All the dry ingredientsI melted the butter and golden syrup in the microwave. The recipe wanted you to do it in a saucepan but I think you could do it either way.
Method
Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, and melt the syrup and butter in a saucepan. Add the baking soda and water to the syrup mix.
Mix the wet and dry ingredients, adding water if necessary.
Separate and roll the mixture into small balls, and flatten them on oven trays.
Bake at 150°C (300°F) for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.
The finished biscuits are quite chewy and crisp, and have a long shelf-life.
Kids helped me make this batch. All ready to go in the oven.All cooked and ready to eat. They were very yummy! We did not have a huge dinner due to the ANZAC biscuit afternoon tea.
Did you make ANZAC Biscuits? Were they yummy? Did you make heaps? I have a huge box of them and I think they will be treats in lunches for weeks to come.
Let us know your thoughts. Why not continue the discussion on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
Do you make something special for Australia Day? What is it you like to create to celebrate? Or do you just have a BBQ and some cold drinks with mates and that is your celebration?
This year I decided to make Chocolate Crackles with the twins. I used the recipe from the Rice Bubble box and it brings back memories of making them with my mum.
The ingredients to make chocolate crackles, but I was missing one ingredient. The icing sugar. I ended up using caster sugar and put it in a pestle and mortar to get the sugar finer. I only had icing mixture not the sugar so this was the best option.
The girls were super excited to help and they did a great job. I had them on the kitchen counter so that they could be near the bowls and help out easily.
The ingredients you need:
4 cups Kellogg’s® Rice Bubbles®
1 cup icing sugar
1 cup desiccated coconut
3 Tbsp cocoa
250g copha®*, chopped
Happy to be making chocolate crackles with mummy and sister.
Step 1
In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients: rice bubbles, icing sugar, coconut and the cocoa. Note: If you use organic cocoa from the health food shop the crackles do not work out well. I tried it for the kids sixth birthday party and they did not set properly and did not taste the same. I used Cadbury’s Cocoa this time and they worked out the way they should. I am not sure why this would create such a difference but thought it best to point it out.
Adding the rice bubbles
As mentioned I stuffed up and did not have icing sugar. I thought I did! Yes silly I should have checked the pantry better, but it all got fixed. I used caster sugar but had to put it in a pestle and mortar to get the sugar to a finer and softer consistency. It worked a treat but took a bit of time to get it done.
Step 2
Melt the copha. I did not chop it up, although the instructions say to. I put mine in a bowl and the microwave melted it for me. You can chop it up and put it in a saucepan and melt it that way. Either way is fine. It took about 2 and half minutes to get it all melted. Could be a little more depending on how your microwave works.
Copha ready to be melted in the microwave
Step 3
Add the melted copha to the dry indgredients and mix well.
Step 4
Spoon the mixture into patty pans, and then put in the fridge to set. It is best to do it overnight to make sure they are hard and fully set.
Ready to go into the fridge to set In the fridge setting. Note the beer and drinks all ready for Australia Day!
Since we are celebrating Australia Day tomorrow I wanted to add the Australian Flag to the chocolate crackles. Note: Adding the Australian Flag after the crackles have set is harder than you think.
Australian Flags for our Chocolate Crackles. I picked these up for $2.00 at the local supermarket.
And now for the finished product!
My finished chocolate crackles are all ready for Australia Day. Yum!
Have a great Australia Day and long weekend. Hope you are having a nice relaxing time. Enjoy your chocolate crackles if you make some and your time with your mates and family.
Note: This post was posted originally on January 25th 2015, and it was when the twins were much younger.
Note: First published July 2014..although this is great no matter what year.
Have you wondered what to do with the kids these school holidays? Worried that if you take them somewhere or do anything it will cost you? Well, I have a list of fun things to do that will not break the bank. Yes, these fun things will keep the kids happy as well as your bank balance.
1. Playdough Fun
The night before I made a whole batch of playdough. I created multiple colours and also some had glitter in them as well. I added the food dye to each batch and made sure they were very bright vivid colours to make it even more fun. (Make sure you wear gloves as my hands were stained for a couple of days – yes I had green and red hands)
Playdough – In resealable bags so that the dough remains fresh and does not dry out.
I gave the kids cookie cutters, rolling pins, toothpicks and more so they could make patterns and be as creative as they wished.
I made the playdough recipe from McKenzie’s Cream of Tartar for playdough as it gives a nice smooth fluffy feeling. If you use this way to make playdough it will come out so nice and soft, just like the ones at the store. Yes, you heard that right! Give it a go and see. Make a big batch and put it all in containers for a rainy day. The kids loved this and played with the dough and their creations for hours.
