Salmon mornay
Serves:
Ingredients
- 415g tin red salmon, drained
- 125g tin corn, drained
- 1 cup celery, diced
- 1 packet chicken noodle soup mix
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tsp cornflour
Method
Preheat oven to 190’C.
In a baking dish, combine salmon, corn and celery.
In a saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat and add soup mix and sprinkle over cornflour, stir over heat until it starts to thicken, about 5 minutes.
Pour saucepan contents into the baking dish and mix through the salmon mix well.
Place in oven for 30 minutes. Remove and serve.
Notes:
- The chicken noodle soup makes this quite salty, so if you can find a soup mix that is salt-free or salt-reduced it may bring improved results.
- If you do find this too salty, mash 1 kg of potatoes and mix through. Make into rissoles by shaping into rissole shape and rolling in breadcrumbs and pan frying for 3-4 minutes on each side over medium heat.
Related fish recipes:
This is Moira Gillard’s recipe – adapted by Melissa Klemke for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.
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Baked eggs with beans
Serves:
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tsp smoked paprika (regular will be fine!)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tin (400g) four bean mix
- 1 tin (400g) chick peas
- 1 tin (400g) diced tomatoes
- 2 eggs
- 2 pieces of toast
- 1 fresh lime, for squeezing onto finished eggs
- fresh coriander
- chilli (optional)
Method
Heat a small pan with a tablespoon of olive oil at medium heat. Add garlic and fry until fragrant, for about a minute. Add the paprika and the cumin. Stir well. Next, add the beans, the chickpeas and tomatoes. Cook for 10 minutes.
Using the back of a soup ladle, press a hollow into the mix to place the eggs. Crack the eggs into a cup and then slide from the cup into the hollows created by the spoon.
Cover the pan and cook gently until eggs are cooked.
Serve with toast, salt and pepper, a squeeze of lime, and fresh coriander and chilli.
Find more breakfast recipes
Serving Suggestions
Note
- Regular paprika is fine if you can’t find the smokey kind.
- Sliding the eggs from a cup ensures that you aren’t sliding a rotten egg into your beautiful bean mix.
- This recipe was created by Ruth Bruten of GourmetGirlfriend. You can follow her on Pinterest or visit her on Facebook.
Ham tortilla pinwheels
Serves:
Ingredients
- 1 multigrain or wholemeal tortilla
- 2 tablespoons light cream cheese
- 2 thin slices leg ham
- 3 tablespoons avocado, mashed
Method
Spread tortilla evenly with cream cheese. Top with ham, and avocado.
Roll up tortilla tightly and then slice on an angle.
Notes:
- This is a great afterschool snack or perfect for school lunch boxes. Just be sure
- to place them in a container snugly so they don’t move around.
- I always think multigrain or wholemeal products are better. While I’m not a nutritionist, but I know that white flours and sugars are not good for energy levels and children definitely need their energy at school.
- The light cream cheese from Philadelphia brand is really yummy. Normally I’m not a fan of reduced-fat products but this one is really good.
This recipe was created by Kristine Duran-Thiessen for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder
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Asian chicken noodles
Serves:
Ingredients
- 1x 375g packet rice noodles, any width
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 garlic clove, finely sliced
- 1 teaspoon ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup cooking wine, or chicken stock
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce*
- 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- ½ BBQ chicken, meat removed and shredded
Method
Cook ¾ of the packet of rice noodles in a large pot of boiling water according to the packet’s instructions. Drain and set aside.
Bring a wok to a medium to high heat, and add sesame oil. Fry the garlic and ginger for 20 seconds then add eggs. Keep the eggs constantly moving around in the wok until cooked.
Raise heat to high, and add the rice noodles and the wine or stock, stir through and cook for about 2 minutes.
Add broccoli, soy sauce, hoisin sauce and shredded chicken. Stir through the noodles until evenly coated. Serve immediately.
Notes:
- *Use Gluten Free Soy Sauce.
- This dish is really quick and delicious, with soft flavours that are suitable for kids.
- The noodles will break down into little pieces which are easy to eat.
- You can also do this dish with fresh hokkien noodles which are delicious as well. You can find these in the refrigerated section of your supermarket.
