Super Easy Oaty Blueberry Square

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Things have been pretty busy at the Cooking Mummies HQ recently – hence the lack of posts… With 2 kids each, working in the NHS, house renovations and just the general exhaustion of being mummies of young children, things have been pretty intense!

So to beg forgiveness, we have decided to post this quick and easy recipe. This is a recipe Cooking Mummy no.1 created whilst weaning baby no.1. It was so difficult to find time with a little one to come up with new and interesting recipes. It was always the same pureed vegetables or fruit stuff… And baby was getting pretty bored with it!

After discussing ideas with various mummy friends, someone introduced me to the wonders a Baby Weaning Cookbook, where I discovered you can give other types of food to your baby, instead of the usual bland mashed up potato or banana! Inspiration hit when I saw a recipe for Oaty Biscuits. By trailing different methods and adding healthier options, I eventually came up with this super easy recipe, which is a crowd-pleaser with adults and little ones alike.

The beauty of this recipe is that it’s so versatile and involves our favourite “whack it all in a bowl” method. You can also get your little ones involved in making it, as it is great fun for them. Or, you can quickly put it together whilst your baby naps. I even made this a couple of times when I had the baby in the sling and he was snoozing away!

This version has Blueberries in it, as I think they go really well with the Oats, and give it an extra burst of taste (plus you get some fruit in there too, which can only be good for you right?). But I also tried it with other ingredients, which have worked really well, like:
Raspberries Fruit & Seeds mix Chopped Nuts Pureed Apples and Cinnamon Chocolate Chips Pumpkin Seeds
You could also just leave them plain and not use any Blueberries. So you can really experiment with this recipe and find what works best for you. Also, this can be transformed in to Oaty Biscuits, for which we will give more details at the end of the recipe. So scroll down further if you are interested in altering the method.

We hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. We still use it now after successfully weaning 4 kids, as it is easy, tasty and fun to make with the children.

So have a fun with it and enjoy!

Ingredients – Makes roughly 15-20 squares

Prep time – 15 minutes

Cooking time – 12-15 minutes
90 gr Plain Flour 90 gr Porridge Oats 90 gr Unsalted Butter 50 gr Caster Sugar 1 heaped tbsp Golden Syrup 1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda 2 handfuls of fresh Blueberries
Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 160 (fan oven). Grease a medium ovenproof tray with butter (roughly 30 cm x 22 cm).

2. Melt the Butter and Syrup in a small sauce pan, over a low heat. Make sure to stir it occasionally, so it amalgamates well. Do not let it boil or it will congeal. Once it’s all nicely melted and mixed together, just turn the hob off. It will only take a few minutes to do this.

3. Put all of the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix together. This is good fun for the kiddies to get involved too. You might get a bit of flour over the kitchen surfaces and the floor… but hey ho, as long as they are happy right?

4. Now add the melted Butter and Syrup to the dry mixture in the bowl. Mix together until it’s all evenly coated. This will ensure that the mixture sticks together when baking.

5. Add the Blueberries to the mixture, and mix all together until all evenly combined. This is another fun part for the kids!

6. Now you will need to transfer the mixture to the greased tray. Pour all mixture on the tray and flatten it out with the back of a wooden spoon. You want to get it all evenly spread out and roughly shaped in to a rectangle. You will be cutting the squares out once the mixture is baked.

7. Bake for 12-15 minutes, depending on how soft or crunchy you want your squares to come out. I usually bake it for 13 minutes.

8. Leave to cool the mixture in the tray for 5 minutes. Once cooled, you will need to cut it in to squares with a sharp knife. It’s up to you how big or small you make them. I like to make them in to smaller pieces and get about 20 squares.

9. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool. And presto pronto, you have some delicious Oaty Squares for your family and friends!

These are really good for snacks or can be used for breakfast. They keep well for a couple of days in an air tight container.

So there; some super quick and tasty bakes to brighten everyone’s days. You can get the kids involved and get a tasty treat at the end of it too. So it’s a win win really!

And now, for the Oaty Biscuits method….

To make Oaty Biscuits: Makes about 10-12 biscuits
Same Ingredients and Method as the Oaty Squares.
2. Instead of spreading the mixture on the tray, make in to palm sized balls. You can use a spoon or you hands, it’s up to you.

3. Flatten balls on the tray with the back of a wooden spoon.

4. Bake for 12-15 minutes, depending on how soft or crunchy you want them. I find 13 minutes to be the perfect time.

5. Leave to cool in the tray for 5 minutes. Then transfer to a cooling rack.

The ones below are a batch I made with Pumpkin Seeds. They were really yummy!