Hot Cross Cookies

April 1, 2019

Hot Cross Cookies

Working as a team to mix together the dough.

I love a good hot cross bun. They are wonderfully squidgy and are so yummy when toasted and lathered in chocolate spread (sorry I am not a purist as I am not a fan of butter). I don’t make a habit of buying hot cross buns until the Easter holidays as if I do, I know that I will eat them all and happily forget that the kids also enjoy them. My husband is out of sync with the rest of the family on this one – he would prefer, well not to be obliged to eat a hot cross bun I am sure!

I have made hot cross buns in the past, but not with the kids. I remember it being a somewhat lengthy process and not necessarily compatible with my kids’ tiredness levels during term time. However, I did want us to make something related to our faith and have an opportunity to talk with them about the Easter story so I decided we would make cookies as they take less time. As an added bonus, we could make them smaller and perfect for an afterschool snack without having to share a whole hot cross bun and causing arguments over who gets which bit! I don’t know about your kids, but mine will argue over literally anything and make it look like an Olympic sport! Anything not to run the risk of an argument over what I would consider a small inconsequential occurrence, which is clearly the biggest injustice since the previous occasion!

We used melted butter in these cookies to recreate the squidgy texture of a hot cross bun, and added orange zest, cinnamon and raisins to replicate the flavours of them. We used icing pens for the crosses, but my eldest had some difficulties piping these out so had help. Alternatively, you could use icing sugar and water, melted white chocolate to pipe a cross on them or cut crosses out of rolled marzipan to stick on. It seems the options are endless! Seb actually quite enjoyed directing me and rating my attempts at putting crosses on the cookies!

Ingredients

225g plain flour
1 egg
150g melted butter
160g soft light brown sugar
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cinnamon
150g raisins
Zest of an orange
1tsp vanilla
1tsp of orange extract
1/4 tsp salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 180° or 160°c fan and line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.
Mix the melted butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Crack the egg in and add the vanilla and orange extract and beat it in until fully combined.
Add the flour, orange zest, cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda and bring together until a dough forms.
Add in the raisins and squish and squash to ensure an evenish distribution of fruit in the dough.
Using a tablespoon to measure, get small pieces of dough and roll them into balls and put then on the baking sheets. Remember to leave space for spreading.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden. Leave on the trays to cool as they are a little fragile directly out of the oven.
When they have cooled slightly make the crosses using icing pens, melted white chocolate, icing or even marzipan.

These were delicious cookies. If your little ones aren’t a fan of raisins, you could substitute them for chocolate chips. Do let me know if you make these with your monkeys or without them as that is also an option!

March 23, 2019March 24, 2019

Marshmallow Sheep

It is officially spring! In our front garden the daffodils are out in their splendour. They make me happy even if I am yelling at the kids to run as we have set out late for school. The temperature is getting warmer and we seem to have said goodbye to winter. Well now I have said that you can guarantee the snow will arrive next week, but I am holding onto the sunshine that we saw last week and hoping for the spring-like conditions to stay! In my head the only bad thing about spring is the fact that we lose an hour of sleep when British Summer Time begins!

I have been thinking about making these sheep since Christmas when I was thinking how the kids and I could make the nativity scene out of food items. Unfortunately, I only really got as far as the sheep and then ran out of time to think of more ideas and execute them before Christmas. It may well be on the list for this Christmas, but as usual it depends on time and if I can take precious time away from making mince pies and Christmas cake! I was then racking my brain to see when I could appropriately make them and it occurred to me that new lambs traditionally mark the beginning of spring so there we go! A start of spring activity instead then!

As this was a super quick Saturday morning baking in pyjamas activity, I decided to use the opportunity to get the boys, Atticus in particular, to practise their handwriting skills. I find he is more eager to have a go at writing something when it is fun and these sheep and more specifically the promise that he could have one for snack time really spurred him on to have a go. I must say I am super proud of his efforts. His teacher is always advocating him having a go at writing something about something that interested him or that he enjoyed so this certainly fit the bill.

