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Caramel Waffle Cookie Banana Bread

ByNicole | On June 08,19 | 1 Comment

Caramel Waffle Cookie Banana Bread

Caramel Waffle Cookie Banana Bread – that really is a mouth full. Caramel waffle cookies or ‘Stroopwafels’, literally translated as syrup waffle, are thin crisp waffle cookies, with a gooey layer of soft caramel in between. These Dutch stroopwafels are quite popular worldwide and have found their way to supermarkets across the globe.

United Airlines

In 2015, United Airlines even started serving original Daelmans stroopwafels on their flights. The stroopwafels were so popular, that when United Airlines stopped serving them last year, passengers kept asking on social media to please have them back in their snack rotation. And United Airlines listened. Since January of this year, the stroopwafels are back. read more

Cakes, Bars & more, Cookies, All Recipes

Sugar Cookie Bars

ByNicole | On October 15,18 | 25 Comments

Sugar Cookie Bars

Sugar Cookie Bars, I think these are fairly unknown outside of the US. That is, I have not met a person who was familiar with these. It’s like one giant sheet pan cookie cut into pieces. This is a recipe I have made for several years now. And I’ve made these cookie bars so often, it never occurred to me to actually right everything down and publish the recipe.

Lauren’s Latest

The original recipe is from an American food blog, Lauren’s Latest. It’s one of the first food bloggers I started following, about 6 years ago. When Lauren published this recipe a couple of years ago, I made them right away and it’s been a favourite ever since. In the original recipe, the sugar cookie bars are topped with icing, but I don’t think these cookie bars need that. I leave them plain. And with just a few minor adjustments, this recipe has become a staple in our house.

So, it’s safe to say that these are quite popular, whenever I make them. Though there is the odd one who doesn’t like them. There is almond extract added, which makes the cookie bars taste like marzipan. If you are not a fan of marzipan, you can still make these bars by simply swapping the almond extract by any other extract of your liking, such as vanilla or lemon.

Easy cookie

It’s just not the taste and texture (soft bite) that I like very much. These bars are so easy to make too. I love cookies, but sometimes it’s just too much hassle. Cooling the rough, rolling it, cutting it out, etc. These sugar cookie bars are way easier and faster. Everything goes into one bowl, all ingredients at once, kneed it together, press it into a baking dish, bake it, cut it, eat it. That’s it, now let’s get baking!

Ingredients

250 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

225 g sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

400 g flour

½ tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C and line a baking dish with parchment paper. I usually use a brownie tin. You could of course use any other baking dish, like a 13×9”.

Put all ingredients into a bowl and quickly kneed into a dough. I love using my KitchenAid for this, but you can do this by hand as well.

Press the dough into the prepared baking dish. Use the back of a spoon or the bottom of a glass to smooth out the top.

Bake ca. 25-30 minutes in the middle of the oven.

Let cool completely and cut into pieces.

Enjoy!

Bread, Cakes, Bars & more, All Recipes, Bananabread & Co

Banana bread with apple and oats

ByNicole | On September 25,18 | 2 Comments

Banana bread with apple and oats

Autumn seems to keep its schedule this year. As if on cue, right on the 21st of September, the warm weather is gone and it’s rainy and windy outside. Like flipping the switch. And I can’t help it, but I’m immediately in the mood for fall baking. So, I started the season with this delicious banana bread with apple and oats.

Banana

There is so much you can do with banana. I really don’t like eating (over)ripe bananas, but they are a perfect natural sweetener for cake. If any at all, you just need to add a little bit of sugar or other sweetener to your dough and much less fat. From classic banana bread to heavenly chocolate, everything goes. There are already more than 15 recipes using banana on the blog and I’m still bubbling with ideas for more.

Apple and oats

The weather will get better towards the end of the week, but the wind and rain made me long for comfort food. Apple pie is the ultimate comfort food. We still had a full bag of apples in the pantry and I needed to come up with recipes to make use of those. So, I made apple sauce, apple pear sauce and this utterly delicious banana bread with apple and oats. Perfect with a cup of tea and easy as a grab&go breakfast.

Healthy-ish

By using (over)ripe bananas you need much less sugar or other sweeteners. Compared to a regular cake, there is a lot less sugar in this bread. And by using whole wheat instead of white flour and throwing oats into the mix, you’re adding extra fibre. Which is not only healthier, it keeps you full longer. Though I don’t think that food should ever make you feel guilty, if it really does bother you, this banana bread definitely should invoke less guilt ;).

Ingredients

2- 3 sweet-tart apples

1 tbsp light brown sugar

2 bananas (peeled ca. 250 g)

2 eggs (L)

100 ml vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla-extract

50 g light brown sugar

150 g whole wheat flour

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

100 g oats

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C and line a cake tin with parchment paper.

Peel the apples and cut into small cubes.

Add 1 tablespoon sugar to the apples and mix.

Mash the bananas and mix with the eggs, oil and vanilla-extract.

Add sugar and mix well.

Now add the flour, baking powder and cinnamon and mix until no lumps remain.

Fold in the apples and oats.

Pour the batter in the prepared cake tin and bake ca. 50-60 minutes in the middle of the oven.

This banana bread / apple cake is delicious in the afternoon with a nice cup of coffee or tea, but it’s also great for breakfast. As is or with good dollop of cookie or peanut butter.

Enjoy!

Bread, Cakes, Bars & more, All Recipes, Bananabread & Co

Classic Banana Bread

ByNicole | On July 07,18 | 4 Comments

Classic banana bread

Alright, I know it’s been way too hot the past weeks to even think about turning on the oven. But if you don’t mind or it’s not as hot where you live, I got this wonderful recipe for you: classic banana bread.

Cookbook review

Just recently, I reviewed a new cookbook, called ‘Bananenboek’, the banana book. Unfortunately, it’s only on Dutch. As the title already says, it’s a cookbook all about the banana. Banana a s ingredient for sweet AND savory dishes. Quite interesting. So, for the review, I tried several recipes form the book, but I didn’t try any of the baking recipes. Why? I already have about 15 different banana recipes on my blog and there are still more to come. And then I suddenly realised that there is still one important recipe missing: one for good, old fashioned, plain banana bread.

Anything but plain

Although I wouldn’t want to call it plain, really. But next to all those funny combinations and unexpected ingredients, the most delicious recipe was missing. Of a simple, easy, and tasty banana bread. Banana bread as it is supposed to be. And even though the hot temps are not really inviting me to turn on the oven, this definitely is worth the extra sweat. And it might be a welcome distraction from all those recipes for the BBQ, drinks, ice cream and salads ;-).

Ingredients

3 small bananas (peeled about 250g)

2 eggs

200 g crème fraiche or sour cream

75 g sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

100 ml vegetable oil

300 g flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C and grease a cake tin or line with a baking sheet.

Mash the bananas.

