Carrot & Apple Bites

The Zebra has a thing for biscuits right now, so we whipped up a batch of healthy biscuits that I can also have as part of my breakfast! 

Ingredients:

50g seeds (we used a mix of flaxseed, chia and quinoa)

40g wholemeal self raising flour

35g porridge oats

1/2tsp grated ginger

1tsp cinnamon 

40g chopped dried apricot 

100g grated cooking apple

50g grated carrot 

20g chopped pecans 

20g coconut oil

60g honey 

5g orange zest

1tbsp orange juice 

10g grated coconut 

****preheat oven to 180degs

The best tip I can give for cooking with toddlers is get everything ready and prepared before letting them in the kitchen!

Gently heat the coconut oil until it melts and then stir in the honey, orange zest and juice. Leave to one side.

The best thing about the recipe is its so easy! Apart from the grated coconut, add all the remaining ingredients into one bowl. Mix well and then add in the warm coconut oil and orange.

Split the mixture into 6 or 12 biscuits and place on a greased tray. 6 biscuits mean they have around 200 calories each. 

Sprinkle on top the grated coconut.

Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes until they are golden brown. 

Once they've cooled, all you need to do is enjoy and not feel any snack-guilt! 

Banana & Apple Muffins

Any one who knows me, knows I'm all about healthy living! However, the Zebra likes baking, and loves cakes and this isn't going down well with my waist line...

This week, we had a go at a healthy version of a muffin - The flour is wholemeal, the oil and milk is coconut and the filling is fruit not chocolate!

Ingredients: 

275g wholemeal self raising flour

2tsp baking powder

25g soft light brow sugar

2 bananas 

300g frozen apples

1tsp orange peel

1tsp orange juice

300ml coconut milk

1 egg

3tbsp coconut oil

To decorate:

Honey 

Porridge oats 

****preheat oven to 200degs

Using a juicer or blender, make a pureee from all the fruits. This is the Zebras favourite kitchen toy!

Into a big bowl, pour the flour, baking powder, and sugar, then mix well.

Make a well in the middle and then pour in the milk, egg, and oil. Try not to drop the egg cup in the bowl!

Finally, mix in the fruit purée and stir until the batter is smooth.

Spoon the mixture into muffin cases - we found it made 14 in total with a bit left over to lick from the spoon...

Pop in the oven for around 30 minutes but keep an eye on them!

Once they have cooled, drizzle over some honey and sprinkle on some oats... Delicious and guilt free!

Valentines Cupcakes

We've gone right back to basics for this weeks bake. Sometimes the simple recipes can be the nicest - not everything has to be fancy and exotic!

Ingredients 

 

100g self raising flour 

100g caster sugar 

100g butter 

2 eggs 

15ml whole milk

1/2tsp baking powder 

Red food colour (use as much or little as you want depending how red you want the buns!)

Icing sugar and sprinkle for topping 

********preheat oven to 180degs

Add the butter, sugar, milk, and eggs into a bowl and mix together really well until there are no lumps of butter.

Add the flour and baking powder and mix again. I also added the food colouring at this point - but I did this myself as I use Wilton food gel which is super strong!!

Pop the bun cases into the baking tray and then spoon in the mixture. This is the best time to get a taste of the yummy cakes! 

The buns take around 15-20 long minutes to cook. You don't have to sit and watch them the whole time, but the Zebra likes to! 

Stir a little water and food colour in with the icing sugar and then pour over the buns. Sprinkle on some hundred and thousands. Then grab a cake and shove it in your mouth before mummy can stop you! Serves her right for decorating cakes right before lunch time... 

Happy Valentine's Day Zebras x

Bread and Butter Pudding

Could this possibly the ultimate comfort food? It certainly felt like a treat to me since adapting a low-carb & low-sugar lifestyle!!