All the kid’s playdough creations drying. Once all is done we can have them on our shelves to display. Don’t they look amazing?
2. Baking Fun
My girls love to make cakes and of course, after the cake is in the oven, they love to lick the mixing bowl and spoon. I did that as a kid and it is the best as the mixture always tastes wonderful and is so chocolatey!
I created a marble cake and added a vanilla cake mix to a chocolate one that had chocolate bits added to it as well. Once mixed in it created a marvellous marble mixture and looked great once it was cut into. Sorry I did not get any other pictures than the one before it was all eaten. Yes, it was that good. Maybe I should be a Masterchef????
Yummy Marble Cake – Get your little chefs busy with this easy-to-make cake
If you have a packet of cake mix this keeps things easy and all you need to do is add the eggs/egg and milk, stir and then put it in the oven. Simple cake made! You can ice it or add chocolate bits as we did, the choice is yours. Enjoy!
3. Painting Fun
I wanted to get the kids painting, and I did not want paint that causes issues with clothes or bad if you accidentally eat it. So I made my own paint. How do I hear you ask??
These are the ingredients I used:
Cornflour
Water
Food dye
I started with 1 cup of cornflour and enough water to make a paste. I created all the mixture before I added the colour as I wanted different colours that would allow the kids to paint a picture and not be restricted to two colours only. I added the mixture without the colour into a cupcake tin and then added the colour to each area of the tin.
I decided to make, yellow, purple, orange, blue, green and red. I ended up using more cornflour as it was not quite a paste consistency and I used more water than I should have as it was my first attempt at making this. To make each paint set I put it in the freezer to set. I am not sure if that is the done thing but it worked out quite well.
It might have been in the freezer for a bit long but after adding a bit of water with the paintbrush the colour melted a bit and it was just like real paints but with cornflour and water.
Having fun painting. Such creative artists.
Great paint mummy! What else can I paint?
4. Movie Fun
It is always fun to watch a film you have never seen before and to have lunch. I fed the kids some food while they all sat and watched Frozen. Yes, we are late to the party and have just seen Frozen.
Mesmerized watching Frozen
Now all the kids are singing is, “I want to build a snowman!” AHHHHH Oh well, so glad they loved it and sat still to watch it. Winning I think!
So grab a film that no one has seen as it will capture their interest for longer. If you want why not make a bed on the floor of the living room and make a treat of the film. You can even popcorn if the kids like that.
5. Park Fun
Around the corner of the house is a park. So I walked the kids to the park and they all ran amok at the park. One went on the swing, the other on the monkey bars and one other was going down the slippery dip. Fresh air and exercise always help keep kids happy.
The park is free and if you are not near one you can drive to one and bring the bike/scooter the child can get more enjoyment out of playing with their toys.
Swinging is fun! I am doing it all by myself now mummy!
Look at me, I can do the monkey bars all by myself. How clever is she!
I hope this list of some fun things to do with kids helps while they are on school holidays or for the weekends. Enjoy!
As a mum, I try my best to get the kids to eat well.
I make fresh food with vegetables and all sorts of healthy things. However this sometimes ends with kids who don’t want to try new things, and this leads to an annoyed mummy.
Although I am fighting the issue of very fussy kids I have found that if they help out with cooking the food, they are more likely to try the food. While cooking I have noticed that the girls like to eat some of the ingredients and therefore get a taste for the new foods.
Nestlé through theirHealthy Active Kids Program is giving away a great prize to the school of your choice and a gift card for you. Read on to see how you can enter.
My lovely veggie hamper from Aussie Farmers Direct and a gift card from Naked Wines Australia. This will come in very handy when cooking some healthy meals for the family. Thanks guys it was amazing to get it on the weekend as well. Brilliant service!
Nestlé Healthy Active Kids have great resources for families and teachers:
“Research has found that less than one in 10 children and adolescents are meeting the Australian Dietary Guidelines recommended serves for vegetables per day. One of the best ways to get children to eat vegetables and try new foods is through involving them in cooking.”
Cook an oat slice today with the kids. Click on image for link to recipe. My girls are now into oat slices and this will be a perfect addition to their school lunches or just for an afternoon snack.
What is the Kitchen Kart?
The Kitchen Kart is a mobile teaching kitchen that comes complete with oven, stovetop and even a kitchen sink.
The Kitchen Kart makes it easy for teachers to deliver cooking classes anywhere – in a hall, covered area, classroom – even wheeled out to cook near the school garden.
Cooking education has curriculum links to health and nutrition, literacy, science and getting kids active!