- I love roasting my own chickens so I know what goes into them, but if you are short on time, try and find a good BBQ free-range chicken.
This recipe was created by Kristine Duran-Thiessen for Kidspot,New Zealand’s best recipe finder.
Serving Suggestions
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Mango cheesecake with passionfruit sauce
Serves:
Ingredients
- 2 x 250g pkt Nice biscuits
- 100g butter, melted and cooled
- 2 x 500g cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 1 cup thickened cream
- 800g tinned mango, drained
- 2 sachets gelatine
- ½ cup hot water
Passionfruit sauce:
- 1 tin (340g) passionfruit pulp
- 1 cup caster sugar
Method
Line a 20cm springform tin with baking paper and set aside.
In a food processor, process the biscuits and butter together until they are fine crumbs.
Press the mixture into the base; press down firmly with flat base of a glass. Refrigerate while making the topping.
In a food processor, process the cream cheese, sugar, thickened cream and mango until smooth.
Dissolve the gelatine in the hot water and add to the mixture, processing further to combine.
Pour the mixture over the top of the biscuit crumb base and smooth the top flat. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours to set.
Passionfruit sauce: Place the passionfruit and sugar in a small saucepan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Let cool and pour over top of cake once it has set.
Notes:
- If you want to make the passionfruit sauce into a passion fruit topping on the cake, you can add 2 tbsp of cornflour to ½ cup of cold water and mix this into the saucepan after the sugar has melted. Bring it to the boil and cool. Pour over the top of the set cheesecake and refrigerate until the topping has set.
- The same way that you make this a mango cheesecake, you can change this into a raspberry cheesecake or blueberry cheesecake by adding 500g of fruit.
- This recipe was created by Jennifer Cheung for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.
Find more delicious dessert recipes
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Prawn and ginger cakes
Serves:
Makes 16
Ingredients
- 1 large potato, peeled, diced
- 250g peeled green prawns
- 3 shallots (scallions), finely diced
- 2 tbsp coriander, chopped
- 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp sweet chilli sauce, plus extra to serve
- salt/pepper
- 2 tsp cornflour
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
Method
Place potato in a small saucepan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 8-10 minutes until tender. Drain and lay in a single layer on a plate or tray to cool.
Chop prawn meat finely and place in a large bowl with shallots, coriander, ginger, soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce. Season with salt and pepper, and mix well. Use a fork to roughly mash potatoes then add them to the prawn mix with the cornflour. Combine well.
Heat half the oil in a large nonstick frying pan. Form 16 cakes from the prawn mix and cook in batches for 2 minutes each side until nicely brown, adding more oil as required. Remove to a plate lined with absorbent paper and keep warm.
Serve with extra sweet chilli sauce for dipping.
Find more prawn recipes
Serving Suggestions
Note
- You could chop and combine the prawn cake mix in a food processor, but be careful not to overdo it.
- Frozen peeled green prawns are fine in this recipe; defrost first.
- Recipe by Greer Worsley, who blogs at Typically Red.
Gluten-free choc chip cupcakes
Serves:
Ingredients
- 125g unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups almond meal
- half a cup gluten-free plain flour
- half a cup choc chips
- half a cup (125mL) milk or buttermilk
Icing (optional)
- 25g unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup icing sugar (gluten-free)
- 1 tablespoon milk
- food colouring
Method
Preheat oven to 180C. Place cupcake papers in two 12-hole cupcake trays.
In an electric mixer, beat butter for 2 minutes until pale in colour and creamy. Add sugar one third at a time, beating well between each addition.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about a minute between each addition; the mixture will be separate at this stage.
Add the vanilla, almond meal, flour, choc chips and milk, stir until combined.
Fill cupcake papers half full (an icecream scoop is perfect for this). Bake for about 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer to wire racks and allow to cool completely.
Icing:
Mix butter, milk and icing sugar until well combined. The mixture should be quite thick. Add food colouring a few drops at a time until you get your desired stomach-turning colour.
Spoon into a piping bag and pipe a small swirl of icing on the top of each cake. Top with a treat.
Notes:
- The almond meal makes these cupcakes yummy and wonderfully indulgent, even if you are not gluten free.