Ingredients:

• 25g soft or spreadable butter
• 1/2 loaf of bread
• 50g sultanas, raisins or other dried fruit
• 2 tsp cinnamon 
• 350ml milk 
• 50ml double cream 
• 2 eggs 
• 25g caster sugar
• nutmeg - shake to taste 

****preheat oven to  180degs

It's best to use older bread. As I keep my bread in the freezer to keep it from going stale, I had to remember to leave a loaf out for 24 hours! 

Use grease proof paper to butter the dish. We had to make two puddings so as well as doubling the ingredients, we had two dishes to prepare. 

Butter all the bread and cut into quarters. This was the first time the Zebra was allowed to use a butter knife and she had great fun.

Use a third of the bread to make the bottom layer, sprinkle on a third of the fruit and then shake on some nutmeg. Repeat twice until all ingredients are used and the dish is filled.

Asd the milk and cream to a pan and stir until it's really hot, but do not let it boil!

Whisk together the cinnamon, eggs and 3/4's of the sugar. When the milk & cream is ready, stir it in slowly.

Pour the mixture over the layered bread and then top with the remaining sugar. Leave for at least half an hour to set before you pop it in the oven for 30 minutes.

So tasty and warming - Total stodge but extra yummy!

Warm Orange Nutty cake

For this weeks bake I am using my fab new cooking book! 

I've been eating healthy for over a year so thought it about time to treat myself to a new read. The recipe was a bit too healthy for me so we made a few substitutes!

Ingredients

1 large orange

125g dried apricots 

70g walnuts

70g almonds

70g Brazil nuts

4 eggs

200g caster sugar

125ml olive oil

85g wholemeal self raising flour

****preheat oven to 160degs

First up, cover the orange in water and boil for half an hour, then add in the apricots and boil for another 15 minutes.

We don't have a food processor, so had to make do with my smoothie maker! The Zebra loved putting all the nuts in the container one by one, and had even more fun pressing the button to whiz them up. 

Tip the nuts and flour into a big bowl and mix together. Pop the bowl to one side.

The Zebra greased up the cake tin with a little oil, she loves anything that resembles painting.

Once the orange and apricots are boiled, cut the orange open and take out any pips. The whole lot then goes in the processor/blender until smooth.

Add the fruit purée in with the oil, eggs and sugar. Mix together really well.

Finally, tip in the nuts and flour from earlier. If you have a processor you can blend it all together, but we did it by hand!

Spoon the mixture into the pre-greased tin and decorate the top with nuts. Remember to lick the spoon clean!

Pop in the oven for an hour to get the perfect, tasty, healthy cake!

It's not chocolate but the Zebra sure does love it!

Cinnamon Swirls

Yay for baking Saturday's! And what better way to use up the festive flavours than with some swirls. Or pin wheels. Or rolls. Or what ever you call them! 

Ingredients:

*Rolls

350g self raising flour

Pinch of salt

2tbsp caster sugar

2tsp cinnamon powder

100g melted butter

2 egg yolks

200ml milk 

*Filling 

1tao cinnamon powder

55g brown sugar

2tbsp caster sugar

1tbsp melted butter

Icing sugar and cinnamon powder for glacé - can be made to suit tastes.

Pop all the ingredients for the filling into a bowl and give a good mix. We used melted butter, however, if I was to do this again I would use soft butter to make more of a paste. Pop bowl to one side. 

For the rolls, add the dry ingredients together in a big bowl and mix well. Then add in the rest of the wet ingredients and stir up it. Be careful of little fingers when adding the melted butter if it's still warm. 

Once you have a firm dough, it's ready to taste!

I tried rolling on baking paper, however it kept sticking, so we ended up using flour on the table. 

Sprinkle on the filling, and then roll up the dough! 

It was then mummy's job to slice the roll and pop into a greased oven dish. Then into the oven for 30 minutes at 180deg.

Once it's out the oven and cooked, it's time to ice the swirls! I started with making some thin icing sugar and pouring over the top so it found its way into all the gaps and inside the swirls. I then made some thicker icing and added cinnamon powder - this was used to glacé over the top.

Perfect! Now I just have to resist eating until tomorrow...