Apricot Surprise Muffins (Refined sugar free)

Hi All! I hope that you have enjoyed your weekend. I fit in a spot of shopping yesterday and got a couple of nice things. I managed to find a blouse for work and a striped dress from Valley Girl (gotta love cheap and cheerful). I don't expect these to last that long since they were really cheap, but they will be good for a season or so. I also got a nicer sweater for work from Farmers.

It is very hard to even imagine winter when it is still pretty consistently in the mid 20s up here in Auckland, but I don't want the colder weather to creep up on me and have nothing to wear for work!

I also got out for a bit of Mountain Biking yesterday evening. I'm still very much a beginner at this, and as a result my technique isn't that great. Because of this, I did take a bit of a journey off my bike and onto the ground. Ouch! Luckily I only have a couple of scrapes and bruises to show for this.

I realise that I have been a little bit slack with the recipes lately. It's not that I haven't been creating anything, but I just haven't been taking the time to photograph and document it. I promise to try harder in the future :)

As this week's focus for the 12-week challenge is cutting refined sugar for one day I thought that I should post a recipe that allows you to still enjoy sweet food without all of the refined sugars. I definitely have a sweet tooth, so anything that allows me to indulge in a healthier way is a winner in my book.

These muffins have been sweetened using brown rice syrup, as it doesn't play havoc with blood sugar like refined sugars do and it is a relatively natural alternative. If you don't have access to brown rice syrup, I definitely think that these muffins would work with honey. If you do try let me know! These muffins also feel a bit more like a treat thanks to the creamy 'surprise' that they have in the middle.

Enjoy xx

(Makes 12 regular-sized muffins)

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup wholemeal flour (you could use all wholemeal but they will be stodgier)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
3/4 cup brown rice syrup
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup cream cheese
1 tsp brown rice syrup

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. and line a muffin tin.

In a large bowl, sift the flours, baking powder and baking soda. Stir through the dried apricots.

In a separate bowl, beat together the brown rice syrup, eggs and milk. Make a well in the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients, and fold together until just mixed.

In a small bowl, beat together the cream cheese and brown rice syrup.

Fill each muffin hole about 1/4 full with mixture, then add 1 tsp of cream cheese mixture. Fill each muffin hole evenly with the rest of the mixture.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the tops are golden and the top of the muffin springs back when gently pushed.

Eat within 1-2 days, or freeze for later.

GF Apple Crumble Muffins

I am so excited to share this recipe with you!! These muffins just ticked so many boxes.

First of all they are the first gluten free recipe that I have successfully developed (after a horrible, dry first attempt).

If you choose not to use the crumble topping, they are refined sugar free (they are just as delicious without)

They are nutritionally good enough for breakfast with fibre, protein and some fruit in there.

All of this and they got hungry male's seal of approval.

The only downside of these muffins........

..... They were all gone in less than 48 hours.

I suppose that just means that I will have to make some more. Since I am really busy at the moment that may be a bit of a challenge, but I have found that if I schedule in some baking time as 'me' time, I get yummy food and get to have some time to myself away from study.

These muffins use oat flour, which isn't readily available in New Zealand, but don't worry about that as it is ridiculously easy to make. I either make a big batch by whizzing up rolled oats in my food processor or to make smaller batches just throw some into the magic bullet. I have also made these muffins with apples, but tonight when i make them, I am going to try them with some peaches for a change. I will keep you posted on how they go.

Ingredients
1.5 cups oat flour
0.5 cups almond meal/flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup apple puree (I steamed 3 peeled green apples and then used my stick blender to puree.)
1 egg
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup butter, melted (Could use coconut oil to make dairy free)


1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup almond meal/flour
2 Tbsp oats

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease a muffin pan

In a large bowl, whisk together the oat flour, almond flour and baking powder and cinnamon.

Whisk together the apple puree, egg, honey and butter, then add to the dry ingredients.

Gently fold together until just mixed. Fill the muffin tins until 2/3 full.

In a small bowl, rub together the butter, sugar and almond flour and oats until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle the crumble topping on top of the muffins.

Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean (These muffins are very moist).

Leave to cool for 10 minutes before removing muffins from the tin.

Apricot Muffin Bars

Today's post is going to be on the subject of breakfast. I am a sit down and eat kind of breakfast girl. Oh and I must eat my breakfast. Those of you who know me know that I am not pretty without my breakfast! For me this means that I like to be able to eat something substantial in a bowl or plate.