Ingredients

Rocky Mountains Mega Marshmallows
Giant chocolate buttons
Matchmakers
Edible eyes
Melted chocolate

Method

Grown up cut each Matchmaker into four for legs.
Push each leg into the bottom of the marshmallow. You will need to push it in quite far for it to work. Some of ours didn’t stand properly, but most did. It is all a matter of making them even.
Put the sheep on its bottom and coat the back (with a spoon or by dipping although the latter is messier in this case!) of the chocolate button in melted chocolate and stick to the sheep’s face.
Put a tiny bit of chocolate on each eye and stick to the chocolate button.
Leave the sheep on their bottoms (so chocolate button facing upwards) until the melted chocolate has set so they don’t move around.
Enjoy!

My kids are now waiting to be allowed to eat one of these sheep. I am quite enjoying having an ovine (yes the adjective for sheep is ovine in case you didn’t know) audience as I write this up for you all. Please do send me pictures of your sheep if you do make some!

March 21, 2019March 21, 2019

Potted Crab

Transporting the crab from the mixing bowl to our large ramekin.

You may be rather sceptical when you learn that I made potted crab with my 2 year old. I encourage you to read on despite any misgivings as this really was a fun recipe to make with her. She had fun counting out the tablespoons of yoghurt and squishing the slice of lime, twisting the salt and pepper mills, mixing, transporting and pouring – lots of activities which are present on early years schemas. It also allowed me to introduce a fish with a different texture to her and hopefully encourage her to widen her pallet when she is older. She wasn’t a huge fan, but I remain undeterred as tastes change as children get older and the boys did enjoy it.

When Ophelia went ‘shaky shaky’ with the paprika!

This recipe could be managed solo by an older child, but Ophelia did need some encouragement to stay on task and not go ‘shaky shaky’ with the paprika or try and eat the rest of the lime. I managed to prevent the latter, but was unfortunately completely incompetent at the former… More vigilance was required and in this instance I was lacking! I would also be lying if I said that I managed to remain completely calm… What this picture doesn’t show is the rest of the kitchen counter!

Time to pour the melted butter on top of the crab.

Ingredients

1 tin of white crabmeat, drained. Recipes for potted crab generally call for fresh crabmeat, but as this was for making with kids we opted for tinned crab and the result was delicious.
2 tbsp. Greek-style natural yoghurt
Zest from half a lime
Juice from 1/8 of a lime (or just a small slice)
Seasoning
50g unsalted butter, melted (easiest in a small jug)
1/8tsp of paprika

Method

Put the crabmeat into a bowl and count in the tablespoons of Greek-style natural yoghurt. Add the lime zest, juice and seasoning and mix well. We used a tub grater with the fine grater attachment to zest the lime.
Spoon the mixture into a shallow dish, one large ramekin or two smaller ramekins and gently flatten.
Add the paprika to the melted butter and mix.
Pour the melted butter over the ramekin(s) and refrigerate until set. This will take around 30 minutes.
Remove from the fridge around 30 minutes before serving to make it easier to spread. Enjoy with toast, crackers or crumpets.

Remember to remove from the fridge around half an hour before you want to spread it. The boys enjoyed this in sandwiches.

March 15, 2019March 15, 2019

Choccy Toffee Squares

I find baking therapeutic. I even find baking with children relatively therapeutic. This is especially true when the alternative is a 20-minute argument about what board game they should play or TV show they should watch or a meltdown because one little Gilbert didn’t listen to any other little Gilbert’s ideas. The reason for this is generally because any argument can be solved by licking the bowl or by consuming copious amounts of leftover melted chocolate. Yes there are times when the melted butter pot gets knocked over or the flour manages to escape out of the packet and everyone swears they didn’t touch it, but the good in it definitely outweighs the bad and most of the time I get through the activity with my frazzled temper relatively intact! Disclosure; I would like to remind my lovely readers that the more children you try to cook with, the more stressful the undertaking for the ‘responsible’ adult. As a mum who has been cooking with little people for around 5 years, if you manage to get through the planned recipe with no mistakes or cross words I salute you! You deserve all the chocolate!

When I managed to decorate without the children!

These squares were initially mummy-daughter baking time. The boys didn’t participate as they had agreed on a game and were tearing around the garden completely immersed in their imaginations (completely lovely to see especially seeing as it was a rather rotten day). But as is so often true, two is company and three a crowd so Ophelia was at a loose end. And as it is a darn sight easier to cook with just one child rather than my whole tribe, I enjoyed this time with just her and she seemed to enjoy having me completely to herself!

