Baking with Toddlers
(No actual baking involved!)
Baking with toddlers is a great early learning exercise for kids.
We need to help my daughter gain some weight and the best way to do that is with healthy fats. These healthy fats will feed her brain,give her lots of energy and ideally put a few pounds on her. I recently took a stab at making some little no bake oatmeal based treats that are delicious for the whole family to enjoy. The best part of it is that you can easily bake this treat with your toddler from start to finish as it is just measuring, stirring and rolling.
Energy Balls
I like to call them “Energy Balls” .. This recipe should yield about 20 balls that are 1” in diameter.
Ingredients:
-1 cup dry oatmeal
-2/3 cups toasted coconut flakes
-1/2 cup all natural smooth peanut butter
-1/2 cup ground flax seed
-1/3 cup honey
-1 tbsp. chia seeds
-1 tsp. vanilla extract
-1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Directions:
- Stir all the ingredients together in a bowl until well mixed.
- Cover and let chill in the fridge for at least half an hour
- Once chilled roll into balls of whatever size. If at this point they aren’t rolling properly I suggest adding some extra peanut butter and/or honey to help hold them together and chill again in the fridge for a few minutes.
- Store in the fridge for 1 week in a sealed container
Switch It Up
If you don’t like some of the ingredients or have allergies to contend with – switch it up. Almond butter or sunflower butter would work equally as well. Chocolate chips can be left out entirely or you can use Agave instead of honey. Just play with the balance of moist to dry ingredients you need to get them to roll well.
Hope you enjoy baking these with your toddler and I am sure you will enjoy having them in the house for all of you to grab when you need a little burst of energy!
ENJOY!!!
Allison Madigan is a holistic nutritionist. She has a strong belief in the power of food and proper nutrition to keep us in our best health and prevent disease. Allison’s goal is to empower people to make healthy and mindful decisions for themselves and their families to achieve optimal health. She has a keen interest in food sensitivities and allergies and helping families navigate this as she has gone through this with her own daughter.