Beat the eggs with the sugar, crème fraiche, oil and vanilla until smooth. You can use a whisk for that.

In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda and baking powder.

Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and fold the two together. You could use a whisk or electric mixer, but down overmix.

Fold in the mashed banana.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for ca. 60 minutes in the middle of the oven.

Out comes this wonderfully fluffy banana bread. Now you should wait until it’s cooled down, but I have to admit that that is the most difficult part for me. I can’t muster the patience and usually cut off a piece when it’s still warm. It’s so good!

It’s tasty just as is, but I also love to slather it with peanut butter (especially if it’s the salted caramel type).

Enjoy!

Cakes, Bars & more, Dairy Free, Gluten-Free, All Recipes, Vegan

Vegan Breakfast Brownies – a healthier indulgence

ByNicole | On May 26,18 | 21 Comments

Brownies are definitely my weakness. Especially if they are soft and moist, with a full chocolate flavour. I simply can’t refuse. I could even eat them for breakfast. In fact, that wouldn’t even be that bad, if you’re otherwise watching what you’re eating and following a healthy and balanced diet. Yet there is always that little voice in my head: shame on you! Well, then there’s only one option: creating a healthier version. And I think I (finally) managed: Vegan Breakfast Brownies.

Healthier indulgence

Even though this is a much healthier version than my ultimate brownies, it’s still an extra treat you should not eat very single day. But it contains much healthier ingredients. Or should I say: I’ve omitted or replaced some of the unhealthy ingredients. It makes them a healthy breakfast option and they are an ideal grab&go meal (take them with you to eat on the road or at work).

Granola

To make them all breakfast-worthy, I added granola to the mix. This granola is homemade and unsweetened and is more of a topping for your yogurt or smoothie bowl. Hence also perfect to use as an extra crunch in these brownies.

Several tries

It took me several tries to get the results I wanted. A deliciously moist brownie turning into a vegan and gluten free treat wasn’t quite as obvious. Sure, I got a few very tasty brownies, but one was too dry, another didn’t quite hold its stuff together (as in: totally crumbled between your fingers). Or they were too sweet or not sweet enough. Finally though, I made a brownie that I’m confident to actually call a brownie.

Ingredients

For the granola:

200 g oats (certified gluten free if necessary)

75 g roughly chopped unsalted cashews

50 g roughly chopped hazelnuts

50 g roughly chopped almonds

50 g quinoa pops

For the brownies:

100 g dark chocolate

15 g coconut oil (ca. 1 tbsp)

40 g arrowroot

4 tbsp cold water

200 g almond meal

½ tsp salt

75 g coconut blossom sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

150 g unsweetened apple sauce

50 g granola

Instructions

For the granola:

Preheat oven to 180°C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix all ingredients for the granola and spread evenly on the baking sheet.

Roast for about 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally so everything browns evenly.

Use the desired quantity for the brownies and keep the rest in a jar or airtight container for later use (great on yoghurt, smoothie bowl or fresh fruit).

For the brownies:

Preheat oven to 180°C and line a brownie or other baking tin with parchment paper.

Melt the chocolate together with the coconut oil.

Mix the arrowroot with the water until no lumps remain.

In a bowl, mix the almond meal, salt and sugar.

Add the chocolate, arrowroot mixture, apple sauce and vanilla to the dry mixture and mix well, using a spatula.

Then fold in the granola.

Press batter in the prepared baking tin and smooth out the top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Let cool completely before cutting into pieces.

Enjoy!

Cakes, Bars & more, All Recipes, Bananabread & Co

Triple Chocolate Banana Bread

ByNicole | On March 23,18 | 4 Comments

Triple Chocolate Banana Bread – the ultimate banana bread for a chocoholic. Which means, this is the prefect banana bread for me. When you browse through my recipes, you will see I have a ‘slight’ favor for banana bread. I’ve tried numerous variations. One of my all time favourites has been the Banana Hazelnut Snack Cake, quite amazing taste due to the ground hazelnuts that I used instead of flour. The runner up, following very close, is my Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread. But this Triple Chocolate Banana Bread beats them all.

Triple Chocolate

So, what makes this a Triple Chocolate? Well, there a generous piece of good dark chocolate, cocoa powder for an even deeper chocolate flavour and on top of it all: dark chocolate chips throughout the bread. Addictive, is all I can say. Make this bread at your own risk. If you have some (over)ripe banana’s lying on your kitchen counter and you have no idea what to do with them? Make this utterly delicious and very easy to prepare banana bread.

Ingredients

2 medium (over)ripe bananas (the darker the skin, the sweeter, the better)

2 eggs

250 ml buttermilk (no buttermilk at hand? Add a bit of vinegar to regular milk (ca. 1 tbsp per 500 ml) and let sit for about 10 minutes)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp honey (depending on the ripeness, hence sweetness, of the bananas, you can add more honey if you like)

50 ml vegetable oil

100 g dark chocolate (min 70%)

250 g flour

25 g cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

100 g chocolate chips (chopping up a piece of dark chocolate works fine as well)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C hot air) and grease a cake tin or line with parchment paper.

Melt the chocolate.

Mash up the banana.

Mix the banana with the milk, eggs, oil, vanilla and honey.

Pour a little bit of the mixture into the melted chocolate and stir.

Add the chocolate to the mixture and mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder.

Add the wet mixture and mix with a spatula.

Fold in the chocolate chips and pour the batter into the cake tin.

Bake, in the middle of the oven, for ca. 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

The result: a soft and moist banana bread with a deep chocolate flavour and a hint of banana. Delicious.

Enjoy!

Cakes, Bars & more, All Recipes

Sinterklaas Muffins

ByNicole | On November 23,17 | 2 Comments

Sinterklaas (or Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children) brings gifts to all good children on the eve before his name day, which is celebrated on the 6th of December. So on the 5th of December, late in the evening and during the night, he and his helpers will climb across the rooftops, to deliver presents all in secret, for children to find them early in the morning.

Exiting time

The weeks leading up to Sinterklaas are very exciting for all children. And for the parents and other family members, who will do everything they can, to keep this tradition very much alive and make sure the children believe in Sinterklaas for as long as possible. Wish lists are written, homes are decorated, songs will be sung and… loads of sweet treats will be eaten. There are many sweets, cookies, pies and more, that will typically be eaten this time of year, such as chocolate letters, speculaas (spiced crunchy cookie, kind of like ginger snaps) and Kruidnoten (spiced, bite-sized cookies).

Muffins

With Christmas also approaching, this time of year is not the most healthy one. That’s why we try to sneak in a few healthier recipes, like my healthier version of the traditional Kruidnoten. But it doesn’t always have to be healthy. As long as we try to balance the hell out of it (some days are better than others), we can have a not so healthy treat and enjoy it. Like these utterly delicious Sinterklaas muffins we made. Super fluffy and tasty with cinnamon and ginger. With all the sugar. Alright, lightened up a bit with Greek yogurt and vegetable oil. Balance, right…

Ingredients

2 eggs

125 g white sugar

125 g light brown sugar

120 ml vegetable oil

250 g Greek yogurt

250 g plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

75 g mini spiced cookies or chopped up ginger cookies

Extra cookies for topping

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C and grease a muffin tin or line with paper or silicone cups.