This recipe makes a thin biscuit bar coated in chocolate. Don’t be tempted to place it in a smaller tin for a thicker biscuit. It will fit in a brownie pan when spread out thinly – your little chef may need a bit of help to achieve this. If you are making these bars with small children I recommend using more chocolate to coat them as it is easier to spread a thicker layer of chocolate than a thin one to ensure that the top of the bar doesn’t get damaged. I think these are yummy with desiccated coconut or chopped almonds on the top. Unsurprisingly, Ophelia prefers them with sprinkles – the pinker the better! You will see that she and I compromised and both coconut and multi-coloured stars to decorate one of the batches.

Ingredients

For the biscuit base

100g margarine (or softened butter)
100g light soft brown sugar
1 egg yolk
50g plain flour
50g porridge oats (this recipe works best with bog standard oats rather than jumbo ones)

For the top

If for young children 200g milk chocolate and 50g margarine/butter
For older children 150g milk chocolate and 40g margarine/butter
Chopped nuts, desiccated coconut or sprinkles to decorate

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°c fan and grease a brownie pan with a silicone baking brush and line it with greaseproof paper.
Put the margarine, sugar and egg yolk into a bowl and mix until smooth, pale and creamy.
Sift in the flour and add the oats and gently mix them in.
Carefully spread in the brownie tin (adult help may be required here) and cook for 15-20 minutes until golden.
Remove from the oven and melt the chocolate and margarine. This can be done in a double boiler on the stove or in the microwave. If you are using the microwave, melt it in short bursts on medium power, ensuring you mix it frequently.
Pour the chocolate over the biscuit base (the tin will probably still be hot, so carefully) and spread with a silicone spatula. Decorate with your toppings of choice.
Cut into squares while still warm and then leave in the tin until they have completely cooled.

The compromise: sprinkles and desiccated coconut!

Every time these are made I am surprised when they survive the night as I am always worried I may decide to sneak down stairs and devour the whole batch before the children wake! Do get in contact if you make these and let me know what you think.

March 6, 2019

Almond Shortbread

Bringing the shortbread together. “I do it alone mummy”

Apologies for my lack of posts in the last week. I am undergoing a period of adjustment and for a creature of habit, it is hard to accept change. I find myself I torn between delight and the feeling that it is the beginning of the end. The reason for my current inability to decipher my own emotions is because my youngest, my baby, has started nursery. While it is true that for the time being she will only be going one morning a week, it seems to herald the true beginning of the end of my period as a full-time stay-at-home-mum. I am not quite yet rushing back into work, but I need to get my thinking cap on vis-à-vis paid employment and what I plan to do with my time. I wish that I possessed the ability to be truly decisive, but I am not ready for this new independent stage which I can no longer deny is occurring in my not so little littilest. So instead of researching what my next step should be, I thought I would tell you about the almond shortbread that Ophelia and I made together as the memory of making this with her makes me smile.

I don’t know about you, but I really love the depth of flavour and the texture that ground almonds bring to baking. We made this shortbread in a circular tin and adorned it with flaked almonds. It was a yummy, nutty shortbread which the kids absolutely loved. Yes, it is more crumbly that traditional shortbread, but I think the almonds make it special and truly yummy.

The aroma of this shortbread filled the kitchen for quite a while. It was such a temptation to eat it warm, but do let it cool fully in the tin as it has a very crumbly texture.

Ingredients

125g butter or margarine (we used Flora Buttery) plus extra for greasing
60g soft light brown sugar
100g plain flour
80g ground almonds
25g flaked almonds to decorate

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°c fan.
Paint the baking tin (we used a 20cm circular one, you could use a square one or even a loaf tin).
Mix the sugar and the flour.
Add the butter and rub in with your fingertips
Next add the ground almonds and bring together with your hands. The texture will be a bit grainy due to the ground almonds.
Place in a tin and pat it down until flat and score out your pieces.
Gently press the flaked almonds on the top of the shortbread.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until firm to the touch and golden brown.
Gently complete the slices while warm and leave to cool fully in the tin before removing it.

