Amaranth, ama-what? :: Baking ::

Detox is my word for 2015 - and in addition to start my diet, I wanted to find out more about superfoods... And apparently amaranth. I had no idea this little grain existed. But I was missing out, this grain is the real deal in terms of health benefits. Finding out about it was one thing; doing something that would taste nice with it another. I had the help of this great book and ta da  we now have super dooper biscuits. And to be honest with a baby and a toddler, and Mr MiH training for a half marathon, I need all the superfood recipe I can get my hands on!

Just a little warning, these are a tad ginger-y for me, Mr MiH is a big fan of ginger biscuits, and loves them just like that. So you may want to tweak the recipe accordingly. Also I had to adapt the recipe to the content of my cupboards. 

What will you need to make 20 biscuits (3 WW points/biscuit)

60g of low fat butter
60g of coconut oil
15g of light brown sugar
55g of caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp of vanilla extract
100g of quinoa flour
1 tsp of gluten-free baking powder
125g of dried dates
60g of stem ginger
100g of amaranth (popped following this post)
1 tbsp of lemon juice

How to make these? 

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C and line two large baking trays with non-stick baking paper
2. Cream the butter and coconut oil with the brown and caster sugar until light and creamy, then mix in the egg and vanilla. 
3. Sift the quinoa flour and baking powder and fold into the creamed butter mixture. 
4. Using a spatula, mix in the dates, ginger, amaranth puffs and the lemon juice. The mixture may seem a little dry but don't be tempted to add more liquid just press together as you are mixing so that it holds. 
5. Place spoonfuls of the mixture onto to the prepared trays and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. 

Leave to cool slightly in trays before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. 

Here you are gluten free, low GI biscuits, these are good for you! Expect more superfood recipe on the blog, and guess what raw cocoa is a superfood, so I don't have to stop posting about chocolate! Whoohoo! 

Surely it is time for a cup of tea :: Baking ::

How ironic, I post about my word for this year: detox, and next I post a chocolate biscuits recipe. Why not? It is Friday, the week is nearly over, and time for a treat. If I am able to manage a hot cup of tea, then it is worth the many hours of sleep I am missing at night (ok maybe not, but it helps). 

AND because they are so cute (and a bit small), they are actually quite good for those of you who are WW points believer. Yes, I am totally back on the diet. 

The biscuits are based on an existing WW recipe - I just made them smaller so that I could coat them with milk chocolate - oh, the points balancing act! 

To make 26 biscuits (2 points per biscuit), you will need:

• 110g of low fat spread
• 50g of caster sugar
• 120g of plain flour
• 40g of rice flour
• 100g of cooking milk chocolate (I like Green & Black's)

To make them:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 C
2. Beat the low fat spread in a bowl to soften
3. Add the sugar to the low fat spread and beat together. Sift the flours and mix to the dough with a wooden spoon.
4. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for 10 minutes
5. Roll out the pastry (thickness 4mm) and use a cookie cuter you like. 
6. Bake for 40 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly before placing on a cooling rack. 
7. When totally cooled, dip into the melted chocolate (following this method). Leave to cool in the fridge. 

The doily pattern is here. 

You have to try this recipe - they are so so nice (try with some oolong tea - it is a great combo), and can be adapted to any theme (Valentine's day biscuits, anyone?). 

As per usual, I would love to know if you try the recipe, and let me know what you think. 

Cute and Quick | Chocolate Muffins {Recipe}

I am actually posting a recipe with proper pictures, whoohoo! These are sure signs that I am back into blogging. And then there is homemade cake in the house - feels like life is (nearly) normal again. 

Today's new recipe is nothing fancy BUT this the first recipe I made with Baby MiH. Let's face he was not totally involved in the process, no little fingers messing around with chocolate - no one is allowed to mess with chocolate. He was testing the ingredients from his high chair, and repeating some of the words I was saying as we went along. And this can only mean one thing - yes, this is a very quick recipe - attention span of a 16-months-old baby: 10 minutes max if there is entertainment (and food). 

