Baking day with a friend tomorrow...

[Orbinator]

And I'm in need of suggestions for 6/7MO friendly things to concoct!

DD will try to eat anything and everything so I'm not too worried about choking or trying new/challenging foods.

I only use golden sugar (white is too sweet for me tbh) and have lots of un- salted butter...just drawing a bit of a blank

Anything I really should avoid? Are cheese straws OK? Scones?

How about pancakes? It's not exactly baking but it's so versatile. You can make it sweet or savoury.

Another fave of mine is muffins. Same reason. You can pack it with veg or fruit to make them healthier.

Nothing you need to avoid except nuts and honey., btw.

Annabel Karmel does some lovely little oaty biscuits. My DS loved them when he was that age. So does DH :)

www.annabelkarmel.com/recipes/sleep-recipes/oat-raisin-cookies

Actually thinking back DS was about 8 months and I didn't use the raisins, but they were still yummy!

My 7mo loves banana muffins when I make them, also I do a chocolate version and a version with chocolate chips.

What OneLittleBabyGirl said - and in fact if you use chopped nuts then there shouldn't be a problem as the issue with nuts is that they are a choking hazard if left whole :)

Make things that you would like to eat, and then make those.

We make these quite a bit, they freeze really well and are lovely - you can throw in pretty much any veg you want.

How about mini banana muffins? You could lower the sugar content or use honey and they'd still be sweet from the banana.
Or mini flapjacks? Again, lower the sugar content a little. Mini cheese scones would work if you reduce the salt.

Selks you can't use honey because of the risk of botulism. The spores can't be killed in cooking. It's a very fatal disease, though very rare. Sugar is much safer.

oh right, sorry

babies or toddlers can't have honey then?

Toddlers would be fine Selks at some time the gut learns to reject the spores, or the body learns how to kill them to stop them producing the toxins or something. In the US between identifying it in the 70's and pinning it on Honey as the only food source, the 1 in 10,000 babies who had confirmed cases, 80% were before the age of 6 months, and the oldest was 351 days. But of course not every baby would've been exposed as it's not guaranteed to be in any particular honey.

So a toddler is likely to be fine. It's not worth taking the risk though, even if the majority of cases will be dealt with in the hospital without much trouble now (infant botulism from other sources has only around a 5% death rate because there are drugs that work) that's still to high when you could simply use another syrup or sugar for sweetening.

it's not worth taking the risk with a baby that is - with a toddler you're very unlikely to have a problem.

Oh and on chopped nuts, they can be a hazard too - since the problem with nuts is choking through inhalation not choking through a blocked throat, and that can happen with smaller bits. A peanut is no bigger than a pea or a blueberry and they're given to babies lots. Small hard things are the problem there. Baked inside a soft cake though, unlikely to be much of a problem.

Under 12 months no honey, after 12 months it is fine. link here

The NHS advice is not to give honey before one, and I would happily give a toddler older than that honey. Indeed, it is DD1's favourite treat on toast. She's nearly three now though.

Sorry Fred- cross posted re your 'not worth the risk' comment. See what you meant now .

The BLW website has some good recipes - lots of muffins, drop scones and veggie nuggets. Mine loved them all

SecondTimeLucky After reading all the med papers I could find on the cases, and finding out exactly how rare it was after 6 months, I'd be pretty happy at 9months - other than it being really trivial to avoid. We all make the sort of 1 in a million odds bets with our babies that that is, but with honey it may be long odds, but no-one gains anything so why bother?

Especially when honey is YUCK anyway.

I agree. I think I probably wouldn't sweat too much now (DD2 is nearly 9 months) - i.e. I wouldn't panic if it turned out something had honey in it I wasn't aware of. As you say, not exactly hard to avoid though is it in everyday life. So I do continue to avoid it until one.

All these '1 in a million' things always make me think that, what I could really do to improve her odds is never drive the car and never cross the road!

Well I never knew that! My two escaped unharmed from having a little honey from around 8 / 9 months luckily!

Oooh thanks guys!
We made flapjacks, veggie lasagne and an upside down cake so far. May now loot at those oat cookies and muffins. I did try some berry muffins and cheese and spinach ones on her a month ago as she started teething and she wasn't too impressed, but her tastes have exploded and she is curious with many things now (we had grilled halloumi cheese at lunch and she snatched a chunk from my plate and was busy sucking away at it ) so she may enjoy them more now :)