However, as much as I do try to do this it is not always possible. My hair will not behave, I spent a little bit longer in the shower as it was so nice or warm, or I just got busy doing other things. Now like I said, not having breakfast just isn't an option for me so I find it really handy to have a couple of things in the freezer or pantry that I can just grab.

More recently, hungry male decided that he liked the convenience of grab and go breakfasts and the extra 5 minutes they gave him in the morning. His solution was just to grab a couple a muesli bars and while that's not the worst breakfast in the world, it could be a whole lot better. My concern is generally the amount of sugar in them.

Due to this I was inspired to make these muffin bars with no refined sugar in them. I initially made apricot ones as I knew that dried apricots would really help to sweeten them up, however, I am very keen to try them with some other dried fruits. I also amped up the nutrition of these bars by using oat flour instead of ordinary white flour.

Delicious, nutritious and so quick and easy. That's what I call a perfect breakfast on the run!

Ingredients
1 cup chopped, dried apricots
1 cup oat flour (grind oats in a food processor or magic bullet)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk (if needed)
1/4 cup reserved water from the apricots
1/4- 1/2 cup honey (this will depend on how sweet you want it)
1/4 cup dark chocolate chunks (optional)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Place the chopped apricots in a microwave safe bowl and cover with water. Cover with glad wrap and place in the microwave for 3-4 minutes or until the apricots are very soft. Drain the water, reserving 1/4 cup. Using a stick blender or potato masher, puree the apricots (stick blender works best).

In a large bowl, whisk together the oat flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder and baking soda and chocolate chunks if using. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, reserved apricot water, and honey. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold till just combined. If the mixture looks very dry add the 1/4 cup milk.

In a greased square cake tin (approx 20x20 cm), spoon in half the mixture and spread out as evenly as possible. Spread the pureed apricots on top followed by the other half of the mixture.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden on top and cooked through. Leave to cool then cut into 16 pieces (4x4).

NB: I haven't tried this with other tried fruit but it should work.

Best Cream Scones ever!!!

I'm all done with exams!! I had my final exam this afternoon, so now it is just a case of waiting for results.  I have the next three weeks or so and I am planning some pretty ambitious baking projects. I will share them with you in my next recipe list.

We have a bit of a snow storm planned for Dunedin starting tonight and going through till tomorrow. If this happens like it says it will this will be quite a novelty as we have already had one good dumping of snow at the end if may. As I had recently injured my ankle, I couldn't really enjoy the last snow day (ok so I do become a little bit of a kid in snow as we don't get a proper snow fall that often) so I will be definitely be having some fun this time. I am also planning on making my sister some cookies that she requested for her birthday.

Anyway on to this recipe. During my study on Sunday morning I took a break to make these scones as I had a family lunch to take them to. I found the scone recipe in a school cookbook and as they were called Meola's Cream Cloud Scones I was definitely wanting to try them. This recipe is different to the scone recipes that I have made in the past as it uses straight cream instead of butter (this does make sense as butter is just churned cream).

Now I don't believe in counting calories for myself, but out of curiousity I thought I would input these into a calculator. They weren't nearly as bad as I thought they would be coming out at 180 calories per scone (just in case you were interested).

The first time round I followed the recipe and used apricots and sultanas for the dried fruit component. They were absolutely delicious!! I loved the base recipe and was already thinking up lots of possible flavour combinations.

Initially I had planned lemon and pistachio ones, but when I went to buy pistachios they were $8.99 for 100g. There was absolutely no way I was paying that on my student budget so I had to rethink. While making something else I came across cranberries and white chocolate chips and had a wee lightbulb moment.

I am still dreaming of different flavour combinations (caramel and hazelnut sounds pretty dreamy but may have to be a dessert scone). I'll update this post of I do try any more.

Makes 12 scones

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup cranberries (or apricots for variation)
1/4 white chocolate chips or drops (or sultanas for variation)
Zest 1 lemon
1 1/4 cups cream
1-2 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.

In a large bowl sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the sugar, cranberries, lemon zest and white chocolate and stir well with a fork.

Add the cream and still using the fork mix to form a slightly sticky dough. If the mixture is not wet enough add some milk.

Once combined, with floured hands knead the mixture in the bowl for a few minutes or until it all comes together in a big ball. Brush the melted butter on to the top.

Flatten on a a floured board till about 2cm thick and roughly rectangular. Cut the rectangle into 12 pieces (3 by 4). Arrange the scones on a baking tray lined with baking paper or a silicone mat.

