For many states this week and last, it’s back to school. And for parents and caregivers, the daily question of “how do we entertain our precious children?” has been replaced with another, more pressing dilemma: “how do we keep up in the lunchbox Olympics?”
If you are a parent who seeks variety in the weekly meal planning – this is how parents get their kicks, no? – recess is your easy win. Biscuits, cookies and muffins can be made on the weekends, keep for a few days in airtight containers, and are easily transportable. Muffins also freeze well, and the smaller-sized ones will defrost in the lunchbox in time for recess. Lunch swaps are the culinary black market of the playground, but these are the homebaked treats your child will happily keep.
If they can withstand the journey to the trenches, they will survive the school lunchbox. Whether your kids prefer crisp or chewy biscuits, we have recipes for both. Yes, Nadine Ingram’s recipe calls for a whole stick of butter and 300g of golden syrup, but it also contains an equal amount of rolled oats. It is practically breakfast.
Also filed under “almost breakfast”: these chocolate oat cookies by Nigel Slater. The chocolate is dark, the oats are jumbo, and the results are pleasingly chewy. They’re best eaten within 24 hours, but will keep for several days in an airtight tin. (Consider it an opportunity to break the intergenerational cycle of trauma and use biscuit tins to store actual biscuits, not buttons.) For cookies that are oat-free, gluten-free but chocolate-ful, see Cherie Lynden’s chocolate chunk cookies.
Actual breakfast. And though “breakfast muffins” might scream “bran muffins” for those old enough to remember, these – thankfully – come studded with oats and poppy seeds, while grated apple, orange zest and raspberries add moisture and a little sweetness (although Nigel Slater suggests adding an extra tablespoon of sugar if needed). If you can’t find kefir, try substituting 130g of whole yoghurt, thinned out with 45ml of milk. If your child likes the flavour of cardamom, they will appreciate Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for apple and cardamom buckwheat muffins.
What is banana bread if not cake, in loaf form? But children are difficult, parenting is hard, and if homemade cake should masquerade as bread, the world should not judge. After testing several recipes, Felicity Cloake concludes banana bread is “a good way to use up old fruit”, but overripe bananas are not strictly necessary. Her recipe is as easy as they come – use an electric mixer to combine the wet ingredients and sugar, add the dry ingredients and mashed banana, then spoon into a tin, and bake. It contains walnuts, so if your child’s school is a nut-free zone, leave these out. For a vegan and gluten-free version, see Meera Sodha’s tahini banana bread.
after newsletter promotion
No mixer? No worries. This recipe is a kitchen minimalist’s sweet dream, requiring only a fork to mash the bananas and whisk the eggs, and a spoon to dollop the batter into muffin tins. The recipe calls for fresh or frozen berries, but these can be substituted with cubed apple or pear, tossed through with a sprinkle of cinnamon.
I know a primary school-aged kid who doesn’t like chocolate, and though I can’t pretend to understand it, I respect it. I imagine they would appreciate these savoury baked treats instead, where onion sizzles in the flavour of bacon fat, where sharp cheddar sits in the company of wholemeal flour; where warm cumin mingles with tangles of wilted spinach and fleck of carrot. Make it for little lunches, big lunches, and adult lunches-on-the-go.
