Sugar Free Welsh Cakes for Babies and Toddlers

I blogged a while back about a savoury welsh cake recipe, this is something far more traditional, well ok, not totally traditional, as it's with no added sugar.

They were a hit with the little man.  My husband and I liked them better with a touch of butter on top, melting over with a drizzle of honey...  Yum!  (Ok, we waited until he was in bed for that!)

Welsh Cakes for Babies and Toddlers - makes approx 20 depending on your cutter size

Ingredients

225g / 8oz SR flour
100g / 3.5oz Unsalted butter
1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground mixed spice
125g / 4.5oz mixed fruit
1 egg, beaten
A small splash of milk

Method

I used a food processor for this with the plastic blade attached.  This has the benefit of keeping most of the fruit whole but also processing some of it so the sweetness from the dried fruit is kind of 'released'.  You could make this by hand but the result will be ever so slightly different (but more traditional).

Rub or process the butter into the flour and spices until it resembles breadcrumbs.  Add the fruit, mix then mix in the egg and enough milk to bring it together into a firm dough (like shortcrust pastry dough.)

Turn it out onto a clean surface and kneed until it comes together.  Flour the surface and roll it out until it's the thickness of your little pinky finger.  Cut out in the shape of your choice, I keep them quite small for my son.  Any left over, bring together the dough again and cut out some more shapes.

Heat a non stick frying pan (or a traditional griddle if you have one and I don't mean a ridged griddle pan, I mean a flat, sideless cast iron pan) and put on the cakes.  Cook on either side for 3-4 minutes or until well browned (traditionally these are made pretty dark).

Allow to cool until suitable to give to your child.  They keep for a few days in an airtight tin or alternatively freeze and defrost as you want them.

Tortilla for babies and toddlers, aka Spanish Omelette

I remember my Mum eating 'Spanish Omelette' when I was little.  I never quite got it.  It seemed to contain pretty much anything and everything and always had tomatoes in it.  Even as a child, tomatoes and egg seemed like a pretty bad idea and I still can't quite compute that now.

Needless to say, despite being a fantastic cook, there was nothing Spanish about my Mum's omelettes.


I don't quite know where she got that idea from but she was of the generation substituting ingredients where she saw fit and never being all that bothered about authenticity.  You also have to remember that peppers (capsicums) were exotic at one time to my Mum's generation.  She had to order dried peppers in especially!  Let alone being able to buy fresh ones!

Well in a similar vein, this is pretty inauthentic.  Ok, the basic ingredients are similar to a Spanish tortilla but it's simplified a lot.  The real version has slow cooked onions and potatoes in olive oil.  If you do it that way, it is truly delicious but this isn't bad either.  If serving to adults, still allow it to cool down; it should never be eaten hot and include a good amount of seasoning.  Olive oil would be more authentic but I'm not convinced that some Spanish cooks don't use butter, the flavour is definitely good with butter.

I remember eating something similar with a nice cold beer in La Plaza de Santa Ana in Madrid a good 3 years BC (before children).  Happy memories...

Anyway, this takes approx 10 mins from start to finish as long as you have some spare cooked potatoes and I always seem to cook too many vegetables so that happens more often than you'd think.  Also eggs are a good source of vitamin D (there aren't many) which is a good idea at this time of year.

Spanish Tortilla (omelette) - Serves 1 toddler (possibly with leftovers)  Ok for babies on finger foods, ideal for baby led weaners.

Ingredients

2 Cooked new or salad potatoes, cooled and sliced thickly (approx 1 pound coin thick)

1 egg

A splash of milk

A small knob of unsalted butter

Method

Melt the butter in a pan and add the potatoes.  Cook until browning.  

Remove from the pan and put in a bowl.  Add the egg and milk and mix.

Now is the time to get poncy.  If you don't have a small non stick frying pan, you can do as I did and use a cook's ring in the pan to pour the mixture into.  This means you get little rounds without them being too thin.  You might be able to make two depending on the size of the rings.  Don't make them too thick though as otherwise they'll be difficult to cook through.  Cook for a couple of minutes on a medium heat until the egg is starting to bubble but is still liquid on top then put under a hot grill for another couple of minutes checking occasionally until cooked through.

Using a fish slice and gloves (if cooked in a ring) remove to a plate and cut off the ring (protect your hand with an oven glove, the ring will be hot).

Cut into wedges and allow to cool enough for your baby.  Serve with hot finger vegetables or finger salad vegetables.

Can be served completely cold.

If you like this, why not try my oven baked crustless 'quiche'?  Or if you have any more cooked new potatoes left over, why not try my most recent meatloaf recipe which uses potato instead of breadcrumbs?