This shortbread was the perfect accompaniment to a calm afternoon cup of coffee. The kids also enjoyed munching on this on our walk home from school. I was rather sad when it was no more, but as it is really very simple to make it really isn’t a problem or a hardship to make another batch! I hope you enjoy this recipe and do let me know if you make it.

February 18, 2019February 18, 2019

Chocolate Orange Strudel

What to do with the leftovers from a filo pastry packet!

Do you ever buy a packet of Filo pastry and use only a small amount of it only to be left what you are going to do with the rest of the packet?! Maybe it is just me. I made a Slimming World friendly pie for Simon and my mum and it only called for one sheet of Filo pastry. So I decided the kids and I would use the rest in a sweet recipe. As they are often reluctant to try crumble and recipes with stewed fruit (please read here, wouldn’t touch stewed fruit with a barge pole) I decided to try and alter the texture of the cooked fruit with masses of crushed bourbon biscuits, and a couple of tablespoons of Sweet Freedom Spiced Orange Choc Shot. The kitchen smelt amazing while we had this on the stove! I would have happily eaten the oranges, crushed biscuits and Choc Shot mixture straight from the pan. I was instead on my best behaviour as Seb was in charge of the pan and I didn’t want to be admonished by a six year old!

This recipe was so much fun to make; the kids had fun crushing biscuits and painting the filo pastry with melted butter. It’s true that the filo pasty sheets are fragile and they did need help moving single sheets before painting them, but we didn’t have any major mishaps! Also we put the melted butter in a wider based bowl than the last time we worked with filo pastry so I didn’t have any melted butter to clear up!

Ingredients

100g melted butter
3 oranges, peeled
4-5tbsp of light muscovado sugar
100g bourbon biscuits (or any other chocolatey biscuits)
100g walnuts
2 tbsp. Sweet Freedom Spiced Orange Choc Shot
50g chocolate chips
1 pack of filo pastry
Icing sugar for dusting

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°c and put a silicone baking sheet on a baking tray.
Slice the oranges into bite-sized pieces, bash the walnuts and crush the chocolate biscuits.
Put a couple of tbsp. of melted butter into a saucepan and add the oranges over a low heat.
Add the walnuts, crushed biscuits and the Choc Shot and mix all well. You should have a sticky chocolatey mess. It should be thick and not runny.
Lay a single sheet of filo pastry on the silicone baking mat and paint with melted butter and add a sprinkling of the muscovado sugar.
Add another sheet of filo pastry and repeat step five. Continue until you have used all the sheets of filo pastry.
Place the filling down one long side of the pastry and roll it up to make a long sausage, tucking the ends in as you role (I did this bit).
Ensure the strudel is seam-side down and brush with melted butter and the remaining muscovado sugar.
Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes until golden and crisp and the pastry is cooked through. Leave to cool for 10-15 minutes before sprinkling with icing sugar and serving with ice cream and/or more Choc Shot.

Two out of the three kids loved this recipe so I am counting it as a win. I thought it was yummy and would have happily scoffed the whole strudel all by myself. The only thing that stopped me is that I had had quite a cake-heavy day and I really thought I should lay off more sweet treats or I would have had a sugar rush all night!

February 15, 2019

Salmon and Soy Sauce Bake

Slicing hard boiled eggs and taking about fractions.

I am sure I have already said so before, but if there is a request to help in the kitchen, it is always granted no matter how inconvenient it may be at the time. This does mean that some evenings dinner is ready a lot later than originally planned or even the latter – too early as they didn’t want to help! It has to be said though, sometimes asking them for help can lead to them not wanting to. I have learnt that if I start making the food using their colourful knives and doing things they like such as chopping vegetables, cracking eggs, whisking and mixing they become eager to help and argue over whose turn it is next!

Measuring out the soy sauce. There was an intense look of concentration on his face as he completed this task!

We didn’t have any such scenario for this time around. This is because Seb has recently been invested into our local Beaver colony. He will tell anyone who will listen (including complete strangers) that he is a Beaver with a necker and woggle. This statement is sometimes met with looks of confusion, but most people who have had some contact with the Scouting or Guiding movement will show what he deems to be an appropriate response. I quickly realised that there is a cooks badge and I asked him if he wanted to make some items towards it. He was even more eager than I could have anticipated!

