As a mother I am always trying to sneak healthy foods into my kids’ meals. As every parent knows, chicken nuggets and pizza can be great to satiate the kids, but the challenge is trying to include nutrient-rich foods into their fickle little diets. Sometimes these covert operations are met with more success than other times. Recently, I was making chocolate zucchini bread (well, chocolate bread to my 10 year old daughter), when she caught me red-handed standing over the bowl of chocolate batter with the offensive green squash in one hand and a grater in the other. I may as well have been holding a a bottle of rat poison and a dirty syringe based on her reaction.
Just as the trust was being rebuilt, (and she was finally convinced I wasn’t trying to poison her), my culinary antics were blown wide open again. For years I had strained anchovies into her miso soup, but the gig was finally up when she discovered a tiny little anchovy eyeball staring back at her from her bowl. Clearly, I should have used a finer strainer. Her reaction was epic as far as meltdowns go.
Even now, I still mince yellow peppers (so finely that it might as well be a puree) into her spaghetti bolognese. The older she grows, the more her taste buds and sense of smell evolves. Most attempts at concealing healthy food now are as she put it a “#fail”. Thus the days of fooling my little princess into believing her food is unadulterated are pretty much done.
Trying to outsmart a 10 year old is challenging. My daughter likes things simple. If it’s apple pie, it better not have blueberries, just apples. Same with chocolate cake. Add a few raspberries on top and suddenly its not a chocolate cake anymore. It’s a raspberry cake.
I recently made cookies with black currants when my daughter finally dropped the big question. “Can’t you bake normal stuff?” I stopped and realized that some of the baked goods I was preparing she wasn’t interested in at all. From a child’s perspective, some of my baking was exclusively for grown ups. Children desire plain and simple. They’re not interested in unique baked goods like Korean Pear Galette or ricotta cheesecakes. So I’ve added another New Year’s resolution. That is, to bake “normal” recipes. This ones for you Moineau. xo
- 227 g or 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 200 g or 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 150 g or 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 260 g or 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cups quick oats
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips Or chopped chocolates of your choice
- 125 g or 1 Cup chopped Walnuts
- 1/2 cup turbinado brown sugar (Optional)
- Line baking tray with silpat or parchment paper
- In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix in quick oats and set aside
- In stand mixer or bowl, paddle beat the butter about 1 minute.
- Add both sugars until light and creamy about 2 minutes. Add vanilla extract
- Beat in eggs, one at a time until just incorporated
- Take the dry mix of flour, baking soda etc and stir in the butter sugar mixture until just incorporated.
- Add the chocolate chips and walnuts. Don't over mix
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes
- Preheat oven to 375F/190C, place rack in middle of oven
- Roll cookie dough into 1 inch balls or I use a 1 inch ice cream scoop
- Roll in the turbinado sugar until its completely covered (optional)
- Drop on Cookie sheet about 2 inches apart
- Bake for about 10-11 minutes or until just slightly golden on the edges
- Let cool before transferring to a rack.
- Once cool, take a small tumbler glass with a flat bottom and gently press the cookies down. Alternatively you can bang your cookie tray on the counter about a minute after it comes out of oven. This helps spread them out.
- Refrigerating cookie dough prior to baking prevents the cookie from spreading too much when baking. However if you're strapped for time, pop the cookie balls in freezer for 10 minutes.