- Top with the icing and a tiny teddy (or a gluten free equivalent) and you can have an easy teddy bear party theme!
- Recipe created by Melissa Hughes for Kidspot.
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Weet-Bix with apple and cinnamon
Ingredients
- 2 x Weet-Bix
- 1 apple
- A sprinkle of cinnamon
- A cup of breast milk, formula or cooled boiled water
Method
Peel, core and dice the apple.
Place in a saucepan of shallow water and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. Simmer over medium heat until soft – about five minutes.
Meanwhile, break up Weet-Bix bricks as fine as you can and soak in the milk or water until soft.
Heat in microwave for 30 seconds.
Puree the cooked apple and stir through the Weet-Bix.
Sprinkle lightly with extra cinnamon if desired.
åÊNote
- Best eaten fresh, but if you make extra apple, freeze it in an ice cube tray and add two cubes each time.
- Though rare, cinnamon allergies can exist. Do the four-day-rule check: introduce it in foods for four days in a row and watch for signs of allergies – redness, itching rashes etc.
- This recipe was created by Belinda Graham for Kidspot.
Low-fat meat pie recipe
Serves:
Ingredients
- 6 reduced-fat puff pastry sheets
- 1 tbsp rice bran oil
- 1 onion, pureed in a food processor
- 750g extra-lean beef mince
- 1/3 cup plain flour
- 750ml (2 1/2) cups beef stock
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
Method
Remove pastry sheets from freezer to defrost.
Saute onion in oil until softened. Add mince, breaking up lumps with back of spoon until browned.
Blend in flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Gradually stir in stock and tomato paste. Bring to boil, stirring. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Cool.
Heat pie maker. Cut pastry circles using pie cutter. Place large circle in pie maker, fill with mince. Place smaller circle on top. Cook until golden (takes about 5 minutes). Serve with lots of veggies.
Leftover pies can be reheated in the pie maker for another meal. Recipe makes 12 pies.
Find related pie recipes
Serving Suggestions
Note
- If you don’t have a pie maker, use a large muffin tray. But I do recommend getting your hands on a pie maker. Your kids will think you’re a kitchen superhero and they’re a fail-safe way to create a meal.
- Kids are often anti-onion which is why I puree veggies in a food processor to hide them.
- This recipe was created by Alana House for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.
Thai pumpkin soup
Serves:
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
- 1kg butternut pumpkin, peeled and roughly diced
- 1 tin (425ml) coconut milk
Method
In a saucepan, heat the oil and fry the curry paste over a medium heat for 2 minutes.
Add the pumpkin to the pan and continue to fry further for 3 minutes.
Pour the coconut milk over the pumpkin and bring to the boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes until pumpkin is soft.
Cool for a few minutes and blend or use a stick mixer to a smooth consistency.
Garnish with coriander and serve.
Notes:
- Using 2 tablespoons of curry paste gives a very mild flavour. If you want your soup to have a bit of bite, you can add another tablespoon of curry paste.
- If you don’t like chopping and peeling pumpkin, you can halve a butternut pumpkin, remove the seeds and bake it at 180°C for 45 minutes and then scrape out the flesh. This soup uses 2 cups of butternut pumpkin flesh. Just add this after you fry off the curry paste and your soup is almost ready.
Find related soup recipes
This recipe was created by Jennifer Cheung for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.
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Double chocolate chip biscuits
Serves:
Ingredients
- 110 g butter (softened)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup plain flour
- 1/4 cup cocoa
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 125 g milk chocolate (melted)
- 100 g milk chocolate (roughly chopped, chopped into pieces)
- 200 g white chocolate chips
Method
Preheat your oven to 160C (140C fan-forced) and line two trays with baking paper. Place the butter and brown sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat for 2-3 minutes until well combined.
Remove the bowl from the mixer stand and add the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and melted chocolate to the bowl. Add the extra chopped milk chocolate and white chocolate chips and stir with a large spoon to combine. Don’t worry if your mixture doesn’t start to come together straight away, it can take a minute or two to combine.
Use a dessert spoon to scoop up the double chocolate chip biscuit mixture and roll it into balls. If you find your mixture is quite soft, place it in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up a little. Place the balls onto your prepared baking trays and flatten slightly. Repeat, making sure you leave approximately a 3cm gap between each biscuit, until all the mixture has been used.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until slight cracks have formed on top of the biscuits, before cooling on the baking trays for 5 minutes and carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Find more biscuit and cookie recipes.
