Author Archives: TheGingerbreadMum

Cute lunches: Gruffalo crumble

Posted on April 26, 2013 by TheGingerbreadMum

Ok, so technically this wasn’t a lunch but after creating a toasted Gruffalo for Nicholas and getting such a great reaction from him, I thought I’d make him Gruffalo crumble. And it’s definitely cute.

Use your preferred crumble topping recipe (I like adding some rolled oats and desiccated coconut) over your munchkin’s favourite fruit (I roughly mashed some fresh mango), adding a spoonful of extra crumble topping to form the Gruffalo’s nose.

After the crumble was cooked, I added circles of mango and chocolate drops to make the Gruffalo’s terrible eyes, and a fruit button for the poisonous wart on the end of his nose. His terrible tusks, teeth and horns are cut from banana, and I fried two slices of banana in a little butter for his ears. His black tongue is made from licorice laces.

Nicholas has already asked to “eat more Gruffle crumble!” so I guess this was a success.

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Posted in cute lunches, dessert, toddler and tagged cute lunches, fruit crumble, Gruffalo crumble, The Gruffalo. Bookmark the permalink.

Sugar-free Anzac biscuits

Posted on April 24, 2013 by TheGingerbreadMum

Tomorrow (25th of April) is ANZAC Day. The word ‘ANZAC’ (an acronym for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) was coined during WW1 to refer to the Aussie and Kiwi troops in Egypt. More than 10,000 of them lost their lives during the campaign to capture Gallipoli in Turkey, which saw them landing on the penisula on the 25th of April 1915. Now ANZAC Day not only remembers these WW1 soldiers but all the Australian and New Zealand men and women who have served and died in wars.

Anzac biscuits came about supposedly when the soldiers’ loved ones wanted to send them something nutritious from home. They had to send something that could withstand a couple of months travel without refrigeration and use ingredients that were readily available during the war. The traditional Anzac biscuit of rolled oats, sugar, plain flour, coconut, butter, golden syrup or treacle, bi-carbonate of soda and boiling water was born.

If you would like to make the traditional Anzac biscuit there are many recipes online, including this one on the ANZAC Day Commemoration Committee website and also here (with a choice of crisp or chewy biscuits).

I experimented to make a sugar-free, more toddler-friendly version. Instead of the sugar and golden syrup (or treacle in some recipes), I used honey and applesauce (unsweetened pureed apple). The texture with these two substitutions produces a biscuit with a soft chewy centre, but you can make them less chewy by flattening out the biscuits as much as possible before cooking them.

They went down very well with Nicholas (he’s had them as snacks and also for breakfast, and they survive dunking in milk very well). Hubby, who usually doesn’t like my sugar-free experiments, has happily eaten them without complaint, while I’ve also scoffed a few feeling a lot less guilty than if they were packed with sugar.

This would be a great recipe to try making with your munchkins, but because of the honey it’s advised not to give these biscuits to little ones under 12 months old. It’s also a recipe that’s easy to halve if you don’t want to make so many biscuits.

SUGAR-FREE ANZAC BISCUITS

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 15-20 mins
Makes about 30 biscuits

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
125g butter
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup applesauce / apple puree
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp boiling water

Preheat the oven to 160C and line two oven trays with baking paper.

Gently melt the butter with the honey either in the microwave or in a small saucepan. Let cool.

Combine the rolled oats, plain flour and coconut.

Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the boiling water and add it to the cooled butter mixture.

Stir the butter and bicarbonate of soda mixture into the dry ingredients, add the applesauce or puree and mix until combined.

Place teaspoonfuls of the mixture (it’s normal that it’s quite runny) onto your prepared trays and flattened the mixture out (the thicker the biscuit the softer and more chewier the centre will be). Unlike traditional Anzac biscuits, these won’t spread any more during cooking.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Remove carefully from the trays (they’ll still be quite soft) to cool on a wire rack.