Beat the eggs with the sugars and oil until creamy.

Add the yogurt and mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and ginger.

Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and whisk until just combined.

Fold in the cookies.

Pour batter into prepared muffin tin/cups. I use an ice cream scoop for portioning.

Sprinkle a few cookies/pieces on top.

Bake ca. 25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cool and enjoy!

Cakes, Bars & more, All Recipes

Halloween Surprise Cake

ByNicole | On October 19,17 | 52 Comments

Halloween is getting more and more popular in Europe. There are scary walking tours, amusement parks have Halloween themed days, the shop are filled to the brim with costumes, creepy accessories and tons of Halloween candy.

Our boys love Halloween. The creepier the better. Which means we happily go along with all that Halloween craziness. But we keep it fairly low key. Just a few accessories in the house, a little bit of candy and we might just go on ones of those scary walking tours.

Birthday

Our youngest celebrates his birthday in October and last year, he wanted his party and the birthday cake all Halloween themed. I happily obliged. The treats for his class mates were Halloween themed as well: orange pumpkin and white ghost cupcakes.

The rules for the school treats are quite strict. No chocolate, whipped or buttercream, no candy. Preferably fruit, cake, waffles or cookies. But we try to make it something special anyway. Hence the Halloween themed cupcakes (no frosting), our oldest brought personalised cookies.

This year’s birthday cake had to be a Pokémon cake. So that’s what we did. With edible Pokéballs on top.

Surprise inside

But what should we bring to school? That had to be Halloween treats again. Even though we’re not supposed to use whipped cream, chocolate or buttercream, no one said anything about using a little bit of colour. Inspired by the Surprise Inside Cakes by I Am Baker, I came up with this Halloween Surprise Inside Cake. It’s actually very easy to make, but the effect is huge: those eyes when you slice the cake and they see what’s inside. Priceless.

What do you need?

500 g unsalted butter

350 g sugar

7 eggs (L)

2 tsp vanilla extract

400 g flour

2 tsp baking powder

Extra: food colouring

What do you need to do?

Preheat oven to 170°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whip the butter with the sugar until creamy.

Add eggs and vanilla extract and mix well.

Add flour and baking powder and mix until just combined.

Take about 1/3 of the batter out and transfer to another bowl.

Add the desired colouring for the surprise inside and mix until you have an even colour.

Pour the batter on the prepared baking sheet and smooth out. You can simply pour it on the baking sheet (like I did with the orange one) of use a baking dish or a mold (like I did with the black one).

Bake ca. 10 minutes.

Take out of the oven and let cool slightly.

Meanwhile, grease a cake tin and/or line it with parchment paper.

If desired, you can colour the rest of the batter as well.

Once the sheet cake has cooled enough to handle, cut out the forms. I have used a bat cookie cutter of one cake and a pumpkin cookie cutter for the other cake. But you can use any shape you like.

Put a bit of batter in the bottom of the cake tin.

Now carefully place all cut out pieces in a straight line on the dough layer. Lightly press it down.

Fill up with the remaining batter.

Bake ca. 50-60 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cool completely before slicing.

The funniest thing happened with the coloured batches for school. The surprise inside turned 180°, so the bats hung upside down. Well, they tasted great anyway and the kids? They LOVED it!

Enjoy and have a spooky Halloween!

Bread, Cakes, Bars & more, All Recipes, Bananabread & Co

Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread

ByNicole | On October 12,17 | 4 Comments

You all know by now that I love to bake with banana’s. So it can’t be a surprise that I have yet another wonderful recipe for you. And since I had posted a picture of my first marbled chocolate banana bread on Instagram a couple of months ago, I kept getting requests for the recipe. Well, finally, it’s here!

After a few extra test drives and some small adjustments, I’m quite satisfied with the end result: a chocolatey banana bread that’s not overly sweet, that’s super moist and extremely tasty. And on the healthy-ish side. Got nothing more to add, except… the recipe.

Ingredients

2 (over)ripe bananas

200 g Greek yogurt

2 eggs (large)

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp maple syrup

125 g whole wheat flour

100 g oat flour (ground oats)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tbsp milk

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 160°C and grease and/or line a cake tin with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas.

Add the yogurt, eggs, vanilla extract and 3 tbsp maple syrup.

Mix well.

Then in a separate bowl, mix the whole wheat flour, oat flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add the dry mixture into the wet and mix until just combined.

Pour about 2/3 of the mixture into the prepared cake tin.

Then add the cocoa powder, milk and 1 tbsp maple syrup to the remaining batter and mix well.

Pour into the cake tin.

Now using a spoon or a knife, swirl through the batter to create a marble pattern.

Bake for about 40-45 minutes until a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean (a few crumbs is fine).

Out comes a wonderful loaf of Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread. Doesn’t that look gorgeous?! Now let cool, slice and serve. Or eat straight from the oven, if you can’t wait, like me ;-).

Enjoy!

Also love bananas as much as I do? Why not try these Banana Carrot Spelt Muffins or this Banana Hazelnut Snack Cake?

Cakes, Bars & more, Dairy Free, All Recipes

Oven-baked Pumpkin Doughnuts

ByNicole | On September 28,17 | 10 Comments

Pumpkin Doughnuts

Yeah, it’s Fall! And you know what that means? Well? No, I don’t mean it’s getting cold, wet, windy, dark… No no no, I mean it’s PUMPKIN SEASON! Actually, it’s pumpkin season all year round for me, especially when my freezer is stacked with my homemade pumpkin puree. But we can officially jump on the pumpkin wagon now (like with these pumpkin doughnuts), without getting weird looks, like if it’s a crime to have something pumpkin during summer.

Oven-baked

To start the (official) season right off, I’ve made these delicious and somewhat healthier pumpkin doughnuts. For one thing, they’re oven-baked instead of fried. I also only added a little bit of oil to the batter so these pumpkin doughnuts are really low-fat. And not too much sugar, as the pumpkin puree already provides a fair amount of sweetness. Added bonus: they are extremely easy to make and are ready in no time at all!

Ingredients

200 g pumpkin puree
2 eggs
50 g light brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
150 g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Extra: 3 tbsp white sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

First, preheat your oven to 180°C.

Mix the pumpkin puree, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, salt and oil.

Then add the flour and baking powder and mix with a spoon or rubber spatula. Mix until just combined.

Grease two donuts pans.

Then fill the molds with the batter. You can do that with a spoon, but I’ve got an easy trick for you.

Pour the batter into a plastic bag (f.e. a ziplock bag).

