Continental Rusks

The other day I thought I’d experiment with making some home-made biscuits especially for Sam. He’s been on solid foods for a while but has soon learned to swipe at spoons and generally anything placed within inches of his face. I marvel at how fast he is sometimes. He’s also teething which is always fun.

Finger foods are now a firm favourite – for him not me. The little man much prefers to examine and explore his food himself, however most of it ends up anywhere but his mouth. Really I’d be quite happy continuing to serve him thick soups and stews forever since they’re usually consumed relatively quickly and cleanly.

The following recipe is taken from Practical Cooking for Babies and Toddlers published by Choice.

1/3 cup caster sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla essence

2/3 cup plain flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

2 tbs ground nuts (I used almonds)

Beat sugar and egg until pale in colour. Mix in vanilla essence. Sift together flour and baking powder. Fold into egg mixture. Add ground nuts and gently mix until combined. Spoon onto baking paper in a long 6 cm wide sausage. Cook in a moderate oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Slice into 2 cm biscuits. Stand biscuits on an oven tray and return to a moderately slow oven to become crisp, approximately 15 minutes. Store in an airtight container. Makes approximately 24.

I only had self-raising flour on hand and couldn’t find my vanilla essence. Despite that it turned out really good and reminded me of Italian biscotti. It won’t crumble easily and Sam can nibble on it for ages. Katie is never far away so when finally flung it never goes to waste either.