Rocky Road Clusters

Here's a very easy 'no bake' recipe that you can do with your toddler. Older children should be ok to do this one on their own although I would recommend assisting with the chocolate melting.

Ingredients
300g Dark or Milk Chocolate
50g Butter
100g Biscuits, broken into small pieces (I would normally use digestives but the kids had eaten those so I used Malted Milk)
100g Mini Marshmallows
75g Sultanas

Melt the chocolate & Butter over a pan of boiling water, or in the microwave (on short bursts, stiring frequently) until smooth

Stir in the remaining ingredients & mix well

Or you could just pick out the marshmallows & eat them!!

Heap spoonfuls onto a baking sheet or mini muffin pan

Refrigerate until set.

ENJOY!!

Want a bite Mummy?

I spy down the shopping aisles - Snazzy Gems

This week I came across some really cute baking sets whilst having a browse online, and wanted to share them, along with a few other cute items from the same shop, Snazzy Gems.

retro baking set £11.99

astronaut baking set £11.99

hello kitty dinner set £23.99

gruffalo dinner set £14.95

gruffalo breakfast set £14.95

woodland lunchbag set £6.99

astronaut lunchbag set £6.99

I think the baking sets are really good value and would make great little gifts. The utensils can either be kept safe inside the suitcases or the case could be used as a lunchbox or travel case for all the little bits and bobs that children like to carry around with them.

I Spy Down The Shopping Aisles - Kids Aprons

Today myself and Jack took a little trip to Dunelm. He likes going to the new store near where we live as it has an upstairs cafe where he can watch the world go by whilst he eats his lunch.

We went past the kids baking section where Jack spent a few minutes saying 'I've got that, I've got that' and then chose something that he hasn't got for me to buy. Whilst we were there I noticed that they had a huge range of children's aprons that I hadn't seen before either in store or online. They start out at only £3.99 for a PVC apron and £4.99 for a tabard, and at the moment there's 20% off that making them just £3.19 for an apron....bargain!

Designs that I noticed were Thomas, Hungry Caterpillar, Angelina Ballerina, Fairy Girl, The Gruffalo, Elmer, Jemima Puddle Duck, Peter Rabbit, Cupcakes & a Jungle theme - most in both the apron style and tabard style. They also had the 3pc gingerbread set, that Jack wears, for only £4.79. They would make great inexpensive birthday presents for school or pre-school friends.

Jack's treat for being a good boy was 2 mini cake moulds for 79p each.....I spoil that boy!

Chocolate Banana Bites

Due to the school holidays and going away I skipped the Linky for August but now we're back with a fun theme for September of 'Food on Sticks'. Don't just think cheese and pineapple, the possibilities are endless - kebabs, lollipops and cake pops are just a few as you can see from the 'Food on Sticks' Pinterest board that I've created.



Sticks in food also make the food seem more appealing to kids for some reason too and when I was a child ALL parties had food on sticks - cheese and pineapple and sausages always came on sticks. Is it just not cool anymore or is everyone too worried that kids will do damage to themselves or others with the sticks?* Let's bring back food on sticks and make meals and party times fun again!

Inspired by A Mummy Too and her Soreen White Chocolate Squares we used some Soreen Banana Mini loaves to dip into chocolate and coconut. They were really delicious and chewy but even the sticks didn't convince Jack to eat one, he only licked the chocolate off.



We were in a hurry for them to set and put them in the fridge which caused the chocolate to bloom a little

Come and link up your own 'food on a stick' recipes that you've made with your own children, remember they don't need to be toddlers to join in, children of any age are welcome. The linky will be open until the end of September.

* Obviously you should never leave small children unattended with cocktail sticks though but I'm sure you're all intelligent enough to know that!

Caramel Nibbles Muffins

Just recently I've discovered a love of baking Muffins and I just can't seem to stop. They are so easy to make, start to finish in under 30 minutes. They're so much easier than cupcakes, with no beating or creaming involved, and therefore great to make with the children. Unfortunately Jack hasn't been able to join in with the baking this week due to fracturing his leg, so instead big sister stepped in and made Muffins using Cadbury Caramel Nibbles. We have a basic muffin recipe that we now use for all of them, which is adapted for whatever ingredients are added. Over on The Crazy Kitchen I've posted a recipe for raspberry & Almond muffins, which we also made without the custard in the middle, and they were still really moist a couple of days later.

You will need

150g Golden Caster Sugar
150ml Sunflower oil
3 Eggs
75ml Milk
300g SR Flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
175g bag of Caramel Nibbles - less a few for the Chefs perk

• Whisk the sugar, oil, eggs, milk & vanilla together
• Fold in the flour until just mixed
• Fold in the caramel buttons
• Bake in a preheated 180 degree (C) oven for 20 minutes
• Cool on a wire rack

The theme for this month is therefore 'Muffins'......if you have a recipe for muffins that is quick and easy to make with the children please share it here where we can try out each others recipes and get the kids involved in cooking.

Bigger Than Your Head Cookie

In a bid to get Sam cooking more, and hopefully working his way up to a nice dinner for us soon, I asked him if he wanted to try making A Mothers Ramblings As Big As Your Head Cookie. I didn't need to ask twice and off he went down the shop to buy some chocolate to go in it.

The recipe is very simple, and it's just a case of beating the butter and sugar together and then adding the egg and vanilla essence and then the flour and baking powder, before adding your chosen special ingredients. I already had white chocolate chips and Sam chose Rolos and Smarties to go in too. He cut the Rolos into quarters and added them along with a tube of Smarties and a handful of the chocolate chips.

After baking for 15 minutes the cookie had spread to the full size of the pizza tray and was quite browned, which we put down to the quantity of chocolate & caramel oozing out of the cookie. After leaving it to cool I was able to turn it out and slice into triangles.

Another hit with Sam and one that he'll be no doubt making again.

Butter Biscuits

When Fiona from Coombe Mill posted this recipe for Butter Biscuits I knew I had to try it as it looked to so easy. On Friday evening myself & Sam set about making them, but after a couple of minutes, once I'd made sure he knew how to work my beloved Kitchen Aid, I left him to it.


He's a very neat & precise boy so whereas I would've just blobbed the mix onto the baking tray he made nice neat little piles. Once out of the oven half were topped with white chocolate chips and the other half with Reeses Peanut Butter chips that my Mum had recently brought back from the US.

 

I think these biscuits are now going to be eleven year old Sam's speciality and a recipe that he can easily follow without help, and I'm sure he'll be experimenting with flavours in the not too distant future.

For the recipe just click here, where you will also find other great recipes from Coombe Mill.