Close the bag and the cut off one bottom corner. Now you can easily fill the molds with your batter.

Bake in the middle of the oven for ca. 10 minutes.

Take them out and let them cool just a little bit, maybe 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the white sugar and the cinnamon in a small bowl or on a plate.

Lightly press each doughnut into the cinnamon sugar.

These are best when eaten the same day, but can be kept in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days. If they last that long ;).

Enjoy!

Cakes, Bars & more, Dairy Free, Gluten-Free, Low Carb, All Recipes, Bananabread & Co

Banana Hazelnut Snack Cake

ByNicole | On September 07,17 | 4 Comments

Banana recipe #… I know, another banana recipe. And guess what, I still have a bunch of recipes I want to share with you. So stay tuned if you like banana bread and similar recipes. This recipe is really different from all the other recipes. Why? Because it’s made with ground hazelnuts.

Gluten & sugar free

As I’ve used ground hazelnuts instead of flour, it’s gluten free and fairly low-carb. Fairly low-carb as it doesn’t have any flour, but probably still too carby for those on a strict low-carb diet, due to the banana. But low-carb or not, this cake is definitely worth a try. It tastes amazing and is super light and fluffy (due to beaten egg whites added to the batter). And, I did not use any added sugar or sweetener. The bananas and the ground hazelnuts are sweet enough together.

Ingredients

2 medium (over)ripe bananas (ca. 180-200g peeled)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
60 ml hazelnut oil
200 g ground hazelnuts
2 tsp baking powder
4 egg whites
pinch of salt
Optional: 50 g dark chocolate chips

You can use other oils for the hazelnut oil. For the egg whites, I use TwoChicks egg whites. It’s so easy to have those at hand at all times and you don’t have to separate eggs and need to find other uses for the egg yolks.

If you can’t find ground hazelnuts at the store, simply make it yourself. Put in a high power blender or food processor and process until it becomes a flour. But be careful not to process too long, as once the oils are set free, it becomes a paste (hazelnut butter). Tasty, but not what you want right now.

Directions

Start by preheating your oven to 160°C and line a rimmed baking sheet or large baking dish with parchment paper.

Mash the bananas and mix them with the eggs, oil and vanilla extract.

Add the ground hazelnuts and baking powder and stir until well combined.

Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Then carefully fold the beaten egg whites into the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared dish and sprinkle the chocolate chips on top, if using. Then bake in the middle of the oven for ca. 30-35 minutes.

Let cool completely before cutting into squares.

It’s light and fluffy and utterly delicious.

Enjoy!

Love banana recipes? Why not try this Chai Spiced Banana Bread? Or these Oatmeal Banana Muesli Bars with Cranberries and Raisins?

Cakes, Bars & more, All Recipes

Lemon Blueberry Crumb Cake

ByNicole | On August 24,17 | 2 Comments

The sun has forsaken us a bit this summer. Just like the last couple of years, July and August have been rather cold and wet, with just a few days of real summer. Guess this is what summers will be like in our little part of the world. Well, we’ll have to bring the sun in ourselves. And what better way than bringing the sun on your plate with this Lemon Blueberry Crumb Cake?

I made this cake last week to bring to a little family gathering. It was a sure hit with everyone, kids and adults alike. It’s fresh and sweet and the perfect cake for an afternoon tea, a brunch or as a dessert.

And it could not be easier to make. I used my basic cake recipe (that I also used for this Coconut Pineapple Cake, that also puts the sunshine right on your plate) and added lemon extract and blueberries and finished it off with a crumb layer. This is what you need (scroll down for the printable recipe):

For the cake:

250g softened unsalted butter
175g white sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp lemon extract
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
150 g fresh blueberries*

For the crumb layer:

175g plain flour
125g cold unsalted butter
125g white sugar
1 tsp lemon extract

For the glaze:

6 tbsp powdered sugar
3 tbsp lemon juice

* You can use frozen blueberries instead of fresh. To prevent too much juice leaking into the cake, you can coat them in flour. Put the frozen blueberries in a plastic bag, add 1/2-1 tbsp flour, close the bag and gently shake the bag until all berries are covered in flour.

Everything prepped and ready to go? Here’s what you got to do.

Preheat oven to 160°C and line a round cake tin (springform) with parchment paper en grease the sides.

Beat the butter and sugar until creamy.

Add eggs and lemon extract and beat until well combined. It may look a bit curdled, but that’s all right.

Sift flour and baking powder on top and mix with a rubber spatula until combined. Do not overmix.

Carefully fold in 2/3 of the blueberries.

Pour batter into prepared cake tin and divide the rest of the blueberries on top.

Put the ingredients for the crumb layer in a separate bowl and mix with your hands until you it starts to come together.

Divide the crumbs and bake the cake for ca. 50-60 minutes.

Let cool completely.

Mix the ingredients for the glaze and pour over the cooled cake.

Then serve and enjoy!

Cakes, Bars & more, All Recipes

Rainbow Cupcakes

ByNicole | On July 27,17 | 21 Comments

Rainbow is this week’s Crea-Cross 2017 challenge. For those of you, who don’t know yet what this Crea-Cross 2017 entails, check out Kreanimo, an inspiring personal blog with loads of creative ideas, for more information.

Although I’ve contributed just last week, I’m not a very regular contributor to the challenge. To some, I might even be a bit of a strange addition to all those creative bloggers. But hey, cooking is all about creativity as well. But I have to admit that it can be quite hard to come up with a recipe that expresses clearly the given challenge. But not so this week’s prompt: rainbow. I’m proud to be a co-host yet again, and I’m not alone this week. Anne from Simple Thoughts is co-hosting this week’s challenge as well. Go check out her blog with loads of DIY idea’s, beauty tips, recipes and so much more. Please feel free to share your own idea’s, work etc related to this week’s prompt, using the blue button at the end of this post.

Cupcakes

Just recently, I had baked cakes for a friend’s birthday and wanted to do something special for all the kids that would be at the party as well. Cupcakes are always a good idea for kids. They don’t have to sit down and eat a piece of cake with a fork, from a plate. Eating with your hands is easier and so much more fun. Add a colorful topping and the kids could not be happier. Now what is more colorful than a rainbow? So I decided to add colorful sprinkles to the dough and top the cupcakes with rainbow buttercream. For the buttercream, I used my recipe for White Chocolate Buttercream. It’s easy and so delicious. My all time favorite buttercream. But first the cupcakes. They are really easy to make, so delicious and the texture is light and fluffy.

Start by preheating your oven to 170°C. Grease a muffin tin or line with paper cups. I like to use silicone muffin cups. Then melt 175g of unsalted butter and set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix 300g of plain flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt. In a large bowl, beat 300g of white sugar and the melted butter until foamy.

Add 4 large eggs, 1 egg at a time, and beat after each addition.

Add 2 tsp vanilla extract, then beat again.

