I adore cooking with kids and while it's great fun to get out the icing sugar and chocolate and make decadent treats, it's also important to have plenty of healthy recipes in your repertoire.
Step forward, the The Little Dish Family Cookbook, packed with 101 family-friendly recipes to make and enjoy with your kids.
You probably know Little Dish as producers of healthy, pre-packaged kids' meals made from 100% natural ingredients. Well the founder, mother of two Hillary Graves, is also the author of this new cookbook. It has a lovely selection of recipes to choose from, ranging from low-sugar granola, to oven omelette, to smoothies and soups, veg packed bakes and lean bolognese, through to fruit desserts and simple sponges. And all are designed so that there's plenty of opportunity for little fingers to help.
The first recipe we made from the Little Dish Family Cookbook was blackberry and apple parcels. It's a lovely, simple recipe to cook with the kids and the touch of vanilla in the apples is absolutely delicious.
We have loads of blackberries growing in the garden, so we got up early and picked as many as we could - there were more than enough!
Here's the recipe for these blackberry and apple parcels. Notes in italics are mine.
Ingredients
- 300g (10.6 oz) apples, chopped (we peeled ours too)
- 75g (2.6 oz) soft brown sugar
- 200g (7.1 oz) blackberries
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (we used a few twists of a vanilla grinder)
- 320g (11.3 oz) ready-rolled puff pastry (2 packs)
- 1 medium free-range egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon demerara sugar (optional)
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan, 350F, Gas mark 4) (we used 160C fan)
2. Place the apples in a medium pan with soft brown sugar. Cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes, or until the apples are soft. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the blackberries and vanilla extract.
3. Cut the pastry into six 10cm rectangles (we cut 12 rectangles per sheet, cutting each sheet once along the centre of the length, then six times across). Using a slotted spoon (we just used our fingers), divide the fruit mixture equally between half the pastry rectangles, leaving a 1-2cm border.
4.Brush the borders of the topped pastry rectangles with the beaten egg. Place the remaining pastry pieces over the top, pressing the edges down with a fork to seal in the filling.
5. Make 2 slits in the top of each pie to let the steam escape.
6. Brush the parcels with the beaten egg and sprinkle with the demerara sugar, if using. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and cooked through (check underneath to make sure they don't have soggy bottoms!) Leave to cool for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack.
Simple, right? Miss J, JD and I had great fun making these.
Are you tempted to try these blackberry and apple parcels at home?
If you'd like to try it for yourself, you can grab a printable version of the recipe below. Enjoy!
Blackberry and apple parcels (from the Little Dish Family Cookbook)
Ingredients
- 300 g (10.58 oz) apples chopped
- 75 g (2.65 oz) soft brown sugar
- 200 g (7.05 oz) blackberries
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) vanilla extract
- 320 g (11.29 oz) ready-rolled puff pastry 2 packs
- 1 medium free-range egg beaten
- 1 teaspoon demerara sugar optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan, 350F, Gas mark 4)
- Place the apples in a medium pan with soft brown sugar. Cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes, or until the apples are soft. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the blackberries and vanilla extract.
- Cut the pastry into six 10cm rectangles. Using a slotted spoon, divide the fruit mixture equally between half the pastry rectangles, leaving a 1-2cm border.
- Brush the borders of the topped pastry rectangles with the beaten egg. Place the remaining pastry pieces over the top, pressing the edges down with a fork to seal in the filling.
- Make 2 slits in the top of each pie to let the steam escape.
- Brush the parcels with the beaten egg and sprinkle with the demerara sugar, if using. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Leave to cool for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack.
This is a commissioned post for Little Dish
More great recipes to try with the kids
Get Your Kids to Eat Anything
My debut cookbook, Get Your Kids To Eat Anything is available now from all good bookshops!
It's so much more than a cookbook, it's a 5-Phase programme designed to take you through a meaningful, simple and sustainable journey to end fussy eating.
Since its release in March 2019, Get Your Kids To Eat Anything has been changing mealtimes in households across the country and has become an Amazon #1 best-seller.
vicki montague says
What a great looking recipe book!! I love all your step by step photos. How do you do that without getting your camera messy...or do you have a lovely assistant!?
Emily Leary says
Thank you :) If I'm cooking by myself I use a tripod, but this was cooking with the kids, so those are my 7yo son's hands in the pictures. He's an excellent cook :D
CakePants says
These look lovely and I like how neat and portable they are, too! I had a dream recently about making some kind of apple + berry dessert...perhaps it's a sign I should make these! (Is it weird that I dream about food? I hope not!)
Kizzy says
these sound delicious. I'd love you to share this in my #seasonalkitchen linky.