Teething Biscuits Trial and Error

   First, a resolution update: 

Obviously, from my lack of posts, my resolution to unplug has been relatively successful. When it came down to it, I really think that I wanted to separate myself from social media and the somewhat petty emotions and obsession that results from it. The first week of the new year I had no internet access other than updates from my Etsy store. My biggest vice was checking Facebook continuously. While I was nursing, I always felt like I had to be doing other things, up until January, that was Facebook and Pinterest. Since the New Year started, I have finished a book that I have been sitting on for two months and am halfway through another. At this rate, I will finally finish this Salvatore series that James bought for me two years ago (in my defense, there are over 20 books in this series). 

Cap' enjoying new teething biscuits

This most recent week, I have buckled and scoped out Pinterest a few times. Mostly because I can't stay away and I was looking up recipes. Hubby had a bake sale at work to help a coworker pay for a relative's funeral (his job matches all funds raised by associates for things like that) so I looked up an amazing recipe for pumpkin bars that was so successful that there weren't any left by the end of day! So on top of doing something wonderful for someone else, I found a great new recipe that already has made it onto a hard copy recipe card in my vintage recipe box. 

Last week, Hubby had jury duty all week, thankfully putting away a bad person but it meant that he also had to go to his normal job after jury duty. It made for a couple long days and at least one burnt-out mommy day where I cried and we fought. But I got some sleep and we had a talk so it's all good now. (until the next sleepless night with teething coming!)

Speaking of teething...
I haven't seen or felt actual evidence of teething, and Baby Cap' has been drooling excessively since he was two months old, so I am not sure if we have started teething officially or not. We received gel teethers as a holiday present that he doesn't really like when they are cold, but enjoys just fine at room temperature. We found out over the holidays, while making chocolate covered pretzels (that we called Sonic Screwdrivers) that Baby really likes hard pretzel rods. Not really meant for babies, he was under very careful supervision when eating them but still went through almost an entire package in the past month. We then tried Nilla wafers. Warning, do not do this until chewing is a habit. They are too soft and again, not meant for babies.

I figured that we would have to buy some teething biscuits next time we went grocery shopping but then I remembered that I know how to cook and I have Pinterest. I looked up three different recipes and Cap helped me bake and test them out. All three recipes were so easy to make and I had all the ingredients on hand. All in all, I spent about an hour (once I take out all the nursing breaks, diapers breaks and other random intrusions) mixing and baking all of them. All I did was type in "teething biscuits" into Pinterest and pick out a random three to test.

Recipe #1

The first one seemed easy, I just didn't have any baby cereal on hand and was hoping that oatmeal would suffice as a substitute. Don't do that! I would definitely cook them longer if I did it again and I would use the blender on the oatmeal to make it more of a fine powder. I found the recipe here at Ashley Thunder Events. It was an easy recipe to follow...as long as you actually follow it. I ended up not giving Cap any because they were too soft but Hubby and my younger brother both really enjoyed them!

Recipe #2

The second recipe was the one I was originally most excited about but I think that I overcooked them a bit and was heavy handed on the molasses. I am a chronic anti-measurer, it's an issue. The dough was really great and I loved that I could make them into neat shapes and finally use my dinosaur shaped cookie cutter for something. I also used a dog bone shaped cutter and then cut some of them into long rectangle shapes. Cap seemed to like them just fine, the adults in the house, notsomuch. I found this recipe here at Lil Sugar. 

Recipe #3

This third recipe ended up being my favorite so far. A couple things that I would change? I would make a double batch and a larger loaf. I would cook it longer to make them harder and I would potentially flavor it. I would also use whole wheat flour and a healthier sugar option. I didn't want to buy special ingredients in case I ended up not liking how they turned out. I found this recipe here (via Pinterest) at Spilling the Beans. This one was the winner as far as I am concerned, they ended up being the right size for Cap's little hands, they were easy and all the adults liked them as well so while all the recipes will end up in the recipe box, these are the ones that I am going to make more of this weekend with the older kids to help!