How to Make Fairy Bread and Other School Treats

If you make lunch for the grandkids or provide childcare after school, try our easy-to-make treats. These aren’t necessarily healthy–they’re “sometimes foods” for occasional enjoyment.

Fairy Bread–Simple and Fun

Fairy Bread, an Australian invention, is white bread spread with butter, topped with “hundreds and thousands” (nonpareils) or sprinkles, and cut into triangles.

Aside from tucking into lunchboxes, serve Fairy Bread when making a fairy house with your grandchild, for a fairy party, or any fairy projects you do with the grandkids.

Fairy Bread Tips

You don’t need a recipe, but here are some tips:

• For the best flavor, use a premium butter like Kerrygold; you will taste the difference.
• Use soft, supermarket white bread; not rustic loaves.
• Spread bread, with or without crusts, with softened butter. Set it on a small rimmed cookie sheet.
• Spoon the sprinkles over the butter, pressing down gently to hold them in place. The cookie sheet will keep sprinkles contained.
• Alternatively, you can put sprinkles in a shallow plate, butter the bread, and turn it upside-down over the sprinkles, pressing gently to adhere.

Fairy Bread Variations

• Use softened cream cheese instead of butter.
• Cut buttered bread with a cookie cutter. Keeping the cookie cutter in place, spoon on sprinkles; the cookie cutter will keep the sprinkles contained. When the entire surface is covered, gently remove the cookie cutter.
• Make fairy bread rollups. Trim crusts and lightly roll bread with a rolling pin; this will make the bread easier to shape. Spread bread with butter, top with sprinkles, and roll from one short side to the end. Wrap the roll in plastic wrap for about 10 minutes or until the roll holds its shape. Remove wrap and cut roll crosswise into three or four pieces. Add a decorative pick.

Mini Apple Crisp

This recipe makes four cupcake-size crisps. The idea is to avoid tempting leftovers.

Mini Apple Crisps

1 very large Granny Smith apple (10 ½ ounces) or 2 Gala snack apples of equivalent weight
2 tablespoons flour, divided
2 tablespoon sugar, divided
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
3 tablespoons old-fashioned oats
1 tablespoon cold butter

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Peel, core and cut apple in ½-inch dice and place in a medium-size microwaveable bowl. In a small bowl, combine 1 tablespoon of the flour, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, cinnamon and salt, and mix with a fork. Add flour mixture to diced apple and toss together until apples are well-coated.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap, venting one corner, and microwave 1 minute at a time, stirring after each minute, until apples are just cooked and soft, about 2 to 3 minutes.

While apples are microwaving, in a small bowl, combine oats, the remaining 1 tablespoon of the flour and the remaining 1 tablespoon of the sugar and mix well. Add butter and using fingers, squish butter into the oats mixture to form coarse crumbs.

Line 4 cups of a muffin tin with a paper liner. Spoon apple mixture into muffin liners, dividing equally. Top with oat mixture, dividing evenly.

Bake for 15 minutes until oats are light golden.

Makes 4 Mini Apple Crisps.

Notes

• Not for school, but you can add 2 teaspoons of chopped pecans to the oats mixture before mixing in the butter.
• Add some raisins or dried cranberries to the apple mixture before microwaving.
• If you have silicone muffin liners, use them for more stability; paper liners that I used are more flimsy.

More Snack Recipes

For lunchboxes or after-school snacks, make these other delicious “sometimes” treats.

• No-Bake Peanut Butter Cereal Bars–this one is a healthy snack kids can help to make.
• Chichi Dango–an easy mochi dessert that’s glutin-free.
• Super-Simple Butter Cookies–make the dough one day, slice and bake as you need; this prevents binge eating.

Sign Up!

Don’t forget to sign up for my email newsletter. Every Wednesday, I’ll give you a new idea for an activity or insight to nurture the little ones in your life.