Baxters aims to give youngsters a taste for cooking

Baxters, renowned for its soup, jam and shortbread, is keen to reach out to the next generation of Scots. To prove it, the family-run business has cooked up a marvellous plan, and launched a monthly children's cookery club, hosted at its retail stores at Fochabers, Selkirk, Kelty and Blackford in Perthshire. Obviously with a canny eye to future sales, the firm is seeking to encourage children to learn more about food and how to cook.

The idea is to introduce 5-12-year-olds to the basics of food hygiene, baking and cooking, by giving them hands-on experience in the kitchen. The best bit, in these cash-strapped times, is that classes are free, you just have to telephone and book in advance as spaces are limited.

The class has a no nonsense approach, so it was coats off and colourful aprons on and, most importantly, hands washed. My two got to wear a junior sized chef's hat and really looked the part which was a wonderful photo opportunity for a family snap.

My cooks, Eve, seven, and Hope, four, learned about the importance of using the right ingredients, got direct experience in weighing and measuring, portion control and, crucially, learned that good cooks always tidy up after themselves.

They soon tired themselves out with some hard work, creaming butter and sugar together for some tasty chocolate chip cookies, before launching into another project, decorating shortbread lolly biscuits with a veritable sweet shop of edible delights while the cookies were baking in the oven.

The children are encouraged to develop their skills with hints on how to adapt recipes and, at the end of the lesson, are given a handy recipe card to take home along with their tasty dishes.

Each month sees the classes tackle a different recipe. The next class on 30 May will see the mini cooks tackle gingerbread men, on 27 June, it's fun flapjacks, and easy-peasy pizza is scheduled for 25 July.

There are two time slots, at 9.30am and 10.45am, and each class lasts for an hour. It is a wonderful opportunity to learn an essential life skill from professionals who really know how to make cookery fun.

If you needed any further persuasion, at each location there is a great family friendly restaurant, as well as acres of homeware and local produce to peruse in the shop. Refreshingly, it is more about produce quality than hard sell, though.

This venture really plays to the strengths and values of the Baxters brand. You can pay through the nose for classes of this kind, but here's a Scottish firm offering them for free.

We have driven past the Baxters signs at Kelty countless times en route to granny's house in Scone, and now we have a perfect excuse to make a monthly pitstop.

Little Cooks' Club classes take place on the last Sunday of each month.

Kelty store, tel: [phone].

See www.baxters.com for more information about the courses.

• This article was first published in The Scotsman on 22 May.