All Things Homely

These lunchbox bakes are kid approved, contain fruit and vegetables and are freezable, so you can batch cook and grab them as and when you need an easy lunchbox filler.

There is a small amount of sugar in these recipes, but I will be experimenting with swapping the sugar out with dates and/or apple sauce, and will update the recipes if it works!

Carrot Cake Mini Muffins

• 2 large, ripe bananas
• 2 medium carrots
• 80g dates
• 2 large eggs
• 60g melted butter (plus 1 tbsp for greasing)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 180g plain flour
• 55g soft, light brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C and grease a 24 cup mini muffin tray with the tablespoon of melted butter.
2. Blend the bananas, carrots and dates with the eggs, the rest of the melted butter and the vanilla extract.
3. In a large bowl, add the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and mix.
4. Add the blended ingredients to the bowl and stir until just combined.
5. Spoon into the mini muffin tray and bake for 12-14 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before turning out.
7. Optional – roll the mini muffins in a mix of 2 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.

Funfetti Baked Banana Doughnuts

Adding rainbow sprinkles to any bake is a sure fire way of getting the kids excited to eat them. The sweetness in these banana doughnuts comes from using very ripe bananas and a little bit of maple syrup, so the addition of rainbow sprinkles doesn’t induce too much mum guilt in me.

• 2 large, very ripe bananas
• 55g maple syrup
• 30g melted butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 180g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp rainbow sprinkles (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C. I use a silicone doughnut tray to bake these and it doesn’t need to be greased.
2. Blend, or mash, the bananas with the maple syrup, butter, egg and vanilla extract.
3. In a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder and cinnamon and mix.
4. Add the banana mix to the dry ingredients and combine, stopping halfway to add the rainbow sprinkles.
5. spoon into the doughnut tray and bake for 12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. The mix yields around 18 doughnuts.
6. Allow to cool in the tray for 10 to 15 minutes before turning out.