Mousetraps

I cant remember for the life of me, how do I make mousetraps? you know the ones that you can store in your pantry for awhile?

My two little ones love the mousetraps I bake - and they keep really well in the pantry (in a covered container for a couple of weeks). Fantastic for chewing on and satisfying my girls when they are teething.

I use High Iron, Low GI Fibre White bread or Wholemeal bread and spread them with vegemite (or marmite - which ever you prefer). I then cut up the slices of bread into long fingers - till you get 3 or 4 fingers per slice and lay them on a baking tray. I get about 6 or so bread slices on a baking tray.

Then grate some tasty or edam cheese and sprinkle that over the vegemite fingers and bake in a low-medium oven (about 100-150deg) for about an hour/ 1.5 hrs. Check on them from time to time to see that they are drying out well - but not turning brown - as this can make the bread taste a bit bitter. Then take them out of the oven to cool down - I usually place them on a baking rack till cold - and then chuck them into a container...if you can't resist sampling a few.

Yeah - usually it means you had them too high - it is quite a balancing act - to get them to cook and dry out enough - but not make them go brown - so it is better to keep them just over 100 - 150deg (on bake not fan bake) and leave them for an hour. And just check them from time to time.

It is weird when they do go brown and go really bitter.

Uummm I think I first started my first born Georgia on mousetraps from about 6 mths old - but just plain ones with vegemite at first - and then started adding cheese when she was about 8 mths old. She liked to suck on them in the beginning - when she had few teeth. Then they get really good at munching on them when they are older!