Alphabet Recipes for Kids

A favorite teaching tool of mine is cooking, and my daughter loves helping out in the kitchen. So it only seemed natural that when she started showing an interest in the alphabet that I'd explore different ways to teach with food.

These recipes are easy and fun to make. My daughter was about two-and-a-half when she helped me make all of these. Granted, the finished photos are of my efforts, but the point is that my daughter was in the kitchen, rolling out cookie dough, measuring flour and sculpting slices of cheese into the letters of her name. Educational and yummy!

Keep your table tidy during meals or crafts!

Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes of bread in your desired letters. You may have to push the bread against the cutter's edges from underneath to get a clean cut.

Then cut out your cheese with the same letters. I used wheat bread and American cheese, but any combination of flavors will work.

Next you'll want to put your bread letters on a pan and place the cheese slices on the corresponding piece of bread. Place the pan in a toaster oven (or regular oven) and toast (or bake on low) until cheese melts. I like mine a little toasty, so I let the cheese start to brown, but the cheese only has to just melt to get it to stick to the bread. You can also microwave them for a few second if no toaster oven is available.

These were done in the traditional fashion for cut-out sugar cookies. I used a bag mix for the cookies, simply adding blue food coloring to the liquid ingredients (the egg) to add some color to the letters.

Once the dough was rolled and the cookies cut out and placed on the cookie sheet, which was lined with parchment paper to help keep the edges from sticking, I glazed the cookies with just a drop of water by rubbing my finger over them to make sure the colored sugar sprinkles (also blue) would stick.

Bake according to package directions. Then enjoy!

Quesadillas are great because there are so many options for ingredients. I used flour tortillas and provolone cheese, but you could use any flavor tortilla or cheese combination you prefer!

First, I cut two of each letter from the tortillas, and one of each letter from the cheese. Then I sandwiched the cheese in the tortilla and fried them in a pan on the stove with a little non-stick spray. You could cook them in the oven instead, but sometimes the edges curl when you bake them.

And don't overcook them, or the cheese will run out everywhere. Remember: they're little! A great way to sneak some gooey, bite-size calcium into lunch or dinner.

Pancakes are always a hit in my house, and with the help of a squeeze bottle, it's easy to draw just about anything - including letters!

Start with your favorite pancake recipe or batter, making it a little thin so it will come out of the spout. Add food coloring, if you wish. I used a violet gel food coloring to make the pancakes a light purple. Then make pancakes as you usually would, flipping when the top bubbles (if you try to flip too soon, they're likely to fall apart).

If the spout gets stopped up, stick a toothpick in it to loosen any chunks of batter blocking the opening.

As you can see, I made both uppercase and lowercase versions of the alphabet. I also made my daughter's name, which she loved.

Silicone Alphabet Letter Ice / Bake Tray Set