Alternately, add the flour mixture and 250ml of buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour. Don’t overmix.

Finally, add in some colored sprinkles. I used about 4 tablespoons.

Then fill up your muffin tin/cupcake liners and bake ca. 15-20 minutes. This will make 24 cupcakes.

They are so good, fluffy and moist.

Let them cool completely before frosting. For the frosting, I used White Chocolate Buttercream and you can find the recipe here. But feel free to use your own favorite buttercream recipe.

Divide the buttercream over 4 bowls and add food coloring to each one. I used blue, red, green and yellow.

You can make the colors as light or dark as you wish. Start with just a few drops and add more if you want a deeper color. Then lay a piece of cling film on your work space and line the colored buttercream on it. Then roll up and close the ends.

Put in the fridge for about half an hour. You don’t want to leave it for too long as it will firm up too much and you will have to let it come to room temperature again to be able to pipe it.

Prepare a piping bag with the nozzle you want to use. Cut of one end of the cling film and place it in the piping bag.

Now you’re ready to pipe beautiful rainbow roses on your cupcakes.

Time to party 🙂

Enjoy!

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Chai Spiced Banana Bread

ByNicole | On July 13,17 | 6 Comments

Chai Spiced Banana Bread. I know that many will associate chai with hot drinks, like a Chai Latte. Chai. Comforting, warming spices. Not something you might expect in the middle of summer. But believe me, this is good. Those who follow me for a little while now, know that I use a lot of banana’s in baking. It started out as a necessity to use up overripe banana’s, but it has started to become a regular item in my baking and cooking adventures. Bread, cookies, bars, drinks, desserts, even waffles. Banana’s are quite versatile and due to their natural sweetness (the riper, the sweeter), you’ll need less sugar or sweetener in your recipe.

I am on a constant quest to come up with new recipes to use banana’s. And while I was happily sipping on a Chai Latte (yes, even during summer), I was contemplating what else I could use those delicious, fragrant spices for. Not sure where the thought came from, but I thought it might be good in a banana bread. So the next day, I set to work and baked this very tasty bread.

You might notice that I didn’t use any fat. Honestly? I forgot. Oops. But this oops actually turned out quite all right. Sometimes, oopses (that’s not a word, right) are just meant to happen. This banana bread suddenly got skinny. Even more so, as I just added 3 tablespoons of honey. If you do like your banana bread sweeter, you can add of course more honey. Added bonus: it’s super easy to make.

Just mash 2 large or 3 small banana’s in a bowl. The net weight should be around 220-240g. Then add 3 large eggs and 3 tablespoons of honey and mix well.

Then add 175g plain flour (whole wheat or spelt will be fine as well), 1 tablespoon baking powder and the spices:

1/4 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground fennel seed
1/4 tsp all spice
1/4 tsp ground aniseed

Mix until just combined.

Line a cake/loaf pan with parchment paper and grease the sides (this will the only added fat).

Then bake at 180°C for about 25-30 minutes.

Such a perfect loaf. And so fragrant! You can eat it plain, with preserves or with just a little bit salted butter. Salted?! Yes, salted. Give it try.

You know what else is great on this banana bread? My Roasted Apricot Puree.

If you like plain banana bread better, you can try this recipe.

Now get baking 🙂

Enjoy!

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Lemon Crazy Cake

ByNicole | On May 07,17 | 8 Comments

This Lemon Crazy cake is egg and dairy free and super easy to make.

Origins

Most of you probably know crazy cake, also called wacky cake or depression cake. It is not very known in Europe, at least not by that name. If you search for it’s origins, the first documented recipes date back to the 1940’s. A time where certain foods were hard to come buy or were utterly expensive, like butter, eggs and milk. Hence the name depression cake. You had to make use of what was available and leave out what you could not get or afford.

No eggs, butter or milk

So this recipe uses no eggs, butter or milk. Those ingredients are mostly used in cake baking, but were hard to get (if at all) during the time of war. When I first read about this, I could not imagine that you could bake a decent cake without those ingredients. Over time I learned that you can bake a cake with almost anything, but when I first started out baking, I firmly believed that at least butter and eggs are a definite must.

One bowl

The basic crazy cake recipe is really simple. You throw everything into one bowl, mix and bake. When you got the basic recipe, you can add different flavors, spices and/or frosting to adjust to your own taste. Like a Lemon Crazy Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting. Now for the basic recipe:

275g all purpose flour

200g white sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

75 ml vegetable oil

240 ml water

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Using a glass or spoon, make one large dent in the flour. Using a smaller glass or spoon, make two smaller dents as well.

Pour the oil into the large dent, the vinegar into one smaller dent and the vanilla extract into the other smaller dent. Then pour the water over everything. Using a whisk, mix everything well so no lumps remain.

Pour batter into a greased or lined baking pan/dish and bake for ca. 30 minutes in a preheated oven at 170°C.

This basic recipe renders a perfect and tasty vanilla cake. You can eat it plain or frost with butter cream or whatever you fancy. You can also make muffins/cupcakes with this batter, though you will have to adjust the baking time.

Now with this basic crazy cake recipe, you can make many different cakes. Chocolate cake, add spices or other flavorings such as almond or make this Lemon Crazy Cake. Made extra special with a cream cheese lemon frosting. The frosting is totally optional, the cake is out of this world delicious without it, I promise. But if you do have butter and cream cheese in the house and don’t have to stay off lactose… go for it.

Enjoy!

Want something lemony but don’t feel like baking a whole cake? Try this Lemon & Raspberry Mug Cake instead!

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Coconut Pineapple Cake

ByNicole | On April 23,17 | 12 Comments

Moist and fluffy coconut pineapple cake… put a little sunshine on your plate!

Sometimes, you just need something summery. Although it’s almost the end of April, summer seems a long way away. Spring has briefly popped up it’s head, with a few days of fairly high temperatures for the season, giving us all a feeling of summer. But… temperatures have dropped again and it’s cold and windy. It feels more like fall or even winter (with even freezing temps during the night).

Sunshine on your plate

So more than ever, I yearn for the sun. And if the weather can’t provide it, I will have to improvise. What better way to do that than with some baking. Baking makes me happy anyway, no matter what the weather is like. Now what makes me feel like summer? Definitely flavors like coconut and pineapple. Combined in a cake, it’s just like a piece of heaven. And whether it’s the middle of summer or the middle of winter, this cake will definitely put some sunshine on your plate: coconut pineapple cake.

Basic cake recipe

For nearly twenty years, I use the same basic cake recipe as a base for many different cakes. Apple cake, peach and coconut, cherry cake or just plain. It’s a recipe I had slowly developed all those years ago. Many many cakes were baked until I finally had perfected my recipe. And I have used it ever since. For the very basic recipe, you need following ingredients:

250 g softened butter

150 g white sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

200 g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

To make just a plain cake, start by mixing the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat well. Add the flower and baking powder and mix until everything is combined. Pour in a baking tin and bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Baking time varies from 30 to even 50 minutes or an hour, depending on the size and form of the baking tin.

