Diary from the Pandemic day 1 - cooking with kids with no flour or eggs

So schools closed yesterday and we are now faced with an indefinite amount of time with the kids at home, wondering how best to keep them amused without allowing them to see their friends or venturing outside beyond the garden for anything more than a bike ride.

An obvious possibility is doing a bit of home-baking with them. Yes, great idea! Unless of course you don't usually have cake baking ingredients in and you didn't think to stock up before the panic buyers striped the shelves of all the flour, yeast and eggs!

But don't worry, the idea is still a good one and there are possiblities to "bake" with your kids with either ingredients you already have in the cupboards or ones you can still buy in the supermarkets.

Of course, the easiest option is to fall back on that old favourite of chocolate-covered cereal cakes - Rice Crispie cakes or Cornflake cakes, or you could even mash up some Shredded Wheat, shape it into nests, stick some mini eggs on top and call it an Easter treat.

The next step beyond that is Rocky Road. This is really easy to make and can be easily customised with whatever ingredients you like to eat or have to hand. Here's a link to a recipe from BBC Good Food using Digestive Biscuits and mini marshmallows but you can use pretty much any biscuit and chunks of anything you fancy from dried fruit to chopped up Areo.

Along very similar lines is Tiffin. Another great way to use up stale biscuits, mixed with butter, syrup and dried fruit and topped with a layer of chocolate. Don't forget with both Rocky Road and Tiffin to chop it up into small pieces because you really don't need to (and probably shouldn't) eat much of it at any one time. Top tip - heat a large sharp knife by running it under hot water and wipe dry before each cut so that it cuts with nice straight edges.

Tiffin

225g stale biscuits

110g butter

1 good tablespoon golden syrup

225g mixed dried fruit

55g glacé cherries, chopped

200g milk chocolate

Place the biscuits in a bag and bash with a rolling pin until crumbed. Melt together the butter and syrup in a pan over a low heat. Combine the biscuit, butter mix and fruit and stir well. Grease a suitable tin and press the mixture into it and level. Refrigerate for at least half an hour until solid. Melt the chocolate over a pan of hot water then spread over the biscuit base, level out and return to the fridge. Once solid, cut the tiffin into small squares and transfer to an airtight container. Keeps well.

If you fancy going for something a little healthier then make flapjacks. Here is a recipe for very easy to make flapjacks that are super tasty too.

Honey & Vanilla Flapjacks

110g butter

110g soft light brown sugar

1 dessert spoon of honey

A few drops of vanilla extract

175g oats

Preheat oven to 150°C (gas 3). In a large saucepan, gently melt the butter with the sugar, honey and vanilla. Add the oats and stir thoroughly until evenly coated. Grease a small baking tray with a rim and spoon the mixture onto it. Spread out and press down with wetted fingers.  Bake for 25 minutes until gold. Cut into flapjacks whilst still hot then allow it to cool in the tin.

With a bit of lateral thinking, you can move away from cake/biscuit type baking and onto cold desserts such as jelly and mousse. Both of these are straight forward to make but really satisfying to achieve. Once you start making your own fruit jelly you'll never want to go back to shop bought ones and you can also mix a bit of live yoghurt into your home made chocolate mousse and know that when your kids are tucking into them they are also improving their gut health.

Chocolate Mousse

1 sachet of powdered gelatine
200g dark chocolate
300ml double cream
160ml live yoghurt

Put 3 tablespoons of cold water into a small pan and  sprinkle over the gelatine, then set aside for 5 minutes. In the meantime, in another small pan, boil some water and place a bowl over the top. Break up the chocolate and put into the bowl above (but not touching) the boiling water. Leave to simmer for a few minutes, stiring occasionally until the chocolate is melted. Pour 200ml of the double cream into a large bowl and whisk with a hand or electric whisk until thick and fluffy. Gently heat the pan of gelatine until melted then add the remaining 100ml of double cream to the gelatine. Continue to heat and stir until the cream is just steaming. Remove from the heat. Pour the melted chocolate, gelatine/cream mix and the yoghurt to the whisked cream and fold in until well mixed. Spoon into individual containers and refrigerate for 2 hours until set. 

Fruit Jelly

3 tablespoons cold water

1 sachet powdered gelatine

225 g frozen soft fruit e.g. raspberries or mixed fruit

110 g granulated sugar

Cold water

Put 3 tablespoons of cold water into a small pan and sprinkle over the gelatine, then stir and set aside for 5 minutes. Put the frozen fruit, sugar and 200ml water into a sauce pan and bring to the boil. Leave the fruit to simmer for 5 minutes or so until soft then press through a sieve to make a seedless puree. Heat the gelatine over a low heat for a minute or two until clear then stir this into the raspberry puree. Pour into a jug then top up with cold water to the 450ml mark. Pour into suitable containers/moulds and chill for 2-4 hours until set.

Once you have mastered fruit jelly you may as well go all out and combine it with some stall cake, a tin of custard and some cream and call it a trifle. Ridiculously easy but very pleasing results for both you and your children.

Trifle

1 batch of fruit jelly (see recipe above)

Stall cake or trifle sponges

Fruit juice or sherry

1 can of ready made custard or a sachet of instant custard

Double cream

25g icing sugar

Decorations e.g glace cherries, grated chocolate, sprinkles

Make up a fruit jelly of your choice as shown in the recipe above. Place slices of cake into the bottom of suitable containers. If you want you can add sherry at this point or use fruit juice to make it child-friendly. You could also add pieces of fresh fruit too at this point if you wish. Pour the jelly over the cake and refrigerate for 2-3 hours until set. Once the jelly has set, pour the custard over the top and level off. Return to the refrigerator for at least another hour. Pour the cream into a bowl and add the icing sugar to sweeten it (optional). Whisk the cream with an electric or hand whisk until thick and fluffy. Add the cream and the decorations to the top of the trifles just before serving. Can be made in small containers as individual trifles or in a large container as a family trifle.