A mini cheesy baked bean pie is perfect for a lunch box or picnic spread. Anyone who loves baked beans will love these bite-sized pies.
This is a collaborative post with Flora.*
What do you put in your kids' lunchbox?
My older two children are both in the infants still which means (here in the UK) that they get free school meals. This means that I don't make a lunchbox on a daily basis at the moment. But I have spent four years making lunchboxes for pre-school and often make them for days out in the holidays or with my little one.
And I am often stumped. R, my six-year-old, doesn't really like any sandwich fillings apart from jam or honey. Which might be ok as a one-off, but certainly isn't ideal for a his lunch box every day!
Baby S isn't all that keen on sandwiches either. Sometimes I do pasta, sometimes soup (messy!), sometimes falafels and hummus.
What are your go-to lunchbox fillers?
Check out my healthy lunchbox ideas and tips
Making lunchboxes more exciting
Some bloggers are doing amazing things with their children's lunches - check out these ideas by Eats Amazing for example.
However, I don't think I'm alone in drawing a blank with making lunchboxes exciting. Some research conducted by Flora and Leeds University* has shown that a mere 1.6% of lunch boxes meet standards set for healthy school food.
83% of lunchboxes contained sandwiches, with fillings more or less the same as the last survey - which was undertaken ten years ago.
Making a healthy lunch box can be hard
There's so much pressure on parents. Getting three children breakfasted, dressed and out of the door on time without forgetting anything is hard enough.
I know from experience that carrot sticks, pots of homemade hummus and rice salads often come back untouched and slightly sweaty in a lunchbox at the end of the day.
After a while it's all too easy to fall into the trap of putting in the safe options that you know they'll eat.
None of us wants our children to leave school at the end of the day 'hangry'. Nobody does grumpy better than a knackered five-year-old who hasn't really eaten since breakfast.
Why baked beans in a pie?
When I was planning this recipe I thought long and hard about what I could put in a lunchbox that my kids, well R in particular, would actually eat.
I got to thinking about some of the things that he likes and baked beans are right at the top of the list.
Baked bean and cheese pie is cheap, nutritious and delicious
One of my favourite dishes when I was a cash-strapped student was baked bean and cheese pie and so this mini version was born. I love the idea of making a big batch of something that you can freeze and therefore have a ready-made stash of lunches.
I've made these using tinned baked beans but to make them a bit healthier you could make your own.
Try my easy homemade baked beans or these stove top baked beans for example. You only need a tiny amount of baked beans for this recipe so it's a great way to use up a few leftovers.
The pastry is made with spelt flour. Spelt is believed to be more nutritious than wheat flour, although it does still contain gluten. You could use plain flour or wholewheat flour instead if you prefer.
And the verdict? R and Baby S loved these but Miss R only ate the pastry (she's not keen on baked beans).
Pin mini cheesy baked bean pies for later:
Here's how to make mini cheesy baked bean pies:
If you have made this recipe I would love it if you’d leave a comment and rating below. Thank you!
Mini cheesy baked bean pies
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 200 g spelt flour
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 75 g Flora
- 50 g cheddar cheese grated
- 4 tbsp milk
- 1 egg yolk beaten
For the filling
- ½ tin of baked beans
- 75 ml milk
- 1 egg white
- 60 g cheddar cheese grated
Instructions
To make the pastry
- Place 200g spelt flour and ½tsp bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl and combine with a whisk.
- Chop 75g Flora dairy free spread into small pieces and rub into the flour until you have a mixture that resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Stir through 50g grated cheddar cheese. Beat one egg yolk and 4 tbsp milk together and gradually pour into the flour mixture, stirring as you go until it's combined to become a dough.
- Knead for a couple of seconds then wrap in clingfilm and place in the freezer for half an hour.
To make the baked bean pies
- Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/180°C (fan)/gas mark 6. Prepare a non-stick muffin tin by either greasing liberally or lining with silicone muffin cases. Paper ones can stick a little - I got the best results when I used my silicone cases.
- Remove the dough from the freezer and roll out onto a lightly floured surface. Cut circles with a pastry cutter or saucer and press into your prepared muffin tin. Bake blind* for 10 minutes, remove the beans and return to the oven for five minutes.
- Once done remove from the oven and reduce the heat to 180°C/160°C (fan)/gas mark 4. Add a teaspoonful of baked beans to each pastry case. Beat together an egg white and 75ml milk. Pour about a tablespoon of the egg and milk mixture over the beans then top with a little grated cheese.
- Be careful not to overfill the cases.
- Bake for a further 20 minutes or until the top has set and turned golden brown.
- Can be served warm or cold and they freeze beautifully.
Notes
- Find out more about how to bake blind.
If you like this you might like this easy shakshuka recipe.
This recipe appeared on Yahoo News in September 2018
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*Disclaimer: this is a collaborative post with Flora.
Faye Colegate
As a teacher and parent with a keen interest in all things food I find the whole 'lunchbox' thing really interesting. Our 'healthy schools' criteria will almost certainly be changing with the new Childhood Obesity Plan being published, as will school lunches so I can only imagine the lunch box guidance might change too!Anyway! I will 100% be trying these out - fab idea and really different! These would be fab in a Yumbox or another bento style lunch box. I will look forward to giving them a go. F xx
Mandy Mazliah
Thanks Faye, let me know what you and your little chap think! Our school has a healthy schools rating but still has a cake sale every week and lots of unhealthy puddings not to mention all the sweets that kids come home with every time there's a birthday!!!
Eb Gargano
Ooh what a lovely idea - my little boy, who LOVES baked beans would almost certainly enjoy them. He is at the stage now where he can pretty much polish off a whole tin of baked beans in one sitting - can't decide if this is a good thing or not!? Hey ho at least I know he is getting one of his five a day! Even if it is not exactly the healthiest choice...it's not the worst either. The statistics about School lunch boxes...and the stories I hear from my dinner lady and teacher friends makes me want to cry. And we wonder why we have a national obesity crisis? I do wish schools would put stricter restrictions on what can and can't be put in a lunch box. I don't do one very often, as mine have school dinners mostly, but when I do I feel like mean mummy for putting in a healthy sandwich and some vegetable sticks and a piece of fruit and then my kids come back with tales of their friends whose lunch boxes contain chocolate, cake and crisps ๐ Thanks for linking up with this weeks #CookBlogShare ๐ Eb x
Mandy Mazliah
Apparently a kid at my son's school has pasta with ketchup every day! I think it's really hard for schools - they have so much else to worry about. We're sticking with school dinners at the moment and I think eating at school has actually helped with R's picky eating. Even if some days he seems to have eaten not much other than cake and custard. Old school lunch options are still popular!