Ditch commercial french food for babies and give a try to home-cooked french food items and customize them for your baby for a healthy growth cycle.
Even though the baby food industry is flourishing in France, it’s alarming because of the low nutrition balance in the food items. The foods are mostly ultra-processed and are high in sugar, unhealthy fats, and sodium. However, the amount of fiber, vitamins, and proteins is often too less in commercial food items. Therefore, it’s important to take this into consideration and stop relying on commercial french food items for your baby. Rather, you can cook french food for babies at home too with the nutrients intact to aid your baby’s natural growth.
Supplementary foods are alright if it’s one or two days but not more than that. Remember, nothing can replace home-cooked food if you want your baby to have a healthy growth cycle. It even encourages healthy eating habits in your child and prevents excess weight gain due to the sugar present in commercial food items.
Now, the benefits of the food item depend on the ingredients that you use in cooking the item. Different food ingredients give different benefits and it’s up to you to decide what you want for your baby. You can customize the recipes with your hand-picked ingredients and target the growth process of your child.
French Food For Babies
1. Christmas Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1.4 ounces of honey (40g)
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour (80g)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- Fresh vanilla pod seeds (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence)
- egg
- 1.35 cup milk
- A white food pencil (optional but enjoyable!)
Steps to Follow
- To begin, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a saucepan over low heat, warm the honey.
- Meanwhile, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and a few seeds from a fresh vanilla pod in a mixing dish.
- Add the warm honey to the dry ingredients and combine well.
- Break and combine an egg with milk in a separate container. Mix the ingredients well.
- Pour the milk and egg combination over the dry ingredients and stir-mix them until there are no lumps anymore.
- Transfer the batter into the molds or give them shape with your hands.
- Once the oven is hot, bake the cookies for 18 minutes.
- Remove the mold from the oven and set it aside to cool.
- Remove the cookies from the mold and decorate them with cream and icing as you like.
These cookies offer nutritional value and can increase the iron and manganese intake in the body. However, don’t overdo their consumption as an excess of anything can be bad.
2. Dairy-Free Apple Muffin
Here’s everything you’ll need to prepare this dairy-free apple muffin.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup (40g) flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
- an egg
- 1 tablespoon of oil
- 1 tablespoon of water
- 1/2 apple
- 1 tsp brown sugar
Steps To Follow
- First, preheat the oven to 330°F.
- In the meantime, combine all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl: flour, baking powder, and sugar.
- Combine the liquid ingredients in a separate dish (egg, oil, and water).
- Combine the liquid and dry ingredients to get a uniform muffin dough.
- Cut the apple in half to keep only half of it. Cut six thin apple slices in half to create 12 flowers. Keep them aside. Cut the remaining ingredients into 1cm pieces.
- Stir these cubes into the muffin batter.
- Divide the dough evenly among three tiny muffin pans.
- Fill each muffin with four apple petals (already set aside).
- Sprinkle some brown sugar on top of each muffin.
- Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Above all, we keep an eye on the cooking because each stove is unique! They should turn a light golden color.
- Allow it to cool somewhat before unmolding and serving.
The Dairy-free apple muffin dessert for babies is finally complete, and we hope your babies love it. Apple is rich in fiber, Vitamin C, B6, and antioxidants, which will focus on the baby’s immunity and gut health.
3. Chocolate Cake With Creamy Banana Heart
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- 2 tablespoons sugar (40g)
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (90g)
- 1 teaspoon sugar-free cocoa powder (8g)
- 1 oz oil or a knob of butter (20g)
- One egg
- 1 teaspoon baking powder (6g)
- 3 sliced banana
- Muffin cups
Steps to Follow
- Preheat the oven to 180 ° C.
- To begin, combine the egg, sugar, and cocoa. Mix everything thoroughly until it is homogenous.
- Add plain yogurt and sunflower oil to this concoction.
- Finally, add the flour and yeast, and mix again.
- Place the dough in the muffin tray after it is excellent and uniform.
- Fill only halfway since you need room for the banana slices.
- Place three banana rings in the center of the dough, covering them entirely (the banana ring will be a surprise).
- Bake the muffins for 30 min at 180 ° C on a muffin tin.
Allow the baby cake to cool before serving it as an afternoon snack. Banana supports neuro and skin health while also improving heart health by reducing blood pressure.
The Bottom Line
Starting around six months of age, french feeding is an alternative technique to introducing solids that entails feeding baby-sized bits of conventional meals rather than purées.
It may offer some advantages, but as with any weaning approach, you must take certain safety precautions.
French food items can help parents feed their newborns more efficiently, develop healthy eating habits, safeguard their babies from excessive weight gain, and minimize fussiness around food. It may be a terrific method to expose your child to a range of nutritious meals early on if you choose the proper nutrition, offer them suitable consistency, and actively limit the danger of choking.