Storytime Chefs: Rainbow Fish Digestive Biscuits

makes 10-12 biscuits

Here’s the second recipe in Rainbow Fish themed Storytime Chefs series, our monthly virtual cookery and book club for families with children aged 2-10 years.

Read more about this month's book choice here, or try our delicious veg pack Rainbow Fish Pizzas.

Ingredients

150g wholemal flour

150g fine or medium oatmeal

50g dark muscovado or soft brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda

125g butter, melted

2-3 tablepoons milk or one egg (to bind)

a pinch of salt

Optional: icing or melted chocolate, fruity decorations (eg snipped fruit leather) or naturally coloured chocolate beans

Method

1) Weigh dry ingredients into a mixing bowl (flour, oatmeal, suagr, bicarb and salt) NOTE if you can't find oatmeal, make your own by blitzing porridge oats in a food processor/Nutribullet

2)Add melted butter and stir well with a wooden spoon or silicone spoon

3) Add egg or milk to bind. The mixture should start to clump together in a crumbly dough

4) Place in a food bag and chill for 20 mins in fridge.

5) Lightly dust a worksurface and rolling pin and roll half of the mixture to about 8mm thick.

6) Cut out cookies and carefully transfer onto a baking sheet.

7) Repeat with second half of dough.

8) Reroll scraps until all your dough is used.

9) Prick with a fork and bake for approx 15 mins until golden brown.

10) Leave to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

11) When completely cool, decorate.

equipment:

You will need:

• an apron and clean hands
• two baking sheets, lined with greaseproof paper
• one large mixing bowl
• one small bowl to melt butter
• weighing scales
• measuring spoon
• a wooden spoon or silicone mixing spoon
• a fish shaped cookie cutter
• a rolling pin (and optional rolling mat)
• a palette knife or similar to lift biscuits
• a cooling rack
• oven gloves

Ideas for decorating your rainbow fish biscuits:

To ice or not to ice?

It’s pretty impossible to decorate biscuits (and avoid a mini sugar rush) without using some form of icing, chocolate or sweets and whilst this isn't the healthiest of food stuffs, it is part of the magic of this activity for your kids. These biscuits are delicious on their own, and are not overly sweet, so we normally decorate about half and leave the remainder plain.

When it comes to choosing decorating ingredients, we prefer to go as natural as possible, choosing options which don’t contain palm oil, artificial colours and flavours, and are organic where ever possible.

Baking and decorating biscuits/cakes (especially Rainbow Fish ones) isn’t an everyday event  - just like eating birthday cake isn’t an everyday event, which most children understand.

Here are some options (either fruity or chocolatey):

• A little icing, white or naturally coloured (we used these freeze dried fruit powders from Healthy Supplies to colour/flavour ours)

or

• Melted chocolate (milk or white)
• Colourful dried fruit ‘scales’ (eg cranberries, chopped apricots, golden raisins, chopped mango) or snipped up Bear Fruit Yoyos/homemade fruit leather
• Naturally coloured/flavoured ‘Smarties’ or ‘Jelly Tots’ (eg Biona)

Where to get hold of a copy of The Rainbow Fish:

Link to Rainbow Fish on Amazon UK                      Link to Rainbow Fish on Amazon US

Or don’t forget to check your local library.

By shopping with the links we have provided, we may earn a small referral commission which goes straight back into our community outreach projects for vulnerable families It also doesn’t cost you anymore. Thank you!

Storytime Chefs: Recipes inspired by The Rainbow Fish

This month, we launch the first in a new series of cook and learn activities inspired by popular children’s books.

Storytime Chefs is our virtual reading and cookery club for families with children aged 2-10 years, and we are kicking off with a book I’ve shared with many of our community-based family cookery classes  - The Rainbow Fish, by Marcus Pfister.

What’s The Rainbow Fish about?

The most beautiful fish in the ocean is asked to share one of his shining scales with a little blue fish, which he refuses. All the other fish in the sea leave him alone, and he wonders why. He goes to the wise octopus for advice, and she tells him to give away his scales. Rainbow Fish reluctantly does so, except for one. In the end, he is less beautiful then he was before, but he has new friends and is now the happiest fish in the sea.

We've put together two beautiful child-approved recipes to make with your children:

Rainbow Fish Pizza and Rainbow Fish Digestive Biscuits

Where to get hold of a copy of The Rainbow Fish:

Link to Rainbow Fish on Amazon UK                      Link to Rainbow Fish on Amazon US

Or don’t forget to check your local library.

By shopping with the links we have provided, we may earn a small referral commission which goes straight back into our community outreach projects for vulnerable families It also doesn’t cost you anymore. Thank you!