This meal was eaten by the whole family and was entirely put together by Seb. There is a small amount of adult preparation. You could use tinned potatoes if you want to reduce the amount of adult preparation. We used tinned salmon, but you could cook some pieces of salmon instead. We also were able to use this activity to reinforce Seb’s understanding of whole, half and quarter as he quartered the boiled eggs. I completely love it when cooking can help with multiple areas of the curriculum!

Ingredients

500g new potatoes (or other small potatoes)
4 medium eggs
2 tins of skinless and boneless salmon (170g each) or 4 salmon fillets
150g sugar snap peas
150g sweetcorn (tinned or frozen)
2 salad tomatoes
8tbsp reduced salt soy sauce
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
3 cloves of garlic
Seasoning

Adult preparation

Boil the new potatoes for 15-20 minutes, drain and leave cool.
Gentle lower the eggs into boiling water and simmer for 8-10 minutes. Run under cold water and remove shells.
Grate the ginger

Older children could do all of the above, but as Seb was making this after school I did the three above steps for him.

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°c and spray a large oven proof (we used Pyrex) dish with Frylight.
Cut the potatoes, sugar snap peas and tomatoes into small pieces and add the large oven proof dish.
Cut the eggs into quarters and add to the dish.
Add the sweetcorn.
Remove the salmon from the tins and gently squish with a fork to separate and add to the dish.
In a small bowl, measure out the 8tbsp of soy sauce.
Add the grated ginger.
Gently bash the garlic cloves with a rolling pin and remove the skin and then crush with a garlic press. Add to the soy sauce.
Mix the ginger and garlic into the soy sauce and pour over the dish with the rest of the ingredients and gently mix.
Place in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

Simon and I really enjoyed this dish. Seb wasn’t keen on the tomatoes, but in fairness he never is. Our little potato-hater managed to eat at least one new potato, but was adamant that he would not eat any more. As usual Ophelia managed to eat pretty much her whole portion. It was a nice family meal and one I am eager to repeat. Do get in contact if you make this as we would love to hear from you!

February 9, 2019

Rugby Wraps

My family has never had a particular tradition or connection to one particular sport. When growing up, my dad would always, I mean without fail, watch the Grand Prix. But it was never a family activity. I believe it was a source of mild frustration for my dad that neither of his daughters showed any interest in watching the motor racing with him. As a teenager, I remember looking forward to Grand Prix weekends as it meant I could have a Sunday afternoon to myself as long as dad wasn’t disturbed!

I always knew that my husband was a rugby fan; when I first met him he was wearing a Leicester Tigers rugby shirt. Although, if truth be told, I would have been hard pushed to tell you that! Before we were married, it was very easy for me to avoid watching the rugby with him and make other plans. However, when we married, I realised that I wouldn’t be able to avoid the game my entire life. So I set about trying to understand the rules. I asked many, many questions. It may have actually been the same question over and over again and after over 10 years of marriage I am somewhat ashamed to admit my understanding of the rules hasn’t progressed!

Seb with his wrap shortly before it was demolished!

My interest in understanding rugby was dwindling and then Simon told me that the 2011 Rugby World Cup was taking place in New Zealand. He asked me if I would like to watch the matches with him. I was rather reluctant as they would all be taking place rather early and although I am an early bird, I like my time to myself in the mornings. He promised me he would make me breakfast and a deal was struck. This was when what were initially called Rugby Sandwiches were created. In their original form, we used partially baked baguettes filled with a combination of scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage and mushrooms. I had mine with vegetarian sausages. Fast forward to the present day (and the airing of the Six Nations 2019) and we are still making these. We have exchanged the partially baked baguettes for wraps as the kids eat them better and they work well if you are following Slimming World! Isn’t it funny how life changes?!

I was really impressed with my six year old during this process as he scrambled the eggs himself and kept an eye on the mushrooms and mixing them around while I sorted the bacon. He was so very proud of his efforts, and proudly told his dad how he cooked the eggs and the mushrooms! The kids demolished a couple of mini wraps each and the grown ups had these with potato wedges. Everyone was rather happy!

