Making 'free from' biscuits with dinosaur footprint decorations.
Finding recipes that are free from sugar and allergens can be hard. Many nurseries and child care centres request shared foods that are taken in be free from allergens so that they can be shared with all the children. So, my friend Jinny and I got together to make these biscuits and used our kids taste testers.
We decorated the biscuits as a special treat with some basic icing and dinosaur sprinkles (obviously). Sprinkling the sprinkles on is particularly fun for kids.
I have a rice intolerance so I actually can't eat these as they have gluten free flour in them and that has rice in it (I know, ironic). I did have the tiniest nibble, and for egg-free, dairy-free, processed sugar-free (the un-iced biscuits that is), gluten-free biscuits, I have to say, from the few crumbs I had, they were a lot better than I expected!
If you prefer, you can switch the gluten-free flour for regular flour and use butter instead of coconut oil.
Biscuits:
165 g Gluten Free Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
1/2 tsp Mixed spice
pinch of salt
4 tbsp Coconut oil
4 tbsp Maple syrup
Makes 24 biscuits using 6cm round cutter
- Pre-heat oven 190 C fan.
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Soften coconut oil on a low heat in the microwave, then add to dry ingredients with maple syrup and mix together with a wooden spoon - which will form a loose dough. Knead the dough into a ball.
- The coconut oil will make the dough feel a bit greasy, wrap up and put in the fridge to firm up a little.
- Using 2 sheets of parchment paper and a light dusting of flour roll dough out into a thin sheet. It's quite a crumbly dough so requires a bit of patience to roll it out.
- Cut into your preferred shapes and transfer to baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.
- Cool completely on a rack before decorating
Icing:
Writing icing - you can get these tubes from most supermarkets
Icing sugar
Water
Sprinkles - we used these fun dinosaur sprinkles
Tooth picks
- Mix 2 tablespoons of icing sugar with a little water. gradually add a little more water until it is a paste.
- I used the writing icing tube to draw a dinosaur footprint shape - I drew the shape on paper first to use it as a reference. If you can't get the icing tubes, you can make some icing the same way as above but add less water to make it thicker. Use a piping bag to pipe the line.
- For an easier icing option that is much easier for kids to do, you can just use the back of a spoon or a spatula to spread icing on the each biscuit then sprinkle with sprinkles With a teaspoon, put a little icing in the middle of the shape
- Use a toothpick to spread the icing out, add more icing if needed
- Sprinkle with sprinkles
Tips for cooking with kids:
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Read through recipe in full before starting. Kids can get distracted very easily so organisation is key
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Weigh/measure all ingredients before starting. Again, organisation!
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A helper stool is a great way to get kids involved so they can reach the kitchen bench, alternatively, if your toddler is in a high chair you could pop them in and they can use the tray to rest the bowl on. The dining table is also a good option, or just set up on the floor.
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If you are worried about your child eating raw biscuit dough, this recipe is great as it doesn't have anything they can't eat raw.
What is your favourite way to decorate biscuits?