Guilt Free Goodies – a review

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Dr Nancy P

I had the great pleasure this week of being sent a beautiful box of treats from Guilt Free Goodies.

This UK, home-based business is run by Natasha and her partner, who produce homemade, all natural, healthy goodies – from granolas, nut butters to delicious treats and cakes. They’re perfect for anyone looking for dairy-free treats, diabetics and those wanting refined sugar-free treats (only natural sweeteners are used) or following the “paleo” diet. They’re also great for anyone who’s just health conscious and wants to watch what they eat. They can also make most of their products (granola, bites, energy balls and butters) suitable for vegans (some products do contain egg or honey).

I was sent this delightful selection of:

Peanut butter surprise muffin

Cashew butter, coconut and blueberry energy balls

Honey and peanut granola

Salted caramel almond bites

The first thing I noticed is how lovely the packaging was – all the items are beautifully packaged with lovely little touches like the handwritten notes. They’re also really securely packaged so nothing was damaged in transit.

As instructed I popped the almond bites in the freezer (top tip – highly recommended!) and the first item I tucked in to was the cashew, coconut and blueberry energy balls. After a busy morning teaching spin and bodypump I was famished and needed something quick to munch on. These really hit the spot – full of goodness and flavour. Really satisfying and tasty too – not too sweet but sweet enough to satisfy 🙂

Later that afternoon I was in dire need of a boost so thought I’d try the granola next – I served it with some homemade compote from my friend Colette and a big dollop of soya yoghurt.

It was absolutely divine – crunchy and crisp with a great mix of nut and fruit. The sweetness wasn’t overpowering either which was great. I had to eek it out as otherwise I’d have eaten it all in one go! As it’s full of good fats (from the nuts) it really sustained me for my evening classes which is exactly what I needed. This would be just as good served with a little almond milk or yoghurt for brekkie, or as a decadent treat you could serve it with some coconut yoghurt or ice cream for dessert! Yum!

I saved the muffin for a mid-morning snack with a cuppa. This was a really nice treat. Now it’s not like a traditional muffin so don’t be surprised. It’s a lot smaller but it’s also much denser. I really like this about it – it’s moist and squishy (in a good way!) and although small it’s exactly the right amount for a snack. I loved the peanut butter in the middle of this one. The nice thing about these muffins is that they really fill you up in a way traditional muffins just don’t.

I saved the best until last – the almond bites. I was most excited about these – they looked delicious and I’m such a sucker for anything almond-based so I had high hopes.

I was not disappointed in the slightest. These were so good! They’re definitely best out the freezer – the base goes all crispy and the caramel stays soft. The combination of the caramel, a whole almond in the middle (!), and lovely chocolate on the top is just fab!

So all in all I was really impressed with all these products. They certainly live up to their reputation and satisfy your cravings without ruining any of your hard work!

I just love that this is a home-run business, run by someone who clearly puts their heart and soul in to their products. I’d definitely recommend them so do go and try them. You can also buy hampers or sample boxes and they’d make great gifts for the health foodlovers in your life. I’m really looking forward to ordering some of Natasha’s other products now – especially the loaf cakes and nut butters! 🙂

You can find out more about the products and place orders from their facebook page – here: Guilt Free Goodies or their new online shop here: Guilt Free Goodies Eshop.

Do check them out! and if you do let me know what you think 🙂

Blackberry and cinnamon cakes with blackberry and mint swirled cashew cream!

Posted on August 19, 2014 by Dr Nancy P

I managed to get a mahoosive haul of wild blackberries last weekend so decided I’d better find some ways to use them! I fancied a light, muffin/fairy cake kinda thing for tea so came up with this little beauty. They’re delicious on their own, but if you want something a bit special then serve them with this blackberry and mint swirled cashew cream for a bit of afternoon tea!

For the cakes you will need:

1 cup of non-dairy Milk
1 tsp Cider apple vinegar
1 1/4 cups Gluten-free flour or Spelt flour
2 Tbsp Cornflour
3/4 cup Raw unrefined sugar/ coconut palm sugar
3/4 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp Himalayan rock salt
1/3 cup Olive oil
2 1/4 tsp Vanilla extract
1 tsp ground Cinnamon
Blackberries – couple of handfuls (depending how large they are!)

For the cashew cream you will need:

A cup of cashew nuts (or however many you want to use!)
Some water
maple syrup/agave syrup/rice malt syrup (optional – to taste)
handful of Blackberries
handful of fresh Mint leaves
A blender/ vitamix

Soak the cashews overnight in water (so that they are well covered).