Ingredients

Wraps (in our house the grown ups used normal-sized wraps and the children had a couple of mini wraps each)
Eggs (we used one for each person)
Mushrooms (we used about 50-60g as not everyone likes them in this house)
Bacon (we allowed 2 pieces per adult and 1 piece per child) or vegetarian sausages
Butter Frylight or margarine

Method

Chop the mushrooms and put to one side.
Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk (Seb called it this the ‘whizz mix’ which made me chuckle! Seb shows you how it is done in the video below.)
Put the bacon onto grill.
Spray a small saucepan with Butter Frylight and add the mushrooms to fry. Mix every so often to stop them sticking.
Spray another small saucepan or frying pan with Butter Frylight and pour the beaten eggs into it. As the egg starts to set, mix it all around until the egg is fully cooked.
Put the cooked mushrooms and scrambled eggs into individual little bowls with spoons to serve.
Cut up the grilled bacon and place in another bowl.
Give everyone a wrap on a plate and allow them to spoon in the fillings they want and roll up. If you are not eating them immediately, putting a cocktail stick in the keeps them wrapped.
Enjoy in front of the rugby!

February 2, 2019

Squirrel Poo Biscuits

Last week, Atticus’s homework was about measuring. The instruction sheet came with a couple of ideas and baking was one of them. In all fairness, I do not need any encouragement to bake with the kids. I will quite happily turn pretty much any homework, assignment or gift into something I can make with the kids. However, my husband suggested it might be nice if I planned to do something else with him as their extracurricular activities are rather saturated with cooking. After my initial reaction of how dare he ruin my fun? I began to see that he may well have a point. For once, I am really hoping that he doesn’t decide to read this article as I find it very difficult to admit to him in person that he was right! So to have material for Atticus’s homework the kids had a game of long jump in the hallway. It was loud and jumpy and thoroughly enjoyable until Seb and I collided heads. I tell you the truth, my head hurt for a good 3 days after that bump. Seb told me he was fine not long after the bump and insisted everyday when I asked him if his head hurt that it didn’t. Mine, however, was throbbing… It must be that I just don’t bounce back the way I used to in my younger years…

Measuring out a tablespoon of golden syrup.

Despite having enough material for the homework, I really couldn’t pass up an opportunity to cook with Atticus alone. When asked, he said he wanted to make some chocolate biscuits with raisins. So I was racking my brain and focused on these biscuits. When I was thinking about them and the ingredients, chocolate, dried fruit and nuts and it reminded me of when my dad told me he always used to call Topic Bars squirrel poo bars. I mentioned to Atticus as a joke that they could be called Squirrel Poo Biscuits because they were brown and contained fruit and nuts which would all likely be present in a squirrel’s poo. This was clearly the funniest thing I had said in along time and I should have guessed that he would be unwilling to call them Chocolate Fruit and Nut Clusters after that! Please don’t let the name of these put you off making them though, they are really yummy!

Ingredients

100g dark chocolate
100g milk chocolate
60g butter or margarine
1tbsp golden syrup
200g nuts (we used a mixture of peanuts, walnuts and almonds). If you want you can toast the nuts before you start, but it isn’t absolutely necessary, it just adds a bit of depth to the flavour.
150g dried fruit (we used half raisins and half dried cranberries)
40g plain flour
2tbsp unsweetened cocoa
Icing sugar for dusting

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°c or 150°c fan and line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or greaseproof paper.
Put half of the chocolate (we put the milk in, but you could do the dark or half and half) in a heatproof bowl with the butter and golden syrup and put on a pan on gently simmering water until it has all melted and is smooth.
Chop or bash (we bashed with the end of the rolling pin in a large bowl) the rest of the chocolate and place in a large bowl
Bash the nuts into smaller pieces. You can do this in small batches with a pestle and mortar or in a bag or large sturdy bowl with the end of a rolling pin.
Put the nuts into the same bowl as the chocolate and sieve the flour and cocoa into that bowl too and mix to combine.
Add the melted chocolate mixture to the bowl and mix so that the flour mixture is completely coated with the melted chocolate.
Take tablespoons of the mixture and put them onto the baking sheets ensuring there is a gap of at least 3cm between each one.
Bake for 15 minutes and remove from the oven. Don’t be tempted to move these when they are warm as they will be very fragile. Allow them to cool for 30 minutes or so before transferring to a cooling rack and sprinkling with icing sugar.

