Rhubarb Cake

Rhubarb is such an odd fruit.  It's almost a twisted fact of nature that rhubarb is great at this time of year, just as we should be donning our suncream and sunglasses.  Then you have a spring like this one.  Days of dismal rain and almost tempted to switch on the central heating.

So rhubarb suddenly has a strange purpose.  The joy, if you like, in the drizzled disappointment of British weather!

After initial reluctance, my son loved this cake and so did I.  It lasted for 2 further days in a tin and I also froze some wedges which defrosted in the microwave beautifully.

Great served warm as a pudding with silky double cream or custard or cold as a cake.  Ok, I'm not winning any prizes on health here but I figure it's still healthier than a chocolate bar, and, cream aside, it's pretty low in fat.

Rhubarb Cake - makes 1 large cake

Ingredients

60g, 2oz Margarine
300g, 10.5oz Sugar (I used a mix of half white and half dark soft brown sugar which gave lovely little toffee flavoured flecks in the mix)
2 Eggs
300g, 10.5oz Self Raising flour (or the same amount of all purpose / plain flour with 3 tsp baking powder)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 tsp Mixed Spice (apple pie spice)
300g, 10.5oz Low Fat Yogurt
250g, 9oz Rhubarb cut into short lengths

Method

Preheat an oven to 160oC, 325F, Gas Mark 3.

Line a 7.5", 19cm cake tin with baking paper and grease lightly (a mild flavoured oil spray is great for this).

Cream the margarine with the sugar as best you can as there isn't much fat.  Add the eggs and beat in.  Add the spice, vanilla and the yogurt and beat together.

Add in the flour then fold in the rhubarb.

Pour into the tin and bake for approx 1hr 15mins.  Check after an hour and cover if it's browning too much.  Check with a sharp knife or skewer to see if it's done.

Allow to cool on a wire rack and serve warm or cold.  This would be great warm with custard.  Central heating from the inside thanks to Rhubarb cake!

Click Here To Get Download link

Weetabix Cake

Weetabix cake?  Am I serious?  Well I'd been trying different ways of using cereals quite a bit recently what with rice krispies with mackerel but I'd never found a way of using them in cakes like I had with bran loaf.  Shreddies seemed promising but were a bit of a failure when I gave them a go.  Who knew Weetabix would work?

This tastes similar to my bran loaf, loads of fibre, sweet whilst being low in added sugar, dairy free fat free and lovely with a pot of tea!

Weetabix Cake

Ingredients

2 Weetabix (or own brand equivalent)
350ml, 12 fl oz Decaffeinated tea (just make with one decaf teabag)
110g, 4oz Muscovado or soft brown sugar
280g, 10oz Sultanas (golden raisins)
1 egg
225g, 8oz Self Raising Flour (or all purpose / plain flour plus 2 tsp baking powder)
1 tsp mixed spice

Method

Crush up the weetabix, mix with the sugar and dried fruit.  Soak in the tea for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 160oC.  Mix in the spice, flour and egg and pour into a greased silicone loaf tin or a greased and lined conventional loaf tin.

Bake for about 1hour 10 mins (in my oven anyway) or until a knife inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Eat warm or cool.  Keeps reasonably well despite being fat free.

Make it Thrifty

Keep an eye out for value or smart price packs of self raising flour, breakfast cereal and dried fruits.  They work just as well in this as the more expensive packs.

Click Here To Get Download link

Chocolate Custard (low sugar)

Custard.  I never make it from scratch but I do make it from custard powder.  It occurred to me when making some custard from custard powder the other day that custard powder is simply cornflour (cornstarch) natural flavouring (vanilla) and colour (normally a natural colour like annatto).  I don't have much annatto floating around the house and there feels like something wrong about making white custard even though that's the colour it would be if not made with eggs, so my idea was to make chocolate custard.

This would be great hot with chocolate cake, poured over banana (if you want to keep on my 7 a day routine), on it's own or allowed to cool in small pots and eaten cold like blancmange.  It's pretty low sugar too with only 1 tsp added sugar per portion.  There's more sugar in a fromage frais!