Before I give you the recipe, there are a couple of things you need to know. I made this recipe 3 times now, but in different shapes (loaf cake, madeleine and cupcakes). Cupcakes are the best way to serve this. Which leads me to the next thing, if you are going to serve this to friends, make sure you have a spoon handy for them because it does not hold really together - it is really light and yummy but is messy - although in a cupcake form it is MUCH better than in the cake loaf one (that was a disaster). 

This is a French WW recipe (although they did not add the chocolate napping on top - so you have to add this for your points).  

You are going to need (for 10 muffins, 5 ProPoints each):

• 1 egg 
• 90 g caster sugar  
• 1 pot of very low fat natural yoghurt
• 100 g flour 
• 11 g of baking powder
• 100g chocolate (dark, milk or white)
• 9 tsp Oil

And how to make them

1.Preheat oven to 180°C (gas mark 6). In a bowl, mix the egg and sugar until the mixture whitens. Add yogurt and flour and baking powder. Add oil to smooth the mixture.

2. Melt chocolate in microwave with 2 tablespoons of water (leave for 2 minutes at 750W). Pour into your main preparation, mix well.

3.Divide the mixture into a cupcake baking dish lines with cases - bake for 25 minutes.

4. (optional) Melt more chocolate as in step 2 and pour on cupcakes.

Yes, it is that easy. Nothing fancy but little cakes that my boys love - and so do I! All I need now is a cup of tea.. Who's putting the kettle on?

Happy Sunday everyone!

Back on the diet cake {Recipe}

I have taken a break from my diet. I had been on it for 5 months, and I just got fed up with logging in everything that I eat and how may points it amounted to. Two weeks later, I put on 1 kg which is ok I suppose - considering I really did indulge in everything I like, but I am so close to reaching my target weight that I am back on it. I have not started to run as much yet, that is for next week. 

So cakes are still going to be yummy but more points-friendly, and still great to eat with your cup of tea -  I am planning another batch of gingerbread biscuits, without the chocolate (2 points and they taste goooooodd!). 

The recipe comes from a French diet magazine. And they totally lured me with a picture of a full fat cake - when will I learn? The cake tastes nice, not as nice as the full fat one, but is perfect with a cup of tea and quite light, so worthy of a post. Plus, it is super quick to whip up, and you probably have all the ingredients!

You will need (for 16 portions, 3 points per cake - I used mini silicone moulds):

4 eggs
200g sugar
165g plain flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
6 tbsp boiling water
a few drops of vanilla extract

To make them:

1. Mix the eggs with the sugar, then add the boiling water. 
2. Add the vanilla extract, the bicarbonate of soda and the flour
3. Pour the mixture in the moulds and bake for 40 minutes at 175 C

And here we are, my back on the diet cake - clearly I had to celebrate the fact that I am back on the diet! 

Orange Cookies {Recipe}

I have not made biscuits for a long time now... but I totally made up for it by baking the biggest batch ever today! I hope Mr MiH likes them! I wanted to make cookies that had a bit of zest in them. These happen to have an orange flavour, but you could adapt the recipe to have a more lemoney zest or even ginger. 

The recipe is really straight forward and you do get decent size cookies for not a lot of points (yes, I am still on my diet). The only thing is that you have to leave the dough to set for a couple of hours.

What you will need (to make 32) - 2 points per cookie

• 115g butter
• 200g caster (superfine) sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 15ml fresh orange juice
• grated ring of 1 orange
• 175g plain flour
• 115g self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp salk
• 1 tsp baking powder

How to make them?

1. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the yolks, orange juice and rind, and continue beating to blend. Set aside. 
2. In another bowl, sift together the flours, salt and baking powder. Add to the butter mixture and stir until it forms a dough.
3. Wrap the dough in baking parchment and chill for 2 hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 190 C. Grease three baking sheets. 
5. Roll spoonfuls of the dough into balls and place 2.5-5cm apart on the prepared sheets. 
6. Press down with a fork or the back of a spoon to flatten. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown. With a spatula, transfer to a rack to cool. 

Bon Appetit!

