Tag Archives: healthy snack

Spice up your summer! Chocolate chilli cookies (dairy free, low/no gluten)

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Chocolate and chilli – what better combination can there be?

I recently baked up another batch of these to welcome home a lovely friend from a trip away and they seemed to go down well so I thought I’d share! They were inspired by a chocolate cookie recipe I found years ago and modified but I can’t now find the original link – when I do I’ll add it! They’re quick and easy to make and taste divine! Oh, and a warning, they smell so good when cooking that it’s pretty hard not to eat them all right there and then!

Makes about 20 (depending how big you make them!)

You will need:

1 and 2/3 cups of white Spelt flour or a gluten-free blend
1/2 raw Cacao powder
1/2 cup Almond oil
1 cup Raw coconut sugar or other raw sugar
1/4 cup Maple syrup (the best quality you can get)
3 tbsp Almond milk (you could use soya or coconut milk too)
1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp hot Chilli powder (I used dried chillies, ground up – and they are hot!)
1/2 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp Himalayan rock salt
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 tsp Chocolate extract (optional – available from whole food stores, online, or Waitrose for those in the UK)

You will also need some cinnamon chocolate chilli sugar to coat them in 🙂 You can buy pre-mixed sugar, but I prefer to make my own. It’s easy! Just mix 100g sugar with 10g of cocoa powder, 2 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp chilli powder (or more if you want it hotter!). Adjust the amounts depending how much you need but keep them in those ratios. Make up a batch and keep it in an airtight jar. Just shake before use as the sugar tends to sink to the bottom, leaving the lighter cocoa etc at the top.

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease and line a baking tray (or 2!).

Put the oil, sugar, maple syrup and milk in a bowl and mix together using a fork. Add in the vanilla extract and mix well. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl and sieve in to the wet ingredients. Mix until you have a dough. The dough will be quite moist and sticky.

Put the cinnamon chocolate chilli sugar on a plate. Take small, walnut sized, balls of the dough and pat into the topping sugar to make discs about 2 inches across. Make sure they are well covered in sugar. Put them on to the baking tray with the sugar facing up. Cook for 10 – 12 minutes until they are crackly on the top and have spread a little. Allow to cool on the baking tray for 5 mins then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy! :)

Ninjabread men! Chocolate, cherry and ginger dairy free biscuits

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Gosh it’s been a long time since i’ve had time to bake – sorry! Real life has got in the way (in good and bad ways!), but oh how i’ve missed it!

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Thankfully I had an excuse to bake again 🙂 yippee! I wanted to make something yummy to celebrate (or rather commiserate) the last body combat class with a very special friend of mine. What better way to mark the occasion than by baking some funky little Ninjabread men! I used ginger, dark chocolate and dried cherries in mine but you could flavour the biscuits any way you like 🙂

For the biscuits you need:

2 cups Spelt flour or gluten-free flour mix

1 cups Unrefined Icing sugar

6 oz Dairy-free margarine (get the best quality you can)

2 tsp ground Ginger

handful of chopped dried Cherries

handful of dairy free chocolate (I used Willie’s chef’s drops)

Ninja cutters (available online) or just use normal ginger bread man cutters 🙂

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C. Put the margarine in a large mixing bowl, sieve the flour, icing sugar and ground ginger in and cream it together. Try not to over mix but make sure the margarine is properly mixed with the dry ingredients. Add the cherries and chocolate and combine well. Once it’s formed a dough wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins. If you find the dough is too sticky then add some more flour.

Once chilled, roll out and use the biscuit cutter to cut out your little ninjas. Use a palate knife to transfer them carefully to a greased baking tray. Sprinkle with a little raw sugar if you like and bake for 8 – 10 mins, or until golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray.

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Decoration

Once the biscuits are cool you can have some fun! I used a variety of ninja designs. For the dark icing you can get black food colouring or use melted dark chocolate. Unleash your best ninja using skills!! 🙂

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Healthy, sugar-free ice lollies

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Now that the sun is finally shining here I fancied something cold and yummy, so I thought I’d make these up again 🙂 The original recipe was one I posted on Colette’s fitness kitchen, but here it is again 🙂

Cool off with one of these delicious lollies

In the hot weather everyone fancies an ice cream so why not whip up one of these delicious, healthy versions to get you through those warm afternoons.