Serving Suggestions
Note
- Use your favourite kind of chocolate for these bickies. If you have a penchant for dark chocolate, go for it. If white chocolate is your thing, use that instead!
- These biscuits are delicious and perfect to treat the kids with for parties, picnics, or a sneaky after-school snack.
- This recipe was created by Lauren Matheson for Kidspot.
Chicken mayo nori rolls
Serves:
2
Ingredients
- 1 cup BBQ chicken (finely chopped)
- 3 tbs Japanese mayonnaise
- 1 tbs fresh mixed herbs (chopped)
- 1 sheet sushi nori seaweed
- 1/2 carrot (julienned)
- 1/2 Lebanese cucumber (julienned)
- 1/2 avocado (sliced into strips)
- 30 g baby spinach
Method
Combine finely chopped chicken with mayonnaise and herbs. Season well with salt and pepper.
Place a nori sheet shiny side down on a bamboo sushi rolling mat. Spread half of the chicken in a thin layer along half of the nori.
Place vegetables evenly on top of the chicken.
Roll sushi, using the bamboo mat to press firmly. Brush edge of nori with water and continue rolling so that the edges seals shut. Slice sushi and place in lunch box.
More sushi recipes
Serving Suggestions
Note
- Kewpie is a Japanese mayonnaise that comes in a squeezie bottle. It is available in the Japanese ingredients section of most supermarkets. You can substitute regular mayonnaise if you prefer.
- Use whatever vegetables you or your kids prefer in the filling. Capsicum, herbs such as mint or coriander, or lettuce would be perfect.
- If you haven’t rolled sushi before, it takes a little while to get the hang of it. There are usually instructions on the back of the nori sheet packet. You can also find some great video tutorials online.
- This recipe was created by Greer Worsley for Kidspot.
Wholemeal apricot and coconut cake
Serves:
Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped dried apricots
- 1 cup hot milk (or soy milk)
- half a cup honey
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 cup wholemeal self raising flour
- half a cup coconut
Method
Combine apricots, milk and honey in a bowl. Cover and stand 1 hour.
Pre-heat oven to 180åC.
Grease a 14cm x 21 cm loaf pan, line base with baking paper.
In a bowl, stir the egg, sifted flour and half a cup of the coconut into the apricot mixture.
Spread mixture into prepared pan and sprinkle with remaining coconut.
Bake for approx. 1 hour.
Stand cake in pan 5 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool.
Notes:
- This cake is like a healthy version of Apricot Delight and still delicious!
- This makes a wonderful cake to bundle up in baking paper & stick into lunchboxes for kids. It will keep their energy levels up and you could even add a half a cup chopped walnuts for added energy and crunch.
- This recipe was created by Kristine Duran-Thiessen for Kidspot, New Zealands best recipe finder.
Easy chocolate choc chip cookies
Serves:
Ingredients
- 125g butter
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups of brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 cup of plain flour
- 1/4 cup of self raising flour
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 2/3 cup of M&M’s/Chocolate chips
Method
Preheat the oven to moderate. Lightly grease two oven trays
Beat butter, vanilla extract, brown sugar and egg in a small bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Transfer to a larger bowl.
Sift together plain flour, self-raising flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder and pour into large bowl and mix.
Drop level tablespoons of the mixture onto the trays, leaving 5cm between each cookie. Add on M&M’s or/and chocolate chips.
Bake uncovered in moderate oven for about 10 mins. Stand cookies for 5 minutes then tranfer to a wire rack to cool.
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Cheese and tomato finger puffs
Serves:
Ingredients
- 2 sheets puff pastry, thawed
- 1 tbspn tomato passta
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
- 1 egg, beaten lightly
Method
Preheat oven to 180C.
Spread the tomato across one sheet of the puff pastry, making sure to cover all the edges.
Sprinkle the cheese across the tomato-covered sheet of pastry. Gently lie the second sheet of pastry on top of the cheesey pastry.
Using a sharp knife, gently cut the pastry in half and then cut each half into twelve strips.
