And so I thought about the last few ‘snacking cakes’ I posted on my Instagram, and how much I love gingerbread (the past couple years I’ve used this gingerbread recipe here), and thought I’d combine the two.

So queue this ‘Gingerbread Snacking Cake’ — it turned out great, and I’d happily make it again.

THE RECIPE – HEALTHIER GINGERBREAD SNACKING CAKE

Ingredients – wet:

—1/4 cup ginger jam (I used a Mrs Darlington’s one, purchased from a nearby indie)
—1/2 cup apple sauce
—1/2 cup canola oil (or another light tasting oil)
—2 medium sized eggs

Ingredients – dry:

—1/2 cup granulated sugar
—1+1/4 cup sifted spelt flour*
—1 tablespoon ground ginger
—1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
—1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
—1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
—1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
—1 tsp baking soda
—1 tsp baking powder
—1/2 teaspoon salt

* I used Doves Farm’s organic wholemeal spelt flour. You can put it through a metal sieve if you don’t have a sifter, I really suggest doing this.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 160 C fan (=320 F fan or 180/350 if using non fan). Whisk the wet ingredients together in a mixing bowl then add the dry and combine with a spoon. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for ~30 minutes, keeping an eye on it so it doesn’t become too dark.

Icing:

I wanted to keep this healthy, so I topped with a vanilla yogurt (an Alpro one) … you could also mix greek yogurt with sugar or go with whipped cream which usually tastes pretty good with gingerbread. If you use yogurt for icing as well, just make sure you store it in the cake in the fridge.

I froze half of mine for later since I have other sweet xmas things on the go right now too!

Enjoy

These Almond Croissant Baked Oats were actually my first recipe to go viral on TikTok back in April/May earlier this year.

They’re made with oats and flax as a base, and then have an almond topping consisting of almond butter and sliced almonds, along with powdered sugar.

They’re pretty easy to make. I’ve been making oat bars like these for breakfast for the past five years or so now. I store them in the fridge and I love them alongside a nice cup of coffee for breakfast.

The Recipe – Almond Croissant Baked Oats

Ingredients:

Base ingredients
—2 cups oat flour
—1 cup oats
—1/2 cup ground flax
—1/2 cup demerara sugar
—1/2 teaspoon salt
—1 teaspoon baking powder
—2 cups milk of choice, I used an oat one this time

Topping ingredients
—1/3 cup almond butter (optional)
—sliced almonds
—icing sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 180C/350F fan. Mix all ingredients for the base together in a mixing bowl, starting with the dry and ending with the milk. Spoon into a greased or lined pan – mine was a 9×9 inch pan. Spoon on the almond butter (optional) and swirl it with the back of the spoon or a butter knife, then top with the sliced almonds. Bake for 20 minutes, then let cool and top with the icing sugar (put it through a sieve).

Slice and enjoy for breakfast or as a snack — these are probably much healthier than a lot of the sugary cereals or premixed oatmeals out there!

Thanks to Holland and Barret for the oats and flax, and Oatly for the milk (I used the barista blend for this recipe).

A note about flax:

I love ground flax … it’s a source of omega 3s and other nutrients well. I would call it a superfood. If you don’t want to use flax you could sub with more oat flour, but I would add more oats than just 1/2 cup (about 1 extra cup should do it) as the flax likely up some liquid. I got my flax at a Holland and Barrett.

Enjoy – if you make these I’d love to hear what you think!

View this recipe on Instagram here.

These healthy banana bread oat bars make the perfect breakfast … I love to have them in the morning with a cup of coffee You can make these ahead and store them in the fridge.

THE RECIPE – HEALTHY BANANA BREAD OAT BARS/FLAPJACKS

INGREDIENTS:

—3 ripe bananas
—2 cups oats
—1/2 cup ground flax
—1/4 cup maple syrup or another liquid sweetener (like honey or golden syrup)
—1 tablespoon cinnamon
—3/4 teaspoon baking powder
—1/2 teaspoon salt
—1 cup milk (I used a hazelnut one from Alpro this time)
—1/4 cup melted coconut oil or vegetable oil
—1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract

INSTRUCTIONS:

The easiest way to make these is to combine all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and mix. Pour into a greased pan and bake at 350 F/180 C for about half an hour … keep an eye on them so they don’t get too dark. If you’d like them less gooey you can bake them slightly longer.

What to do if you don’t have a food processor or blender?

You could probably still make them and they’d turn out fine, just with a different texture as the oats would be whole … or you can buy oat flour to use for this recipe.

A note about flax:

I love ground flax … it’s a source of omega 3s and other nutrients well. I would call it a superfood. If you don’t want to use flax you could sub with more oat flour, but I would add more oats than just 1/2 cup (about 1 extra cup should do it) as the flax likely soaks up some liquid. I got my flax in bulk at a Holland and Barrett.

Enjoy – if you make these I’d love to hear what you think!

I usually make healthier things, and I wouldn’t call this cake ‘healthy’ by any means. But to me, it’s the ultimate Christmas treat, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who breaks my healthy eating rules around Christmas time (although I do try).

This gooey Gingerbread Cake is vegan too … it’s an adapted version of the legendary Nigella Lawson’s Luscious Vegan Gingerbread recipe.

