Babies don’t need teething rusks but it sure is nice to give them something that they can easily pick up and eat. That’s where this recipe for baby biscuits comes in.
why these homemade baby cookies are the smart choice
While teething rusks are just starch, sugar, and salt, these biscuits are full of nutrients that babies need, like iron.
If you give this recipe a go, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, or snap a photo and tag it with #smartnutritionrecipes on Instagram! I’d love to see your creations! Knowing someone has enjoyed one of my recipes always makes my day brighter.
DIY Baby Biscuits
Ingredients
- 1 banana or ¼ cup applesauce
- ¼ cup butter softened
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 cup dry iron-fortified infant cereal
- ¼ cup flour all purpose, whole wheat or gluten free
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Combine the fruit, butter, and egg yolks with a fork until well-mixed.
- Add the dry ingredients and stir, using a spoon.
- Roll into 24 small balls and place on greased cookie sheet.
- Flatten the balls with the palm of your hand.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
- Once cooled, store in a sealed container in the fridge. These will be good for several days.
Hey, I know that starting your baby on solids can feel overwhelming and you may have other worries such as…
- I’m afraid my baby will choke!
- I’m afraid my baby won’t be getting enough of the right nutrients!
- I’m afraid my baby will have an allergic reaction!
- I’m afraid my baby is not eating enough… too much!
- I’m afraid my baby will be a picky eater!
My friend and fellow pediatric dietitian, Nita and I have create a FREE guide for you to address these fears and most of all, help you work through them! Just enter your email below and you’ll get the guide sent to your inbox.
Love this recipe! It’s consistent, tasty, and I feel prepared for snack times having these on hand.
Thank you so much for your feedback! Glad this recipe has benefited your family!
They’re a hit! I used banana, rye flour, and vegan “butter” (Earth Balance) because of my girl’s milk protein sensitivity. She rated it “um, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum…” Do they freeze well?
Yes, they do freeze well! Glad your baby enjoyed them 🙂
Great cookies. Even adults can enjoy them. My baby wouldn’t t eat baby cereal so I needed to do something with it and this did the trick!
Thanks for your feedback! I’m so glad you and your baby like them so much!
Hey Jessica!
Just want to confirm which cereal are we to use in this recipe? Rice, wheat?? Can we use formula milk instead?? Please do reply 🙂
You can use any type of iron-fortified baby cereal, so either rice or wheat would be great. I wouldn’t recommend replacing the cereal with formula, no, I don’t think it would stay together. Thanks for your questions!
I came across your recipe on Pinterest. I’m happy it was simple for me to follow and get the right result. I just forgot to flatten the balls. I hope my 13 months old daughter will enjoy them. I won’t tell my 5 years old son they are made with baby cereal. He calls them ball cookies. And he just enjoyed one now.
I put one spoon of peanut butter to substitute one spoon of butter just as a trial.
Awesome! Let me know how the peanut butter susbstitution goes!
Jessica, my son’s allergist has “prescribed” “baked egg” in the form of cookies, muffins, cake, etc. 5x per week for 4-6 months to help him get over his egg allergy. Naturally, i am in search of healthy recipes with low or no sugar, wheat flour (instead of white flour), etc . Your recipe looks great but will the cookies still come out OK if i cook them at 350 degrees for 30 minutes? This is the required cooking time for his allergy treatment. Thanks.
I would recommend baking just a few at 350 for 30 minutes to see if they turn out without getting over baked!
Bottoms burnt for me both times. I tried to lower the temp. cooking time and a different pan. Was able to cut off the burnt part and baby likes them!
I’m sorry the bottoms burnt! I’ve never had that happen to mine. I wish I could give you a suggestion but it seems like you’ve tried some already. Maybe try cooking on silicone?
Can’t wait to try these! thoughts about using wheat germ instead of the flour?
I’m not sure about the wheat germ! It would be worth a try.
I have a blueberry, yogurt infant formula on hand right now. Would that still work rather than just plain rice cereal? Thanks!
Yes, that would totally work!