Courgette and Carrot Cake {Recipe}

So you know about carrot cake (my skinny version is here) - but courgette and carrot, really? Yes, really, and it is SO good, and moist. I just have to share the recipe! I did wait for Mr MiH to give it a go though - he had a quarter of it, so it is a thumbs up from the MiH house.  

The recipe is from the latest Weight Watchers magazine (August 2013) - they have a whole section dedicated to cooking with courgettes, in case you like courgettes that much (or have loads in your garden). The cake is tucked in a corner but the fact the courgette and carrot combo jumped at me. 

What you will need - for 12 people (4 points per slice)

• 100g courgettes, coarsely grated
• 100g carrots, coarsely grated
• 150g caster sugar
• 150g low fat spread
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 150g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
• 1 tsp icing sugar

How you make it?

1. Preheat the oven to fan 160 C. Grease and line the base of a 20cm round, loose-bottom tin. Squeeze as much water as possible out of the grated courgette and discard the liquid. Combine it with the grated carrot and set aside. 
2. Cream together the sugar and low fat spread until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs until well combine. Sift in the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and spices and combine well. Fold in the carrot and courgette, then spoon into the prepared tin, level the top and bake for 40 minutes or until risen and set. 
3. Allow the cake to cool a little before turning it out on to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with the icing sugar and serve. 

It is very springy but not at all dry. You can see the green of the courgette and the orange of the carrot - but it does not taste of either. Have a go!

Zingy berry cake {Recipe}

I am about to go to France - and more scarily going to be in a swimsuit every day and all I can think about is cake - typical right! The only thing to do in these circumstances is just make one - there is no point resisting, better get it out of my system. 

Here is a fresh, full of berries cake. As you can see from the pictures (and these are the best) this is really looking homemade - no fancy styling, more an every day cake than 'I have people for tea' cake. 

You will need (for 12) - for those interested this a 5 points/slice cake. 

• 200 g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 75 g caster sugar
• 100 g blueberries + 75 g of raspberries (you can adjust this according to your own taste)
• zest of 1 unwaxed lemon (or vanilla extract if you are not keen on the lemon taste)
• 2 large eggs
• 150 g low fat natural yoghurt
• 2tbsp skimmed milk
• 50 ml sunflower oil

Lemon icing

• 100g icing sugar
• 4 tsp fresh lemon juice

How to make it

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C/Fan. Line your tin with some greaseproof paper. 
2. Sift the flour and bicabornate of soda into a large bowl and stir in the sugar, blueberries and lemon zest. Make a well in the centre.
3. Beat the eggs with a large whisk until smooth, then beat in the toghurt, milk and oil until well combined. Stir into the flour mixture with a large spoon until very lightly mixed. 
4. pour into the tin. bake in the centre of the oven for 25/30 minutes - check with your knife that it is cooked in the middle. Transfer it to a wire rack and leave it to cool. 
5. To make the lemon icing, mix the icing sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl until smooth and runny. Using a spoon, drizzle over the cake and leave to set for 30 minutes before serving.  

If I am honest, it is not as good as a full fat lemon drizzle cake - BUT it is very satisfying  and moist, and with one slice you do feel happy. I suppose I am always happy when there is cake!

Soft jammies {Recipe}

This recipe is loosely based on the Swiss Roll one from the Hairy Dieters. I tried the actual recipe and did not really manage to make it look nice - I like my food to look nice. So I thought the easiest was to make individual mini-sandwich cakes - and we know how much I like individual portions!

One of these are 3 points according to my diet - they are super light, and very easy to eat .. Mr MiH has already tucked in, I am not sure they are going to last..  

You will need (for 12):

- 3 whole eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 100 g caster sugar
- 40 g corn flour
- 40 g self-raising flour
- 40 g grounded almond
- 1 tsp baking powder
- I used reduced sugar jam - raspberry (one tsp per cake). Up to you to choose your jam of choice. 

I cooked each individual cake in a vintage mince pie tray ... You can probably bake them in a Yorkshire pudding tray or at the bottom of a muffin tray. 

How to make them? 

