Coconut Apple Bites – a delicious alternative to apple pie!


These are absolutely delicious – quick and easy to make and so much better than a slice of apple pie – but taste just as good – if not better!

IMG_1774

Depending on how large your apples are you may need more or less of the crust – you may just have to adjust. Don’t worry about having to buy oat flour – you can make your own – just pop some porridge oats in to a blender and blend until fine.

Here’s a video showing you exactly how to make them 🙂

You will need:

1 cup Oat flour

2 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Nutmeg

1/2 cup Desiccated coconut

4 tbsp Coconut syrup (I use Bali Nutra)

1 – 2 Apples (depending on size. I used Bramley’s)

Warm water – up to 4 tbsp

IMG_1775

Pre-heat the oven to 175 C.

Peel, core and dice your apples – you want chunks about an inch square. If you don’t want them to go brown you can pop them in cold water with some lemon/lime juice in. I don’t really mind if they go a little brown so I don’t bother.

Pop the oats and coconut in a bowl, mix the spices in and stir together. Add the coconut syrup and mix to form a dough. You need a workable but sticky dough so you may find you need to add a little water. I prefer not to add more coconut syrup as it gets too sweet but it’s up to you.

IMG_1776

Take a spoonful of the crust mixture and flatten in your hand. Pop a piece of apple in the middle and cover it in the crust dough.

IMG_1766

Pop on a lined baking tray. Once all the apples are covered pop in the oven for 10 – 15 mins – turning once. You want them to crisp up and go golden brown.

IMG_1778

Eat warm or allow to cool and store in an airtight container for later.

IMG_1770

Advertisement

Amazing Protein-Packed Flapjacks – dairy and gluten free


I get hungry, especially after a workout and I love a good flapjack or energy bar but I hate the fact that so many of the store bought ones are just full of sugar. Many of the ‘healthier’ versions I’ve bought are tasteless and unappetising so last Saturday, after a full on day, I thought I’d create some homemade protein flapjacks – full of good things!

image

I thought I’d do a little video to show you them in the flesh – so here goes:

and the finished product:

image

These don’t take long to put together and you can always substitute things if you don’t have them in the cupboard or don’t like them.

image

You will need:

300g rolled porridge oats (gluten-free or spelt if you want)

100g desiccated coconut

100g flaked almonds

100g Pumpkin seeds

215g dried, soft Prunes

315g dried dates

175g Almond butter (or your nut butter of choice)

100g Liquid sweetener (I used rice malt syrup but you can use agave, maple syrup, honey etc)

2 tbsp Coconut oil (measured when solid)

4 tbsp Vanilla protein powder (any brand you like – or you can also omit this)

4 tbsp Water

2 generous tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Salt

Preheat the oven to 170 C.

Line a baking tin (I used a 20 x 20cm one) with baking paper. Mix the oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds and coconut together and pour into the baking tin. Place in the oven for 20 mins or until starting to brown. Make sure you turn regularly with a wooden spoon so the whole mixture gets toasted.

While that’s in the oven pop the dates and prunes into a blender or food processor and blitz to a paste. You may need to keep stopping to scrape the mixture back down in to the bowl. It doesn’t need to be completely smooth – a few lumpy bits are good!

Remove the oats from the oven and stir the protein powder through the mixture. Allow to cool.

Put the date mixture, nut butter, liquid sweetener, coconut oil, water, cinnamon and salt in to a large saucepan and heat very gently. Stir and allow the mixture to come together. Remove from the heat and pour the oats into the liquid mixture and mix really well.

Using a spatula scrape the mixture back into the lined baking tin and press down firmly. Then allow to cool and pop in the fridge. Do make sure you lick the saucepan (once it’s cool enough!!!) because the mixture is divine when warm! 🙂

Once it’s chilled you can cut in to slices. It makes the perfect post workout snack on the go and is great to pop in to lunchboxes too!

image

Apple, Date and Coconut Granola – sugar-free!


Why waste your money on nasty, sugar-filled shop-bought granola when you can make your own! This is divine and uses only fruit sugars so there’s no added sugar of any type at all!

If you are a cinnamon fan I highly recommend adding a generous few teaspoons in to this mix as well! Nom nom nom! 🙂

015be19ffb427a64a26814cfa1bac83ebaf86cbfd2

2 cups Spelt porridge oats (or normal oats if you prefer)

1 cup Almonds

1/2 cup Pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup Sunflower seeds

1/4 cup Chia seeds

1/4 cup Flax seeds (Linseed)

1/2 cup Desiccated coconut

1/2 cup dried Fruit (I used a mix of different raisins)

1 cup chopped Dates

1 cup Apple purée (recipe here)

Preheat the oven to 200 C

Add all the ingredients except the apple purée to a large bowl and mix well together. Add the apple purée and make sure everything is well coated. Then transfer to a large roasting dish and pop in the oven.

01fa452a3e9dc432dd5a5f8fb4f1b360f251879629

 

Check after 10 minutes and turn. Keep checking after that every 5 minutes and ensure it isn’t burning. The apple purée makes this quite moist so you need to let it roast for as long as possible. Once the oats and nuts have browned turn the oven off and leave the granola in there while the oven cools to further dry it out. Make sure it is completely dry before you remove (if not just roast a bit longer!).

Store in an airtight container and it will last for weeks (unless you’re like me in which case it will last days as you won’t be able to stop eating it! 🙂 )

Then enjoy with some soya yoghurt and compote for brekkie! 🙂

015e4b9135e321a2ef75b0fa804019eeaebc66a241