Chocolate Cereal Cookies

After a week and half of refusing to accept that the holidays were over and my kids were heading back to school, I have been forced to give in.

Not only did I deposit my three big kids at school this morning, but I also dropped my baby off at kinder (preschool).

Yep, my baby boy, my Noey Noodle Head was up bright and early this morning to pack his Minion lunch box into his giant backpack and head off to ‘big kinder’.

It is lovely to watch Noah grow and become independent. It is lovely to see him follow in the footsteps of his siblings, attending the same kinder with the same amazing teachers and awesome program. It is lovely to have some big chunks of time to myself for the first time in eleven years.

But it is also bittersweet.

My baby is growing up, my last baby is growing up. His first day of kinder makes his first day of school seem suddenly much closer. I miss his little voice around the house, and I am suddenly aware of how little time we have left, just him and me, and all the things we want to do!

Parenting really is all about holding close and letting go…

My head in the sand approach to the start of the school year meant that it kinda crept up on me, and I found myself starting at the empty pantry shelves and wondering what on earth I’d put in the four lunch boxes that now need filling! Thankfully an old favourite recipe came to my rescue… Cereal Cookies.

These work just as well with corn flakes as they do with rice bubbles (rice krispies) and you can leave out the cocoa and add some cinnamon and nutmeg instead if you like.

I whipped up the mixture for these easy chocolate cereal cookies while dinner was cooking and baked them while we ate, and felt just a little smug sending my baby boy off to kinder with a lunchbox full of homemade goodness this morning! T

My boy is home again now, filthy, tired, and suddenly seeming so much bigger!

Chocolate Cereal Cookies

Yield: 30 small cookies

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

You can make these easy cereal cookies with rice bubbles (rice krispies) or cornflakes and they are perfect for school lunches.

Print

Ingredients

• 60 gm butter (softened)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 ripe banana (mashed)
• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 2.5 cups of rice bubbles (rice krispies)

Instructions

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180 Celsius (approx 350 F)
2. Line two large baking trays with baking paper.
3. Using electric beaters or a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add the vanilla and egg and mix well.
5. Using a spoon mix in the mashed banana.
6. In a large bowl combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Fold the flour mixture through the wet ingredients.
7. Last of all gently stir in the rice bubbles (cornflakes also work well) to form a fairly stiff mixture.
8. Roll spoonfuls of mixture into balls, flatten and place on the tray.
9. Bake at 180 C for 15 minutes or until they begin to firm up around the edges.

Notes

Switch out the rice bubbles for corn flakes if you like.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 30 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 57

Please note: this recipe uses Australian measurements and temperatures, if you need to convert measurements or temperatures you can find our printable cooking conversion chart here.

So that is one day with four lunch boxes to fill done… now for a ‘kagillion’ more as Noah would say!

What do you put in your kids’ lunch boxes? Do you have to send ‘nude food’ like we do?

Here are a few more ideas for easy lunch box treats.

1. Apple and Raspberry Cookies 2. Homemade Muesli Bars 3. Cinnamon Cookies 4. Popcorn Bars 5. Apple and Oat Pancakes 6. Strawberry Fruit Leather 7. Apple and Rhubarb Slice 8. Easy Oat Cookies 9. Gingerbread Cupcakes