Pineapple Bliss Lolly

3 Bananas
1/3 Pineapple
1 Apple (or an equivalent amount of fresh apple juice)
Coconut milk (adjust quantity to suit taste and consistency)
Handful of fresh Mint leaves

Put all the ingredients in a blender apart from the mint. Blend until smooth. Chop the mint leaves and add to the mix. Stir well then put into lolly moulds and freeze. The coconut milk adds a lovely creaminess to this, but if you want something even more ice cream like then add in a scoop of vanilla Pure Protein Powder – divine!

Berrytastic Lolly

1 Banana
1 Apple (or equivalent amount of juice)
Handful of Grapes (8 – 10)
4 – 6 Strawberries
4 – 6 Blackberries
4 – 6 Raspberries
20 – 30 Blackcurrants

Put all the ingredients in a blender (you can add whatever fruits you have to this) and blend until smooth. If you want something a bit creamier add some coconut milk or vanilla Pure Protein Powder, and for an added health boost add in the contents of 1 – 3 Acai Berry Plus capsules and some Organic Green Power Powder – yum!

Pour into lolly moulds and freeze! Then go and enjoy the sunshine 🙂

An array of Easter Biscuits!

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I couldn’t let the day pass without whipping up some tasty treats! These are fun spicy Easter and spring biccies that are great fun to make, and eat! Perfect holiday activity for the kids too!

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The icing is flavoured with either lemon, fresh raspberry or fresh blueberries.

For the biscuits you need:

2 cups gluten free or spelt flour

1 cup raw Icing sugar

6 oz Dairy free spread

2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

1/2 tsp Cloves

For decoration:

Raw coconut palm sugar

Cinnamon and chilli sugar (see here)

Currants

Raw Icing sugar

Lemon juice, raspberries and blueberries

Sugar balls etc

Preheat the oven to 175 C. Mix all the biscuit ingredients together in a bowl – ensuring the spread is well combined with the flour an sugar. Once it forms a dough pop it in the fridge for 30 mins if you have time. Remove and roll out. Use whatever shaped cutters you like to it your biscuit shapes and transfer to a baking tray.

If you are using currants for bunny eyes and noses then add those now. Sprinkle with raw coconut sugar and cinnamon and chilli sugar. Place in the oven and cook for 8 – 12 mins or until golden. Remove and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Once cool you can ice the biscuits. Mix up your icing powder with lemon juice or fresh raspberries or blueberries and then spread on the biscuits. Add sugar decorations if you like. Allow to set and then eat!

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Better buns! Hot cross fun :)

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With Easter fast approaching I thought I would re-post my hot cross bun recipes from last year. One is gluten-free, the other is the same recipe but using spelt flour.

The first recipe I posted for these buns last year was for both dairy-free, gluten free hot cross buns. The taste was spot on but they were a little dense for my liking so I had a go at a second recipe with spelt flour and wow, what an improvement! They’re not gluten-free, but they are low gluten and spelt flour is often tolerated much better by people with gluten intolerance than normal flour so they’re not awful 🙂 .

The original recipe is below and for the “tweaked” version, I just used white spelt flour, instead of the rice flour, corn flour and xanthan gum and upped the yeast a bit…and….. we have… yummy buns! 🙂 woohoo! 🙂

If you want to stick to gluten free though – the original recipe isn’t half bad! 🙂

If you like it you can use candied peel instead of the orange and lemon zest (I’m not a candied peel fan myself which is why I haven’t used it). These are a little dense but being a little dense isn’t too much of a bad thing – I still manage to devour loads of them in one sitting! 🙂

150g Cornflour

100g Rice flour

1.5 tsp Dried yeast

0.5 tsp Xanthan gum

2.5 tbsp Coconut palm sugar / unrefined raw sugar

0.5 tsp Himalayan rock salt

1 tsp Mixed spice

0.25 tsp Ground cinnamon

Zest of 1 lemon

Zest of 1 orange

50g  Olive oil

225 ml Warm water

100g Raisins / currants

For the Cross (optional)

4 tbsps Rice flour

1.5 tsps Cornflour

pinch of Xanthan gum

1.5 tbsps Coconut palm sugar/ unrefined raw sugar

enough water to make a pipeable paste

For the glaze: 3-4 tbsps Golden syrup

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Put the flours, yeast, xantham gum, spices, sugar, salt and orange and lemon zest into a bowl and mix well. Next add the oil and then start to add the water gradually, mixing as you go using a wooden spoon. The mix will have the consistency of a cake batter. Beat until all the lumps are gone. Finally stir in the raisons/currants. Scrape the mixture into the centre of the bowl and cover with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for approximately 10 mins. It won’t rise dramatically but it will bulk up a bit.