Lie the strips on a baking sheet, being sure to give each enough room to puff up in the oven.
Brush the pastry strips with the beaten egg and sprinkle a little more cheese across the tops and then place into the hot oven to bake for approx. 15 mins or until the pastry becomes golden and puffed up.
Remove from the oven and serve hot or cold.
Notes
- While these puffs are great cold – and make a nice lunch box filler – they are even better hot! I find that at least half of every batch I make gets eaten while they cool.
- Make sure that these pastries are completely cold before you store them or they will become extremely soggy.
- I use tomato passata because it is basically pureed cooked tomatoes, but you could use tomato paste or tomato sauce – you will just get a much stronger and saltier tomato flavour with these. Which may not be a bad thing!
- Once you conquer this basic model of finger puffs, you could start adding all sorts of ingredients into the mix. I love pesto puffs!
- This recipe was created by Ella Walsh for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.
Serving Suggestions
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Sesame beef stir-fry with baby corn
Serves:
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (125ml) soy sauce
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
- 500g sirloin steak, a couple of centimetres thick
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp brown sugar
- 3 tbsp brown rice vinegar
- 1 large brown onion, sliced
- 1 medium-sized head of broccoli, cut into little florets
- 6 ears of baby corn
- 3 tbsp sesame seeds, lightly toasted
- 2 spring onions, finely chopped
- steamed rice to serve
Method
Mix half of the soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic together in a bowl and add the steak. Set aside to marinate for half an hour.
Heat a frying pan on medium-high heat, then add the oil and cook the steaks for 3 minutes on each side (for medium-rare). Transfer to a plate, cover with foil and let it rest while you cook the rest of the meal.
Mix together the remaining soy sauce, brown sugar and the vinegar and set aside. Return the frying pan to the heat, add a little more oil and cook the onions for five minutes or until softened. Add the broccoli and baby corn and stir fry for a couple more minutes or until just tender.
Finally, pour in the soy and rice vinegar mixture and toss to combine. Slice the steak into thin strips and add this to the stir-fried vegetables. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and spring onions and serve with steamed rice.
Find related stir-fry recipes
Serving Suggestions
Note
- If you can't get fresh baby corn, you can use tinned baby corn in its place.
- To lightly toast sesame seeds, swirl them around a non-stick pan over a medium heat for a minute or two until lightly golden. Keep a close eye on them – they risk becoming burnt sesame seeds extremely quickly!
- You can swap the baby corn with sliced carrots, celery, capsicum or other vegetables if you prefer.
- For a different take, try serving with egg noodles instead of rice.
- This is also delicious to eat the next day, so make a double-batch for school or a work lunch!
- This recipe was created by Sophie Hansen for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder. You can follow Sophie on Local is Lovely, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.
Tiny Teddies in the bathtub
Serves:
18
Ingredients
- 1 pkt (450g) ready to bake chocolate chip cookie dough
- 18 Tiny Teddy biscuits, honey flavoured
- white mini mallow bakes
Method
Step 1. Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Spray a 24 cup mini muffin tin with canola spray. Roll 2cm balls of dough and press into muffin cups so they are of even thickness all the way around.
Step 2. Bake for 15 minutes.
Step 3. Remove from oven leave to cool for 10 minutes. Remove from tray. Lay a Teddy in each cup with a mallow bake behind the head as a pillow.
Step 4. Fill the "tubs" with mallow bakes and serve.
Find related Tiny Teddy recipes
Serving Suggestions
Note
- You can find cookie dough in the freezer section of the supermarket. There are many flavours to choose from but I used chocolate chip.
- It is best to give these time to cool so they stay in shape and hold the Teddies. They are very soft when they come out of the oven.
- This recipe was created by Jennifer Cheung for Kidspot, New Zealand's best recipe finder.
Frogs in ponds
Serves:
1 jelly cup per child
Ingredients
- 1 pkt lime jelly crystals
- chocolate frogs
- sprinkles
Method
Mix the jelly according to instructions on the jelly box.
Pour equal amounts into plastic see- through cups.
When jelly has almost set, put a chocolate frog in the jelly with some sprinkles on top!