Bake for 15-20 minute or until the tops are starting to brown.

Upside Down Pineapple Cake

I really enjoy having a shared dinner. You can have an amazing meal, but with much less time pressure as you only have to focus on one aspect. This week we had a shared dinner with the flatmates. Now I know that this sounds kind of strange as flatmates usually eat together and a shared meal isn't something different, but because our flat is made up of 2 couples, we just cook separately. This is partly due to differing tastes and cooking styles and partly due to much less hassle for me and Hungry Male just likes to take leftovers for his lunch the next day so I don't have to buy extras.

Anyway, for our shared dinner the flatmates had some wild pork leg (one goes hunting) and lots of vegetables to use up. As the savoury side of dinner was sorted it was up to me to do the sweet. I could have made one of any number of things, but then my flatmate told me that she had a pineapple to use up if I could think of anything to do with it. An upside pineapple cake was the first thing that came to my mind.

As I didn't have a tried and true recipe for this already, I looked up a few recipes. I came across this Nigella Lawson recipe that I liked the look of as it was really quick and easy to do. Throw everything into a food processor and you are done. I adapted a few ingredients and the amounts and voila, you have delicious, easy to make pineapple cake.

After a delicious roast we sat down to our cake and....... Hungry Male didn't like it. Oh well, you can't please everyone but 3 out of 4 were happy.

NB: I used a fresh pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into rings because that is what I had. Tinned pineapple would be waaaaaaaay easier but fresh does work (just so you know)

Ingredients
6 rings tinned pineapple (should be a large tin), drained but juice reserved
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp brown sugar
150g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
150g butter, softened
150 g brown sugar
3 eggs
3Tbsp reserved pineapple juice or orange juice

Turn the oven to 200 degrees C. Place the first measure of butter in a 26cm cake tin and place in the oven for a few minutes.

Once the butter has melted, remove from the oven. Use a little of the melted butter to grease the rest of the tin.

Sprinkle the first measure of brown sugar over the top and then arrange the pineapple circles (I cut a few in to quarters for the gaps but you don't have to).

Place all of the other ingredients in a food processor. Process until the mixture is well combined. Using a rubber scraper, spread the mixture evenly over the pineapple.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. If the top begins to brown too quickly, cover the tin with tinfoil.

Leave to cool for 5 minutes, then run a spatula around the edge of the cake to loosen the sides. Place a large plate upside down over the tin and then carefully holding the two together, flip them over to invert the cake.

Serve warm or cold by itself or with ice cream, yoghurt or cream.

Deliciously Natural Banana Bread

Welcome to the first post of the new blog! After updating the blog, I created a Facebook page to make it easier to keep up with what's going on. Thank you so much to everyone who liked my page so far! You can find my Facebook page here.

I thought that since I had changed my blog to have a more real food focus, my first recipe should fit in with this. Everyone I know loves banana bread, but it is often full of white sugar. I decided that I wanted to have a go at getting rid of this refined sugar, while still having a delicious tasting banana bread.

I chose to use dates to sweeten this as dates create a really great caramel-like sweetness that lends itself really well to banana bread. While this may not be quite as sweet as some banana breads, I still really liked it and I thought that because it was slightly less sweet, it would make a really great breakfast on the go. I was also really impressed because this banana bread stayed moist for ages!

If you have a go at this banana bread, let me know how it goes!

Ingredients
1 cup dates
2 bananas
2 eggs
1/4 butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
1 cup white flour
1 1/2 cups wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Turn the oven on the 180 degrees C. and line a loaf tin.

Place the dates in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to sit for 10 minutes to soften, then drain.

Place the dates in the bowl of a food processor and whiz until they start to break up. Add the bananas, eggs, butter and milk and process until well mixed.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until combined. If the flour is not combining, add some more milk to thin out the mixture.

Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin and gently smooth out the top. Place on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. If the banana bread starts to brown too much on top, just place a little foil over the tin.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out on to a wire rack.

This will stay moist for a couple of days. If you do have any left in a few days, it is also really great toasted.

Bliss Balls

Here's a yummy wee snack that is a great to satisfy that mid afternoon sweet tooth. The dates give them the sweetness while also giving you some fruit and the nuts give these balls a nice texture. A batch of these can be made up in the weekend and kept in the fridge for the rest of the week. 

Ingredients

150g dates

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1 Tbsp cocoa

1. Place all of the ingredients in a food processor.

2. Process until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.

3. Taking tablespoon amounts of mixture roll them firmly into balls.