Chocolate custard - Makes 2 small bowls

Ingredients

280ml, Half Pint milk
1 rounded tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
1 tsp Cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
2 tsp Sugar

Method

Mix the cornflour with the cocoa powder and sugar with 1 tbsp of the cold milk then add the vanilla.  Heat the remaining milk in a microwave for 2 minutes or until hot.  Gradually whisk the hot milk into the cornflour mix then return to the microwave for 2-3 minutes on full power or until cooked and thick.  Keep an eye on it as it can boil up and boil over.

I would be honoured if you would consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.

After all, who can resist delicious chocolate custard?

Click Here To Get Download link

Fruit Crumble Bars

I'd looked online for a fruit crumble bar recipe which I thought wasn't a load of faff.  I failed to find one so this is what I came up with.  It's simple and you could switch in whatever fruit you have in the fruit bowl looking past it's best.

Although plums aren't seasonal in the UK at least, they are in South Africa and the UK are a major export market.  Irrespective of what you think of imported fruit and vegetables, these plums were lovely.  Juicy, delicious and sweet but unfortunately my son on a whim has decided he doesn't like plums or maybe he's aware it's not UK plum season.  Who knows?  Stranger things have happened than my son deciding to put his foot down on carbon footprints.  Well he is 3.

If you are sticking to more locally sourced fruit, why not try using frozen fruit instead?  Raspberries might work well but will probably need boiling down more so they're not too wet.

Fruit Crumble Bars - makes 9 generous sized bars

Ingredients

100g, 3.5oz Plain (all purpose) flour

100g, 3.5oz Porridge oats

100g, 3.5oz Sugar

100g, 3.5oz Butter

1 egg

2-3 Ripe large plums

1 tsp Cornflour (cornstarch)

Method

Stone the plums and cut into small pieces (don't skin them).  Heat in a pan with a tbsp of water until the juices start to run, a few minutes or so.  Check they're not too sour (add sugar if wanted but remember the crumble is sweet.  I didn't add any sugar.)  Mix the cornflour with a tbsp water and mix into the hot plums to thicken the juice.  Take off the heat.

Preheat the oven to 200oC / 400F, Gas Mark 6.

In a food processor or bowl rub the flour, oats, sugar and butter together.  Add the egg to bring together.

Line a  20cm by 20 cm (8 inch by 8 inch) baking dish with baking paper.

Press two thirds of the mix into the base.

Top the base with the plum mix then loosely crumble the remaining mix on top.

Bake for approx 18-20 minutes or until hot through and browned on top.

Cut into bars and serve warm (not hot) or cold.  When cold store in an airtight tin.  Best eaten the same day or the next.

Make it Thrifty

Use anything which is needing eating up in your fruit bowl, especially stone fruit or berries.

I would be absolutely honoured if you would consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.

Click Here To Get Download link

Fruit Cobbler

Cobbler.  It's such a long time since I've eaten one and I'd forgotten how lovely they can be.  Essentially it's stewed fruit topped with a scone like topping.  On a whim I decided to make this while making my Spanish style sausage and beans.  This fantastically tasty pudding then happily cooked away using heat in the oven and then was left cooling slightly while we ate our first course.

This was also devised as a way to use up some past their best apples and some frozen raspberries which had been kicking around the freezer for a while.  Not massively high in sugar either.  Probably around 60g, 2 ounces of added sugar in the whole dish and a fantastically warm cuddle of a pudding when spring has more than a hint of wintery bite about it.  This is great Sunday lunch fodder.

Fruit Cobbler - Just about stretched to 2 adults and 1 toddler (with custard)

Ingredients

110g, 4oz Eating apples (peeled weight)
200g, 7oz Frozen raspberries
110g, 4oz Self Raising flour (or all purpose flour and 1 tsp baking powder)
1 tsp Baking Powder
30g, 1oz Butter or margarine
30g, 1oz Sugar (granulated or caster) plus 1 tsp
60ml, 2fl oz Milk
Squeeze lemon juice
1 tsp Vanilla extract

Method

Stew the apples with 1 tbsp water and the raspberries.  Stew for a few minutes and pour into a smallish heatproof dish.  If you want to at this stage you can refrigerate until you're ready to cook.

When ready, preheat the oven to 180oC, 350F, Gas Mark 4.

Using a food processor or by hand, rub the flour, baking powder and sugar (except the 1 tsp).  Then mix the milk, lemon juice and vanilla together (don't worry if it causes the milk to go funny).  Mix this into the flour mix.  It should be a softish consistency, if it's not, add a bit more milk.

Spoon on the mix on top of the fruit in blobs with a bit of space for expansion and sprinkle on the sugar.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until risen, browned and cooked through.  It was so good.

I think it is a bit better allowed to cool a bit before serving with some hot custard.  My 3 year old son had seconds meaning there wasn't really enough for Mummy to have a decent sized portion but then that is the joy of a good cobbler!

Make it Thrifty

This is a great way to use up this slightly wizened apples from the fruit bowl.  Just use what you have.  Plums, pears, peaches even (but not Bananas; that would be odd).  I really like the idea of a plum cobbler.

 

Click Here To Get Download link

Best Pancake recipes

Pancakes; I'm a bit of a fan; in fact, one of my very early recipes was for a sugar free American style pancake recipe so I thought, with Shrove Tuesday (aka Pancake Day or Mardi Gras) looming on 4th March this year, I'd tell you about my favourites!

The point of Shrove Tuesday was to use up all of the rich ingredients in the house like eggs and sugar before the traditional period of fasting and reflection of Lent.  Pancakes though are a fantastic way to make food quickly and easily and make a meal out of eggs (mostly, see below!)  Eggs are a great way to include vitamin D into your diet which is often lacking in our bodies at this time of year (as I look outside to the frosty ground and sun shining weakly on my garden!)

All of my recipes are made without added sugar or are low in sugar unless you add some with the topping with syrups or icing sugar which makes them great even for babies.


Sweet

My original sugar free pancake recipe is here (with step by step instructions).  This is the one I come back to again and again and was a finger food my son absolutely loved as a baby.

A slight extension from this was to include berries into the batter in my berry pancakes (defrosted frozen berries would work well at this time of year.)

I also made some for my new blog using frozen cherries which were lovely pink pancakes!

Savoury

By rights I'm no fan of a savoury pancake recipe, especially when it's a crepe wrapped around something which would work much better if it was inside cannelloni (I'm thinking spinach / ricotta mixes here particularly).

That said, I am a fan of the savoury American style batters, basically vegetable fritter recipes but my absolute favourite has to be my sweetcorn fritter recipe.

Sweetcorn in a slightly spiced savoury batter dunked into sweet chilli sauce.  If you make too many they are even great for lunch, warmed up for a few seconds in a microwave.

You can also make really decent potato pancakes which would be great with a fry up.

Traditional

For the UK anyway this is a traditional pancake recipe, a thin pancake with a filling is the traditional thing (I've chosen strawberries here but I do love lemon juice and sugar).  My recipe includes step by step instructions on how to make a traditional crepe if you're a bit lost.

Special Diets

Not everyone is able to eat every ingredient sadly and food allergies are on the rise.  I work in food safety and I'm aware of how difficult it is to live with these restrictions from day to day.  This is why I often try and find ways to make traditional recipes but avoiding some of the key food allergens.

My egg free pancakes might sound like an impossibility but there's a great thing about bananas that they lend so much structure to the batter.  It started out as an accident when I forgot to add eggs to the batter one time and realised I didn't notice the difference (so much so it took me years to repeat thinking I'd simply got it wrong and put eggs in after all!)

You do notice a slight difference in flavour with the dairy free pancakes but not in a bad way and it's great if you just don't have much milk in but need breakfast!

Unusual ingredients

I've also made a few more twists on the classic by making wholemeal pancakes or even including ground almonds (see top photo; delicious by the way).

Alternatively if you are using syrup or honey, yogurt pancakes add a slight tang which is great against the sweet topping.

I suppose this kind of development on a theme harks back to the days when the pancake was to use what was left in the cupboard before the fasting began.

Click Here To Get Download link

Sugar Free Apple Scones

I'm sorry, these must be the ugliest scones ever made but they do taste nice.

My son used to have this huge thing about dried apple, then, overnight, with a huge bag left in the cupboard, he decided he didn't like it anymore.

So I tried these for size and I think they're lovely (if extremely ugly!)

Apple scones - makes approx 8 small scones

Ingredients

225g, 8 oz SR flour or plain (all purpose) flour with 2 tsp baking powder
50g, 1.75oz Butter or dairy free margarine
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon (Cinnamon powder)
100ml, 3.3 floz Apple juice
130g, 4.5 oz Dried apple

Method

Preheat the oven to 180oC (Fan), 200oC, 400F, Gas Mark 6.

Put the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, butter and chopped pieces of dried apple into a food processor.  Process till the butter is rubbed in and the apple is in small pieces (don't carry on till they disappear though!)

Turn out into a bowl and add the apple juice.  Bring together into a dough and pat out into a thick layer, certainly no thinner than an inch.  Cut using a small, round fluted or straight cutter.  Mine was 6cm (a bit more than 2 inch) diameter.

Put on a floured baking tin and reroll the scraps until the dough is used.

Brush the tops with milk (optional) and bake for 10-12 minutes or until browned and cooked through.

Serve with butter and / or apple butter if liked (if you're not worried about them being sugar free) or these would also be equally at home with cheese.  Tasty.  My son looked at them and said "no", I suggested he tried a bite and he loved them.  Just so ugly... Sorry!

Best served on day of baking or freeze, defrost and warm through slightly in a microwave.

Click Here To Get Download link

Dairy Free Bran Loaf - great for the whole family

People who have been here from the start might recognise this recipe.   Well I've reviewed it, changed it slightly and photographed it.  It is a great one though, loads of fibre from the cereal and dried fruit and very low in sugar so I felt like it needed more prominence!

Bran Loaf - makes one loaf

Ingredients

60g, 2oz, 1 cup All Bran cereal (the regular plain kind)
180g, 6.5oz, 1 cup Sultanas (golden raisins)
60g, 2oz, 1/3 cup Soft brown sugar
250ml, Approx 1 and a bit cups decaf black tea (or chose a fruit tea if liked)
1 egg
1 tsp Mixed spice (apple pie spice)
150g, 5.5oz Self Raising flour (or all purpose flour plus 1.5 tsp baking powder)

Method

Pour the hot tea over the cereal, sultanas and sugar and leave to one side for at least an hour.

When ready to cook, put the oven on to 175oC, 350F, Gas mark 4.

Mix the sultana mix then add in the egg, spice and flour with a little more water if needed.

Line a loaf tin or spray a silicone loaf tin with oil spray.  Scoop the mix into the baking dish and bake for approx 50-60 minutes or until cooked through.

Cool on a wire rack and serve with a nice cup of tea (for Mummy) or a nice cup of warm milk (for my wee man.)

The MAD blog awards are open; I would love it if you would nominate me.

Here is the link:  http://www.the-mads.com/vote/ if you'd get the chance, I would like to be considered for the "best food blog" category.  My blog URL is this:  http://mamacook.blogspot.co.uk

I've linked up to Nomday Monday

Click Here To Get Download link

Sugar Free Raspberry Mousse, great for babies and toddlers

It can be easy with toddlers to ease up too much on the 'naughty' snacks and treats.  I'm certainly more relaxed than I used to be but occasionally I try to challenge myself to cut back a bit on the sugar again so I made this mousse with all natural ingredients and no added sugar or sweeteners.  The result was creamy and gently sweetened.  My son said it was "fantastic".

This would be great for all ages including babies.

Apple and Raspberry Mousse - serves 2

Ingredients

2 Leaves of gelatine (enough to set half a pint, 300ml)
150ml,  5.5 floz, 2/3 cups Unsweetened Apple and Raspberry juice (or other naturally sweet juice)
100ml, 3.5 floz, just less than 1/2 cup Double (heavy) cream

Method

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water.

Take half of the juice and heat to boiling in a microwave.

Put the gelatine into the hot juice, leave for a few seconds then stir in.  Add the remaining cold juice, stirring in and put the juice mix in the fridge.

Whisk the cream using an electric whisk until soft peaks form.  When that's done, take the juice out of the fridge and whisk that until foamy.

Add the cream into the juice and whisk together.  Pour into dishes or glasses and chill for a few hours until set.

Quick request:  The MAD blog awards are open and I need nominations to be in with a chance of making it to the knock out stages!

Here is the link:  http://www.the-mads.com/vote/ if you'd get the chance, I would love to be considered for the "best food blog" category.  My blog URL is this:  http://mamacook.blogspot.co.uk

Click Here To Get Download link

Baked Vanilla Custards - suitable for babies, children and adults

A very simple and not massively unhealthy pudding.  Less than 2 tsp sugar per serving.  Pretty thrifty ingredients too!

Baked Vanilla Custards - makes 2

Ingredients

1 tbsp sugar
2 Egg yolks
150ml, 5 fl ounces, 2/3 cup Semi skimmed (2%) milk
1/4 tsp Vanilla extract or paste

Method

Preheat the oven to 180oC / 350F

Mix all the ingredients together, pour into two ramekins.

Put in a bain marie (a baking dish with water from the kettle in it which you set your dishes inside).  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until set with a slight wobble.

Leave until only just warm or cold to serve.  If serving later, store in the fridge.

Make it Thrifty:

The best way to save money while making this recipe is to make sure the oven is fully used so cook alongside other things although this is a pretty thrifty recipe as it is because it uses no cream.  

A way to use up the egg whites (although it's a pretty naughty treat) is to make a pavlova.  You can easily reduce the size of my pavlova recipe and make a smaller one or use the two egg whites make mini pavlova recipe meringues (cook for the same time as the original recipe.)  Alternatively use the egg white in a recipe where egg is only there to 'bind' ingredients or as a 'glue' like in chicken nuggets as that way you don't miss the flavour of the missing yolk.

Click Here To Get Download link

Baked Cherry Custard

This isn't a sugar free recipe but at only 2 tsp added sugar per portion and a step towards your five a day, it's not terrible!

I started trying to think of a custard recipe, then thought "what fruit could I include" and before I knew it, it was almost a clafoutis except a gluten free one.  Best served warm or cold not hot.

Baked Cherry Custard - Makes 3 puddings

Ingredients

150g, 5.5oz Frozen pitted cherries
2 tbsp Sugar
2 Egg yolks
150ml, 5.5 fl oz Semi skimmed (2%) milk
1/4 tsp Almond extract (or vanilla if you prefer)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180oC, 350F, Gas Mark 4.

Heat the cherries with 1 tbsp sugar until releasing the juice and starting to reduce.  Use a slotted spoon to transfer to three small ramekins.  Save the juice if liked for cheffy drizzles later!

Mix the remaining sugar, eggs, milk and extract and whisk together.  Pour carefully on top of the cherries and bake in a bain marie (deep baking dish with hot water poured up the sides of the dishes) for 15-20 minutes or until cooked with a slight wobble.

Make it Thrifty:

To make this recipe more economical to cook; put in the oven at the same time as something else so you're not wasting the heat.  Why not pop in while my chicken tray bake is cooking?

Click Here To Get Download link

Low Sugar Mini Cherry Tarts - Great for kids or grown ups

I'm showing my age now, the urge to type "damn fine cherry pies" was very strong.

As I said in my last post, I promised to write up a recipe for the pastry leftovers.  Because I don't know how much pastry you might have, the quantities are per tart.  Please adjust for the number you have!

This isn't sugar free.  Jam is laden with sugar but there is around 1-1.5 tsp jam per tart and only half of that is sugar, not massive amounts of sugar at all, much less than a commercial tart.

Mini Cherry Pies

Ingredients

Leftover pastry (see the chicken and mushroom pie recipe if you would like the pastry recipe from scratch)
1/2 tsp jam per case (see instructions for more info)
5-6 Frozen, defrosted pitted cherries per tart
1 tbsp jam additional or more if you have several tarts

Method

Preheat the oven to 200oC / 400F / Gas Mark 6.

For this, I would use a 'red' jam, ideally cherry but strawberry or raspberry is fine as long as it's not too seedy.

Roll out the pastry and cut circles big enough for a fairy cake tin, gently push them in.

Put approx half a teaspoon of jam in each pastry hollow.  Bake for approx 10 minutes or until the pastry is crisp.  Allow to cool for a couple of minutes.

Heat the additional jam in a microwave with a tsp boiling water until boiling (for approx 1 minute).  In the meantime, top the tarts with the defrosted cherries.  Once the jam is molten, pour over an additional half tsp over the top to glaze.

Allow to cool for a couple of minutes then serve slightly warm with a sprinkle of icing (confectioners) sugar if liked or cream.

Ok, not the healthiest recipe in the world but not awful either.  A dainty little fruity treat.  I'd rather give one of these to my son any day than a chocolate biscuit!  This is my ethos on life; I am happy giving my son treat foods but I try and put fruit and vegetables into every bit of food I can and I always try and use natural 'real' foods.  The fights I've had with our nursery who think sugar free instant whip is a great pudding for toddlers...

Make it Thrifty:

Oven cooking uses a lot of energy so ideally cook these when something else is already in the oven.  Why not make the chicken and mushroom pie at the same time as making these for pudding?

Click Here To Get Download link

Gingerbread men

...or considering the time of year... Gingerbread Mummies!!!

I posted a recipe for Gingerbread men a while back (or ninja bread men, I do like a play on words!)  This though is adapted to give a lighter result which is less dominated by anything other than the ginger flavour.  I found the treacle in the old recipe tended to drown out the spicy warmth.
Gingerbread Men � Makes 8-20 depending on size

Ingredients

60g, 2oz Butter or margarine (use non dairy to make dairy free)

60g, 2oz Caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp Runny honey

115g, 4oz Plain (all purpose) flour

1 tbsp Ground Ginger (Powdered Ginger)

Pinch mixed spice (pumpkin pie spice)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180oC, 350F, Gas Mark 4.  

Cream the butter and sugar, add the honey, vanilla extract, cream together then mix in the dry ingredients.  Bring together with your hands and kneed lightly.  Roll out thinly, using flour to dust and cut out the men.  Reroll any scraps and repeat.

Put the men or shapes onto baking trays lined with non stick baking paper.

Bake for approx 8-10 minutes or until starting to brown and crisp (they won't be completely crunchy until allowed to cool).

Cool on a wire rack, then decorate.

I did the gingerbread man "Mummy" decoration with a simple plain buttercream and a narrow plain nozzle criss crossed over the men.  I then cut off the excess at the sides of the biscuits and did the eyes with some black writing icing (I can never find I get a 'true' black from home colours.)

I have no idea whether having one of these is better than eating a pile of sweets.  Ok, one of these is obviously better than a pile of sweets but I have always thought that home baking, even unashamedly full on, naughty ingredients home baking like this is somehow more fulfilling than sugary sweets.  Hey, I could be wrong but it makes me feel good.

Store in an airtight tin and they should keep a couple of days.

There's no need to decorate these in the Hallowe'en style I've suggested, you could make it more traditional or, a great idea for a kids party, get some writing icing and get them to decorate them themselves!  Surprisingly popular with adults as well as kids!

Over 1 year olds only please because of the honey.  Enjoy!

Make it Thrifty:

A pretty cheap recipe as it is but look out for bags of Indian or Chinese spices rather than buying ginger in tiny jars.  It does lose a bit of potency over time but it still keeps reasonably well.

I've linked this lovely old recipe up to the Spice Trail Ginger challenge.

Click Here To Get Download link

No Refined Sugar Breakfast Muffins; great for adults but also for kids

I have some 'cupcake' cases in the cupboard, bought in a moment when I actually needed fairy cake cases but picked up the wrong thing.  They were somewhere between a cupcake and a muffin in size, nearer a muffin so I decided to cook something more substantial to fill them.

Ok, they may look 'parent sized' but my son has a large appetite so he still ate two.  No refined sugar though which can't be bad.  Sorry, just for over 1 year olds though as under 1's can't eat honey.

Ooh, I've just realised while I was writing this up, this is dairy free!  Purely accidental!

Breakfast Muffins - makes 8

Ingredients

1 egg
75ml apple juice
1 tbsp oil (chose something flavourless like rapeseed or sunflower)
50g, 1.5oz grated apple (approx half an apple)
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g, 3.5oz self raising flour
30g, 1oz porridge oats plus an extra 1tbsp to sprinkle
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
90g, 3oz sultanas (golden raisins)

Method

Preheat the oven to 160oC, 320F.

Mix the first 7 ingredients together (the wet ingredients).  Mix the next 5 ingredients together (the dry ingredients).  Mix the two together but don't go mad, you don't want it fully mixed through.

Put into the cups and then sprinkle with the extra oats.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through and springing back when pressed.  If you use proper muffin cases, they may take a little longer.

Leave to cool.  No idea how long they last in a tin, it only lasted two days in our house.  Do leave them to cool fully before eating though, otherwise they tend to stick a bit to the wrappers.  I may try spraying a little spray oil in the cases next time to help them release.

Make it Thrifty:

This is a great way to use bananas which are a little past their best preventing waste.  If you cook them at the same time as there are other things in the oven too it will reduce cooking costs.

Click Here To Get Download link

My favourite apple recipes for kids

Apples aren't the most glamourous of fruits but they're one of the fruits we grow really well in the UK and they're great in sweet or savoury dishes.  Soon it's going to be apple season as we approach the autumn and I thought I'd share some of my favourite recipes.

My wholemeal apple pancake recipe might be appearing in a magazine soon which is kind of exciting! I will keep you posted...

With only a drizzle of honey (for over 1s) it's a great way to get fruit into breakfast time.  Bircher muesli is another great way to do this.

I think the addition of apple to coleslaw makes it way more interesting and also makes kids far more likely to enjoy it due to the natural sweetness.  A great side dish for a barbecue or baked sausages.

Or if you do have some red cabbage left, why not make this sugar free braised red cabbage sweetened with apple and dried fruit?

Mini apple pies are great for little hands and no need to add any sugar in the recipe.

These are only sweetened with fruit.  A great pudding without feeling too guilty.

My next recipe was my first attempt at a sugar free 'large' cake.  Pretty successful I thought and popular with the wee man.  As was this simple Jalousie.

Apples are one of my favourite ways to naturally sweeten without sugar.  The benefit is you also include all of the natural fibre, flavour and nutrients.  In this very old recipe for apple and sultana mini muffins, it does exactly that.  My son pretty much lived on these for a while.  

As with the coleslaw though, apples do work well with savoury and did in this duck dish.  

Duck works really well with fruit and although you don't get much meat off it, toddlers don't need huge portions so you can find enough for two adults and a child.  Another way of including apple is in these gluten free mini meatloaves.

So apples might be ever so humble and ever so British but they can also be ever so yummy.  Just keep an eye out for ones grown local to you!

Click Here To Get Download link

Watermelon Ice Lollies Great for Toddlers

If I can encourage you to do one thing this summer, which is setting out to be a scorcher, is buy an ice lolly mould.  Ice lollies are so expensive to buy and often full of sugar, artificial food colourings and other stuff which isn't all that great for kids.

Much better is to make your own lollies out of fruit or fruit juice with a little added sugar if needed.  Even if you do add something to make it sweeter, it's still far more natural, lower in added sugar and can count towards their 5 a day!  In fact, one of these ice lollies contains 60g of fruit and only around half a teaspoon of added sugar.

So here is my latest ice lolly recipe.  My 3 year old said "I like pink lollies best" when he had one of these and was upset when I wouldn't give him one at 6:30pm because it was bath time!

Low Sugar Watermelon Ice Lollies - made about 5 but depends on the size of your moulds

Ingredients

300g, 11oz Watermelon, preferably the seedless kind or the type with only soft seeds or see method
1 tbsp Caster sugar (may need slightly less, depending on how sweet your melon is)

Method

If you have a watermelon with seeds, you may find the majority of them are in a single layer.  To save hassle, cut this layer out, otherwise you have a little bit of a job picking out the black seeds.  If the seeds are soft and whiteish then just leave them in.

Cut up the flesh into small pieces and put into a blender.  You need 300g / 11oz of cut up fruit.  Add the sugar and blend.  You might need to shake it a bit and poke it down to get it going but once it starts, the watermelon will blend really easily.  Don't be tempted to add water.

Once you have a smoothish slush, pour into the moulds and leave to freeze overnight.

Help to remove from the moulds by running the outside of the mould under warm water and easing out the lolly.

Click Here To Get Download link

Honey Digestive Biscuits - no refined sugar

I'd been thinking about making a simple, no nonsense, "no bad stuff" biscuit for a while and I'd had some attempts at making some sugar free.  If I'm honest though, I was never happy with them.  Unlike a cake, a sweet biscuit is very difficult to make without sugar.

After a few attempts though I settled on this recipe.  Not strictly sugar free because it contains honey but no refined sugars and pretty low in sugar overall.  Yet it's still sweet but in that sweet / slightly savoury way that digestive biscuits are which make them as at home with a cup of tea or with strong cheddar.

I was impressed and will make them again.  Just keep an eye on them, the temperatures and times are for my oven and after I overcooked a previous batch, I lowered the temperature to what you see below.  You want to take them out of the oven when they're just starting to colour and firming up.

Obviously due to the honey, these won't be suitable for kids under the age of 12 months.

Honey Digestive Biscuits - Made 15-30 depending on size

Ingredients

2.5oz, 70g Self Raising Wholemeal Flour (or Wholemeal biscuit flour with 1tsp baking powder added)
0.5oz, 15g Porridge oats
1.5oz, 45g Butter - make with solid vegetable margarine or vegetable shortening if avoiding dairy
1 tbsp Runny honey
1oz, 30g Wheatgerm

Method

Preheat the oven to 170oC, 340F, Gas mark 3-4.

Rub the dry ingredients into the butter using a food processor.  Add the honey and process for a few more seconds.  Tip out onto a board and bring together with your hands.

Once in a ball roll out with some more flour until 2-3 mm thick.  Cut out the shapes of your choosing (hearts for me, no ninjas today) and put onto baking paper.  Bake for 6-8 minutes (7 in my oven) until browning and firming up.  Leave to cool on the baking paper for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

Serve as a snack or pudding for your child or with a cup of tea or cheeses.  Very popular with the little man.

Update: These are also great baked from frozen, just add on a minute and keep an eye on them.  A great way to have freshly baked biscuits!

What do I mean by "no bad stuff"?  I guess over the years, despite my science background I've settled on liking to eat foods which haven't been messed with too much.  It's not a hard and fast rule but certainly with my son I don't give him sweeteners, I don't give him a huge amount of sugar either.  I'm happy to give him animal fats but he also has plenty of olive oil in his diet.  Frankly I try and make our diets as "unfussed with" as I can.

Click Here To Get Download link