Serving Suggestions
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Flower fairy cakes
Serves:
Ingredients
- 110g caster sugar
- 110g Canola Spread
- 2 whole egg, lightly beaten
- 110g self-raising white flour
- 1 tsp (s) vanilla essence, (plus 12 tiny fresh flowers)
- 30g egg white, (1 egg white)
- 25g caster sugar
- 25g icing sugar
Method
Preheat oven to 190C. Line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper cases.
Combine sugar, spread, eggs, flour, a pinch of salt and vanilla into a large mixing bowl. Beat with electric beaters for 1 minute, or until thick and well combined. Spoon into prepared muffin tray.
Bake for 18 – 20 minutes or until risen and firm. Remove cup cakes from tray and transfer to a cake rack to cool completely.
To make crystallized flowers, paint the flower petals with lightly beaten egg white and dip into caster sugar. Leave to dry.
Mix the icing sugar with a little water and food colouring of choice to make a smooth icing. Spread onto cakes. Decorate with flowers, but do not eat them.
Notes:
- These cupcakes can look so different, depending on which food colour you choose to colour your icing. Pastels work really well, however stronger colours like red and green can also look pretty spectacular.
Related cupcake recipes:
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Biscuit necklaces
Serves:
Ingredients
- 250g butter, softened
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups plain flour
- Icing
- 2 cups icing sugar
- food colouring
- sprinkles, cachous or smarties to decorate
- Ribbon, cut to 40-50cm lengths
Method
Cream the butter and sugar together with a spoon in a bowl or using an electric mixer. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the flour and mix until a smooth dough forms. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line three baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
Divide dough into three pieces. Roll each piece of dough on a floured surface to 5mm thick. Use your favourite cutters to cut out hearts, stars, circles etc. Place biscuits on baking trays and use a wooden skewer or toothpick to make a 5mm diameter hole in each biscuit. Cook for 10-15 minutes until golden. Cool biscuits on trays.
To prepare icing, mix icing sugar with enough water to make a spreadable paste and mix in your chosen colour. Or divide icing into bowls and use 2-3 different colours. Decorate with sprinkles, cachous or smarties. Leave for 30 minutes until the icing is set. Thread ribbon through the hole in the biscuit and tie off to make a necklace. Will keep in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
Notes:
- My kids loved every bit of making these biscuits! Wonderful to see their imaginations at work for some very serious decorating.
- If it is a hot day, only work with one piece of dough at a time and keep the rest in the fridge until you are ready to roll! Warm dough loses its shape and is hard to manoeuvre.
- Dont panic if the holes close over during baking wait until the biscuits are cold and then use a toothpick to remake the hole.
- For a kids party, make the biscuits in advance and then make decorating the biscuits one of the party activities. A sure hit.
Serving Suggestions
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Big kingstons
Serves:
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice bubbles
- 1 cup plain flour
- 1 cup coconut
- 1 cup sugar
- 125g unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons golden syrup
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tablespoons boiling water
Filling
- 100g good quality dark chocolate
- half cup (125mL) pouring cream
Method
Preheat oven to 150C. Line 3 trays with baking paper.
Place rice bubbles in a large bowl and squish a bit with the back of a spoon. Add flour, coconut and sugar to the bowl. Melt butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan (dont burn!), then add bicarb and water. Fizz! Stir butter-foam into dry ingredients and mix well. Roll two teaspoonfuls into small balls and place on trays. Leave about 4cm between them. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Cool slightly before lifting off with a spatula to cool on wire racks.
Make filling by combining chocolate and cream in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Transfer to a container and cool in fridge.
To assemble biscuits, spread chocolate filling on the base of one biscuit and top with another biscuit. Yum.
Notes:
- The biscuit mixture spreads quite a bit when cooking to make large biscuits. To make smaller (more Kingston like) biscuits, use just one teaspoonful of mixture.
- The unfilled biscuits keep well in an air tight container and the chocolate filling in the fridge, so I assemble a few at a time as needed. Then the biscuits dont get soggy.
- The chocolate filling can also be used to ice cupcakes or larger cakes.
- This is a gluten-free adaptation of an Anzac biscuit recipe. If you are not a gluten-free home, use rolled oats instead of the rice bubbles.
- Recipe created by Melissa Hughes for Kidspot.
