In my house packing lunches has become a science project. 
One of my kids is really driven to eat super healthy and the other probably couldn't care less.
Neither one of them are picky eaters, for example we never had to make separate meals for the boys when they were little, they happily ate everything we served them. But now that our lives have become busier, with half of their meals consumed in a hurry, like breakfast and lunch, what I choose to feed them has become more crucial.
One of my boys is in school until 7-8pm almost every day of the week and so I need to pack him a large lunch and tons of snacks.. (Yes, I still pack his lunch- it's my little thing I have not been able t let go of).
So, I always try to find good healthy granola bars that are packed with wholesome ingredients, no preservatives, high in protein and low in sugar.
The ones that I like tend to be really expensive and so I decided to try my hand in it and it is surprisingly easy and affordable.
For example I made a batch of Chocolate, Date, Coconut bars (those are like the Lara bars that I adore)
Cost:
2 cups dates = $6
1 cup almonds = $1
1/2 cup coconut = $0.50
1/2 cup chocolate chips = $0.50
2 tbs flaxseeds = $0.10
= $8.10 for 12 bars = $.067 per bar (mine are a little smaller then Lara bars, but even if you made them larger, lets say you get 10 bars out of it, it still  would be $0.80 per bar.)

​Here are three recipes that we like in our family:
​

Making puff pastry is not a small feat and especially not for a group of young girls between the ages of 8-12. Today we tackled this dough and the kids had a blast making what most adults are too afraid to tackle.

They mixed flour, cold butter, salt and ice water together with a pastry knife and then turned it out onto the table. At first the dough was a bit crumbly, but it came together quite nicely. They started rolling and folding and making a beautiful laminated dough! 

We then wrapped the puff pastry in plastic and placed it in the fridge to chill for 1 hour. Then we proceeded to learn about knife skills and sliced apple finely for our next task: Apple Roses!

After the dough was chilled and the apples were heated to the point that they were soft with rolled the dough out, placed the apples on it and rolled them up.
​Here is a little video the kids shot of themselves making them: 

Here is one sweet little unbaked rose! :) 

Here the girls made a production line: rolling out dough, cutting it into strips, filling it with apple slices and rolling it up to shape them like roses.
The happy chatter was so lovely and the smell of apples and fresh puff pastry was pretty awesome! 

And here is the finished product! I have to say I think they did great and they were super yummy! 

It was a wonderful day at Bake Austin and I hope you come bake with us sometime! 

Tiny Baking Camp was super fun.
We made tiny cookies, cupcakes, pies & bundt cakes and doughnuts and also built a bunch of different display cases for them. A busy week of measuring, calculating, baking and decorating, with amazing results.
​See for yourself:

Baking tiny was interesting and also very satisfying, the baking time was so much shorter, which was appreciated now that it is getting hot here in Texas and eating the tiny bites was really fun.
Each day the kids split in two groups and each group made a batch of dough/batter. 
We talked about oven safety, food safety and general food handling protocols.
​We also spent time building little shelves and displays with popsicle sticks and hot glue. 
The kids were enthusiastic and so engaged it was such a joy teaching them.

Here are a few more images from our week:

All in all a successful week! Congratulations to all the tiny chefs! Here is to tiny baking! 

Can I just say OMG! This camp was sooooo much fun! The kids were all AMAZING! So sweet and so curious and we had a blast making one American cookie per day and also one from somewhere around the world. 
​On day one we made:

Here are just a few of our cookies:

Iced Sugar Cookies Round #2

The kids made some home made oreos. The green ones are filled with mint filling, the white are vanilla and the pink are raspberry flavor. These turned out quite nicely and we made two different style cookies. The kids had a taste test and we discussed the different in each recipe, flavor, mouthfeel and texture. It was a great experience! 

Bake Austin takes cupcake decorating classes on the road. We offer birthday parties where we supply the cupcakes, buttercream and fondant. The kids decorate their cupcakes and create unique beautiful cupcakes. In this case we had 11 young ladies. (I didn't have time to take many pictures but here are a few.) Aren't they pretty! 

Happy birthday, birthday girl! 

We baked tiny pies, cupcakes, bundt cakes and miniature cookies. We also each built our own little bakeshop display case. So much fun! 

What a spread! It was so much fun to be part of this magical royal wedding! I mean, look at this beautiful table filled with baked goods created by the wedding party and the wedding cake was created by the bride herself.

This beautiful cake is a gluten free red velvet cake with vegan "cream cheese" icing.

It all started by the bride and her friends coming over to Bake Austin and bringing ingredients, recipes and getting their hands into all the yummy goodness. This is a DIY wedding at it's best! 

The fun we had, my goodness. Let a bunch of women loose and get them baking! You will never know what can happen. :) 

Beautiful ladies baking for a gorgeous bride! 

Everything is gluten free & vegan. Some of the treats are even raw. This is one healthy spread and pretty!