To make the cakes:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Put the milk and vinegar together in bowl and whisk together, then leave to curdle for a few minutes. Add the milk mixture, oil, sugar and vanilla extract to a large bowl and mix together. Sieve the flour, cornflour, cinnamon, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into the liquid mixture and stir well until no large lumps remain. Gently stir the blackberries in to the mix. Pour into cupcake liners in a muffin pan – this should make approximately 15 cakes. Make sure the blackberries are covered with batter (you may need to just gently push them down).

Place in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Once done place on a wire rack to cool.

To make the cashew cream

Drain and rinse the soaked cashews and then pop them in to the blender. Start by adding about half as much water as cashews to the blender and give it a blitz. Continue adding water until the cashews are smooth and you have the consistence of cream that you want – less water, thicker cream! If you want to add some sweetness add your choice of liquid sweetener to taste.

Smoosh the blackberries up a little bit with the back of a knife, and chop the mint finely. Stir it in to the cream and adjust quantities to taste.

Serve your cakes with a big dollop of the cream and a sprig of mint!

Cashew Cream

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Dr Nancy P

I can’t believe I’ve waited this long to try making cashew cream! Thank you to my good friend Colette over at Colette’s Fitness Kitchen for the inspiration 🙂

This is super easy. You will need:

A cup of cashew nuts (or however many you want to use!)

Some water

maple syrup/agave syrup/rice malt syrup (optional – to taste)

A blender/ vitamix

Soak the cashews overnight in water (so that they are well covered).

Drain and rinse them and then pop them in to the blender. Start by adding about half as much water as cashews to the blender and give it a blitz. Continue adding water until the cashews are smooth and you have the consistence of cream that you want – less water, thicker cream! If you want to add some sweetness add your choice of liquid sweetner to taste. That’s it! Easy! 🙂

Chocolate Cherry Brownies – gluten and dairy free

Posted on August 10, 2014 by Dr Nancy P

My hubby and I had a rare evening out last night with some very good friends to go and watch “Dirty Dancing” at the open air cinema. Tasked with providing dessert I decided I’d go for some good old chocolately goodness and whip up a new version of my brownies for us to munch on whilst watching the film… They’re almost as tasty as Patrick Swayze 😉

The sweet-sour of the cherries works so well to balance out the rich chocolate in these and they’re brilliant served with berries and some cashew cream (recipe here) for a decadent (but not too bad for you) dessert.

You will need:

1/4 cup Rice flour

1/2 cup Ground almonds

1 cup unrefined Raw sugar (golden caster sugar, coconut sugar etc)

1/2 cup almond oil (or coconut oil)

1/4 cup raw Cacoa powder

2 tbsp chia seeds soaked in 6 tbsp water

1/2 tsp Himalayan rock salt

1/4 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp Vanilla extract

100g dried Cherries

Dairy free chocolate (I use Willie’s cacao drops) – about a handful (approx 100g)

For Icing

100g Dairy free chocolate (again I use Willie’s cacao drops)

100 – 200g Unrefined icing sugar (adjust quantity to depending how runny you want your icing)

Freeze dried Cherries to decorate

Preheat the oven to 170C and grease a 20 x 20cm square baking pan with parchment paper.

Mix the ground almonds, flour, cacao powder, sugar, salt and bicarbonate of soda together in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl soak the chia seeds in the water. Once the chia seeds have absorbed all the water add them to the mix along with the vanilla extract, and oil. Whisk together using a hand mixer until well mixed. It should be thick and glossy when mixed.

Stir in the chocolate and cherries (cut them in half if they are large). Pour in to the baking tin and place in the oven for 25 – 30 mins until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack

Then prepare the icing. Melt the chocolate and then stir in the icing sugar a little at a time until you get the consistency you want. Spread quickly on to the brownies and sprinkle the freeze dried cherries and any other decorations you want to use on to the top!

Then enjoy (preferably with a side helping of Patrick Swayze 😉 )

Guilt-free Chocolate cake (with beetroot!)

