Lunch Box Treats

I am really embarrassed to admit that my boys trade their lunch box food with their friends. I know they are terribly deprived having a mother as a nutritionist but surely, they cannot be that hard done by? Especially when they get homemade cookies. I asked my eldest son if he would trade them for someone else’s junk and he said, “no I never trade your home made treats”. I felt much better knowing that and packed him two cookies.

CHOC CHIP OATY COOKIES

A good variation to chocolate chips is hazelnuts, but if they are for the lunch box nuts may not be okay. If your child is dairy free you can use coconut oil instead of butter and use vegan chocolate as they don’t contain dairy.

Ingredients:

• 125g unsalted butter, softened

• 2/3 cup of coconut sugar

• 1 tsp of vanilla extract

• 1 tsp of cinnamon

• 1 egg

• 1 cup of rolled oats

• 1 cup of wholemeal spelt flour

• ½ tsp of aluminium free baking powder

• ½ tsp of baking soda

• ¾ cup of good quality dark chocolate chips (70% min cocoa solids)

• ½ cup of desiccated coconut

Directions:

Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Add egg until well combined. Add cinnamon, vanilla, baking soda and powder then mix. Then add oats, chocolate chips and coconut, mix until all ingredient are well combined and resemble a thick heavy dough.

In warmer weather I prefer to refrigerate cookie dough until firm, it prevents them from baking flat. Arrange cookies on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Bake in an oven preheated to 170 degrees with no fan for about 15-20 minutes.