What is a treat?

To many it’s a sugar infused lolly or chocolate of some sort.  In fact, we often offer treats as a reward, which brings me to the next point, why reward children for doing good by giving them something that is bad for them? We would never put shoes on our children that are too small or too big, we wouldn’t want them to have sore feet, so why would we hurt their insides with things that are bad for them? Think about that one while I share with you my favourite sugar free recipes, ideal for the school lunchbox.

Now, being a dad, I like to keep things really simple and fun.  The idea is for children to enjoy the ingredients and to get the sweetness from natural products like honey and cinnamon.

The first sugar free treat is:

Sugar Free Cinnamon Scrolls:

They fit perfectly in the lunchbox and are tasty. 

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons honey

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with baking paper, cut the pastry into six 3 cm-wide strips.  Sprinkle three quarters of the cinnamon consistently over the top.
2. Using the palms of your hands, roll the pastry strips into long snakes, making sure they are nice and tight.
3. Coil each pastry snake to create a snail effect or round shape.  They should be about 5cm in diameter. 
4. Place on the prepared tray and drizzle the honey over the top of the scrolls.
5. Sprinkle the scrolls with the remaining cinnamon and pop them in the oven for about 20 minutes until puffed up and cooked through.  If you don’t eat them straight away, the scrolls will keep in an airtight container for 4-5 days.

This would have to be my favourite  and most easiest delicious treat ever.  These are made with just 2 ingredients and they’re made quicker than it takes the kids to put their runners on.

 

 

 

 

Sugar Free Date & Coconut Bites:

Perfectly delicious and sweet. 

 

Ingredients:

10 dates, pited

½ cup of desiccated coconut, plus extra for rolling.

 

Steps:

1. Place the dates and desiccated coconut in a blender and blitz until everything looks mushy and sticky
2. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and roll teaspoons of the mixture into nine balls
3. Roll the balls in a heap of desiccated coconut to ensure they’re evenly coated – the idea is for all the stickiness to be covered by the coconut.
4. Pop them in a fridge for 1 hour until set.  Afterwards, make yourself a coffee, put your feet up and eat them, if there are any left, pop them in the school lunchbox.

As you can see, these are simple and fun recipes. Be inspired to make them your own, you can add dried apricots instead of dates and you can use maple syrup instead of honey. The idea is for your little humans to fuel their bodies with good food. Limit their sugar in take and reward them with food that is actually not doing their bodies any harm. Now, I’m about to put on my new runners and I’m going for a run.