These biscuits will last for 2-3 days in an airtight container. Ours lasted about half that time and were enjoyed by kids, parents and grandparents alike. My note to myself from this baking experience is that baking with just one of the kids is a thoroughly enjoyable activity as they get to do everything and I get to talk to just them and hear more about their day without a sibling interrupting them. This was so very precious to me in a busy week where I nearly missed out on the opportunity of hearing his perspective on life.

January 28, 2019

Apricot and Pistachio Energy Balls

We are nearly at the end of January and I am taking big breathes to relax as we have made it. It really can be a really dreary and depressing month weather wise and with everyone trying to be good it can seem like the fun is sucked out of it. Let me tell you this though, it isn’t all bad as when life gets overly stressful, when the kids drive me round the bend, my wonderful husband sends me off to a café on my own, with my laptop so I can write a blog post in the day and he instructs me to eat cake. Yes my lovely readers, my gem of a husband sends me out to eat cake. Some of you may well struggle to believe that I have to be told to eat cake with all the things we make, but it turns out I do… I have just ordered my second slice and I am not feeling one bit guilty. Why? Because it has been a stressful ~~day~~ month and I have been really good since I devoured practically a whole batch of meringue topped mince pies – and that was last year! Please don’t remind me that that was only last month! Yes the second slice of cake may well cancel out the rest of the good in the month, but for my sanity I was ordered to eat cake, so I have. It is one thing I can tick of my list without any trouble. And I will vow to work with even greater dedication at the exercise classes I attend during the week. So if any of my instructors are reading this yes you may yell at me to work harder next week and I won’t roll my eyes at you or grimace at you. I promise. Well I promise to endeavour not to!

Ophelia deciding I had taken enough time photographing the snack and wanting to dive right in!

So before I went out to eat loads of cake, last week the boys made these delectable Apricot and Pistachio Energy Balls. We seem to get through kilos of dried fruit in cereal, cakes and snacks during the year, but looking back over the things we have made, I realised energy balls had never featured. The main reason is due to the nut content and me being super paranoid about another child getting hold of them in the school grounds. But when they have these, I herd the children out of the school grounds questioning where their snacks are, (it is after all a long walk or trek in their eyes home) and then distribute them to the eager recipients. I would maybe say though, they are probably better as a pack up snack in the winter months as they do need to be stored in the fridge.

Rolling the energy balls without licking their fingers!

I promise they couldn’t be easier to make. My children made them one evening after school and enjoyed the fruits of their labour the rest of the week and over the weekend. They are literally one of the easiest thing to make with your little chefs. We also made it a game to see who could go the longest while rolling them into balls without licking their fingers. I have to say even I was sorely tempted to lick my fingers as they were so truly scrummy and at the end we all sat there eating the remains off our fingers before hand washing! We truly must have looked a sight! Poor Ophelia though, watched from the other end of the counter as she had a particularly bad cold I that was one thing I was not eager for her to share. She was given a little spoon to lick to feel included while she chatted along to grandma.

Ingredients

275g dried apricots
85g shelled pistachios
2tbsp runny honey (or use maple syrup to make vegan)
50g oats

Method

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and put the lid on.
Turn it on at a medium speed. You may need switch off and scrape the sides a bit.
Blend together until the ingredients form a big thick clump.
Remove the lid and the blade from the food processor and take pieces of the mixture and roll into balls. Ours were all slightly different slices, but mainly around the half a tbsp. mark.
Refrigerate for a couple of hours and the return to the fridge in a tub. These will store in the fridge for a week or so.

It has to be said that the boys were more fond of these than Ophelia. I do think that the no finger licking contest that they had going made this activity even more fun and made them want to eat even more of them! There were many happy sounds from them when I said I had energy balls for snacks. I think we shall be trying some different flavours next time. I am dreaming of chocolate and ginger… I shall leave that one out there and hopefully they will come around at some point!