The proof is in the pudding…. or the hot cross bun dough!

While you wait you can make the dough for the cross. Put the flours, sugar and xantham gum into a small bowl and add enough water and mix to make a pipeable paste. Put this mixture into a piping bag, or if like me you don’t have one just pop it in a small plastic sandwich bag and then cut off the corner to pipe through.

After the dough has sat for 10 mins spoon it out onto a baking tray. Try to give your buns as much height as possible when you put the dough out. Pipe the white cross over them. Cover the tray loosely with clingfilm and leave to prove in a warm place for another 5 mins.

Place then in the oven for 10 – 15 mins. Check them regularly – the tops should start to brown and they should sound hollow when tapped on the base! Once done remove from the oven and allow to cool. If you want to glaze them then gently warm the golden syrup and then paint over the top while the buns are cooling (warning it makes them deliciously sticky!).  Allow to cool.

These are definitely best eaten warmed or toasted with some lovely home-made jam! 🙂

Chunky Chilli Chocolate Cherry mini fingers and loaves

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I thought I’d mix things up a bit with a modified version of my yummy chunky cherry loaves. These have a delicious hit of chilli and a sneaky bit of cinnamon too. I happened to get a new mini mini loaf tin so made some chunky chilli chocolate cherry fingers as well as loaves!

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I used some chilli and chocolate infused sugar for this recipe. You can buy this ready mixed or you could easily make it yourself  – it’s simply a mix of sugar, cocoa powder, chilli powder and cinnamon. Mix 100g sugar with 10g of cocoa powder, 2 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp chilli powder (or more if you want it hotter!). Adjust the amounts depending how much you need but keep them in those ratios 🙂

For the loaves/fingers you will need:

1/2 cup Apple puree

1/4 cup Almond butter

1/3 cup Cocoa powder

1/3 cup Almond milk/soya milk/any non-dairy milk

1/3 cup + 2 tbsp boiling water

3/4 cup Chilli and chocolate infused sugar (plus extra to sprinkle on the top)

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 tsp Chocolate extract (if you don’t have this then use another tsp vanilla extract)

1/8 tsp Almond extract

1 1/2 cups Gluten-free flour mix (or spelt flour if you’re not worried about gluten-free)

3/4 tsp Bicarbonate soda

3/4 tsp Himalayan rock salt

1 tsp chilli flakes (adjust to taste)

4 oz Chocolate chopped into chunks (I used Willie’s chocolate for this)

1 cup chopped Sweet cherries

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Preheat oven to 175 C and boil the kettle (no, not for tea – though that wouldn’t hurt!).

Put the apple, almond butter, milk and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl. Add 1/3 cup boiling water and mix quickly with a fork to make a thick chocolate sauce. Add the sugar and extracts and mix well. Sieve half the flour, bicarbonate soda and salt into the mix and mix gently. Add 1 tbsp boiling water and mix again. Add the rest of the flour mixture and another tbsp boiling water and stir until smooth. Go gently – don’t over mix. Add the chilli flakes and adjust to taste – if you want it with a bit more of a hit add more! Finally add the chocolate chunks and cherries and fold in to the mixture.

Pour into the tins  (this recipe will give approx 8 – 9 tins) or if you have a mini mini loaf/finger tin then use that. Put in the oven for 10 – 25 mins (if making fingers you will need to start checking them after 10 mins as they’re so much smaller).

Check they’re done by sticking a skewer in the centre, if it comes out clean they’re done (bear in mind you may hit a cherry or chocolate when you do this so you’re looking for a lack of cake dough on the skewer – chocolate or cherry juice is fine!). Allow to cool in the tins for 10 mins then take out of the tins and cool on a wire rack. They really need to be eaten warm so the chocolate is all melty! :) Yum Yum Yum! :) 1567

Dark chocolate cherry cookies (dairy and gluten free! :) )

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You’d think I’d be bored of biscuits by now …but no, I just keep thinking of new scrummy flavour combos! Today it’s dark choc and cherry – a winning combination. The tartness of the cherries works so well with the rich, dark chocolate 🙂

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These use the same basic ingredients as my choc and ginger biccies but just replace the ginger with a handful of dried cherries! Simple! 🙂

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Yummy mummy! Dark choc and ginger cookies (low gluten and dairy free!)