Adapt to your liking

With this basic recipe, there are no limits to what you can do with it. You can bake it in a cake tin as a pound cake or spread it thin for a sheet cake. Add fruit, like diced apple, peaches, pears, cherries. Or add spices or nuts. Use different extracts. For this coconut pineapple cake, I left out the vanilla extract and added 50 g desiccated coconut and pineapple from a can, chopped into little pieces. Topped with whipped cream and a few tablespoons of lightly toasted coconut. Pure bliss!

I promise you, this cake will be so good, it will be gone before you know it.

Enjoy!

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Apple Banana Muffins & the Crea-Cross Challenge

ByNicole | On March 02,17 | 2 Comments

It’s been a while since I last participated in the Crea-Cross Challenge. Every week, Ilse posts a prompt on her creative blog Kreanimo and everyone is invited to interpret that week’s prompt in their own way. If you want to learn more about the challenge, get awesome creative ideas and meet other creative souls, hop on over to Ilse’s blog! There you can read the rules and find all prompts for the rest of the year.

For a food blogger, this challenge can be quite, well… challenging. It can be really hard to imagine a dish or drink with some prompts, but I’m sure that every theme can be expressed in food, one way or the other. This week’s prompt is ‘The Road’.

‘The Road’ can be interpreted in so many ways. Reflecting on your life, the road you took to reach certain goals, travel stories, the long road ahead of you…

For me, this prompted immediately idea’s for food for ‘on the road’. Food that travels easy. Food that you can grab and go. As usual, I walked around the kitchen and pantry to see what I had available (or what I had to use up). And I found banana’s (of course) and apples. Grab and go? Muffins! Muffins are great for traveling and make a delicious and easy breakfast on the go. Perfect for on ‘the road’!

In this recipe, I used regular all purpose flour, but that can be swapped for whole wheat or spelt flour. You can also easily adapt the recipe by adding oats, nuts and/or dried fruits (raisins, cranberries…).

Enjoy!

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Banana Carrot Spelt Muffins

ByNicole | On February 05,17 | 8 Comments

National and World Food Days

Do you keep track of all the national and world food days? I don’t. Well, I didn’t. I have now made a list of all the national and world food holidays and hopefully, I will remember to look at it in time. Most of them are celebrated mainly in the US, but are getting more known all over the world. Foodies are more and more taking these food days to promote their dishes and recipes. So how can I not do this and stay behind?

It is of course utter nonsense, if you ask me, really. I mean, Moldy Cheese Day (October 9th), Jump for Jelly Beans Day (July 31st), Chocolate Covered Insects Day (October 14th)??? Some of them are really weird. Or am I the only one with raised eye brows now? Others, I do understand completely (LOL): National Chocolate Cake Day, World Nutella Day (yeah!!), International No Diet Day (just once a year?), National Wine Day… bring it on!

National Carrot Cake Day

On February 3rd was National Carrot Cake Day. And I missed that. Of course. So just a bit on the late side (who’s counting days?), I decided to honor National Carrot Cake Day. But I also needed to use up a couple of overripe banana’s. Oh, decisions, decisions. Carrots or banana’s? Well, I’ll have to combine them then. And you know what? I’ll have a recipe ready for National Banana Bread Day as well! You might want to mark that day on your calendar, it’s on the 23rd of February ?.

And now…. (drum rolls please)…: Banana Carrot Spelt Muffins!

Using a somewhat more nutritious flour, no butter and an alternative sugar, some may even want to call these healthy. Not me, I just call them yummy ?.

Enjoy!

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Oatmeal Banana Muesli Bars with Cranberries and Raisins

These are prefect as an after school snack or breakfast on the go…

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Every week, I buy banana’s. Now the only one in our household who actually eats banana’s (the banana and nothing but the banana) is our youngest son. I do like banana’s, but to eat them as is, they should be just ripe enough to eat. They should still be mostly green. If they are all yellow, I don’t like them anymore. And somehow, they seem to magically turn from green to yellow with loads of brown spots overnight. Ugh.

So now I keep my banana’s in the fridge, which seems to slow down the ripening process. The skin will still turn yellow and brown, but the flesh will keep firm and fresh a lot longer.

Yet, I still manage to have overripe banana’s. A lot. Every week. That might have something to do with the fact that our youngest son, who looooves banana’s, has developed the same preferences as me, when it comes to taste and texture of a banana.

I hear you think… why doesn’t she buy less banana’s? If we would actually eat all banana’s each week, I would not have overripe banana’s to bake. Make smoothies. Freeze them for ice cream. Obviously… ;-).

I’m always trying new recipes or variations. I love a good banana bread. Or muffins. Or bars, like my banana bars with white chocolate or these pumpkin banana blondies. I had muesli bars on my mind for days, but I also had those banana’s turning darker each day. Then it occurred to me that I could combine those. And this is the result: Oatmeal Banana Muesli Bars with Cranberries and Raisins. And they turned out absolutely delicious. I even think they may qualify as somewhat healthy snack, as I have used half regular all purpose flour and half whole wheat flour. And, I used coconut blossom sugar instead of regular white or brown sugar.

I used a sheet pan for these bars, 20,5 x 38 cm (appr. 8.5 x 14.5″). You can use a different size pan, but you might need to adjust the baking time a little bit.

Start by preheating your oven to 170ºC (350F) and line the pan with parchment paper.

Mash 4 medium (overripe) banana’s together with 175 g (ca. 6 oz or 1 cup) coconut blossom sugar.

bananamueslibars1

Mix in 60 g (ca. 1/4 cup) melted butter and 1 tbsp vanilla extract.

bananamueslibars2

Then add 70 g (ca. 1/2 cup) all purpose flour, 75 g (ca. 1/2 cup) whole wheat flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 100 g (ca. 3.5 oz) oats, 70 g (ca. 2.5 oz) dried cranberries and 50 g (ca. 1.7 oz) raisins and and mix until just combined.

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Spread batter in the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.

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Let cool completely before cutting into squares.

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Enjoy with a nice cup of coffee, tea or a tall glass of milk. Yummm….

Oatmeal Banana Muesli Bars

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The Ultimate Brownie Recipe

ByNicole | On September 22,16 | 6 Comments

When it comes to brownies, I don’t kid around. This is serious business. There are many good brownie recipes out there. Almost all claim to be the best brownie recipe there is. Now you can’t argue about taste. What you like best, is very personal. There are actually several brownie recipes I use over and over again. Which one I use, depends on the result I want to achieve. Small batch brownies, brownies for a crowd, do I want to frost them or not, incorporate cookies, peanut butter, cream cheese, fruit… Or use alternative ingredients to fit a certain diet? Gluten free, low-carb, dairy free… All good and delicious in their own way.