Posted on July 17, 2014 by Dr Nancy P

You can’t beat a good chocolate cake and this is definitely a good chocolate cake! It’s totally vegan and totally yummy! This was inspired by a delicious cake my friend Vicky made so I thought I’d have a go at veganising and gluten-freeing it! 🙂

You will need:

250g cooked Beetroot

250g unrefined Raw sugar (coconut palm sugar etc)

190g self-raising gluten free Flour

60g raw Cacao powder

1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

3 tbsp Chia seeds soaked in 9 tbsp water

180 ml Almond oil (or other non flavoured oil)

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 tsp Chocolate extract (or extra Vanilla if you don’t have this)

Preheat the oven to 170 C. Lightly grease a 23 cm diameter cake tine.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cacoa and bicarbonate of soda. Then stir in the sugar. Pop the cooked beetroot in to a food processor and blend until smooth. Place this in to a sieve over another bowl and push out any juices with the back of a spoon. You don’t need the juice for this recipe but don’t bin it – you can throw it in to a smoothie 🙂

Put the beetroot pulp back in to the processor and then turn on the motor and add the soaked chia seeds, vanilla and chocolate extract (if using) and then slowly pour in the oil.

Mix until well blended. Make a well in the centre of the flour mix and add the beetroot mixture. Gently fold together with a large spoon. Pour the mixture in to the cake tin and place in the oven for 35 -40 mins (or until a skewer comes out clean). Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 – 10 mins in the tin, then remove and place on a wire rack to cool.

Then enjoy with a cup of tea (and maybe a cat)! 🙂

Chocolate hazelnut cherry loaves

Posted on July 13, 2014 by Dr Nancy P

Fresh out the oven!

Chocolate hazelnut cherry loaves – vegan and low in gluten (or gluten free if you want 🙂 ). I used the same recipe as my usual choc cherry loaves but used chunky hazelnut butter instead of almond butter and it’s divine!

Yum!

Fruity Raw Chocs

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Dr Nancy P

As you’ll know from my recent raw choc recipes (see here and here) I’ve been having loads of fun playing around with my raw choc and raw white choc recipes, and my collection of freeze-dried fruit powders. The results were awesome!

The fruit powders work brilliantly with both the dark and white raw choc and they add an amazing tartness and freshness to the chocs. They also make the white chocs look very pretty 🙂 (I get my fruit powders online from here)

You can make solid chocs of one flavour or you can use the flavoured white chocolate to add colour and patterns to dark chocs. They come out looking amazing! If you are very clever (and more patient than I am 😉 ) you can add different colours to different parts of your mould to highlight certain details 🙂 The world is your chocolate box! Warning though – if you’re anything like me your entire kitchen will be covered in raw choc when you’re done! Is it wrong that I considered licking it up to clean it….. (don’t judge me 😉 )

Now I couldn’t decide which of my freeze-dried fruit powders to use so I used them all (separately!). I think my favourite were raspberry, passion fruit and cranberry – I love the tartness of them 🙂

So all you need for the dark chocs is:

1 cup Cacao butter (melted)

1 cup Raw Cocoa powder

1/3 Cup Maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener)

Freeze-dried fruit powder of your choice – approx 1 tsp – adjust to taste

For the white choc you need:

1/4 cup melted Cacao butter

1 tbsp Cashew butter

1 tsp dry dairy-free milk powder – rice, coconut or soya milk powder (This is optional but it makes the chocolate creamier so is worth it if you can find it)

1 tbsp unrefined raw Icing sugar (adjust to taste)

1/4 tsp Vanilla extract

Freeze-dried fruit powder of your choice – approx 1 tsp – adjust to taste

The method is the same for both – melt the cacao butter and then stir in all the other ingredients. Mix well.

Now for the fun! and mess…. You can do whatever you like! I made a load of small quantities of chocolate of various flavours. Then I filled some moulds full of that flavour which worked well. Then I had some fun….. either carefully dribbling one flavour in to the mould or liberally splashing it around to create a beautiful marble effect. Splash one flavour at a time, then pop in the fridge to set before doing the next.

Place in the fridge between each one until you’re finished. Allow to set properly in the fridge and store in there until you want to eat them!

Dairy Free Raw White Chocolate!

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Dr Nancy P

I’ve been meaning to post this recipe for a while now. White chocolate is one thing that’s pretty hard to come by if you’re trying to avoid dairy so I wanted to come up with an easy to make alternative and I think I’ve found it!

I made some plain white choc ones, some mixed with dark raw choc and for some I added some freeze-dried raspberry powder to give a yummy raspberry choc!

