Dora's Little Cook

If you've been to our house recently, you would know that it could quite accurately be called "Dora Central". Like many families with young girls, we have Dora toys, Dora DVDs, Dora clothing and pyjamas, and Dora wall decorations.

The most recent Dora item making its way into our home is the Dora Little Cooks Collection.

If you haven't seen it, the Dora Little Cooks Collection is a series of magazines, which come accompanied by various items of cooking equipment and dinnerware. As is usually the case, the first issue is cheaply priced, with subsequent issues being much more expensive.

The first magazine was prominently displayed in several shops at our local shopping centre. I initially resisted Grace's pleading for a copy, until Neil suggested it might be nice to get it for her. I'm glad we did. She loves it!

Issue One included a poster of fruit and vegetables, which we have displayed in the dining room. We do actually refer to it during our meals to see if what we're eating is on the chart.

Our dining room decor.

The magazine contained a recipe for banana muffins, and came with a Dora plate and four silicon muffin moulds. Grace cooked the muffins last week, and we each had one for afternoon tea. She was very pleased with the results.

One proud chef and her muffins.

I subscribed online, to make sure we receive the magazine regularly, and also to get the free gifts that are promised (including a Dora apron and chef's hat). There was great excitement on Friday when Issues Two and Three arrived in the mail.

Yesterday Grace made the Butterfly Cheese Biscuits from Issue Two. The recipe is illustrated with pictures of each step, which she followed carefully, even down to the placement of her hand on top of the grater.

Grating the cheese just like in the picture.

I helped roll out the dough then she cut out the shapes and put them on the tray. While they were in the oven cooking, she even washed and dried all her "Dora cooking things" ready to put them away for next time.

Washing the dishes after cooking.

The recipes are designed to make quite small quantities, and are reasonably simple. This one only had three ingredients. But the biscuits were absolutely delicious, and didn't last very long at all.

Some of the cheese biscuits.

I think Issue Three's recipe is a strawberry sundae, so we've got that to look forward to next. It isn't so bad having a budding chef in the family!