Soft-Baked Apple & Oat Teething Fingers

Ingredients

• 150 g (about 1 2/3 cups) porridge oats, blitzed to a fine flour (gluten-free labelled if avoiding gluten cross-contact)
• 180 g (3/4 cup) unsweetened apple purée, no sweetener added
• 1 ripe banana, about 100 g (3 1/2 oz), thoroughly mashed
• 1 tbsp (15 ml) mild olive oil or unrefined coconut oil
• 2-3 tbsp (30-45 ml) water, as needed
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp (8 g) extra oat flour, for dusting

Method

1. 1. Heat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan / 350°F and line a tray with parchment.
2. 2. Mix the oat flour, cinnamon, apple purée, mashed banana and oil, adding water a tablespoon at a time until you have a soft, scoopable dough that just holds its shape — softer than pastry, and deliberately not a stiff biscuit dough.
3. 3. On a dusted surface, pat the dough out to 1.5 cm (5/8 in) thick and cut into fingers about 9 cm long and 2 cm wide. Round off every corner with your fingers. Keep them thick — thin fingers dry out and harden in the oven, and a hard baked stick is a choking hazard.
4. 4. Bake 18-22 minutes only, until set on the outside and still soft and moist in the middle. Do NOT bake a second time or dry them out; these are meant to stay squashable, not to snap.
5. 5. Cool completely, then run the SQUASH TEST on one finger from every batch: it must flatten easily between your thumb and forefinger. If any finger is firm, crisp or snaps rather than squashing, the whole batch is unsafe to gnaw on — crumble it into porridge or yogurt instead and bake the next batch for less time.
6. 6. Repeat the squash test on the actual finger you are about to hand over, every single time you serve one, including after refrigerating or reheating. A finger that has dried out in storage must not be offered.
7. 7. Serve only with baby sitting fully upright and an adult within arm's reach. Take the finger away and replace it once it has been gnawed down to a stub shorter than about 5 cm, and remove it immediately if a firm piece ever separates.
8. 8. Store airtight in the fridge up to 2 days, or freeze in single portions up to 1 month; defrost fully and re-test before serving. Discard any that have gone dry or hard rather than trying to revive them.
9. 9. Extra options for sore gums: a thick spear of steamed-soft courgette or carrot chilled in the fridge (never frozen hard, which is as hard as a raw vegetable), or a clean damp washcloth cooled in the fridge for baby to gnaw on. Raw crunchy vegetable sticks and hard shop-bought rusks are not suitable at any point in the first year.