Inspired by the Bakewell Tart, which is typically made with raspberry jam, frangipane and flaked almonds.

I made this around Christmas time, so I decided to use cranberry juice, and I love how the tart flavours of the juice combined nicely with the amaretto.

It only has two ingredients – it’s a sweeter cocktail, but you can of course use half vodka and half amaretto for one that is less sweet.

The Recipe – Cranberry Bakewell Cocktail

Ingredients:

–50ml amaretto
–50 ml cranberry juice
–fresh or frozen cranberries, to garnish

Add to a cocktail shaker along with ice, shake and strain into your glass of choice. Enjoy!

For a less sweet version, here’s an easy recipe:

–25ml amaretto
–25ml vodka
–50 ml cranberry juice
–fresh or frozen cranberries, to garnish

Add to a cocktail shaker along with ice, shake and strain into your glass of choice.

I used Walcher’s Organic Amaretto and the Utkins No 5 Vodka, both available through Vintage Roots

Enjoy!

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.

Taylor Swift’s popular new cocktail – ‘The French Blonde’ – has been taking social media by storm lately.

It’s made with grapefruit juice, Lillet Blanc, gin and lemon bitters.

I gave it a go, and I have to say I really like this one. I also just love its pretty pink colour

For a lighter version, try skipping the gin.

You could also try this recipe with your favourite vermouth instead of the Lillet Blanc if you don’t have that on hand.

THE RECIPE – FRENCH BLONDE COCKTAIL (in ml)

INGREDIENTS:

Add all ingredients to a jar or cocktail shaker along with ice. Shake and strain into your glass of choice. Enjoy!

For this recipe, I used an organic gin from Juniper Green here in the UK, alongside an organic Elderflower liqueur from Gibson’s in the Cotswolds, both available through Vintage Roots.

Note, since 60ml is about 1/4 cup – this, recipe is easy to make using cup measurements too:

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 hope you enjoy this recipe

PROTEIN COOKIE DOUGH BALLS INGREDIENTS 

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

This was such a nice treat … I can’t wait to make this again!

For the chocolate, you can use chopped dark chocolate or dark chocolate chips (or milk ones), or even a drizzly chocolate sauce …

Ingredients for the ‘Nice Cream’:

• 4 medium-size bananas, sliced and frozen
• 1/2 cup thick yogurt (I used a sweetened vanilla-flavoured one this time)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste (optional)

Toppings:

crushed graham crackers
chopped dark chocolate or dark chocolate chips/chocolate sauce
marshmallow fluff

Instructions:

Add all the Nice Cream ingredients to a powerful blender or food processor and blend. If your blender is not strong enough, you’ll likely be better off using a hand blender, which is what I did this time

Note: this will get quite firm in the freezer, so you can either store it in the fridge or take it out of the freezer 15 minutes before serving.

You can also add water to this (1/4-1/2 cup) for a thinner ‘Nice Cream’ bowl

Enjoy

Did you know that you can easily make ice cream … aka ‘NICE CREAM’ … from frozen bananas?

They have such a creamy, silky texture when frozen.

The flavour combinations are endless, this one is pretty much a plain version … it’s purple because of a powder I used from a Swedish company called Raw Nice made from black carrots.

Ingredients:

• 4 medium-size bananas, sliced and frozen
• 1/2 cup thick yogurt (I used a sweetened vanilla-flavoured one this time)
• 1/4 cup water
• For the colour: 1 tablespoon of Rawnice’s Amethyst powder (optional)

Instructions:

Add everything to a powerful blender or food processor and blend. If your blender is not strong enough, you’ll likely be better off using a hand blender, which is what I did this time

Note: this will get quite firm in the freezer, so you can either store it in the fridge or take it out of the freezer 15 minutes before serving.

You can also add less water than 1/2 cup if you want a thicker ‘nice cream’

I can’t wait to try out other flavours for this too

Enjoy

(The label of the black carrot powder from Raw Nice … I had to cut off the label  from the package because my dog actually chewed the package, so it would have looked pretty rough in a photo … )

Ingredients:

• 1 cup oats
• 1/4 cup protein powder (I used a vanilla flavoured pea protein one)
• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup liquid honey
• 1/2 cups dark chocolate or chocolate chips + 1 tablespoon oil (I used canola; coconut or another light tasting oil will work too)
• sea salt

Instructions:

1. Mix the oats, protein powder, peanut butter and honey together in a mixing bowl, then press into a muffin tin or silicone muffin moulds. This makes enough for about 6 large cups, or you can do smaller/thinner ones with less chocolate on the top … fill the 6 cups about 3/4 of the way full.
2. Melt the chocolate in the microwave (1-2 minutes on high), then mix in the oil and pour on top of each of the oat cups.
3. Place in the freezer or fridge to set – you can add the sea salt either before they go in the fridge/freezer or after they come out. In the freezer these will set in 20 minutes, in the fridge an hour or so.

These are an amazing easy-to-make snack … you can also use white or milk chocolate for the top.

You can of course double the recipe to make 12 cups at a time.

~Enjoy 

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