Healthier Cereal Sticks for a Teething Toddler

My 16 month old has been teething like there is no tomorrow. She has gotten almost 6 teeth in the past 3 weeks. For most parents they know what that means...picky eater and light sleeper. I can hardly get her to eat anything and forget anything that is good for her. Vegetables, meat, cheese and even fruit mostly end up on the floor! I looked into buying some different baby food snacks from the grocery store but for the prices they wanted to charge and the lack of vitamins and protein I decided that it would be better for me to find something to make at home. Here is one that I adapted from an old book that my mother gave me...I had to change the recipe because back in the day they really liked sugar! (even though like I point out in the links at the bottom...the higher sugar is the healthier one! weird!)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup margarine with 0 trans fat margarine or light butter (I typically go for the margarine
• 1/4-1/2 cup of sugar (depending on how much sugar is the cereal you use)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla (optional)
• 2 cups of flour (this is where you can get creative: half wheat or 1/2 cup soy flour)
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2-1 cup cereal (depending on the cereal)
• 1/4 cup wheat germ (optional)
• water to moisten the dough (if needed)
  

Preheat oven to 400°.

Now before you get started choose the cereal you plan to use. I like to use colorful cereal such as Fruity Cheerios or Trix (swirls) but you can also use granola or grape nuts. Pretty much any cereal will work.

Melt the butter/margarine and blend it with the sugar then add the eggs. Add the vanilla. Next add half of the cereal so that the cereal can get slightly moistened by the butter, sugar and egg mixture then add about 1 cup of all-purpose flour followed by the rest of the cereal. Mix it together. Next add the wheat germ and baking soda and finally the last cup of 1 cup of flour.* After all ingredients are added mix dough with hands. It should be a lot like play dough. Not sticky and not crumbling. If it is too crumbly add water to moisten the dough. If it is too sticky add more flour. Don't be afraid to mess around with the dough...I promise you can't mess it up (that bad :P).

*Just recently when I made these for my daughter I used Soy Flour (which is featured in the picture) I added 1/2 cup of soy flour and then 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour.

Once the dough is at the right consistency - think play dough- pinch pieces off to roll into balls. Then take the balls and roll them into sticks. You can make the sticks long and thin or as thick and short as you want just remember the thinner they are the less time they will take to cook and the thicker ones will take longer to cook.

Rolling out the dough is really simple, any one who has played with play dough can easily work with this dough. Great for a kids craft! Good activity to get the older children involved with helping out the smaller ones. Also, if your toddler is old enough this is a good project for them. Not too messy!

After all the sticks have been rolled out and laid on to a greased cooking sheet. They are ready to be placed in the oven.

Now this is where it is important to watch the clock and/or set a timer! Because if you cook them too long they will harden up and you won't want to eat them at all!

For the sizes that I made here they take about 10-11 minutes to get to the right point, which is when the bottoms are slightly brown. But I would strongly advice that you do 5 minutes - check- 2 to 5 minutes and then check again. All ovens are different and from my experience with dough - all dough is different when it comes to who made it! Better safe than extremely annoyed!

Once they are done simply remove them from the pan and set them to rest for about 2 to 5 minutes. They cool quickly! Then let that poor teething baby enjoy something delicious and crunchy on their little gums!

Just a side note...they do turn into mush if the baby sucks on them and bites on them! A lot like biter biscuits.