Make your kitchen the heart of your home

The weekend is nearly here and National Baking Week is drawing to a close. So, we thought ‘wouldn't it be a good time to get the family together and start baking’.

National Baking Week was started by a group of baking brands to encourage us all to bake at home. And baking together can help you turn your kitchen into the heart of your home.

Baking has become increasingly popular over the past few years. You’ve only got to think of Bake Off and the lovely Nadiya Hussain to raise a smile.

There are lots of reasons why baking is good for you. Baking stimulates the senses and can help you to make others around you happy – especially when you present them with that yummy lemon drizzle cake or chocolate Swiss roll you’ve been lovingly working on. Baking is also good for well-being and mindful because it’s both creative and meditative.

You can create some fantastic memories for you and your family through the smells, tastes, sights and sounds of baking in your kitchen. From shopping for the ingredients, preparing and mixing to baking and eating, every stage of baking can create memories. You never realised that baking a tray of muffins was so powerful, did you?

Baking with children can help you find some valuable family time. The youngest members of the family will love decorating biscuits — just make sure that they are wearing an apron first! It’s great family time and everyone can get involved - choosing the recipe, buying the ingredients, weighing out the ingredients, mixing, stirring, lining tins, kneading dough, washing up or simply eating – there is a job to suit everyone.

Just like any art and craft, baking can be a merry mess-making activity. This is all part of baking but the mess made is easy to clean up, especially when you all do it together.

Don’t be put off by kitchen disasters and remember – enjoy it! Don’t worry if your bread or cakes haven’t risen. Just turn them into bread crumbs and make a bread and butter pudding instead.

Whatever you bake and whoever it’s for, enjoy the process and the result. The smiles you will generate may surprise you.

Don’t get stressed, let it be an entertaining escape from the pressures and stresses of life. Make your kitchen the heart of your home – somewhere for some proper homemade family time.