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You may have noticed a certain penchant for cookies and biscuits lately? what can i say? I just love this simple recipe and how easy it is to customise it with whatever flavours you like 🙂

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So this weekend Mother’s Day and the return of my lovely friend from holiday inspired me to bake some more biscuits for both of them 🙂 Both are fans of the combo of ginger and dark chocolate and they work brilliantly with these cookies. I also had some fun with a cool set of letter cutters (I’m such a child!).

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You will need:

2 cups Spelt flour or gluten-free flour mix

1 cup Unrefined Icing sugar

6 oz Dairy-free margarine (get the best quality you can)

A handful of crystallised ginger

A handful of dairy free chocolate (I used Willie’s chef’s drops)

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Pre-heat the oven to 180 C. Put the margarine in a large mixing bowl, sieve the flour and icing sugar in and cream it together. Try not to over mix but make sure the margarine is properly mixed with the dry ingredients. Chop the ginger and chocolate into small pieces and add to the mix. Once it’s formed a dough wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins (optional). If you find the dough is too sticky then add some more flour.

Roll the dough out and use cutters to cut your biscuit shapes and transfer to a greased baking tray. I found that this dough worked best as a thick biscuit (about half a cm). If you don’t want to roll it then take small balls and flatten on to the baking tray. Bake in the oven for 10 – 12 mins or until as brown as you like them (I like my biscuits bordering on burnt so I kept them in a little longer! 🙂 ).

If you have some letter cutters (or you’re handy with a knife and can freehand them) then you can have fun spelling stuff in biscuit form! 😉

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Lemon Drop Shortbread Biscuits (gluten and dairy free and oh so yummy!)

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As we move from winter in to spring my thoughts turn to lighter bakes and lemon always features highly in my list of spring and summer baking yumminess!Once again this is the result of a little seed planted in my head by my good friend Colette (anyone would think she had a bit of a thing for these biscuit recipes… 😉 ).

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This is super-easy and fun – perfect to make for the kids and can be done pretty quickly after school or on a sunday afternoon. Equally yummy for adults too though! 🙂

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You will need:

2 cups Spelt flour or gluten-free flour mix

1 cup Unrefined Icing sugar

6 oz Dairy-free margarine (get the best quality you can)

zest of 2 small Lemons

1 tbsp fresh Lemon juice

Dairy- free (or non dairy free if you want!) Lemon curd – it will depend how much you use but less than half a jar should do it 🙂

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C. Put the margarine in a large mixing bowl, sieve the flour and icing sugar in and cream it together. Try not to over mix but make sure the margarine is properly mixed with the dry ingredients. Add the zest and lemon juice and combine it well. Once it’s formed a dough wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins (optional). If you find the dough is too sticky then add some more flour.  Once chilled, make small balls of dough (approx 1 inch diameter) and pop them on a greased baking tray. Push them down to flatten them and use your thumb to create a deep hollow in the centre. Prick the bottom of the hollow with a fork.

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Bake for 8 minutes. Then remove from the oven and spoon in a small amount of lemon curd in to each hollow.

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Bake for a further 2 minutes or so, or until golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray. Be very careful when you remove them from the oven as the curd will be molten! Avoid the temptation to eat them straight away (trust me on this one!), just allow them to cool a little before you tuck in! 🙂

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Cherry, macadamia, coconut and white chocolate shortbread biscuit recipe :)

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Ok, I think I need new friends, or maybe I need ones that don’t have such great ideas…. Once again I find myself in my kitchen, baking biscuits at nearly 11pm….Definitely worth it though (thank you my lovely friend Colette from Colette’s Fitness Kitchen for planting yet another seed in my head for some scrummy biscuits!).

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So it’s the same biscuit recipe as before but this time I’ve added in:

approximately 100g Dried cherries

approximately 75g Macadamia nuts

100g of good quality white chocolate (omit this if you want it dairy free – or better yet replace with dairy free dark chocolate! yummo!)

a handful of dessicated coconut!

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Chop the cherries, nuts and chocolate fairly small and then add all of the ingredients in to the dough at the end and ensure they’re mixed well throughout. You can just make little round dollops of these, or you can roll them out (gently!) and use a cutter as I’ve done.

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They will be bit thicker so may need longer in the oven. Enjoy! 🙂

Oh and I should say… they are also yummy with the raspberry icing on…! 🙂

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