Healthy cookies: Sultana and Oat Cookies

I am not so in to cookies, and so, we seldom make them in this house, But when I saw this recipe from the Healthy Food Guide, May 2015,  it had the promise of finally making use of those oat sachets we buy with so much enthusiasm and hope (typically around new year resolutions time), and never eat.

Note: I adapted the recipe so these are not the original ingredients.

Ingredients:

60 g coconut oil

2 tbsp sunflower oil

40 g light muscovado sugar

40 g pure cane sugar syrup

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 egg lightly beaten

160 g plain flour

60 g porridge oats

2 tbsp poppy seed

20 g desiccated coconut

40 g sultanas

Put the coconut oil, sugar, syrup and vanilla in a large bowl and beat with electric mixer until combined. Add the remaining ingredients and beat with a a wooden spoon to form a dough. 

Shape dough into a ball with your hands, then put on a large square cling film.

Roll the dough into a log shape around 20 cm long- here aim to be more circular than I managed. 

Put the dough in the fridge to chill overnight. 

When ready to bake, heat the oven 170 degrees  Fan (190 degrees normal), and line two baking sheets with baking paper. 

Cut the dough into slices.  You may choose to flatten to a disk shape. That is what I omitted.  Doing so may improve shapes.

In 15-20 mins, they become firm to touch. And that is when they are done. 

Cool aside for 5 minutes, and then move onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Or if you are not patient, just start eating! The sweetness of sultanas, and the crunchiness of desiccated coconut and poppy seed - they are just delightful!

Savory scones - Walnut scones

I have become a big fan of scones since I moved to the UK. I prefer them to all the lovely things that come in an afternoon tea. Especially, when accompanied with cream and strawberry jam. And, I stand by my conviction that best scones are found in Scotland.

But, this recipe (from the Vegetarian magazine, summer 2015), is as good as it gets, and it has a nice twist: It feels more savory than a traditional scone.

First ingredients:

225 g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tbsp baking powder
50 g butter, cubed
50 g walnuts, chopped, plus 6 walnut halves
125-150 ml full-fat milk
1 egg beaten

To serve:
The magazine says soft goat's cheese and fig jam.
I used a home-made blood orange jam

1. Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7 and lightly dust baking sheet with flour.
2. Mix the flour, baking powder and good pinch of salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub together until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
3. Add chopped walnuts and the milk, mix together until it clumps together. Then tip into your work surface and squash together to form a ball - try not to work the dough too much to avoid heavy scones.
4. Flatten the dough to make a disc of roughly 3 cm thick. Then cut into 6 triangles with a sharp knife.
5. Transfer to a baking sheet, brush with a little beaten egg. Place a walnut half on each scone.
6. Bake for 15 minutes until golden, and this is the result:

And, it goes lovely with a bit of jam:

The shapes of these scones are a bit odd, but with some experimentation, this is a perfect recipe. :)

A mini recipe for the blood orange jam. This recipe is inspired by Abel and Cole, and it is quite interesting as it uses honey instead of sugar. I kind of played with the quantities. I had some crystallized organic honey, which I wanted  so desperately to use.
So it roughly goes like this: Use 3 blood oranges (medium/small size), 2-3 spoons of honey.
I squeezed the two oranges. The other one peeled, removed the white skin, chopped the flesh small.
Then, put together with the honey in a pan, and boil. The rest depends on which consistency you want your jam.  I check by dripping some on a cold plate, and if it is not runny, that is my perfect consistency.

The perfect carrot cake

I love carrot cakes. So, I could not help try this recipe from PinterestTriple-Layer Carrot Cake {Starbucks Copycat}. I slightly changed it but was very happy with the outcome.

First ingredients (some not shown in the picture)

For the cake:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil + 1/2 cup single cream (This is my change - I just did not want to use 1 cup of oil. This was the first time I used cream in a cake, ended with a very moist cake.)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
4 eggs
4 carrots (you see the sizes in the picture)
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

For the frosting (this is where I changed the original reciper):
1 tub of Philadelphia, and 1 tub of Labneh cheese  (Labneh is slightly saltier than Philadelphia, and that creates a nice contrast - in the future I would add another tub)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon milk and a bit more
1/2 tablespoons of honey
(I kind of improvised this part - so taste as you go to find the right combination)

To make the cakes:

Sift dry ingredients together into a large bowl. Add oil and cream, and stir well to form a somewhat stiff mixture. Set aside.

Adding one egg at a time, blend the mixture until it's smooth and foamy.

 Add the wet mixture to the stiff mixture. Mix well.

Add grated carrots and stir. Add the raisins and the nuts, if desired. Combine all the ingredients very well.

Pour cake batter into three well-greased 8" round cake pans. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees F for 30-45 minutes. The cakes are done when they start pulling away from the sides of the pan.

Cool the cakes in the pans for 10-15 minutes. Invert them onto cooling racks, and cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting:
Mix softened cream cheese, milk and vanilla. Add the honey. Blend well until frosting is smooth. When the cakes have cooled, frost each layer and then cover the sides and top. (I definitely needed more frosting) Sprinkle the walnuts over the frosting. Store in the refrigerator.

And here is the result:

 Best carrot cake ever!!!