The ultimate brownie

But… if I want a brownie, pure and simple, nothing else, the real stuff… There is only ONE recipe for me. Perfected to perfection. Chocolate heaven…

So, what are you waiting for?!?! Run to your kitchen and set your oven to 160°C. Line a large baking pan with parchment paper (I used a 26,5×38 cm/10.5×15″ pan).

Then melt 400 g (ca. 2 cups) semisweet chocolate chips and 250 g (ca. 1 cup) unsalted butter in a sauce pan over low heat, stirring regularly, until everything is melted and smooth.

Take the pan off the heat and whisk in 200 g (ca. 1 cup) of white sugar and 100 g light brown sugar (ca. 1/2 cup).

Whisk in 4 eggs and 1 tsp vanilla extract.

Then whisk in 150 g (ca. 1 cup) all purpose flour and 1/2 tsp salt.

Pour batter into prepared baking pan and bake for 30 minutes.

Let cool and cut into bars.

This.is.chocolate.heaven. Not necessarily very good for you, but oh boy, these are a mighty good reason to just hold off that diet one more day…

Enjoy!

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Easy Blender Banana Muffins

ByNicole | On April 06,16 | 0 Comment

Soft, tender banana muffins made in the blender. Tasty can’t get any easier!

Banana Bread

I make a lot of banana bread. I bake one almost every week. We don’t like to eat ripe banana’s, and even though I keep my banana’s in the fridge to prevent them getting ripe within two days, I still have loads of banana’s that are too ripe for our taste. So I make banana bread a lot. If I still have banana’s left, I cut them uo and freeze them to use in milk shakes, smoothies and instant ice cream.

I have a couple of go-to recipes for banana bread , like this Best Banana Bread by Chef In Training or my own recipe, the BEST healthy banana bread. Now, I was thinking about muffins. But I was pressured for time and I didn’t feel like using separate bowls and stuff. One bowl? Even better: blender!

Muffin Recipe

Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350F and grease a 12-muffin pan or line it with cupcake liners (I love my silicone cupcake liners).

Put 2 ripe banana’s, 2 eggs, 2 tsp vanilla extract, 2 tbsp milk of choice and 2 tbsp agave syrup into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

In a separate bowl, mix 125 g (4.4 oz) buckwheat flour, 2 tsp baking powder and 2 tbsp sweetener (or up the agave syrup in the first step with 3 tbsp).

Add dry mixture to wet mixture and blend until smooth.

Pour batter into prepared muffin tin, distribute evenly.

You can now add some toppings, but that is totally optional: nuts, seeds, dried fruits. I like to use a mix of sun flower seeds and dried apricot or almond slivers and dried cranberries. Anything you fancy.

Bake in the middle of the oven for ca. 20 min or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

These muffins are so soft and tender. Unlike any banana bread I usually make. This has become my new go-to recipe if I want to use up some of those ripe banana’s.

Enjoy!

NOTES:

Buck wheat can give a slightly bitter taste. If you don’t mind the raw eggs, just taste the batter before baking and adjust sweetness by adding sweetener or agave syrup.

Cakes, Bars & more, Low Carb, All Recipes

Lemon & Raspberry Mug Cake

ByNicole | On March 22,16 | 2 Comments

A super moist, lemony, low carb mug cake to satisfy that sudden sweet craving! Guilt-free!

Mug cakes. The new love of my life. Coming to my rescue when I get this sudden craving for cake. Which is usually later in the evening. And of course, those cravings hit when I don’t have a single crumb of cake in the house (yeah, I know, how is that even possible?!). And as I’m then the only one (my husband usually doesn’t fancy cake, only if it involves white chocolate), I make myself a single serve mug cake.

As I had some fresh raspberries sitting in the fridge, I figured I could make something with those lovely little red gems. And what pairs well with raspberries? Yes, white chocolate crossed my mind, but I wanted something less sweet. Lemon! Yes, lemon.

Oh, and it needed to be guilt-free. Got it. So here it is, my Low Carb Lemon Raspberry Mug Cake! Only a few minutes and you’ll be able to enjoy this blissful treat…

In a small bowl, mix 1 tbsp almond meal, 1 tbsp coconut flour and 1/4 tsp baking powder.

In another small bowl, mix 1 egg, 1 tbsp milk of choice, 1/2 – 1 tsp lemon extract (depending on how lemony you want it) and 1 tbsp melted coconut oil or vegetable oil until well blended.

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well.

Pour batter into a lightly greased mug, cup or ramekin and lightly press 5-6 raspberries into the batter.

Microwave on high for about 60 seconds (time needed may vary depending on your microwave). If needed, add 10 seconds of cooking time.

Top with whipped cream and extra raspberries (this is optional but highly recommended!).

Now dig in and enjoy!

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Healthified Blondies

ByNicole | On March 12,16 | 0 Comment

Ever heard of blondies? It’s like the blonde sister of a brownie. Sweet, fudgy, totally not good for you. A treat I tremendously enjoy. But just once in a while. And as it’s really one of my favourite treats, I decided to make a somewhat healthier version.

Small batch

Not only did I swap a few ingredients for a little bit healthier options (let’s be real though, it’s still cake with sugar), I only made it small. No overeating. Unless you eat the whole thing in one go. If you think this is too small, simply double the recipe.

Ingredients

50 g coconut oil

80 g coconut blossom sugar

1 large egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

75 g buckwheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

50 g sugar free white chocolate

20 g chopped pecans (a small handful)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 180°C and line a small baking tray (small brownie pan) with parchment paper.

Melt the coconut oil together with the coconut blossom sugar. You can do that in a pan over low heat, I just used the microwave.

Mix well. It’s not liquid, more a grainy paste.

In a mixing bowl, lightly beat the egg.

Add the oil/sugar mixture and the vanilla extract and mix well.

Add the flour and baking powder and mix well.

Chop up the chocolate (or use sugar free white chocolate chips) and fold into batter.

Pour batter into prepared baking dish and sprinkle chopped pecans on top.

Bake ca. 15 minutes for a more fudgy consistency, 20-25 for a more cakey consistency. I prefer mine more fudgy, so I underbake mine.

Let cool completely before cutting into small squares.

Enjoy!

Check out these other blondie recipes: White Bean Blondies and Pumpkin Banana Blondies.

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Healthier Banana Bread

ByNicole | On March 01,16 | 0 Comment

This truly is the BEST healthy banana bread out there! Gluten free, no oil/butter, no (refined) sugar!

Gosh, I have tried so many banana bread recipes, I can’t even count them. Some were too dry, most of them were too ‘banana’, too dense/moist/mushy, overly sweet, wouldn’t rise… There is one banana bread though, that is the BEST banana bread, if you don’t mind using sugar, regular flour etc, and it’s this banana bread by Nikki from Chef In Training. This is serious business, if it comes to banana breads. I will gladly make this one again. And again. And again.