Her lovely recipe calls for prunes, but I used dates instead (14 to be exact) … as you would for a sticky toffee pudding. I also added in a bit more cinnamon and ground ginger and I left out the fresh ginger this time – although I do think this would be a nice addition.

If you love Gingerbread, I do recommend this recipe. It’s sticky, so indulgent and just soo good! I can’t wait to make it again next year!

Now here’s my take on the ingredients for this adapted recipe.

INGREDIENTS

These are made with almond flour instead of white flour and have yogurt instead of the butter/oil. And they taste pretty darn good, too! They are super rich and chocolatey and quite easy to make.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup thick yogurt
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup ground flax
• 1 cup almond flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F or 180 C.
2. Whisk the yogurt and brown sugar together in a mixing bowl until the the sugar dissolves (it will turn a nice goldeny colour). Whisk in the two eggs.
3. Add the remaining ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix to combine with a spatular or wooden spoon. The batter will very thick and gooey.
4. Spoon the batter into a greased or parchment-paper-lined pan 8×8 (square) pan.
5. Bake for 35-45 minutes at 350 F or 180 C; they’re done when toothpick comes out clean.
6. Cool, slice and enjoy.

**Note: this batter will be a lot thicker than regular brownie batter, you could probably also add a bit of milk to thin it out if you like. But don’t worry, they will turn out and they are quite fudgy and nice. I’ve not tried with other flour types, but I’m guessing something like coconut flour would work too (I’ll try that next … )

Enjoy!!

What makes these “healthy”? I used spelt flour and they also have a bit of flax and yogurt instead of oil. These are a great way to use up ripe bananas as well!

Ingredients:

• 1  + 1/2 cups spelt flour
• 1/4 cup ground flax
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 (medium-sized) mashed bananas
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup thick yogurt
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Note: if you use 3-5 bananas, the recipe should turn out ok!

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients (the spelt flour, ground flax, brown sugar, baking soda, salt) in a large mixing bowl.
3. Either make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients (the mashed bananas, egg and yogurt) to it and mix them up, or mix the wet ingredients in a separate mixing bowl and then add them to the bowl with the dry ingredients.
4. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together with a spoon or spatula. Fold in the chocolate chips.
5. Spoon into muffin your muffin tray (this makes about 12 regular-sized muffins) and bake for ~20 minutes.
6. Cool and enjoy

These are one of my favourite muffin recipes right now … (along with my bran muffins too, which are also made with spelt flour).

Note: for the flour, you can also use whole wheat flour or another whole grain flour. The yogurt can be a regular or plant-based one, I used a vanilla-flavoured Greek one for this recipe and they turned out great. I store my muffins in the fridge and have them for breaky.

“Wheat bran” is becoming harder to find these days. If you’re in the UK, I’ve been told you can get find wheat bran at Holland & Barrett, and I’ve also seen it online other places as well. I kind of had a tough time finding it in Canada, but I managed to eventually find it at a larger supermarket.

Blueberry Bran Muffins With Spelt Flour – The Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups wheat bran
• 1 cup spelt flour
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk, I used an unsweetened almond this time
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used a light tasting olive oil this time)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup blueberries (they can be frozen or fresh)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F/190 C and either grease a muffin tin (this makes 10 muffins or 12 smaller ones) or line with muffin cups.
2. Mix all dry ingredients together.
3. In a separate bowl/large measuring cup, mix the wet ingredients and whisk the egg, then add to the wet.
4. Add in the blueberries, and mix all the ingredients together.
5. Spoon into your muffin tin and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Note – you can leave the blueberries out for a plain version, or add another fruit or carrots as well for carrot bran muffins. I stored these in a container in a fridge … they’re great for breakfast! I skip the butter and to me these make a super nice and healthy breakfast!

~Enjoy 

PS  – you can watch a video tutorial of this recipe on Instagram here.

According to WebMD, chickpeas are high in dietary fiber and a source of a number of nutrients, including calcium, choline, iron, folate, phosphorus and more. This nutritious and delicious pulse may even help lower your cholesterol and improve your mental health  (source). 

I love them as a source of plant-based protein and often mix them in salads and other dishes. When I discovered they can be used to make very tasty cookies and cookie dough, I was blown away!

This recipe here can be used to make either chickpea cookie dough or divine chickpea chocolate chip cookies.  They’re perfect for a healthy snack any time of the day.

These chocolate chickpea cookies are so easy to make and so good

Ingredients:

• 1 can chickpeas, drained, rinsed and shaken so they’re not too wet
• 1 heaping tablespoon peanut butter (any nut butter will do)
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• sea salt to taste
• 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate (you can of course use milk chocolate if that’s your thing)

Instructions:

1. Blend all ingredients in a food processor except for the chocolate.
2. Add the chocolate chips/chopped chocolate and blend it into the dough with a spatula or wooden spoon.
3. Roll into balls (or use a spoon/ice cream scoop) and place on a baking sheet.
4. Bake at 170 C / 340 F for ~15 minutes.

Cool and enjoy … I love this super easy to make high protein, high fiber treat

I would double this recipe if you have a food processor that’s large enough.

~~Enjoy