Pretzels: Making the dough is simple; he can play with it a little like playdough. If it’s for a group and not just you and he, set aside his pieces when you bake; overworked dough can be tough. You can dip the final product in chocolate; sprinkle with sprinkles.

smoothies-adding the ingredients to blender, pressing the button

parfaits --you can make in cups or one big bowl—you might layer the creamy part, he can drop in berries. I made one with my DC using greek yogurt—so good.

Decorating baked cookies with icing is always fun

You can make a gingerbread house and let him decorate; they even sell kits for gingerbread bird houses so if you don’t celebrate X-mas and want something that isn’t associated with the holiday…

Ice cream sundaes—you scoop, he puts on sprinkles, sauce from squeeze bottles, m&ms, etc.

Pretend Soup is good for preschoolers with more than just desserts

Also if baking with kids, explain about unsafe foods, like raw eggs, and keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t eat uncooked dough, lick fingers etc.

My 2 year old helped me with all my baking as well. I would bring her little table and chairs into the kitchen and we would measure or weigh each ingrediant separately to create a mise en place, making sure that there was never anything extra on the table that would distract her. For example, when it was time to measure the flour, I would take the flour, the scale, a spoon and a bowl and put it on the table. I would let her help me spoon the flour into the bowl and have her try to read the numbers. Once we had enough, I would put away the flour, and the scale, and set the measured flour on the counter. Then, I would give her a towel, she would clean, and then we would start with the next ingrediant. Once all the ingrediants were measured, she would help me pour together and mix. If it was cupcakes, I would ask her to hold down the cupcake holders while I poured in the batter. It takes about 4 times a long this way, but it is one of her favorite activities and the whole thing is a math lesson (in addition to, of course, being a lesson in how to make good baked goods!).

My son is 5 now but has been baking with me since he was 2. I let him crack the eggs! Just be sure he's cracking them into a separate bowl (one at a time so there's no waste if he accidentally crushes an egg instead of cracks it!) I've also let him roll out dough with the rolling pin. He loves that.

Cook's Illustrated brownie recipe uses cake flour, so you can stir them forever and they won't get tough.

My LO also liked stirring the microwaved butter and chocolate together as the chocolate melted.