Bug Hunting And Shortbread Minibeast Biscuits

  

From my opinion fears are something that are instilled into children by adults.  I don’t think we have a natural fear of things such as dogs or spiders. I feel it is outside influences that affect how we feel about certain things and situations.

With this in mind today I took my youngest three on a bug hunt in a beautiful park called Oaks Park not far from where we live to search our bugs to try and stop the fear of creepy crawlies from setting in.

There is no playground at this park so it gives them a real opurtunity to just run off a load of steam and use their own imagination to play.

   
   

Once they had had a good run around we got on with our bug hunt.  They shook trees onto a large sheet of white paper to see what would fall and upturned logs and rocks to see what was hiding beneath.  I encouraged them to get close and see what they could find.

We managed to capture quite a few creepy crawlies and had fun looking at the way they moved, through the magnifiying glass on the top of their pots. 

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

We had a quick pitstop for icecream and then headed home to bake some minibeast shortbreads.

  
It’s probably a little unfair, but the majority of cooking we do as a family is allergy safe for number four.  It’s just easier as they can all cook together and he is not tempted to eat anything he shouldn’t!

  
I found a recipe for citrus shortbread by  Jamie Oliver and adapted it to be wheat and dairy free.  These can easily be replaced with normal butter and flour.

200g Softened butter                              125g Icing Sugar                                       Zest of half an orange                         Zest of one lemon                                 Zest of one lime                                  350g gluten free flour                               One tsp Gluten free baking powder                            

Preheat the oven to 190c/gas mark 5 and line a tin with greasepfoof paper.

Beat the butter and then cream together the sugar and zest until fluffy.  Fold in the flour and baking powder and then use your hands to form a dough.

Roll out onto a floured surface until about 1cm thick and then cut out your shapes of choice.

Put the biscuits onto the tray and chill in the fridge for 15mins.  Then bake in the oven for 12-15mins until pale and crisp.  Allow to cool for 5 mins then serve.

   
               

They went down a treat and would have been lovely with a big blob of icecream.