Chocolate Cracklies

This week my little friend E is having a birthday




It's going to be huge, with Super Heroes, games, a Jumping Castle, and lots of friends- the only trouble is that some of his friends are InTolerant like me.

Not that this is a bad thing of course, but his Mummy has come to me and asked me to help her out with a few ideas that will make party food not just fun and yummy, but safe too. He also needs a treat for school.

Our schools are trying to create a safe environment for kids with allergies and InTolerances by banning peanuts and other nuts, and often not allowing special treats in the classroom that might contain dairy, eggs or gluten. That's great, but the good old birthday cupcakes are nearly a thing of the past. So many Mummies just don't know what else to offer. In E's class cupcakes have been replaced with birthday fruit- not as exciting when the kiddies have a mandatory fruit break anyway, with plain flat gf pancakes- no topping, not even jam, and veggie sticks- not always popular with the 4yr old crowd. I wanted to create something that fun, excitingly delicious for the littlies and still resembled a birthday cupcake. Yummo right?

I thought back to typical kids parties when I was little.....
Cake, jelly (jello), chips, lollies, red and green cordial, little cocktail franks, chocolate crackles- That's it! Chocolate Crackles! Just one little change and I'm good to go

Now as my regular Dear Readers might know, my blog is about food that is normally easy to source. I don't use patented flour blends, or fancy-pantsy stuff that you can only get at just one shop in the whole city, I want to make it easy for everyone. If you live with InTolerances you source out specialty items anyway, but when I blog I mostly use ingredients that can be found at the two biggies Coles and Woolies, to make my recipes easy and non-threatening for those just starting out or those like my friend who want to make a special treat for someone with InTolerances like me.

A quick look at the supermarket shelves produced a great basic start to any kiddies party:
chips, salsa, chipolatas, lollies and chocolate - all definitely gluten, dairy, egg and nut free, and delicious too. I would also include jelly cups, lovely fresh fruits and other naturally friendly foods- I don't worry about it being too healthy overall as Party food is 'Sometimes' food, not to be eaten all the time but enjoyed as a special treat- like a Party!
I grabbed Plain Smiths Chips, Old El Paso salsa, Woolworths Select Party mix, Coles brand Pork Chipolatas, and Sweet William chocolate- the only item I got in the specialty 'Health' area ,but there are actually so many choices hiding on the shelves, if you just have the time to look.





Now for the main event, the Chocolate Cracklies

Every ingredient readily available. The only 'special' ingredient was the Rice Puffs that were in the health food aisle, normal Rice Bubbles contain barley malt as an ingredient and aren't gluten free

When shopping, check the ingredient list on the back or side of the product. Every ingredient must be listed, and Australian products also have allergen listings as well.
I got items that had no allergen issues with gluten, dairy, eggs or nuts and avoided any that said 'may contain traces of....' The only product that I didn't like so much was the cocoa that stated it was 'packed on equipment that also processes products containing milk' but the web site states that the product itself contained no dairy products.


Chocolate Cracklies

(I thought I'd better change the name as these ones are gluten free unlike the original crackles)
All the ingredients are conveniently listed on the back of the Copha packet

1 block Copha (solid hydrogenated coconut oil)
4 cups Rice Puffs
1 cup Pure Icing Sugar
3 tab Cocoa
1 cup dessicated Coconut






Melt the Copha

Mix all the other ingredients in a large bowl

Add in the Copha, and mix until it's all thoroughly coated

Scoop the mix into paper patty pans/ cupcake papers and chill in the fridge until nice and set

Now for a pretty little touch of Birthday Bling I added some sprinkles. These ones were all allergy friendly as well and found in the baking section

See, so pretty!

Easy Peasy Party Food

I quickly poached the chipolatas, just for ease but you quickly fry them instead, and otherwise just ripped open a few packets for a great choice of Party Fun

Happy Birthday E!

So Dear Readers, what is your favourite Party Food, and has it really changed much from when you turned 4?

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