Malteser bars!

Not Halloween related but we did these last week so though I would share, they are delicious and great with a lovely warm cuppa after playing outside in the cold!  Also if I whisper the Christmas word...they are good as home made gifts! But it is far too early for talk of that!

Here is the recipe from the BBC - http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/11944/malteser-crunch-bars although I tend to use milk chocolate on the top and then white chocolate drizzled in patterns.

First we made shopping lists which depending on the age of your children is good writing practice or a chance to develop emergent writing skills.  (Further ideas for play with writing include - Drs surgery and writing prescriptions, post office and addressing envelopes/writing letters, school teachers and writing on the blackboard)

 

We went to the shops armed with our lists.  You can let the children locate/pick up the items, put them in basket and then on to checkout and let them pay. 

 

The 2nd best part of this activity is "bashing" the digestives with a wooden spoon! 

 

 

After stage one our mixture looked like this -

 

 

This activity provides a good opportunity to talk about "melting" and "setting" and discussing what happens to chocolate/butter when it melts.  Can also discuss other things that melt - eg ice.  And depending on the age/stage of the child -  Do water and melted chocolate go hard again at the same temperature? Why not?

 

I said the 2nd best part of this activity was bashing the biscuits - the best part of course is licking the bowl after the melted chocolate has been poured on top!

 

 

Once that has set you can make patterns on top with the melted white chocolate, this is good for fine motor skills and making lines/swirls/patterns on the chocolate.  The top of this can be decorated with cushed maltesers. And here are our finished products ready to be cut up and enjoyed!