Gemma is a trained breastfeeding support peer from Rochester and a stay at home mum with three sons; Leo 10, Harry 6 and Elijah 3. Let’s see how they made these delicious cookies….
What did you do?
Smarties Cookies – Crispy on the Outside and Gooey in the Middle.
Things you will need:
- 125g butter, softened
- 100g light brown soft sugar
- 125g caster sugar
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 225g self-raising flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 200g smarties
How to make them:
- Heat the oven to 180c gas mark 4
- Add the butter and sugars and mix until creamed.
- Add the egg and vanilla and mix
- Add the flour and salt and mix
- Add the smarties and mix the mixture into balls around the size of a ping pong ball
- Put greaseproof baking paper on a baking tray and place balls apart. I fit around 6 on at a time.
- Cook for 7 minutes, they will still be very soft and won’t looked cooked but as they cool down, they will harden up.
- Leave for a minute then move them to a wire rack or plate to cool down fully.
- Enjoy!!
To change things up a bit you could change the smarties to chocolate chips, milk, dark or white chocolate or M&M’s.
How are you finding being housebound so far?
At the beginning it wasn’t so bad, my two older children would do their schoolwork and we had a bit of a routine. As the weeks have gone on things got bit harder, there have been good days where I’m feeling like I can do this today and the kids are getting along and bad days where I can barely find the motivation to sort myself out and the constant arguing from the kids driving me mad. My partner is still working throughout, so it’s just been me trying to entertain the kids Monday-Friday. There have been times where I have felt I wasn’t any good at any of this and that I have failed my kids. I’ve tried various things from other cooking to doing experiments and all have either not worked or didn’t come out how they were meant to.
Facebook posts I have seen on my news feed of all these parents doing all these wonderful things and making memories with their kids making this lockdown business look easy, then me feeling like ‘why can’t I be like that’.
If you have felt like I have done, just remember you’re not a failure and don’t put so much pressure on yourself. If your children have had too much screen time or not done much schoolwork on some days. It doesn’t matter what matters is they’re safe and happy. I then found this recipe for these cookies and couldn’t believe how well they turned out and taste lovely, even my family said they’re good and gave a thumbs up. It’s given me a much-needed boost.
Any tips to help people when they are housebound with kids?
Remember your doing great in these tough times. Don’t give up you will find something that gives you that boost if you are feeling a bit down.
Tell us what you think about the Housebound with Kids Facebook community. How has it helped you?
Housebound with Kids Facebook community is a really good idea. It gives lots of ideas for people to do with their children or for themselves all in one place. There’s something for everyone to learn something new and enjoy.
