Fun Activity - Cheese Sticks Making

Didi is down with fever and runny nose. So, hubby n I were trying our best to separate the 2 of them. However, Didi always like to go near Korkor and disturb him. So, I decided to do some baking with Jaydan in the kitchen to prevent Didi from going near him! Hahaha!!
(Baking was on New Year's Day - 1st January 2015)
Jaydan loves to work in the kitchen too! Baking is one of his favourite things to do. So, he immediately agreed to make the cheese sticks.
We carried in his blue table to the kitchen and also the 2 small chairs and turned it into our working table.

So, we started off by measuring the amount of flour needed. Jaydan was so happy as he got to do it!(Mummy was nagging next to him, asking him to stop when the measuring scale showed the required amount.)

After handling the flour, we sieved it together. Most of it was done by him. I was there to help him to scoop those near the corner to prevent the flour from dropping onto the table.

There was a time when he dropped some flour on the table and when I was about to nag at him, he said nevermind in a very cute manner that I couldn't stop laughing!

I helped him to cut the butter as I did not want him to deal with the knife yet. (Dangerous...!)

Then, I took out my Philips food processor and tried to mix all the ingredients together as mentioned in the recipe I got from Pin, BUT FAILED. In the end, I put everything into a metal bowl and asked Jaydan to do the pinching method. It turned out that he enjoyed doing the pinching method! He said that it is like playing playdoh! haha!

After Jaydan done kneading the dough, we put the dough into the fridge and let it cool down. Meanwhile, he took a bathe.

After bathing, we did the flattening, rolling and cutting of the dough. We sprinkled mozzarella cheese onto the cheesesticks.

We airfried it using airfryer and Jaydan was so eager to taste the cheesesticks that he had made. Once the first batch was out, he left me in the kitchen to continue the rolling and cutting of the dough while he ate the cheesesticks in the living room. (Poor mummy!)

Obviously, he loves the cheesesticks! However, the way I airfried it made the mozzarella became too dark. I should have bake the sticks first then half way through, eggwash it then put the mozzarella cheese. I will update here once I get to do it again with Jaydan and see how is the outcome.

Below would be the modified recipe as I usually don't follow recipes that I have found to the exact. I would adjust accordingly to the liking and preference of my family members.

Cheesesticks

Ingredients

• 270 grams of all purpose flour (plain flour)
• 110 grams of cold butter (cut it into cubes for easier pinching)
• 1 egg
• 1 pinch of salt
• 3 tbsp of cold water
• 2 tbsp of parmesan cheese powder
• 100 grams of mozzarella cheese (I would try other types of cheese next time and update again

Steps

1. In a mixing bowl, add flour, butter, egg and salt and use the pinching method to mix them well until it looks like crumbs. (For Jaydan's case, he also added in his "squeezing" method as his hands are small.)
2. Then add the 1tbsp of cold water at a time into the mixture and mix them till all the 3 tbsp of water mixed well with the mixture.
3. Put the dough into the fridge and cool it down. (about 45 minutes)
4. Preheat the airfryer at 180 degrees.
5. Put some flour on the tabletop and the rolling pin (to prevent sticking), and roll the dough flat.
6. Cut the flattened dough into the desired shapes you like and place it in the airfryer.
7. Bake for about 8 minutes.
8. Take them out from the airfryer and put it on a plate.
9. Repeat step 6 to step 8 until all the dough is used up.
10. Take the baked sticks and brush a layer of egg on it.
11. Sprinkle some mozzarella cheese then bake it again for about 4 minutes.
12. Repeat step 10 and step 11 till all the baked sticks become cheese sticks!

Enjoy your yummy cheesesticks baking with your child! It is a very simple recipe to do it together with your child!