1. Grease the bases of your baking tray. Preheat the oven to 200 C/Fan. Put the eggs, sugar and vanilla in a heatproof bowl and place the bowl over a pan of gently summering water. Whisk with an electric whisk until the mixture is pale, creamy and thick enough to leave a trail when you lift the whisk.

2. Carefully remove the bowl from the heat and whisk for a further 5 minutes. Sift over the flours and almond  mixture into the egg mixture. It is important to use gentle movements to keep as much air as possible in the batter but watch out for pockets of flour. 

3. Pour a tablespoon of the mixture in each of the bases of the tray. Bake for 10 minutes until well-risen, pale golden brown and firm to the touch. Let cool for 5 minutes. 

4. Remove each cake carefully from the tray, and leave on a cool rack. Spread the jam on one cake and make a sandwich. 

5. I used a cutter to make the square shapes - be creative with your shapes! Mine do look like kids' food which is really fun.  

And that is it! You can probably make 2 sponges and add the jam in the middle - and cut out your portions as well - if you have an adequate baking tray (which I do not have...). Enjoy! 

Dark {Recipe}

I am going through my 'diet' recipe books - to find recipes that are good enough to pass for non-diet, but also minimise the number of points I add to my weekly allowance. It usually means that I have to change the number of portions - or the way they presented. I usually try to have individual pieces rather than a whole cake - so that it is easier to stop at one piece rather than be creative about the size of my slices.  

UK peeps may remember the TV show 'cook yourself thin' that showed you how to make yummy recipes to apparently loose weight. This recipe comes from the book published after the TV show. It is supposed to be a cake for 16 people... I am not planning a big party around the one cake, so I divided by 2 the amounts, and made 9 dark chocolate muffins out of them... It is still quite a lot of points - 8 per muffin to be precise - but honestly half of one of those sorts out your chocolate fix .. AND a chocolate muffin from a store is usually around 13 points, so it is still a better deal if you are going to have one... 

The cooking time is the killer of this recipe - as well as the long list of ingredients, although except for the vanilla pod and the beetroot I had everything - I seem to accumulate ingredients.. 

So here it goes, you will need (for 9 muffins):

• 125 g dark chocolate (I tend to take 70%)
• 1 1/2 medium eggs (slightly annoying as I divided the amounts by 2)
• 125g light muscovado sugar
• 1/2 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp clear honey
• 20g self-raising flour
• 20g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 12.5g cocoa powder
• 25g ground almonds
• 125g raw beetroot, peeled and finely grated (not that easy to find, I used cooked beetroot, but it is not ideal but clearly possible)
• 50ml strong coffee (I used some nescafe, added water et voila)
• 15ml sunflower oil

for the fudge topping (which makes this a real chocolate fix)

• 75g dark chocolate
• 1 1/2 tbsp strong black coffee
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 1/2 tbsp clear honey

What to do?

1. Preheat the oven to 160 C/ fan 140 C
2. Grease your muffin cases (if needed). Melt the chocolate gently in a bowl over a pan of simmering water until all dissolved, then set aside to cool. In  a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar, the scraped-out vanilla seeds, the maple syrup, and the honey for 3 minutes until pale and fluffy (I put it all in the KitchenAid to the maximum speed...).Gently fold in the flours, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cocoa and ground almonds until fully incorporated. 
3. Using some kitchen paper,dab the grated beetroot thoroughly to remove some of the excess moisture. Fold in the beetroot, cooled chocolate, coffee and oil, with the help of a spatula until thoroughly mixed together. 

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and cook in the middle of the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes. After this time, cover the cake with foil and bake for another 30 minutes. Test the cake by inserting a skewer into the centre to see it is comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack. 
5. To make the fudge topping, melt the chocolate gently in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, then remove from heat and add the coffee and the vanilla essence. At this stage the chocolate will seize up slightly, but it will relax back once you add the honey and gently mix in. Set aside to cool for 15 minutes before icing the muffins.

I managed to take the pictures in between the rain - it feels like summer in a plate! Did you notice (one of) my latest charity shop purchase? I love that plate, and at 49p it was a bargain!

