I used to be a morning person. Each new day would fill me with glee and I would be so optimistic about what it may bring me. Fast forward to now, and I can say with one hundred per cent certainty that I am no longer a morning person. I can pinpoint the exact date when my natural state was warped and unsurprisingly it coincided with the arrival of our firstborn. Mornings used to be my own personal safe haven. To reach that degree of solitude now, I have to leave the comfort of my home and run which if I am honest can be blinking exhausting! Although, running gives me an excuse, an incentive even, to eat cake and by no means cancels out the hard work of the run…
Wen you have already had the argument over getting dressed, convincing your monkeys that school isn’t optional and gently breaking it to your youngest that they will never be the same age as their older sibling at the same time, breakfast can often seem to b a battle unworthy of your time. This recipe was born from my dual desire to refuse to comply with sugar-laden breakfast requests and give the kids the impression that they were having a fun breakfast without it being full of refined sugar. I don’t think I would be any teacher’s favourite parent if I sent my children into school saturated with sugar and unable to sit still for a single second.
These breakfast cups can be made the afternoon before and stored in an airtight container in the fridge overnight and then all you have to do is present them plated up with no preparation time at breakfast! The fact that they are cooked in individual portions as well means that you don’t need to worry about cutting up the flapjack and risk uneven pieces. Yes, I really have thought this through too much. The last ting I would want is to go three rounds of such and such has a bigger piece than me! That would defeat the objective of a stress-free breakfast!
Ingredients
- 150g tinned pear
- 200g butter or margarine
- 250g runny honey
- 400g oats
- 50g Cheerios
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160° fan.
- Measure out the butter and the golden syrup and place in a large pan on the hob and melt over a low heat stirring occasionally.
- Meanwhile, cut the tinned pear into small chunks using a table knife.
- Measure out the oats and the Cheerios.
- When the butter and honey mixture has melted and has been stirred to combine, add in the oats and Cheerios and mix.
- Add in the chopped pear and mix again.
- This mixture will make around 20 breakfast cups so line a muffin tray with cupcake cases (if you don’t have 2, this mixture is sturdy enough to stand up in the cases in a cake tin) and evenly divide the mixture between the cases.
- Cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. They will be fragile when removed from the oven, but they firm up as they cool.#
This recipe appeared in Penguin News on Friday 22 November 2019.
Bananas are a problematic fruit in our house. Up until recently Seb was the only one who would even contemplate eating them. Then about a fortnight ago, Atticus decided that he does now like bananas. When Atticus announced that he liked bananas (it did feel somewhat like a proclamation at the time), all of a sudden, I had to increase the weekly amount of bananas. This, however, then left me with a plethora of bananas
as it turns out that Atticus’s new found love of bananas only really means he likes bananas on some days and sometimes only three quarters of a banana. Seb has taken to finishing off stray bits of Atticus’s bananas and I had to search for recipes to use up the overripe bananas that no-one wanted to eat. Rest assured, I have now reduced the weekly amount of bananas again – I can always go and buy more later in the week!
This recipe was a ‘What do I make with all the bananas that isn’t cake?’ recipe. It is an easier way of making flapjack with small children as it has no stove time; banana, oil and golden syrup bind it together. I made these with Ophelia and she really enjoyed making them and then proudly sharing them with her big brothers.
time around I decided it was time to make a savoury flapjack recipe. I was toying with the idea of a hidden vegetable flapjack, then I remembered that with the kids helping me make them they would see the so called hidden vegetables (well courgette which they all seem to despise) and therefore knowing my luck, refuse to try them. My back up was to make a recipe where cheese has a starring role. The kids will gobble up pretty much any snack item which contains cheese. They really must have very strong bones as they all drink quite a lot of milk too. Maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to jump to cheese in pretty much every savoury recipe, but that is another story altogether!
ridiculously addictive. I dare you to only manage one. I cut ours into little fingers so that I wouldn’t eat quarter of the batch in one sitting. Incidentally this also makes them finger food-sized for the smallest of foodies.
Preheat the oven to 170°c fan and grease and line at 20cm square tin.
supermarket and my initial thought was this would make a really tasty crumble. However, then I remembered that the boys really don’t get on with it so I started thinking of other options to use the ingredients. My little grey cells got on it and my brain jumps as it so often does to flapjack. Have I mentioned before that my love for flapjack runs deep and true? Well I can tell you right now that it does.
instead of crumble (he really loves crumble and was expecting a crumble!). However, after having tried one he told me they were delicious. Seb and Ophelia loved them. Atticus, after eagerly devouring the remnants left in the bowl decided he didn’t like them. Contrary child. It isn’t at all frustrating when a child will happily lick the bowl and then refuse to try the end product said no mum ever! He did end up gobbling one up later and declared how yummy it was…
Preheat the oven to 160ºc fan and grease and line a brownie tin.
with this as it is very hard before cooking) and mix with 1 tbsp of golden syrup and roast in the oven for 15 minutes.
Slice the strawberries (pay close attention to the kids at this point, as if yours are anything like mine they will try to sneak copious amounts of strawberries and you may well have to replenish your stock!)
almonds and mix well. Add the sliced strawberries and the rhubarb. Please beware as the golden syrup coating 
them will be very hot. Atticus carefully slid them in with the spoon while I held the hot baking tray.
lot of raw carrots during my pregnancy with Seb, and as a result a raw carrot is a go-to snack for the kids when we are out and about. It also takes a lot longer to eat a large carrot than a biscuit, it is healthier and less sticky and messy for small paws during a buggy ride or walk. It is a win-win in my book. Although I do look a bit strange carrying around whole carrots in my handbag and distributing them to the kids to delighted shrieks and it must look especially strange when I also decide to partake of the healthy snack! It also leads me to start listing my favourite fictional bunnies in my head (if you are interested the list includes Tweak Bunny, Peter Rabbit and Thumper).
For me this was an afterthought. They are yummy without any icing, but they do look a bit plain so if you would like to drizzle some on top mix 25g icing sugar and a couple tbsp of orange juice. If you want it thicker add more icing sugar and more orange juice if you want a thinner icing. I like to use quite thick icing so it can be seen.
Put the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup into a saucepan and melt to combine on the stove. When it has fully melted, add the oats and sesame seeds and mix well.
is cooking make the carrot cake topping. Put the condensed milk, orange juice, plain flour and egg into a bowl and mix well. Add the grated carrot, raisins, ground walnuts, desiccated coconut and cinnamon and mix again.