We've hit that point. William baby is 6 months old and looking for things to eat. And wanting to chew on everything in sight. So instead of giving him cardboard [which gets accidentally eaten], I thought it best to give him something to gnaw on that he can actually eat.
I googled and found a few recipes for banana teething rusks, but they all contained added sugar. Which I thought was a bit - not so good. Because apart from natural sugars in fruit, I don't want my little getting too much of a liking for sugary stuff. Anyway the recipes I did find were essentially banana bread, sliced and baked a second time. So I decided to try our usual banana bread recipe, which has no added sugar, and see how it worked out.
I have to say, so far it's working out pretty good. William is happy enough to gnaw away on them, and they soften up in the process, so he actually gets to eat little bits of it. At some point it gets thrown somewhere dirty, and then it goes into the chook bucket. No waste in this house! It's only moderately messy [compared to say, a banana on it's own] and I can pretend it's biscotti and eat a slice too. Win.
So here's the recipe [and for banana bread, just stop after the first bake, it's good].
Ingredients
About 60g butter, melted
1 egg
2 medium bananas, mashed
1 cup self-raising flour*
1 tsp cinnamon
How to Make
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Grease or line a loaf tin.
Mix together the melted butter [allow it to cool slightly first], the egg and the bananas.
Add the flour and cinnamon, mix until all blended in.
Pour into prepared tin and bake for about 40 minutes.
~for banana bread only, stop here and eat it~
Reduce the oven temperature to 150 degrees celsius. You may need to leave the door open for a few minutes for the temperature to drop.
Cut the loaf into slices and place on a lined baking tray. If the slices are too wide, cut them in half lengthwise.
Return to the oven and bake for 45-60 minutes. Keep an eye on them past the 45 minute mark. There is a fine line between hard baked and black and crispy. You want hard baked.
Cool and enjoy.
These are fine stored in an airtight container for about 3 days. I'm sure you can freeze them, but I haven't tried yet. Do keep an eye on your little one while they chew on them. They could bite a piece off, especially if they've got teeth already.
Do you have any other suggestions for good [vegetarian] baby chew things? I'd love to hear. I'd really, really love to hear!
*We use gluten-free flour.
I try it. looks yummy for me
ReplyDeletehttp://becreativemommy.blogspot.co.uk/p/kids-inspire.html
Maybe you can find something for your child. I personally recommend the pancakes with pumpkin and potatoes (I used gluten-free flour)
Those pancakes look wonderful, I will definitely be making them (and not just for baby!). Thanks for this link :)
DeleteI will be making banana bread for sure, thanks for the recipe. I used to make a kiwifruit and apple leather for my babies to chew on. I just blended ripe kiwi and apple, poured it into a stainless steel (very important tip; any other metal reacts with the acid in the kiwi and the leather tastes metallic) and left it in the warming oven of my wood stove overnight. The leather should be pliable but chewy. You do have to watch them of course as the leather softens with gumming and they may get a chunk, but they both loved it.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds good. We don't have a wood stove but perhaps a very low oven for a few hours might get a similar result? I will give it a try!
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