Serving Suggestions
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Double choc chip muffins
Serves:
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup oil (125ml)
- 1 cup milk (240ml)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 3/4 cups plain flour (240g)
- 1/2 cup sugar (85g)
- 1/4 cup cocoa (35g)
- 1 tbs baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (85g)
Method
Preheat oven to 200 C and prepare muffin pan by greasing or fill with paper liners.
A nonstick pan requires no greasing, although I like to just grease the bottoms.
In large bowl mix well the eggs, oil, milk and vanilla.
In smaller bowl mix well the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, salt and chocolate chips.
Combine wet and dry mixtures and fold together gently until just mixed.
Spoon into prepared pan.
Bake at 200C for 20 minutes.
Remove from pan and cool on rack.
Nice sprinkled with extra chocolate chips on top of each muffin before baking.
Serving Suggestions
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Easy apple roses
Serves:
Makes 6
Ingredients
- 1 sheet puff pastry
- 1 red apple (thinly sliced, medium)
- 3 tbs vanilla custard
- 1/2 lemon (juiced)
- 1/2 cup water
- icing sugar (for dusting)
Method
Preheat oven to 190_C and have a six cup muffin pan handy.
Slice the apply thinly into crescents, then place it in a microwave-proof bowl with the water and lemon juice. (There should be enough water to cover the apples while cooking, so add more if ½ cup is not enough.)
Microwave the apples on high for three minutes. When they’re done, drain them and set them aside.
Sprinkle the bench with flour and roll out the sheet of pastry with a rolling pin, stretching it out to be about 30cm in width.
Use a pizza cutter or pastry cutter to slice the pastry sheet into 6 strips, 5cm wide each.
Lay a strip horizontally in front of you. Spread a teaspoon of custard along the middle of the strip, then place apple slices overlapping the top edge of the pastry and coming down to halfway. Fold the pastry strip in half upwards, over the bottom of the apple slices, the whole way along. The apple crescents should poke out from the top of the fold.
Now roll it up into a tight scroll. Pop it into one of the muffin cups in your tin to hold its shape. Make five more, then put them in the oven for 40 – 45 mins.
When they’re done, sprinkle them with icing sugar and serve.
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Serving Suggestions
Note
- You could use apricot jam instead of custard on the inside of these roses.
- You can sprinkle the apple slices with cinnamon sugar before you roll it if you want a hint of spice.
- Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or some custard for a yummy dessert.
- These make a delicious lunch box or after school snack. So fancy!
Express french onion scalloped potatoes
Serves:
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg desiree or pontiac potatoes, peeled and sliced in 1.5cm thickness
- 50g butter
- 3 tblsp plain flour
- 500ml milk
- 2 tblsp French onion soup mix
- 1 and a half cups grated tasty cheese
- 3 pieces shortcut bacon, diced
- half a leek, diced (approximately 1/4 cup)
Method
Preheat oven to 200c.
Steam potatoes either in the microwave until cooked, but not mushy. (i.e. you should just be able to pierce with a fork – microwave approx 10 minutes, steam approx 15 minutes). Set aside.
Grease a small baking dish or loaf pan.
Place a medium sized saucepan on the stove and melt butter over a moderate heat setting. Add flour and mix in the butter, stir constantly as it will thicken to an almost dough (roux) immediately and keep milk on standby.
Add milk gradually and allow to thicken before adding more milk.
Continue to add milk, stir and thicken, until all milk is added.
Stir the french onion soup mix into the thickened sauce mix, take off the heat and stir through 1/2 of your grated cheese. Set aside.
Layer half the potatoes on the bottom of baking dish, then add leek, another 1/4 of the cheese, and half the bacon with half the sauce.
Layer the remaining potatoes, sauce and sprinkle with remaining cheese on top and then the remaining bacon.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
Notes:
- You can make this up to 2 days ahead, bake initially covered with aluminium foil. Refrigerate or freeze and then reheat after removing foil.
- Don’t waste! Leftovers can be consumed cold as a yummy potato salad.
- This recipe is freezer friendly and can be frozen for up to 1 month
- This recipe was created by Melissa Klemke for Kidspot, New Zealands best recipe finder.
Serving Suggestions
Note
