My toddler was crazy about processed turkey bites from Target. I wasn’t thrilled about them, especially the sodium. So I experimented and created my own that she just loves! As do my husband and I.

The picture is from a slightly earlier, less amazing, batch, but you get the idea. I make them pretty small – one or two bites for an adult or 4-5 bites for a toddler.

Warning – these are pretty addictive… my husband, toddler and I went through most of a batch today!

I got my ideas from this recipe for apple turkey fingers for toddlers, and this one for baked turkey meatballs.

It’s easy to double the recipe, and the mix freezes really well.

I must admit, I don’t measure much, so these are mostly very rough estimates of  amounts!

There’s a fair number of ingredients, but it’s all pretty quick. Maybe about 10 minutes to put together, plus 20 or so to bake.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground turkey
  • Based on what I’ve read, it works better not to use the completely lean kind, so I get the 93% lean kind.
• 1 egg, beaten
• ~1/4 cup shredded cheese
  • Whatever cheese you like should be fine. We’re big fans of this Merlot Cheese.
  • I do very finely shredded cheese, easier for my toddler.
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• ~ 1-2 teaspoons olive oil
  • Plus olive oil for the baking sheet.
• ~2 tablespoons shredded apple, no skin
• ~1 tablespoon brown sugar
• Spices – ~1 tsp each?
  • Salt
  • Chili powder
  • Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take a large baking sheet, put foil on it (for easier clean up), and spray lightly with olive oil.

Mix every together, roll into small balls – I do about 1/2 inch diameter.

Place balls onto a sheet and put into oven. Check at about 10 minutes, turn over. They should be done after another 10 minutes or so.

Other variations:

Use shredded garlic instead of shredded apple, and no sugar or cinnamon. (Turns out my normally adventurous, spicy-loving toddler hates garlic, or at least the smell of it, so that try ended up going to my parents…)

You can also roll the balls in breadcrumbs, to make them extra crunchy. However, this is pretty messy, as some of the breadcrumbs tend to fall off afterward, so I reserve these for the adults!