My kids start school early some mornings for either netball training or choir rehearsal. They have breakfast at home around 6am, but they find they get really hungry between then and morning tea time which is late morning.  I usually send them to school with a snack to have just before school starts.  They like hot chocolate, smoothies, muesli slice, fruit, yoghurt or biscuits.  I’ve been making these breakfast fruit biscuits to have on hand for these early morning, the whole family really like them, hubby has them for morning tea when he’s out travelling to clients.

I use mixed dried fruit but pick out the cherries, only because I’m not a big fan of them unless they are in a cherry ripe chocolate bar (my favourite, go figure). You can also put nuts into this recipe, reduce the amount of fruit to 1 1/1 cups along with 1/2 cup of your favourite chopped nut.  Pecans, macadamia or almonds would all be a really nice addition.  I don’t add them as Miss 13 currently has braces and can’t eat nuts.

As I do with just about everything I bake, I put them in the freezer for when they are needed.  We have been making lunches the night before lately, so we put them into a lunch container then and they are defrosted by the morning.

I actually don’t mind having 2 some mornings along with my coffee.

Breakfast Fruit Biscuits

Serves: 24

Prep Time	Cook Time	Total Time
10 mins	15 mins	25 mins

Ingredients

• 225g butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups wholemeal self-raising flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 2 cups mixed dried fruit

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 3 minutes or until light and fluffy
4. Add vanilla and eggs, mix until combined, approximately 30 seconds.
5. Sprinkle flour and cinnamon over wet mixture then mix on medium-low speed until combined.
6. Add the oat and fruit, continue mixing until all ingredients are mixed together, do not overmix.
7. Roll heaped tablespoons of mixture into balls, place on baking tray allowing room for biscuits to spread.
8. Flatten balls slightly with the back of a fork.
9. Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden.
10. Allow biscuits to cool on on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

By Kat – The Organised Housewife

Do your kids go to school early, what do you pack for them to snack on before school?