Other uses:

Use the biscuits as the base for individual unbaked cheesecakes: place a whole biscuit in the bottom of a muffin tin (lined with a paper case to get it out more easily), top with your preferred cheesecake mix and refrigerate.
Use broken up biscuits as a crumble topping for cooked fruit.

I’m linking this recipe to the AlphaBakes monthly challenge (this month it’s the letter ‘A’) jointly hosted by Ros from The More than Occasional Baker and Caroline from Caroline Makes.

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Posted in cooking with toddlers, dessert, family, recipe, snack, toddler and tagged Alphabakes, ANZAC, Anzac biscuits, ANZAC Day, biscuits, cooking with kids, family, finger food, oats, recipe, snack, sugar-free, sugar-free biscuits, sugar-free cookies, toddler. Bookmark the permalink.

Cute lunches: The Gruffalo

Posted on April 22, 2013 by TheGingerbreadMum

“A gruffalo? What’s a gruffalo?”“A gruffalo! Why, didn’t you know?”
“He has terrible tusks, and terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws…
He has knobbly knees, and turned-out toes, and a poisonous wart at the end of his nose…
His eyes are orange, his tongue is black; he has purple prickles all over his back.”

‘The Gruffalo’ by Julia Donaldson with Axel Scheffler’s glorious illustrations is one of Nicholas’ favourite books. When we finish reading it (usually for the third or fourth time in a row), Nicholas will often say he wants to eat the gruffalo. Today I thought I’d help him do just that!

The gruffalo is a toasted ham and cheese sandwich with extra bits of toast for his ears. His terrible tusks, teeth and horns are cut from cheddar cheese. His orange eyes are carrot disks with chocolate chip pupils (you could also use small pieces of raisin or licorice). The poisonous wart on the end of his nose (an extra bit of toast) is a fruit button (you could also use a piece of grape or even a cooked pea). His black tongue is a raisin.

And I couldn’t leave out the little brave mouse. I cut out a heart shape from another piece of toast then cut out cheese for his ears and eyes, and added small chocolate chips for his pupils. His nose is a flattened raisin cut into a triangle, and his whiskers are licorice laces cut into thinner strips.

Nicholas had lots of fun eating the gruffalo!

What books do your little ones want to read over and over again? Could you turn them into a cute lunch?

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Posted in cute lunches, lunch, snack, toddler and tagged Axel Scheffler, cute lunches, finger food, Julia Donaldson, lunch, snack, The Gruffalo, toddler. Bookmark the permalink.

Review: Baker Days Letterbox Cake

Posted on April 18, 2013 by TheGingerbreadMum

Cake. Any day that has cake is a better day. And if cake drops through your letterbox, well then it’s a perfect day!

When someone offers you free cake (in this case the lovely Andrea from Baker Days), you’re not going to pass the offer up, are you? And I was very curious to experience their petite and personalised letterbox cake (how does a cake get dropped through your letterbox thudding to the floor below and remain in one piece?!).

Not having a specific occasion to celebrate, it took me a while to decide on my cake. There are so many different options to choose from on the Baker Days site, from the obvious birthday designs to engagements, from bon voyage to get well soon and, my favourite, ‘just to say’ cakes (who needs a reason to send someone a cake?). But, in the end, I couldn’t resist trying a photo upload cake.

The Baker Days site is very easy to use with clear steps to follow. After choosing your cake design, you select the size of your cake (from the petite letterbox size up to a large party cake), then the flavour (a plain madeira cake is standard with other options including gluten and wheat-free costing a little extra). You then have the option of personalising the cake with your own choice of text (you can’t change the font, colour or size of the text though which is a pity), before seeing a preview of your cake.

If you want to upload a photo to be put on a cake, there are many design options to choose from. You can simply have your photo draped over the cake or combine it with other designs; you can also add text. Because of the many choices, you can spend quite a while deciding your preferred design.

I ordered my letterbox cake on Friday and heard it thud to the floor on Saturday morning. If someone had sent this to me, I would have been very excited to discover the box’s contents.

