Kids’ Kitchen: Sweet and delicious treats the whole family can make

Nutritionist Charlotte Stirling-Reed, has been doing her bit to keep the family healthy, happy and entertained during lockdown, and has come up with two fun recipes that the whole family can enjoy

Charlotte Stirling-Reed has worked with brands such as Superdrug, Tommee Tippee, the BBC, Whitworths and Channel 4 on a mission to give parents more confidence about feeding their children.

She recently partnered with baby brand Aveeno to create a selection of nutritious recipes.

“A recipe that is sweet, delicious and ticks all the boxes of being tasty for the whole family and easy to make, even when getting the kids involved? Yes please.

“That’s what I wanted to achieve with this muffin recipe,” said Charlotte.

“It’s great to get children involved in cooking, whatever their age, and certainly can be a fun way to pass the time while we’re stuck at home at the moment.”

Visit aveeno.co.uk or SR Nutrition for more information.

Banana and blueberry morning muffins

(Makes 12) 

Ingredients

• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 75ml olive oil
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp white wine vinegar
• 100ml regular milk or oat milk
• 1 lemon
• 100g plain flour
• 50g rolled oats, plus a little extra for topping
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 150g blueberries

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Whisk the mashed banana, oil, vanilla, vinegar and milk together until fairly smooth (some banana lumps are fine).
3. Grate in the zest of one lemon to the mix and stir well.
4. Add the oats, flour, baking powder and bicarb and fold it into the mixture.
5. Gently stir in the blueberries.
6. Spread the mixture out among 12 cupcake cases and top with a scattering of oats on top of each.
7. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Oat and cranberry cookies

(Makes 18 cookies) 

Ingredients

• 80g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 large organic egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 120g self-raising flour
• 60g regular porridge oats
• 40g oat bran, medium-grain
• 50g dried cranberries
• ¼ tsp all spice
• ½ tsp cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. In a bowl combine the flour, oats, oat bran, all spice, cinnamon and dried cranberries.
3. Add the softened butter, brown sugar and egg.
4. Stir gently and the mixture will begin to come together to form a biscuity dough.
5. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
6. Take 1 heaped tbsp of the mix and roll into a ball.
7. Place on the tray and press down to form a small cookie-shaped disc.
8. Repeat until all the mix has been used up.
9. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes (check after 15 minutes) as all ovens vary.
10. Remove from the oven and to a wire baking rack to cool.
11. Once completely cooled, store in an airtight container for up to a week.

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