Hello I really like the look of this recipie unfortunately we are dairy, soya, coconut and oat free, do you think it would be best to use a rice based infant cereal or just use greater amount of flour? Many thanks
Yes, use the rice-based infant cereal as it is high in iron.
Made these today for my 9 month old b he loved them, I just love the fact that there’s no added sugar
That’s one of my favourite things about them too 🙂 So glad he enjoyed them!
This recipe is great! My toddler ate them righty up and I’ve been struggling to get him enough iron. What do you think about teff flour? It has a lot of iron.
Glad your toddler loves them! Teff flour has about 3x the iron of whole wheat flour. In comparison fortified infant cereal has 6x more iron than teff flour!
Love these! They have a much doughier form than other baby biscuit recipes I’ve looked at. My son is sensitive to cinnamon so it puts my mind at ease to not buy the cookie, but make it myself!! We sometimes add a handful of mini chocolate chips, or strawberries! Yumm.
Chocolate chips and strawberries? Yum! Glad to know your son enjoys the recipe.
Yay! Thanks for the reply! 🙂
..My 9 month old son LOVES these btw! Thanks for sharing the recipe! I’ll be making a big batch tomorrow and freezing them then! 🙂
Awesome!
Can these be frozen?
Yes, they can!
Just made these for my 14 month old. followed recipe with banana. Super quick, easy and healthy (as a fellow RD). So delicious I want to eat them myself! Will read through comments for variations
Awesome! And yes, I also have a hard time leaving them alone for the baby 🙂
These sound fantastic! We have baby #3 we’re about to start on solids. Definitely filing these away for future making. I might try them out on her 5 & 3 year old sisters first though!
Great….thank you so much for the reply.
This sounds great!! Wash going to try for my 11-month old and had a quick question. I have the rolled oats instead of infant cereal, can you substitute the infant cereal with oatmeal or will it not turn out right?
Do you have a blender or food processor? I would grind the oats into a bit of a flour before using. Also, please note that the iron content will be substantially lower with the oats instead of the iron-fortified infant cereal 🙂
Just made these and used about 1-2 tsp of butter and substituted the rest with nut butter (some cashew, some almond) and it worked great!
Awesome! I love how adaptable this recipe is.
I was so annoyed when I bought the recommended rusk cookies only to get home with them and read the nutrition facts ….there was no nutrition. Sheesh. So I made these exactly as your recipe dictates, with applesauce, and my 10 month old loves ’em. The only thing the rusk cookies have over these is their lack of crumblyness(is that a word?)…any thoughts on how to make them less crumbly?
Some people have mentioned rolling them out flat before baking to make them crispier. Not sure if that would help with the crunchiness though!
These sound good. Will give these a try for sure. I think I will use coconut oil instead of butter.
Lots of people have said they’ve made them with coconut oil and that they’ve turned out great!
I just made these for my 9 month old and she just loves them. I used spelt flour Apple sauce and some cinnamon they turned out great. Thanks !
Sweet!!
Made these today and my baby loved them. Just wondering on storage??? Keep in fridge I suppose and how many days will they last to? Thanks!
Thanks for asking! I’ve updated the recipe to include storage information. So glad you baby loved them!
Hi Jessica-
These are wonderful thank you!
I substituted butter for cocnut oil, used cocnut flour and a quinoa baby cereal instead of rice. My little one hasn’t tried them yet but I can’t stop eating them!
How long do these keep for, can they be frozen and what the best way to store them?
Thanks
🙂
Hi Jennifer,
They are tasty, aren’t they? When my son was little I’d have to remind myself that I had made these for him to eat, not me!
I haven’t tried freezing them but I think they would freeze well.
They are best stored in the fridge and will keep for a few days.
Can I use baby food as a substitute for the fruits? My daughter loves her sweet potatoes and carrots.
Definitely!
How long are these good for?
They should last for a few days in the fridge!
I froze them in little baggies when we were using them and then I could grab some for on the go really easily
Made these tonight and WOWEEE, SO good!!! My little guy can’t eat banana right now due to some skin issues, so i used half a plantain instead. and i added cinnamon and some coconut palm sugar. I also used rice cereal and rice flour. These will be a regular in my home. THANK you SO much for sharing your recipe.
Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing the success of your adaptations! So glad you like the recipe 🙂
Would these be soft enough for a baby who doesn’t have teeth yet (almost 8 months old)? I have to make cookies for the first step on the milk ladder to introduce dairy to my baby, as she couldn’t handle dairy when she was younger and her allergist said that we needed to follow a milk ladder. Thank you!
Yes, these are suitable for an 8 month old baby 🙂
Just made these with 1 jar of baby food instead of fruit or apple sauce. Used coconut oil & oat flour. Great texture & baby loves them. Would like to try some ground flax seed or flax seed oil in with the next batch. Thank you for a great base recipe!
Awesome! I love the idea of adding ground flax seed.
Hi dc, I am probably a bit too late with my comment but I am using buckwheat flour and oats flour (made myself from the jumbo oats) as a substitute for cereals and the cookies come out very nice. Buckwheat has some iron in it as well as other minerals so very healthy.
Hello, my cookies came out very soft like a cake? should i put in the oven more ?
You can flatten them after they’ve cooked, if you want them crispy… and then put them back in the oven for 5 or so minutes!
I know using different flours can make a big difference in your finished product. So I’m wondering if coconut flour is a ok replacement and if I can use coconut oil in place of the butter and still have a good texture?
The coconut oil would be a fine substitution. I’m not sure about the coconut flour because it really absorbs a lot of liquid!
Made it for my neice who is 5.5 months. She absolutely loved them so i shared this recipe on Facebook so all my friends could enjoy it with their little ones
This comment made my day! Thank you for sharing! I’m so glad your niece enjoyed it.
Is there a substitute that i can use for the infant cereal? I live in a country where they do not feed babies infant cereal so I don’t have access.
Interesting! What country do you live in? You can substitute flour for the infant cereal but then it won’t be as high in iron.
Thank you! I hate giving my LO “baby junk food” and this is much more nutrient-dense but still easy to handle.
I prefer to use a variety of purees in baby recipes to vary nutrients. Since my LO loves savory flavors, I made my biscuits with spiced lentils. The official review – “mmMMMMMmmm!” Will be making many more!!!
Oooh! Spicy lentils! Great idea!
I just finished making these for my 7 month old, and as I was tasting one, it was literally torn from my grasp and devoured. I was a bit nervous about the spongy texture, but he shoved huge chunks in his mouth and didn’t choke at all, as it pretty much turned to mush right away. One thing I did differently is that I substituted butter with 100% peanut, peanut butter. I didn’try the original recipe so I’m not sure how big of a difference it made, but they seemed to turn out perfectly and tasty!
Awesome! Love the idea of using peanut butter! If you want the cookies to be less puffy, you can flatten them to a pancake before baking and then bake a little bit longer.
Hi..what can i substitute for the butter to make it dairy-free so its high in iron..my 10 month old is not allergic to dairy but won’t butter take away from the iron? should I use vegetable oil or maybe just double the applesauce?
Hi Ella,
Butter contains very little calcium so you don’t need to worry about it interfering with iron absorption! I chose each ingredient very carefully for this recipe in order to maximize iron absorption!
Hi! I would like to try this recipe but do you know if it can cause constipation from the infant cereal? My daughter gets severely constipated from rice cereal, but seeing you have a mixed grains pictured ( which i i haven’t tried for her yet), I’m just not sure. I would love to make these cookies (because they look great and yummy!) for my daughter since I make all of her food and refuse to buy packaged ones unless absolutely necessary. Thank you!
Hi Kathryn,
Some people report that choosing grains other than rice prevent constipation. When eaten in small quantities, these cookies should not be a problem. Fluid intake is a very important factor in preventing constipation so make sure your little one is offered water frequently! Additionally, you could mash some prunes with some hot water and make a puree to add to the cookies 🙂 The sugars in the prunes also help to prevent constipation.
Hi! My son is allergic to eggs, do you have any substitution suggestions? Thank you!
