes bake, the dough will rise around the filling. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy those delicious cupcakes and Happy (or should I say scary?) Halloween!

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Stuck for a unique Halloween gift idea? Why not try sending Halloween Balloons (delivered filled with helium to the address of your choice) or some Creepy Chocolate spiders from Big Fat Balloons?

My children (2 ½ and 3 ½) loved making these Halloween spiders (result pictured here). They particularly enjoyed eating the spiders’ legs first and waving them at me while shouting with delight “Look Mummy, my spider’s got no legs!”. They laughed even more when I pretended to be scared!

Ingredients to make Halloween Spiders:

• 1 Packet of mini digestive biscuits or chocolate chip cookies
• 1 pack of marzipan (I like pre-rolled marzipan best as blocks can be difficult to lay out thin! You might require more marzipan if you want to make lots of spiders. We only made four spiders with a small pack)
• Liquorice rolls (from a sweet shop or supermarket) – unrolled and chopped in 1 3/4 inch pieces (you can unroll the liquorice strands and chop them in advance if you are making those Halloween spiders with smaller children – older children will enjoy doing it themselves)

Preparation:

Roll the marzipan out with a rolling pin and cut out 1 ¾ inch circles of marzipan using a cookie cutter or the top of a small glass – the marzipan discs need to be a little larger than your biscuits.

Take one of your marzipan discs and fix 4 liquorice legs on each side, letting them hang out on the outside. Put a biscuit and marzipan disc on top and press gently to seal the sides. Don’t forget to make eyes for your spiders with small balls of marzipan or tiny pieces of liquorice.

It’s time to scare each other while eating your spiders!

Have a great Halloween party!

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Stuck for a unique Halloween gift idea? Why not try sending Halloween Balloons (delivered filled with helium to the address of your choice) or some Creepy Chocolate spiders from Big Fat Balloons?