Inside the box there isn’t any bubble wrap or any other cushioning hiding the contents (which is nice). Instead you immediately see a cute round tin, a blank gift card (if you were giving this in person to someone) and a cute party pack (2 candles, a party blower and 3 balloons). While the party pack may not always be relevant to the cake, having unexpected extras in the box is always a plus. There’s also a flyer advertising the other cakes you can order (I would have liked to read some more about the company’s background and where they’re based, although the photo of the Baker Days team is a nice addition).

The tin was in perfect shape, as was its contents. I was impressed! The letterbox cake is 5 inches/12.5 cm in diameter and about 1 inch/2.5 cm high. It’s advertised as a 3-4 portion cake; the portion size is small but big enough for a small sweet treat. The plain madeira sponge I chose was surprisingly moist and light with a lovely vanilla flavour. I’m not a big fan of bought cakes, but this was a pleasant surprise – definitely better than I was expecting and a cake I would happily send to someone.

Like any store-bought cake there is a list of ingredients, clearly displayed inside the box, along with the cake’s best before date. Baker Days say their cakes stay fresh for 2-3 weeks. The letterbox cake is wrapped in a clear plastic bag and the tin seems airtight. We ate the second half of the cake two days after opening and it still tasted fresh.

So what did I have put on my cake? Well as hubby was returning from one of his many business trips the day after I ordered it, I thought it would be nice to give it to him 🙂
I loved that Baker Days matched the text colour to Nicholas’ t-shirt. The cake brought a tear to hubby’s eye so it was definitely a great gift to give him (and something I may need to repeat in the future!). And I was very happy with the results of the photo on the icing.

Starting from £14.99 a Baker Days’ letterbox cake is a great alternative to sending flowers, chocolates or a card to someone, and you don’t have to be worried about them being in to get it. Baker Days even deliver to other countries. There’s always an occasion to send cake! I’m off to order another for a friend’s new baby and thinking that one of Nicholas’ drawings on a cake would be a great grandparent gift.

If you’re on Twitter, Baker Days are giving away a letterbox cake. Just RT their 1D cake pic before 24 April 2013.

Disclosure: We were sent a personalised letterbox cake from Baker Days to review. My opinions are honest and my own.

Spiced apple sugar-free flapjacks

Posted on April 15, 2013 by TheGingerbreadMum

My most popular recipe on the blog is my sugar-free flapjacks. Obviously lots of people want a healthier version of this popular treat.

I make my sugar-free version fairly regularly and even serve them up to unsuspecting adult guests, even though I initially invented them for littlies.

I’ve also experimented with other flavour combinations but usually forget to write them down. This variation is one I like a lot and can be made more spiced if serving it to big people. More importantly, I’ve managed to write it down!

Once again it’s sugar-free, using a little honey and mashed banana instead for sweetness. This time though, extra sweetness comes from soft dried apple and raisins rather than the original recipe’s dates. There’s also the addition of orange zest.

If you’re making this for toddlers, I would first try making the flapjacks with the smaller amounts of spice (1/2 tsp of cinnamon and 1/4 tsp of cloves) while adults will like more warming spice (1 tsp of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp of cloves).

There are lots of ingredients to mix so this is a great recipe to get your children involved.

SPICED APPLE SUGAR-FREE FLAPJACKS

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 15-20 mins
Makes 16 squares

100g butter
3 tbsp honey
200g porridge oats
100g soft dried apple, chopped into pieces no bigger than 1cm
30g desiccated coconut
50g raisins
30g golden linseeds (or flaxseeds), plus extra for sprinkling on the top
1/2 – 1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 – 1/2 tsp ground cloves
zest of an orange, grated (or 1/2 tsp orange extract)
2 ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 175C and grease a 20cm square baking tin.

Gently melt the butter and honey either in a saucepan or in the microwave. Leave to cool.

In a large bowl, mix the oats, chopped dried apple, coconut, raisins, golden linseeds, cinnamon, cloves and orange zest together.

Add the mashed bananas to the melted butter and honey, stir to combine and then pour into the dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly.

Press the mixture firmly into your tin and sprinkle over the extra seeds.

