Home-baked low fat and/or sugar biscuits & cakes

[coggles]

Much to my childrens annoyance, I don't buy cakes, biscuits, crisps, sweets etc as they are just treats at their nanny & grandads houses. Do any of you have any recipes for low fat and/or sugar treats that are quick and easy, so the children can help me make more mess, erm, help make them please? Thank you.

[Cetti]

Chocolate Praline - 8oz rich tea biscuits, 4oz butter, 1 rounded desssp brown sugar, 2oz sultanas, 3 rounded desssp cocoa, 11/2 tablsp golden syrup, 6oz good choc (opt)

Break up biscuits into small pieces. Melt butter, sugar, cocoa, syrup and sultanas. Blend together over a low heat. Remove and stir in biscuit pieces until coated. Flatten mixture into a greased shallow tinand press down firmly. Melt choc and spreat evenly over biscuit mixture. Leave until cool Cut into fingers with a sharp knife.

This is an easy no-cook recipe coggles, perfect for little helpers and was always a wow at school parties.

[Cetti]

PS. For extra oomph you can add rinsed, chopped glace cherries or glace ginger - or both!

[kags]

We have great fun dipping fruit in melted chocolate - a little chocolate goes a very long way, and grapes, strawberries, raspberries, apple, orange segments, cherries etc etc all dip really well.

[Janetex]

Ah, yes, the mess, they do love hands-on food. We had lots of fun with vanilla beans, carob, cinnamon sticks, sago, setting stuff in gelatine, marshmallow, apple or banana pancakes, individual 'fist' shortbreads, fruit iceblocks, graters & shapes. Kids are quite adventurous diners, they like layering foods, parfaits, building their dessert at the table, etc. I just leave sugar & salt out of most recipes, but here's a useful site: "www.cbel.com/special_diets/". Don't forget to let them do the washing up, too.

[coggles]

Thank you everyone. They all sound delicious, so we shall try them all at some stage. We made some low fat biscuits yesterday I but don't think they will last very long!