Les Petits Chefs make Mairlyn Smith’s “Breakfast Grab and Gos”

Mairlyn Smith PHEc on eatlivetravelwrite.comEver since Mairlyn Smith first came to work with Les Petits Chefs, I knew we were kindred spirits. None the least because we both agree on the importance of eating breakfast. I live with someone (that would be you, Mr Neil), who isn’t a fan of breakfast – he would start the day fuelled with coffee only. Me? I need to sit down with food, a paper and a coffee (and preferably a lot of time). Breakfast is, in fact my favourite meal of the day. But let’s face it, we don’t always have a lot of time for a proper breakfast.  And sometimes, a quick bowl of cereal doesn’t cut it, nutrition-wise. I know after certain foods in the morning, I can be hungry 30 minutes later. Not great when you need a lot of energy to teach little people! But it’s all ok because now I have discovered Mairlyn Smith’s breakfast grab and go cookies. Seriously, for the non-breakfast eaters out there, this will change you life. Well, it will definitely make your mornings a lot better, that’s for sure!

For the Petits Chefs this week, not only was it a lesson in nutrition (every ingredient is in these cookies for a reason!) but also in measuring (and math!).  Cooking classes, especially baking (though all cooking really) are about so much more than just food preparation. This week we (re)learned how to properly measure dry ingredients (scoop and sweep!), how to measure liquids like oil (glass measuring jugs, checking the level of liquids at the height of the jug, not from above), a bit of math and also some ingredients substitutes.  – since we obviously cannot use walnuts at school Mairlyn explained how we could simply use a little more canola oil to make up for the lost fats. In any case, the boys had a long list of ingredients to work with and the lab was a hive of activity for much of our hour.

Measuring dry ingredients on eatlivetravelwrite.comMeasuring oats on eatlivetravelwrite.comLes Petits Chefs making Mairlyn Smith's Breakfast Grab n Gos on eatlivetravelwrite.com(you’ll note that *some people* were not as serious as others!)

Mairlyn Smith working with Les Petits Chefs on eatlivetravelwrite.com… but for the most part, there was a fair bit of concentration going on. Mairlyn certainly impressed upon them the importance of measuring ingredients correctly!

Measuring vanilla on eatlivetravelwrite.comAnd I mean if you want to make a group of boys work seriously fast, give them an hour to make “cookies” which involve chocolate chips.

Mixing dry and wet ingredients for Mairlyn Smith's breakfast grab and gos on eatlivetravelwrite.comMixing breakfast grab and gos on eatlivetravelwrite.comWe had some challenges keeping the cookies even sizes but fortunately Mairlyn checked the trays and showed the boys how to do a little bit of dough re-distribution before they went in the oven…

Scooping Mairlyn Smith's breakfast Grab and gos on eatlivetravelwrite.comWhile the cookies baked, Mairlyn had a captive audience as she talked to them about how chocolate is made – she’d brought cocoa nibs and cocoa pods in for them to take a look at (and taste!) and the boys were genuinely interested.  It’s what I love about these classes – yes, many of the boys are certainly interested in eating the results of our classes (especially classes like this!) but so many of them are genuinely interested in food and cooking in general.

Mairlyn Smith talking to Les Petits Chefs on eatlivetravelwrite.comFifteen minutes later…

Mairlyn Smith's Breakfast Grab and Gos on eatlivetravelwrite.comThen we had to let them cool a little on the trays. The boys could (literally) not wait to taste these cookies. In the lab, they had to make do with the smell only…

And a few of the cookies didn’t make it the (10 metres) outside the school doors. I saw the telltale chocolate chip smudges around the mouths  😉 And no-one even could taste the “secret ingredient” (strained prunes – they were quite tickled that they would be eating baby food!). Or any of the other healthy ingredients. “So good” “Delicious” The BEST” were the descriptions I heard. One of the boys’ mums whipped up a batch the following day and declared them “addictive”. In the best possible way, you understand!

I managed to save a couple of cookies to taste and they did not disappoint. Truly like a bowl of oatmeal in cookie form, these will set you on your way in the morning with very little fuss. Mairlyn says you can freeze them and pull them out of the freezer the night before, grab them on the way out of the house and be set for the day. I know I’ll be making a batch or two this weekend!

Get the recipe for Mairlyn’s Grab and Go cookies here.

Buy Mairlyn Smith’s Books

Healthy Starts here on Amazon or Amazon Canada. Or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository.
The Vegetarian’s Complete Quinoa Cookbook on Amazon or Amazon Canada. Or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository.

11 thoughts on “Les Petits Chefs make Mairlyn Smith’s “Breakfast Grab and Gos””

  1. Ha! I love that Mairlyn insists on only pure vanilla extract in the recipe (*I want to know a vanilla bean died to get into the bottle!) and that she uses Ghiradelli’s large 60% cocoa chocolate chips (they are big!)

    Another wonderful LPC post Mardi and like your Neil…I’m not a big breakfast eater. These healthy breakfast cookies are right up my alley! Thanks to you and to Mairlyn for sharing.

    P.S. I haven’t bought baby food (strained prunes) for decades, not even sure what aisle they are in but I’ll find them. Should I be worried about the fact that these cookies are also known as Bum Blasters! 🙂

    Reply
  2. I made them last weekend and have been pulling them out of the freezer for a satisfying breakfast each day. Sure felt funny to be back in the baby food aisle looking for the strained prunes. Haven’t shopped that aisle in years!

    Reply

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