Springy skinny carrot cake {Recipe}

* You can still enter my current giveaway here*

Two weeks in my diet and I am still doing ok, although I can see that I am getting a bit bored with my comfort zone food - and seeing Mr MiH eating an obscene amount of peanuts (how can he still be so skinny?) is getting to me a bit. So I am on a mission to find tasty recipe in a skinnier version so I won't feel like I am missing out on cakes and snacks - although coated peanuts may be out for a while still. 

This recipe is from The Hairy Dieters. I saw the BBC TV show and some of the skinnier versions of my favourite comfort food looked amazing. I grabbed a copy when I was still pregnant and sort of left it for later whilst stuffing my face. If this recipe is anything to go by, it is time to get it out and try all the recipes - and I may not even know I am on a diet! 

This is a Mr MiH portion size... 

You are going to need (12 portions - 6 points by my diet):

• 3 medium carrots (about 250g total unpeeled weight)
• 3 eggs
• 100ml sunflower oil
• 100g soft light brown sugar
• 200g self raising flour
• 100g sultanas
• finely grated zest of 1/2 large well-scrubbed orange
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

there are skinny portions and Mr MiH portions... 

1. Preheat the oven to 190 C/Fan. Grease a 24 cm round loose-based cake tin with a little oil and line the base with baking parchment. Peel the carrots and grate then with a medium-fine grater - you should have about 200 g of grated carrot. 

2. Beat the eggs in a large bowl with a large metal whisk. Add the sunflower oil and sugar and whisk until well-combined. Stir in the grated carrot, then add the flour, sultanas, orange zest, spices and baking powder. Stir together until just combined. Pour into the prepared cake tin and smooth the surface. 

3. Bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the cake is well risen and feels springy to the touch. It should be just beginning to shrink back from the sides of the tin. Leave to coll in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out and remove the lining paper. Leave to cool fully on a wire rack then transfer to a serving plate. 

4. Sift the icing sugar over the cake and scatter grated or pared orange zest on top. This cake should keep well in the fridge for up to 3 days. 

I may have been heavy handed with the icing sugar.. purely for the picture

It does taste like it a healthier version of a carrot cake - not as ... greasy. It is light and airy, and still very much moist. I may add another carrot next time. I love the icing sugar instead of a creamy topping (but that is probably more of a personal topping dislike). 

Any diet recipe book or recipe you would recommend? If Mr MiH approves it, it may be featured next on the blog...

Double choc {Recipe}

So here we are, I have started the post-baby diet (I stopped breastfeeding over the weekend - it became a very frustrating exercise for both parties involved). And yes my first recipe involves double chocolate - I cannot follow a diet that would not allow me treats - it may take longer to lose the weight but no one wants to live with me if I cannot eat. 

So although you can see 3 little cakes on the pictures, I am really only allowed one according to the number of points (I think you probably know which diet I am following now). 

I was not sure whether this recipe would make it onto the blog - were the cakes going to be nice enough? Will they taste like diet cakes, or proper cakes? You never know, do you? 

But they are really nice - moist, gooey, very chocolatey - and they are big enough that I can stop at eating one (on a good day) - I have found in the past that although the recipes are good, the portions are really too small for me to enjoy them. 

Here is the recipe (I made 16 in my mince pie baking tray, the recipe states 15) - 3 points for said diet. 

What do you need? 

125g low fat spread
75g light brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
110g flour
20g cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
30g milk chocolate, chopped

1. Beat together the spread and sugar until smooth. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and whisk until combined. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder over and mix to a smooth dough. Stir in the chopped chocolate. Cover and chill for 30 minutes. 

2. Heat the over to gas mark 6/200C/fan 180. Spoon dollops in a mince pie baking tray so they spread evenly, and bake for 8-10 minutes or until spread, risen and beginning to brown around the edge. Leave on the tray to cool for 5 mintues before transferring to a wire rack. 

You can store them in an airtight container for up to 2 days. 

The cakes have now been approved by very skinny Mr MiH (did I mention that he eats a bag of peanuts every night - he calls being supportive, he eats it so I don't... right..) - so you can safely do it and enjoy it!