Carrot & Apple Bites

The Zebra has a thing for biscuits right now, so we whipped up a batch of healthy biscuits that I can also have as part of my breakfast! 

Ingredients:

50g seeds (we used a mix of flaxseed, chia and quinoa)

40g wholemeal self raising flour

35g porridge oats

1/2tsp grated ginger

1tsp cinnamon 

40g chopped dried apricot 

100g grated cooking apple

50g grated carrot 

20g chopped pecans 

20g coconut oil

60g honey 

5g orange zest

1tbsp orange juice 

10g grated coconut 

****preheat oven to 180degs

The best tip I can give for cooking with toddlers is get everything ready and prepared before letting them in the kitchen!

Gently heat the coconut oil until it melts and then stir in the honey, orange zest and juice. Leave to one side.

The best thing about the recipe is its so easy! Apart from the grated coconut, add all the remaining ingredients into one bowl. Mix well and then add in the warm coconut oil and orange.

Split the mixture into 6 or 12 biscuits and place on a greased tray. 6 biscuits mean they have around 200 calories each. 

Sprinkle on top the grated coconut.

Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes until they are golden brown. 

Once they've cooled, all you need to do is enjoy and not feel any snack-guilt! 

Jam tarts

I'd forgot just how fun jam tart making was until a recent session at Active Tots so we had a go at home today!

I haven't made me own pastry before, usually I buy the ready made rolls, so I had to find a recipe. 

I am shocked at how simple it is - butter, flour and water. We will be making all our pastry own from now on. 

Mix together the flour, butter and salt until fine like breadcrumbs. 

Add 3 tablespoons of water and three use your hands to mix. 

You can then leave it in the fridge for half an hour to help it roll better, but we are too impatient! 

At this stage I relaised I don't own a rolling pin!!! A quick scout through the toy box and I found a plastic carrot which worked just as well...

Cut out the circles and place into a greased pan.

Fill all the cases with jam and lemon curd, don't forget to regularly lick the spoon.

Pop into the oven for 15-20 minutes at 180degs and make sure doggie gets a good look at them cooking.

They are ridiculously hot when they come out from the oven, so I left them to cool for a couple hours and we will have them after our tea. Delish! 

Remembrance Sunday

At 17 months, The Zebra is much too young to understand why Rememberance Day is so important (She's also  young to be trusted not to eat the poppy on my jumper). 

I still wanted to acknowledge the day, so we had a theme around the Poppy. A symbol of hope and a fresh start, as well as all that has been lost. 

The Zebra loves baking and we try and make something every week. I like recipes that aren't to hard and allow her to do most the cooking. Obviously some bits, like making the leaves, have to be done by me! 

Trying to be a bit adventurous and tasty, we went for a lemon and poppyseed recipe. Zebra enjoyed squeezing the lemons but soon took to eating them... 

We're not sure what went wrong, but this biscuit recipe was much too wet to shape - even after adding in lots more flour. Luckily we had cupcake cases in the cupboard!

After all her hard work of stirring and pouring and filling cases, it's time to taste the mixture while waiting for the cakes to bake

Using the fantastic Wilton Gel food colouring, Zebra was able to paint the cakes poppy red. I love how even a teeny amount of gel gives such a vibrant colour. Once dried, I was able to add the black centres to the poppy.

As the recipe was originally biscuit not cake, the final bite was a bit heavy an stuck to the cases, however the lemon flavour was delicious and has certainly inspired me to cook with citrus more often. 

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