Monday, August 16, 2010
As summer winds down (and forced indoors by stifling heat and other bad weather), we've been running out of activities around here. Then, recently, my daughters dug up their Easy Bake Oven and are having a blast making treats.
The baking mixes that come with Easy Bake and other kid ovens normally carry peanut and tree nut allergy warnings, so we have been unable to use those. Luckily, we found a self-published book online that featured "homemade" recipes for "little oven" treats. Besides being nut allergy-friendly, making your own recipes offers your kid without all the chemicals and they're much more affordable, too.
Here is one of my kids favorite recipes--we tweaked it a little from the original and it works great. Store the mix in a cool, dry place and note the yellow cake variation.
Nut-Free Easy Bake Oven Cake Mix
1 1/4 cup flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Hershey's or Vermont Nut-Free www.vermontnutfree.com)
1 tsp. salt
2 1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight bag or container
To make a cake: Mix 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cake mix with 1 tablespoon melted butter or margarine and 1/2 a beaten egg (you can also use egg subsitute like Egg Beaters)
Pour into Easy Bake baking pan that's been greased and floured
Bake in mini oven for about 15 minutes.
Use this same basic recipe to make yellow cake mix as well--just leave out the cocoa. I'd add a little vanilla with the wet ingredients for better flavor.