Bake for 15-20 mins until golden on top and it’s coming away from the sides of the tin.

Take out of the oven and, while it’s still warm, use a knife to score where you will cut. Leave in the tin to cool before cutting.

Variations:

Make dairy-free flapjacks by replacing the butter with a dairy-free margarine

Tip: if you have fussy little ones, to avoid them pulling out pieces of dried fruit, chop the apple (maybe also the raisins) into very small pieces for a smoother and more homogeneous mix.

You might also like

The original sugar-free flapjacks (oat bars)

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Posted in cooking with toddlers, dessert, family, recipe, snack, toddler and tagged afternoon tea, cooking with kids, dried apple, family, finger food, flapjacks, oat bars, recipe, snack, spiced apple, sugar-free, sugar-free flapjacks, toddler. Bookmark the permalink.

Cute lunches: choo choo

Posted on April 12, 2013 by TheGingerbreadMum

A cute choo choo lunch to happily take us into the weekend.

I used my train sandwich cutter to cut the shapes from a peanut butter and banana sandwich. I love this cutter with its interlocked train shapes which minimises the wastage from a slice of bread.

The windows are banana slices and the wheels are fruit buttons (a recent find in the healthy snack aisle of my supermarket). The tracks are fruit peelers (a similar idea to cheese strings but using fruit purees) and the smoke is popcorn (which I broke up into smaller pieces for Nicholas after I took the photo; see my warning about giving popcorn to children in my previous post).

Wishing you a weekend that’s choo choo exciting!

Healthy homemade microwave popcorn

Posted on April 11, 2013 by TheGingerbreadMum

Making your own popcorn means you can snack away guilt-free whether you’re watching a movie or not. It’s healthy because unless you add other toppings, simple plain popcorn with a bit of salt is a low-calorie snack.

Since learning how easy it is to make at home when I was a teenager, I’ve always made it in a pot on the stove. For making larger amounts, this is still the best way I think. Put a tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot, stir through 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels until they’re coated, put the lid on and put over a medium heat until the kernels start popping; shake the pot around putting it back on heat when the popping slows down; add salt if desired.

Of course you can buy prepackaged bags of popcorn kernels to go in the microwave. However, you’re paying lots of money for the packaging and often getting lots of added ingredients. Just buy a (much bigger) bag of simple kernels.

Making popcorn in the microwave is perfect for a quick snack or for when you just want a couple of small servings. This method uses a paper bag (think brown paper lunch bag), but you can also pop them in a large microwave-safe bowl with a plate over the top. Either way, be very careful opening the bag or bowl, keeping your fingers away from the escaping steam.

I’ve tried making microwave popcorn with oil and without. I’d encourage you to try both. Without the oil is definitely healthier, but it’s only a small amount and, for me, the taste is so much better with it.

But before we get popping…

WARNING: popcorn can be a choking hazard for babies, toddlers and even bigger children. Even if your little one has teeth, she may swallow rather than chew them. Large pieces of even the fluffiest popcorn can block a little one’s throat, and unpopped or half-popped kernels and the husks can also be very dangerous. The common advice is to not give popcorn to under twos, but some experts say avoid them until four years of age. When you think your little one is old enough to eat popcorn, break bigger pieces up, check for unpopped and half-popped kernels and husks, and have them eat sitting down and supervised.

HEALTHY HOMEMADE MICROWAVE POPCORN

Prep time: 2 mins
Cook time: 2 mins
Makes 1 adult serving

1/4 cup popcorn kernels
1 small clean paper bag such as a brown lunch bag
1/2 tsp olive oil (optional)
pinch of salt (optional)

If using oil, put it in a small bowl, add the popcorn kernels and salt (if using), and stir until the kernels are covered. If not using oil, skip to the next step.

Place the kernels in the bag. Fold the top over 2 or 3 times to close.

Place the bag in the microwave and cook for 2 minutes on high or until there’s more than 2 seconds between pops.

Be careful of the escaping steam when opening the bag.

Variations: