Happy 2014!

Yes I know it seems like forever since we celebrated Christmas and the New Year (hope you all had a really good time!) and we are one day away from February already!!

So after all the over indulgence of food and alcohol over the festive period, January 1st hit and I instantly, like many other people I’m sure, went into health and fitness mode. (Not just because of new years resolutions though; I have a wedding dress to fit into!) I’ve been eating lots more fruits and veggies, exercising daily and drinking lots of water and green tea, I think I have a slight addiction to the stuff and haven’t drank my regular milky tea with 1 sugar for a couple of weeks! I haven’t craved that much sweet stuff apart from the odd Jaffa Cake and hot chocolate in the evening as it’s been so cold. Until yesterday evening, I had the sudden craving for freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Off I went to my pantry to seek out healthy ingredients to rustle up some cookies. I have wholemeal flour so I substituted that over regular white flour. They turned out rather nice! Here is what I used to make them:

Ingredients:

8 0z/225g butter
8 oz/225g dark brown soft sugar
5 and a 1/2 oz caster sugar
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
16 oz/450g wholemeal flour
10 and a 1/2 oz/300g dark chocolate chips
2 eggs plus 1 and a 1/2 tbsp of liquid egg white

Method:

Preheat oven to 160°C. Line a couple of baking sheets with baking paper.
Cream the butter and sugars together in a freestanding mixer or use an electric hand whisk until light and fluffy.
Add all the remaining ingredients, except for the eggs, until all incorporated.
Add the eggs all at once to the bowl and mix until you have a dough.
finally add the chocolate chips and give it all a final mix.
Roll the dough into golf ball sized balls and flatten slightly once you’ve placed them onto your baking sheets. Space them a couple of inches apart as they do spread out (I can fit six cookies per tray)
Bake for about 10-15 minutes depending on how chewy/crisp you like your cookies. I like mine slightly crispy round the edge but chewy in the middle. they should be lightly golden.

They are delicious and if you have any mix leftover you can pop it in the freezer to bake another day. This recipe makes around 24 cookies.

I’ve also fancied some nice carrot cake (thanks to a certain someone who says she’s been eating carrot cake for breakfast…you know who you are! haha)

So this evening I have done a bit of experimenting in the kitchen making a yummy carrot cake. I was going to make cupcakes but I couldn’t be bothered faffing around with spooning the mix into cupcake cases, so I poured it all into a loaf tin. Perfect for a late afternoon snack with a cup of tea.

Here is the recipe (I measured all my ingredients for this using measuring cups)

Ingredients:

1 cup wholemeal flour
1/4 cup no added sugar coconut flakes
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
small pinch ground cloves
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
1/3 cup caster sugar
2 egg whites (I used 2 chicks liquid egg white)
1 whole egg
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup fat free greek yogurt (I use fage greek yogurt)
3 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups grated carrots
1/4 cup pecan nuts, chopped
1/2 cup raisins

For the Frosting:

200g tub Philadelphia lightest cream cheese
1/2 cup fat free greek yogurt
2 cups icing sugar
zest of one orange
juice of half an orange

Method:

Preheat oven to 160°C and line a loaf tin with a loaf tin liner or you can make cupcakes so just prepare you tins with cupcake cases.
Mix all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix.
Add the eggs, butter, yogurt and mix until well combined.
Add the grated carrots and mix again until well incorporated.
Finally add the pecan nuts and raisins and give it all a final mix.
Pour into the loaf tin and bake for 30 minutes or spoon into cupcake cases in a cupcake tin and bake for 20 minutes. Once cooked, remove from the oven, allow to cool in the tin slightly and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the cream cheese frosting by mixing the cheese, yogurt, icing sugar and orange zest and juice. Place in a bowl in the fridge until you are ready to top the loaf or cupcakes.
A this point you can leave it plain or add some coconut flakes to the top for more texture or decorate with sugar carrot decorations.