teething cookies

so a couple of weeks ago i found myself with a a can of baby cereal that was about to expire (the can says to discard after it has been open 30 days) and i didn't know what i was going to do with it. my little decided he didn't like it anymore. he was refusing to eat oatmeal in the mornings, and i wasn't going to force it on him. so here i am, wondering what in the world i can do with all this cereal. i didn't want it to go to waste, but i knew he wasn't interested.

so i racked my brain. and racked some more. then i was like COOKIES! surely it works like flour does, but The Poet wasn't too thrilled about eating baby cereal cookies. actually, neither was i. so then i thought, babies like to chew on things, especially if it tastes good!

so i threw together a quick recipe to make the little some cookies to enjoy. (if you are worried about a gluten allergy, these do have flour in them. I'm not sure what you would use as a substitute for flour though.)

Teething Cookies

1 cup baby cereal (i used oatmeal)

1 cup flour

1 cup fruit juice (i used 4 ounces pear and 4 ounces apple because that's what i had on hand)

1 cup fruit baby food (you could use veggies i guess. i just went with a fruit flavor...banana)

1. combine all the ingredients until a dough forms. (the dough is quite sticky and not a typical cookie dough consistency. that's cool. don't worry!)

2. flour your work surface, your hands, and your rolling pin (i used wax paper over my counters so there wouldn't be as much of a mess)

3. roll out dough to desired thickness (made mine as think as i could go). i was constantly sprinkling extra cereal so it wouldn't stick to my hands, rolling pin, and work surface.

4. using a pizza cutter, cut into rectangles (you could use cookie cutters i guess. i didn't fish any out though)

5. place on cookie sheet. they don't spread very much at all, so you can cram as many on there as you want.

6. they sort of puff up (learned this after the first tray already went in) so prick each cookie with a fork several times so that air can escape. this reduces air pockets.

7. bake at 350 degrees for 15 - 25 minutes.

they were pretty easy to make and they freeze really well. I've made several different batches now with whatever fruit juice and baby food i have on hand. the little is really enjoying them lately. at first he was all like "what do i do with this?" but as you can see, he's figured it out!