If you have some interesting chocolate or ice moulds you can have some fun with a mix of white and dark raw chocolate (see recipe for raw chocolate here)

You will need:

1/4 cup melted Cacao butter

1 tbsp Cashew butter

1 tsp dry dairy-free milk powder – rice, coconut or soya milk powder (This is optional but it makes the chocolate creamier so is worth it if you can find it)

1 tbsp unrefined raw Icing sugar (adjust to taste)

1/4 tsp Vanilla extract

Optional – (Freeze-dried raspberry powder – approx 1 tsp – adjust to taste)

Melt the Cacao butter and then stir in all the other ingredients. Mix well and then pour in to moulds. Pop in the fridge until set. Enjoy!

Blueberry and Lemon Curd with a surprise ingredient – dairy and egg free!

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Dr Nancy P

My lemon curd recipe (here) has gone down a storm so I thought I’d have a little go at some more curd! I’ve had some blueberries in my freezer for the last few months waiting to be used for something so I decided a blueberry and lemon curd was the one to try!

This curd is lovely! It’s especially yummy smothered on sourdough fruit toast 🙂

What’s this surprise ingredient then? Well it’s certainly not something you’d expect to find in a fruit curd! The problem with blueberries in baking is that they do tend to lose their flavour and I didn’t want to overpower them with the lemon. After a bit of research I discovered a nifty little trick to enhance the blueberry flavour; the addition of coriander seeds! Trust me you will not taste the coriander at all but it does bring out the blueberry flavour. This is because they both contain a similar compound so adding the coriander gives the blueberry flavour a real boost!

So you will need:

approx 400g Blueberries (don’t worry if you have a few more or less – it’s not critical)

1/2 cup Water

12 Coriander seeds ground (or a 1/4 tsp ready ground coriander)

Up to 1 cup of Lemon juice (see below) – I used 4 very large lemons

3/4 cup of unrefined raw Sugar (but adjust to taste)

10 tbsp Cornflour

zest of 2 – 3 Lemons

4 tbsp Dairy-free margarine

12 tbsp Coconut milk (or other non dairy milk – almond milk or soya milk will also work)

Pop the blueberries in to a saucepan with the water and heat gently until the blueberries are softened.

While the blueberries are softening you can juice and zest your lemons. You only need the zest from 2 – 3 lemons but it’s worth zesting all of them and keeping the remaining zest in the freezer to use in other recipes later.

Once the blueberries have softened add the ground coriander seed, stir well and heat for a further 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and pass the blueberries through a sieve. Use a wooden spoon to push as much through the sieve as you can. You will be left with a small amount of skin and pulp. Save this and use it in a smoothie! 🙂

Measure your blueberry juice out – you need a total amount of liquid of 3 cups. The blueberry juice will be about 2 cups or so, so make it up to 3 cups with the lemon juice. Place it all in to a cold saucepan. Add the cornstarch and whisk to dissolve. Add half the sugar and turn on the heat. Continue to whisk as you bring the mixture to a boil slowly. Taste as you go and add more sugar until you get to a sweetness that suits you. Once boiling allow it to boil gently for one minute without stirring.

Add the rest of the ingredients, whisking the whole time, and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, pour into a bowl or jars and allow to cool. Place in the fridge once cooled. Then enjoy! 🙂

Chocolate Coconut Treats

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Dr Nancy P

This is a super simple Easter recipe for some yummy little melt in the mouth coconut chocolate bites. In fact it’s not really a recipe at all it’s so simple! 🙂

All you need is some of this wonderful stuff – Artisana Cacao Bliss. It’s just chocolate coconut butter, made from coconut flesh (not the coconut oil).

If you can’t find this then you can use the normal Artisana Coconut Butter and just add raw cocoa powder to it (to taste).

All you need to do is melt the coconut butter in a pan on a very low heat. I like this just the way it is but if it isn’t sweet enough for you then you can add some maple syrup to taste. Once it’s melted all you need to do is pour in to moulds – egg shaped or otherwise! Pop in the fridge for 20 mins to set. If you’re doing eggs remove from the fridge and mould. Warm the back of the eggs using a hair dryer or a warmed spoon just to melt it slightly, then press 2 halves together. Place back in the fridge for a few mins.

Enjoy!

Pure and Simple Bakes

delicious, healthy, vegan friendly, low gluten bakes – have your cake and eat it!

Guilt Free Goodies – a review

Blackberry and cinnamon cakes with blackberry and mint swirled cashew cream!

Cashew Cream

Chocolate Cherry Brownies – gluten and dairy free

Guilt-free Chocolate cake (with beetroot!)

Chocolate hazelnut cherry loaves

Fruity Raw Chocs

Dairy Free Raw White Chocolate!

Blueberry and Lemon Curd with a surprise ingredient – dairy and egg free!

Chocolate Coconut Treats

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