I’m sorry to hear about your son’s allergy. That’s tough! Unfortunately, I designed this recipe around eggs as the main ingredient so I’m not sure how they would turn out with an egg substitution.
hi!
So these dissolve like the baby mum mums do? My little man is 6 months and he’s been doing pretty good with purees…I make all his food myself and would really prefer to make his cookies aswell…I just really like how quickly the mum mums dissolve…choking hazards…I
Hi Karen,
When you follow the instructions in the recipe, these biscuits come out a little fluffy… kind of like a muffin texture. Another alternative is to spread the batter out thinly on a piece of parchment. It will bake up more crispy and be more dissolvable this way.
i can’t see the recipe 🙁
I’m sorry! The problem is fixed now! Thank you for letting me know.
Success! I made the cookie today for my 8 month old. I added another banana and I’ll never buy the rusks again. My 20 month old and 3 year old niece loved them too! Thank you 🙂
Thanks so much for the feedback! They’re pretty easy to make, aren’t they? Glad your children love them!
I made these for my 11 month old, and he absolutely loves them! So does my 4 year old, which is a huge bonus. Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome 🙂 Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment. It’s always so nice to hear whether or not someone likes a recipe!
I made these twice, assumed they were supposed to be dry and somewhat crunchy at first? I was wrong….or did I do something wrong? The flavor was great, but the texture was very spongy. Idk how a spongy cookie would help her teethe…..help! 😉
You didn’t do anything wrong! That’s how the recipe turns out when made with these instructions. A reader just told me about a way that she makes this recipe so that they turn out more crisp. She rolls out the dough thinly on parchment paper and then cuts into strips (a pizza slicer would work well for this). Then she bakes them as directed.
I should actually update this post. I was a bit passive when I said that babies don’t need teething rusks. The truth of the matter is that it’s best NOT to use food for teething! Babies are at a higher risk of getting cavities if they are chewing on food for extended periods of time. The best recommendation for teething is to give a baby a cold, wet cloth to gum on!
Hope that helps!
What age is suitable for these cookies I have a 3month old and just starting to look up home made purees I’ll start at 5 months can I give these to him at 5 months or wait and if so wait till when 🙂
Hi Kylie!
Congratulations on your baby! These cookies are better suited to a baby who is at least 6 months old.
Oh good to know! Thanks for the information. I will stick to your recipe in that case because I am hoping to booste my babe’s iron intake since she is resisting the cereal more and more these days.
Do these use just the yolks for those babies who are not yet eating whites, or does the cookie change substantially if the whole egg is used?
You can use the whole egg if you’d like. The cookie will turn out just fine. I chose to use only egg yolks in this recipe because the yolks are high in iron and the whites actually contain a compound that inhibits iron absorption to a certain degree. Since babies need a high amount of iron, I wanted to maximize the amount they would absorb from this recipe.
I can’t wait to try these for my daughter! I love the idea of a homemade and nutritious grab and go snack for her. Thanks Jessica
Thanks! I’d love to hear if your daughter enjoys them 🙂
These sound really good! Gianna & I’ll try it next week. She’s past the baby cereal stage for the most part but I still have some left. I’ve been struggling w grains for her since she is GF – luckily she doesn’t seem to like most “bread” type foods yet! Maybe the 4 year old will eat these if I add some cinnamon & applesauce to them…..
I’ve made these with cinnamon and they’ve been very delicious! I also find myself snacking on them… they really are quite tasty!
I know it isn’t as healthy as wheat flour, but could you use regular flour?
Hi Taylor,
Yes, most types of flours would probably work! I made these with almond flour the other day and then turned out great! I’ll change the recipe to reflect how versatile this recipe is!
My 9 month old and 2 year old loved these little treats I made this afternoon.
Awesome!
Yum!! My 10.5 month old loves these! I used banana and added a little cinnamon as it’s a flavour she’s used to.
My son loves cinnamon too!
Genius!! Definitely going to give this a whirl!
Totally sharing, and making!
Awesome! I’d love to hear what you think of them.