I've been contributing to Crumbs Feed Your Family's year of the vegetable recently if you want more vegetarian recipes, Mari's world has hosted a linky too recently and I've contributed my two cottage pie recipes to Reluctant House Dad.  I must learn how to do linkys, they've introduced me to so many new blogs!

Easy Chicken Tikka for Babies and Toddlers

This is easy, easy, easy.  I worry about posting this because it's almost too easy to call a recipe.  Anyway, apologies about the inauthenticity of this but it's taking a simple storecupboard ingredient and using it in a different way; even making a child friendly version of it.

I don't mean "chicken tikka masala" either.  That's a British construct and, frankly, a bit minging.  This is a dry baked dish of chicken cooked in yoghurt and spices.  Once you've given this a go, you might be interested in making your own curry pastes; frankly, I'm happy to buy pastes as you can get some fantastic ones and it makes this dish a doddle but it might be the gateway to something more authentic for you!

Read down for variations for adults, children, toddlers and babies.

Chicken Tikka - Serves 2 adults and 1 toddler (see variations below)

Ingredients

Adult version

5 small chicken thighs, skinned and boned (or more if you're hungry)

Marinade

3 tbsp full fat greek style yoghurt
2 dsp curry paste or more if you like it hot (you can buy tikka curry pastes but I prefer to avoid the fake looking red colour and I like something stronger, so I use pataks madras.)

Toddler / Baby version

1 small chicken thigh, skinned and boned

Toddler Marinade

1 dsp full fat greek yoghurt
1/2 tsp curry paste (use the quantity and type to your child's liking)
1 tsp garam masala

Baby Marinade

1 dsp full fat greek yoghurt

1 tsp garam masala

Method

To make either of the marinades, simply mix the ingredients together.

Put the chicken into the appropriate marinade, cover and marinade in the fridge for as long as possible, preferably overnight if you could do so but for at least a couple of hours.

When you're ready to cook, put in the oven and cook for 30-40 mins at 200oC.  Being slightly charred at the edges is a good thing and it's difficult to overcook thighs which is cool.  I often prepare these then put them in the oven with the timer to come on as I'm doing my son's bath for us in the evening.

I often serve this with dahl, rice, or kachumbar (a simple salad made with small diced onions, cucumber and tomato dressed with lemon or lime juice, salt, sugar and chilli.)  Alternatively some mango chutney and a regular salad goes down a treat with some chappatis or naan.  Or why not serve these up with some Indian carrot salad?  Super cheap and tasty.

They're also really good cold either with some dahl and rice for my son's lunch or in a sandwich with some mango chutney for mine.  The baby version would be a hit I think for baby led weaners.  I remember giving my son thin slices of cold tikka when he was getting good with finger foods.  I didn't try him with some mild curry paste when he was younger but he's so keen on spicer foods nowadays, I would be tempted to try a little mild curry paste if your baby is the adventurous sort.

You can use lower fat yoghurt if you prefer, however, you might find the yoghurt splits a bit during cooking.  It will do that anyway to some degree but it seems to be 'better behaved' with full fat.  Even though chicken thighs are a bit higher in fat than other cuts of the bird, having the skin removed helps keep the calorie content down.  Great for this time of year when everyone is wanting to cut back.  Chicken thighs, rice, lentils, carrots etc are all great frugal food too.  Brilliant after all of the excesses of the season!

Mini Meatloaves for Babies and Toddlers, mark 3

Is it wrong to post variations on a recipe?  Well I hope not and sometimes a variation could be useful for someone.  This, for example, is a gluten and wheat free mini meatloaf recipe.  Seeing as food allergies are becoming far more prevalent, it might be handy and it certainly is tasty!

Mini Meatloaves for Babies, Toddlers (and adults).  Makes 12 mini meatloaves

Ingredients

200g Minced (ground) beef; try to get a lean version (the cheapest mince tends to be very fatty)
3 Cooked new or salad potatoes (the waxy kind)
40g Grated Parmesan
1 Small dessert apple, or half a large apple
Ground pepper to taste

Method

Grate the potatoes through a sharp grater (microplane 'style' graters work a treat on this kind of thing.  A traditional grater might just mash them), add to the mince, parmesan and grate in the apple including the skin.  Add in a little ground pepper, then get mushing with your hands!

Form little balls and press into a silicone mini muffin tin, or, if you don't have one, use a greased cupcake / fairycake tin.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through.

Leave to cool for a bit and ensure they're not too hot before feeding to your child.

Like these?  Why not try my other meatloaf recipes; pepper meatloaf,  courgette and herb meatloaf?