Join the Storytime Chef Fun – Here’s How:

1. Please leave a comment below, saying that you’re joining Storytime Chefs this month and reading The Rainbow Fish.
2. Join our friendly Facebook group STORYTIME CHEFS for shopping lists and bonus activities covering art, crafts, science and links with the curriculum.
3. Get a copy of the book using the links above or from your local library.
4. Read the book together…
5. ….then bring the kids into the kitchen and cook our featured recipes together.
6. I would LOVE for you to share your photos on Instagram using the hashtag: #StorytimeChefs and please tag me too (@organiccookeryschool). 
7. Tune in next month for  another book-themed recipe.

Featured Recipes for The Rainbow Fish

Get the Rainbow Fish Pizza recipe here: 

Get the Rainbow Fish Digestive Biscuit recipe here:

Storytime Chefs : Rainbow Fish Pizzas

makes four individual pizzas

These quick and healthy pizzas are inspired by The Rainbow Fish (by Marcus Pfister), and encourage children to pile up on a variety of different coloured veggies, helping them meet their five a day targets and eat a rainbow too. I’ve honestly never seen my five year old so keen to load up with every colour of vegetable.

For speed and convenience, shop-bought pitta bread works fine (Waitrose and Ocado stock organic versions).  Pitta are easy to cut to shape with sturdy kitchen scissors, and both wholemeal and white pitta both taste great in these pizzas.

Trimming into a fish shape can be a bit awkward (there’s a good chance that little ones could accidentally chop off a tail!) but is great for developing motor skills - so be prepared to model where to cut and help little ones. (and have a few pitta spare just in case)

If you want to make your own pitta (which is great fun and everso easy) - we’ve included a recipe to make your own in the resources section of our FB group.

Next comes a topping of our veggie packed magic tomato sauce, but any good quality tomato pasta sauce will work (we like Seeds of Change and Mr Organic sauces).

Let your junior chefs get busy with the cheese grater, minding their fingers (and fingernails)  before offering them a rainbow selection of veggie toppings.

Ingredients

4 pitta bread (wholemeal or white))

Approx 150g tomato sauce

Cheese to grate (e.g. cheddar, mozzarella)

A pinch of dried Italian herbs

Plus a selection of rainbow coloured veg to top:

Peppers (capsicum) in red, yellow, green and orange)

Sweetcorn

Red onion or spring onions (scallions)

Broccoli

Baby mushrooms

Cherry tomatoes

Olives

Plus a spritz/dribble of olive oil

Method*

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 0 C

2. Trim pitta into a fish shape using kitchen scissors, and place on a baking sheet.

3. Spread a heaped tablespoon of tomato sauce on each pitta,

4.Grate cheese and sprinkle over sauce, adding a pinch of Italian herbs.

5. Carefully chop your vegetables into little pieces using a table knife, scissors or a child's safety knife .

6. Top pizzas - go to town making your pizza fish as colourful as possible.

7. Spritz or dribble with a little olive oil.

6. Bake for 1-12 minutes until bubbling and golden brown. Allow to cool a little before eating.

Optional: try mini pittas to make lunch-boxed sized mini rainbow fish treats.

*N.B. Children should always be supervised when cooking, and an adult should oversee the use of heat as well as all preparation involving sharp utensils.

Prepare your ingredients

Carefully trim pitta into fish shapes

Spread tomato sauce over pitta

Sprinkle with grated cheese & a pinch of Italian dried herbs

Decorate with beautiful rainbow veg

Spritz or drizzle with a little olive oil

Bake for 10-12 mins until bubbling

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Developing cooking skills:

Encourage your children to do as much of the pizza prep as possible. We’ve highlighted the hands on skills they will be developing  below:

1. Cut the pitta bread into a fish shape using scissors (adult/older child task unless very dextrous)

2. Spoon and spread pizza sauce (child)

3. Grate cheese and sprinkle over pizza sauce (child - may need support grating)

4. Take a pinch of italian herbs and sprinkle over cheese (child)

5. Prepare veggie toppings - dice and slice peppers, mushrooms, olives (child - younger cooks may need support slicing or offer strips which they can dice/snip with a safe knife or scissors)

6. Snip spring onions (if using) with scissors (child)

7. Build your rainbow fish pizza using fingers or a spoon to create colourful (veggie) rainbow scales (child)

8. Drizzle or spritz with a little olive oil  - an oil spray works well for this (child - may need support)

9. Ask an adult to place in the oven for approx 12 mins (adult or older child)

10. Wait until cooled and enjoy.

Don’t forget to take some photos and share them with us in the Storytime Chef group (or tag us on instagram #storytimechef #organiccookeryschool)

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Suggested Equipment:

Apron and clean hands

Baking Sheets

Grater

Child safe knives / table knifes or sharp knife (under adult supervision

Scissors

Lots of spoons

Enjoy this? Try our Rainbow Fish inspired digestive biscuits.

Where to get hold of a copy of The Rainbow Fish:

Link to Rainbow Fish on Amazon UK                      Link to Rainbow Fish on Amazon US

Or don’t forget to check your local library.

By shopping with the links we have provided, we may earn a small referral commission which goes straight back into our community outreach projects for vulnerable families It also doesn’t cost you anymore. Thank you!