Nestlé Australia is giving you a chance to win a Kitchen Kartvalued at $25,000 for your nominated school and a $1,000 VISA load & Go card towards keeping your family healthy and active.
All you need to do is to register your details and in 50 words or less: “Tell Nestlé how your nominated school can encourage a healthier generation of kids”
The competition ends on the 1st of September so get your entries in to be in with a chance to win this amazing prize from Nestlé.
Help win this fab Kitchen Kart for your school today. Enter now to be in the running.
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IGA sent me a bag of goodies to say Happy Easter. It was a lovely bag that I can reuse and it was filled with baked goods to make a special treat.
Choc Cornflake Sliceto be precise! I have never made this before but thought since it is Easter and due to relatives coming for lunch tomorrow a treat is in order.
Now how did I make this amazing slice for the Easter Long Weekend?
Well, it is was super simple and it did not take long at all. The only thing that was hard was waiting for the slice to cool down.
Ingredients
275g milk chocolate, chopped
75g copha
1 tbsp honey
1⁄4 cup sugar
80g unsalted butter
3 cups of cornflakes
1⁄2 cup shredded coconut
1⁄4 cup dried cranberries
35g milk chocolate, extra
15g copha, extra
The chocolate and Copha ready to melt for the base of the slice
Method
Preheat oven to 150C. Line the base and sides of an 18cm square cake tin with baking paper.
Melt the chocolate and copha in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water, stirring regularly. Remove from heat and pour over the base of the tin. Set aside.
Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, melt together the honey, sugar and butter, stirring until sugar has dissolved.
Place the cornflakes in a bowl with the coconut and cranberries and pour over the honey mixture.
Spoon the cornflake mixture over the chocolate base. Bake for 10 minutes, remove and cool slightly before refrigerating until firm.
Melt the remaining chocolate and copha together. Drizzle over the slice then cool fully before slicing into squares.
Cool in the fridge for 45 mins. Once set you can slice it up to eat! (I have left it out a bit to cool down before putting the tray in the fridge)
The copha and chocolate melted and spread on bottom of the pan for the base of the slice.
TIP: If you don’t like cranberries, try a different fruit. You can also try white chocolate or dark. Why not add some nuts or other tasty things as well. Make it unique to your families likes.
Stay current with all the things that are happening on Mummy to Twins Plus One? Don’t miss a thing by signing up for my newsletter. This newsletter will list all giveaways and fabulous things that are happening.
I made banana cake ages ago and it did not turn out just right. Today I ended up having so many over ripe bananas and thought, what can I do with these? Make banana bread? Banana cake/muffins? I did not want to just throw them out, so I gave it another go.
A new recipe was found and I have to disclose that I used Donna Hay’s recipe for Basic Banana Bread (I have not been paid to endorse this recipe or Donna Hay just tried it and thought it was great to share) and it was in fact very easy to follow and do with kids as well. My girls wanted to help me cook and one in particular was very fussy today and wanted to help mummy and stay close.
Over ripe bananas, just ready to be made into banana bread.
Before I knew it Lillian had jumped up onto the counter tops and was ready to help me make the banana bread. I helped Julia up as one could not just be up there. I was still organising all ingredients and did it while I followed the recipe as it made it easier. The girls helped me.
The girls helping prepare the ingredients & sifting flour
The recipe called for the following(You can find this also on the link to the recipe above):
125g butter, softened
1 cup (175g) brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups mashed banana
1¾ cups (255g) plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of (baking) soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅓ cup (115g) golden syrup
butter, extra, to serve
The girls sifting flour
The girls wanted to add an extra ingredient. What do you think they wanted added? Yep you guessed it chocolate. Hubby thought that banana bread would not be proper with chocolate bits, but I thought what the hell, why not give it a go.
One major failing was that I did not put in the golden syrup like the recipe asked for. This was neglected as I was too busy making sure super eager kids were not doing something they should not have! I only realised this fact after the tin with the mixture had gone into the oven. Oh well, I hope it tastes o.k.
I had a long wait until after dinner and then had to taste my banana bread. Will it be o.k? Will it be something that really needed the golden syrup, would the chocolate bits work? Who knew? It ended up being very yummy and I did not miss the golden syrup that I had missed out adding. Maybe when I make it again, I will add it. This way I will know what the taste should be and if I like it better without or with it.
The banana bread was delicious and the missing ingredient did not seem to matter, and the added chocolate worked so well. How good am I, and of course my wonderful assistants.
Have you made a winning banana bread recipe? Did you change it to suit you and the family? Or did you accidentally forget something that made it different and more you? Send in your comments. Thanks to Donna Hay for the wonderful recipe and giving us a yummy desert tonight.
