Annabel Karmel's 5 Fun Recipes Inspired By Our Prints

Sparking a little one's imagination & creativity brings so much joy & reward!  We love to tell stories and engage with children & their parents through the joy of colour & print, you'll notice many of our clothes feature fun 'conversational prints' - which do exactly that - start a conversation!  Whether it be a little one's excitement for sailboats & all things nautical, or love of hearts & flowers.

Another exciting and fun way to engage with little ones is via their food!  This week, we’re sharing five terrific recipes from our friend and leading children’s cookery author and food expert Annabel Karmel.

Annabel’s unique recipes make every mealtime fun & exciting and are a great way to have fun with your little one & get creative!

So join us as we don our favourite outfits and make up some tasty snacks inspired by our exclusive prints!

SWEET POTATO BOATS

RICE KRISPIE HEARTS

ANNABEL’S CUPCAKE BOUQUET

CHOCOLATE COATED STRAWBERRIES

HUNNY BUNNY PANCAKES

Bon appetit!

Get ready to set sail with my sweet potato boats! Sweet potato is packed full of goodness and acts as a fun and heathy ‘boat’ for your Bolognese. This is a great dish for any leftovers, and you can easily double or triple to serve the whole family, or if you like, add different fillings such fish and vegetables too.
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MAKES: 2 SWEET POTATO BOATS

Ingredients

• 1 small sweet potato
• 3 tbsp leftover Bolognese Sauce
• 2 tbsp grated mature Cheddar cheese
  
  

Method

1. Prick the sweet potato with a fork several times and cook it in the microwave for 7–10 minutes until soft in the middle or bake in the oven at 180C Fan / 200C/ 400F/ Gas Mark 6 for about 45 minutes, or until soft and cooked through.
2. Preheat the grill to high. As soon as the potato is cool enough to handle, slice it in half and scoop out some of the potato into a bowl. Mix it with the Bolognese Sauce and spoon it back into the boats. Sprinkle with the cheese.
3. Place under a hot grill for 5 minutes until the cheese has melted.
4. Serve with steamed broccoli florets.

MAKES: 6 – 8 KRISPIE HEARTS

Ingredients

• 100g golden syrup
• 100g butter
• 100g white chocolate
• 50g Rice Krispies
• 75g porridge oats
• 50g dried cranberries, chopped
• 40g pecans, chopped
• Pinch of salt

Method

1. Measure the syrup and butter into a saucepan. Stir until melted. Add the white chocolate and stir until runny. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until well coated.
2. Spoon into 6 to 8 small heart shaped moulds. Chill in the fridge for 2 hours until firm.
3. Loosen the edges and turn out the Rice Krispie hearts. Store in the fridge.

MAKES: 12 CUPCAKES

Ingredients

• Lemon Cupcakes
• 2 large eggs
• 125g caster sugar
• 125g soft margarine
• 125g self-raising flour
• Zest of one small lemon
• Buttercream
• 250g softened butter
• 500g icing sugar
• 2 - 3 tbsp milk
• Decoration
• Pink food gel
• Violet food gel
• Mini yellow candy cake decoration
• Snowflake piping nozzle
• Small star shaped nozzle
• Tissue paper
• Cellophane
• Empty kitchen paper towel roll
• Paper plate

Method 

1. Heat the oven to 160C Fan / 180C / 350F/ Gas Mark 4.
2. Put all the ingredients into a bowl and beat them together until the mixture is light and fluffy.
3. Line a bun tin with 12 paper cases and divide the mixture between them.
4. Bake for 20 minutes. You can tell when they are done as they will have risen up, are golden in colour and spring back when pressed.
5. To make the buttercream, beat the butter and gradually beat in the icing sugar and milk until the mixture reaches a good consistency for piping. Split the icing into three parts and colour one pink and one lilac.
6. To make the two colour flowers, put two heaped tablespoons of the pink icing into a piping bag fitted with a Snowflake piping nozzle. Flatten the bag and squash it all around to spread the pink icing and then carefully open up the bag and spoon the white icing into the centre. When you pipe this, it will give you a two colour effect on the petals. Pipe the icing from the middle of the cupcake in a circular motion until the cupcake is covered. Pipe some of the cupcakes with the pink icing using the snowflake nozzle and pipe some of the cupcakes with the pink icing using a small star shaped nozzle and decorate with mini yellow candies. Pipe the remaining cupcakes with the violet icing using a small star shaped nozzle.
7. To construct the bouquet. Place the empty kitchen roll holder in a vase. Sellotape a paper plate on top. Arrange the cupcakes on the plate. Wrap with the tissue paper and insert some leaves between the cupcakes.  
   
   
   

MAKES: A PUNNET OF DIPPED STRAWBERRIES

Ingredients

• 400g large ripe strawberries with long stems
• 200g white chocolate
• Pink food colouring
• White chocolate stars
• Freeze dried strawberry pieces
  
  

Method

1. Rinse the strawberries and pat dry (ensure these are completely dry).
2. Line a baking sheet with non-stick baking paper.
3. Melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water or in a microwave.
4. Divide the chocolate into two bowls and add a little pink food colouring to one bowl.
5. Dip the strawberries one by one into the melted pink chocolate or white chocolate coating them ¾ of the way up. Lift and twist the strawberry as you pull it out of the chocolate letting the excess drip back into the bowl. Place the strawberries onto the parchment, do not move or touch them once you have set them down.
6. Once the chocolate coating has set pour the remainder of the melted chocolate into two separate piping bags - pour into the corner of a plastic bag and cut a very small tip off the corner of the bag. Gently squeeze the pink or white chocolate through the hole in the corner, drizzling the chocolate in a thin stream on top of the coated strawberries.
7. Finish by decorating with mini white chocolate stars and freeze-dried strawberry pieces.
8. Once your strawberries are decorated, place them in the fridge for about 30 minutes or until the chocolate sets.
   
   
   

MAKES: 6 PANCAKES

Ingredients

• 150g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 150ml milk
• 25g caster sugar
• 20g butter
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 125ml double cream
• 3 bananas, sliced
• Honey or maple syrup, to serve

Method

1. Measure the flour, baking powder, caster sugar, eggs and milk into a mixing bowl. Whisk until you have a smooth batter.
2. Heat a little butter and oil in a frying pan. Spoon tablespoons of batter into the pan to make fairly large round pancakes for the body.
3. When bubbles appear, flip the pancakes over and cook on the other side for a few minutes.
4. In the same way, make smaller pancakes for the face and the paws of the rabbit. Continue to cook the pancakes until all the batter is used up, adding more butter and oil to the pan as and when necessary.
5. Arrange the pancakes on plates to make the shape of a bunny and decorate with slices of banana for the ears and the feet.
6. Whip the cream until soft peaks form, then pipe a tail onto each of the bunnies.
7. Drizzle with a little honey or maple syrup.