Peanut butter choc-chip cookies

As we all know these days allergies are everywhere. Most primary schools in our state have a nut-ban for the very simple reason that for the one or two kids at the school with a severe allergy that exposure to nuts is a matter of life or death. No one wants their snacks to send another child to hospital.

Of course if you like to bake this eliminates quite a lot of popular foods. Now of course with so many children being gluten free and almond meal being used as a substitute for flour in lots of their recipes well it does kind of make your head spin.

Right now it is school holidays which is good news for my husband who LOVES nuts. So that he and my daughter can have the same snacks in their lunch I leave nuts out of lots of my recipes during the term much to his dismay. This vacation we have no plans to catch-up with any kids with a nut tolerance so today I made Peanut butter choc-chip cookies.

Having just had a couple he declares them "the best cookies you have made in a long time."

Peanut Butter choc-chip cookies (makes 24 cookies)
1 cup peanut butter
125g butter (room temperature)
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/3 cups plain flour   
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup roughly chopped roasted peanuts (I used salted)
1/3 cup choc chips

Optional 100g dark cooking chocolate.

1. Prehat oven to 180C and line 2 trays with baking paper.
2. Beat peanut butter and butter in a large bowl until smooth. Add brown sugar and beat till combines. Beat in the egg until incorporated.
3. Sift together flour and baking powder and add with nuts and choc chips. (You could freeze dough or 1/2 the dough at this point).
4. Roll tablespoons full and place on tray about 4cm apart. Flatten into small discs.
5. Bake in oven for about 12 monutes. Let sit 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.They will harden a little when cooled but still be soft in the centre.

Optional: Melt dark chocolate and drizzle over cookies when cooled.

Giant chocolate freckles and freckle pops

All Australians know what a chocolate freckle is. For my American readers it's a chocolate button covered in sprinkles, usually about the size of a 5c piece.

A couple of weeks back I was at a swanky cafe at a nearby beach and they were selling giant chocolate freckles at $6 each and freckle pops at $4 each which totally reminded me that last year my daughter and I made my parents Easter grab-bags that included giant chocolate freckles. (And they loved them!) So I thought we would do it again.

This is a super simple thing to do with kids because:
a) it involves chocolate
b) it involves sprinkles
c) that's all you need. Well for freckle pops you need lollipop sticks or even paddle-pop/craft sticks but that's it.

Chocolate freckles and freckle pops
So here is everything you need.

A bag of chocolate melts (I used dark but when i do this again with my daughter we will make white chocolate ones as well).
Sprinkles (I used regular multicoloured but you could use pink ones or red ones or whatever).
Baking paper
Lollipop sticks/craft sticks (optional)

1. Trace circles on baking paper the size of the freckles you would like to make.

2. Melt your choc melts according to directions - I used the microwave for extra speed.

3. Cover the circles one by one with chocolate and add sprinkles.

4. If using sticks insert before sprinkles.

5. Place in fridge to firm up (about 1/2 an hour).
6. Package up or eat.

Other ideas:
- These are great for party favours or goody bags or cake stalls/bake sales.
- You can shape for a theme eg stars for fairy wands.
- I'm sure you could do carob ones if you have issues with chocolate.
- Vary type of chocolate and sprinkle colours.

Enjoy!

Scrolls two ways - savoury and sweet

Sometimes a get on a bit of a baking binge. I really like being able to take one recipe and get more than one thing out of it. Like taking a basic batter and make more than one cake or a universal muffin recipe and getting more than one type of muffin. It gives more options and I don't know why it just appeals to the multi-tasker in me.

One the weekend I decided to make pizza scrolls for the lunch-boxes this week. I cheated and made a quantity of bread dough in the bread machine using a bread mix that had been lurking there forever. (A bit of a tip but if you do that use fresh yeast...yeast expires and expired yeast means no rise and that's not what you want)

Then we halved the bread dough and made pizza scrolls with one half and choc-chip scrolls with the other. There is so much sugar in a choc-chip scroll that nobody needs a sweet dough with them in my opionion.

So this week the first few days my daughter and husband had savoury scrolls as their main lunch item and on Thursday and Friday they will have a sweet scroll. Easy.

A scroll is made by taking a sqaure of dough, covering it with filling, rolling jelly-roll style and slicing. In the US they call them cinnamon rolls...in Australia we used to put he jam-filled ones in acirle and call them Chelsea Buns.

Here's my version

Pizza Scrolls
1/2 quantity of bread dough
1/4 cup tomato paste
100g chopped tinned pineapple
125 chopped ham
1 cup grated mozarella

1. Roll dough into a rectangle
2. Spread with tomato paste, leaving a 1cm boarder. Cover tomato paste with other topping.
3. Roll. Jelly roll style. Cut and arrange in baking pan. Let rise in a warm place. bake moderate oven about 30 minutes.

Choc Chip Scrolls
1/4 cup softened butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup choc chips
1 teaspoon of cinnamon.

1. Roll into  rectangle.
2. Spread with butter, leaving a 1cm boarder. Cover with other toppings.
3.  Roll. Jelly roll style. Cut and arrange in baking pan. Let rise in a warm place. bake moderate oven about 30 minutes.

Choc, banana, berry mini muffins

In the school holidays (as we say in Australia) or vacation as they say in the US one of the hardest things as a parent is to keep enough healthy snacks available for picnics, play dates and other outings. We eat lots of fruit for snacks but sometimes that's just not quite what everyone is in the mood for.

These are also the items that send the grocery budget sky-rocketing. A packet of chips, a box of flavoured crackers, store bought muffins or cake all add up pretty quickly at the check-out. Then there are all the added fats and flavourings as well.

I'm not going to lie to you, I do buy those things but I also try to bake healthy yummy snacks.

Yesterday I thought we were off on a boating picnic today. I was tired and not really in the mood but the oven was on for last night's sweet potato fries so I got up and made a batch of these yummy mini muffins. I had a banana on the turn and a few strawberries and blueberries that weren't going to last so I tossed them in. By making the muffins chocolate they seem like a treat when honestly it's just a bit of cocoa powder.

I'm a big fan of mini muffins. I find a regular Texas-style muffins too big to eat and half always ends up in the trash. Two mini muffins is about what an average kid needs. This recipe made 36 muffins or 16 serves based on that theory. I have put quite a few in the freezer for other days. I like having mini muffins and cake slices in the freezer. When school goes back I can reach in and grab them and toss them in my daughter's lunch or my husband's (he brown-bags when he can). It makes that morning rush easy. A sandwich, some fruit and a couple of muffins is a yummy and healthy lunch.

Choc,banana, berry mini muffins
 2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup milk
1 egg lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 soft banana, mashed with a fork
1 cup mixed berries, chopped if using strawberries (you could use frozen)

1. Combine flour and sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre.
2. Combine milk, vanilla, egg and oil in a jug. Pour into bowl and stir until just combined.
3. Gently mix in fruit.
4. Spoon into greased mini muffin tins. (You can use muffin papers/liners if you choose)
5. Bake in moderate oven about 10 minutes (will vary according to your oven so check). Turn onto wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!