But… There is a BUT here. I wanted a healthier version. I’ve tried many of those, too. And believe me, our trash can loved me for it. Sometimes, I even knew when putting the required ingredients together, that it would be a disaster. And then to think that I often start on a recipe after reading many positive comments. Then I wonder… have these people really made the recipe?? Okay, a recipe can be good and still go wrong, due to various reasons (different oven, different brands of ingredients, temperature of your kitchen, temperature of the ingredients, humidity, even altitude). But really… I don’t throw out anything that is at least a little bit edible. These didn’t even fit that lowest category.

So, I sat down, took pen and paper, and started writing down what I thought would be good together and the approximate amounts. I could adjust as I went along. And boy oh boy, this turned out to be the best, no, the VERY best, healthy banana bread, I have ever made. And it is actually quite easy, too.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) and line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Lightly grease the parchment paper to avoid sticking (as no butter or oil will be added).

Take 2 medium banana’s (ca. 175 g/6.2 oz peeled) and mash them in a large bowl. Add two eggs, 125 g (4.4 oz) plain Greek yogurt and 2 tsp vanilla extract.

Mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix 150 g (5.3 oz) oat flour (use certified GF if needed), 1 tsp baking soda and 25 g (0.9 oz) sweetener (I use an erythritol-based sweetener that is twice as sweet as sugar). If your banana’s aren’t overly ripe, you might want to add more sweetener.

Add dry mixture to wet mixture and mix well.

If you don’t worry too much about raw eggs, you might want to taste the batter at this stage. If it’s not sweet enough, you can now still add any sweetener of your choice. All depends on the sweetness of the banana’s and how sweet you like it.

Beat 4 egg whites with 1/4 tsp salt until stiff peaks are formed. I used egg whites from TwoChicks, always comes in handy to have a bottle in the fridge.

Then gently fold the egg whites into the batter.

Now you may add some optional add-ins: raisins, chocolate chips etc.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake ca. 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean (a few crumbs is fine).

Let cool in pan for ca. 10 minutes, then move to a wire rack and let coo completely before slicing.

The first one I made was with a small handful of raisins.

I was quite astonished about the outcome. Fluffy, moist, extremely light. I was so chuffed! The minute the last slice was gone, I made a new loaf. Really!

Second time round, I didn’t use any add-ins. Just as good!!

Tastes great just plain, but who can resist a good slather of peanut or cashew butter?!

I can’t 😉

Enjoy!

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Cakes, Bars & more, Gluten-Free, Low Carb, All Recipes

Healthier Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Whipped Cream

ByNicole | On February 26,16 | 4 Comments

Healthy + Chocolate + Cake? Count me in!!!

New take on chocolate cake

I was actually going to post my very BEST healthy banana bread recipe first, but since I’ve posted a picture of this deliciously decadent chocolate cake, that is actually relatively healthy, on Instagram, I keep getting requests to please please please share the recipe.

So here we go. I was actually so extremely pleased with my new recipe for a healthy banana bread (that really can only be described as THE BEST healthy banana bread out there, but now you’ll have to wait for it), that I thought I’d try something similar with a chocolate cake.

However, the banana bread gets it’s moisture mainly from the mashed banana. But not so the chocolate cake. Sure, I could have done a chocolate version of said banana bread, but I knew that wouldn’t please everyone. So something ‘pureed’ needed to be added.

I’ve baked with zucchini before, but then only in shredded and thoroughly drained form. This needed to be different. So… I pureed it.

What you need to do

First of all, start by preheating your oven 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) and line a rimmed baking tray with parchment paper and lightly grease the parchment paper. You don’t want want to skip that step, as your cake will definitely stick to the parchment paper, as there is no oil or butter added to the batter. And I wanted a sheet cake, but you can use other types of pans. Just make sure to adjust your baking time accordingly.

Puree the zucchini in a food processor. No need to peel or de-seed. Set aside.

Melt 100 g (3.5 oz) dark, sugar free chocolate.

In a large bowl, mix the zucchini puree, 2 eggs, 2 tsp vanilla extract and the melted chocolate. The chocolate will cool right away and become a bit grainy. But that’s all right, the tiny bits will melt while baking.

Add 240 g (1 cup) Greek yogurt and mix well.

In another bowl, mix 160 g (1 1/4 cup) oat flour (see notes below), 1/2 tbsp baking soda, 90 g (1/2 cup) coconut blossom sugar and 2 tbsp cocoa powder.

Add dry mixture to wet mixture and mix well.

Beat 4 egg whites with 1/4 tsp salt until stiff peaks are formed.

Gently fold egg whites into batter until fully incorporated.

Pour batter into baking tray and bake for ca. 20/25 minutes.

Let cool on tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the chocolate whipped cream, put 500 ml (17 fl oz) whipping cream, 4 tbsp cocoa powder, 1 tsp vanilla extract and sweetener to taste in a bowl and whip until it reaches desired consistency. Halfway through the mixing, taste the cream and add more sweetener if desired.

Frost cooled cake as desired. I cut the sheet cake into three equal parts and made a nice rectangular layer cake. On the top, I added some fresh raspberries and blueberries and some melted dark, sugar free chocolate (about 50 g/1.8 oz).

Keep any leftover whipped cream in the refrigerator and serve as chocolate mousse! YUM!!

Enjoy 🙂

Notes:

You can easily make your own oat flour. No need to buy the expensive stuff! Just blitz up traditional oats in a food processor and you’re done. It’s as easy as that!

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Sugar Free Vanilla Cake

ByNicole | On February 14,16 | 8 Comments

A plain vanilla cake is probably the most classic of cakes. And no matter how plain or whatever occasion, a vanilla cake will always be appreciated.

Sugar free

But full of butter and sugar, it’s a treat I don’t have very often. And while I was craving vanilla cake, I decided to try to make a sugar free version using Tagatesse. Tagatesse is a sweetener that is twice as sweet as regular white sugar. For sweetness, it means simply halving the amount of sugar you would normally use.

Dry

The only drawback of using Tagatesse is that it tends to dry a cake out. The first attempts weren’t that successful. Playing around with the ingredients and adding whipped egg whites finally resulted in a super moist and fluffy vanilla cake. It still leaves your mouth feeling a bit dry though. I have not tried this recipe using Xylitol or Erythritol yet. That might somewhat solve that issue, but will probably result in a new one (the cooling effect of those sweeteners).

Delicious

But having said that, this sugar free vanilla cake really is delicious. You can bake it as a regular (bundt) cake, but its texture and lightness are also perfect for layer cakes.

Ingredients

3 egg whites

Pinch of salt

4 large eggs

70 g Tagatesse

200 g spelt flour

1 tbsp baking powder

100 ml vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C and grease a cake tin.

Beat the egg white with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks are formed and set aside.

Beat eggs, sweetener, oil and vanilla extract.

Add spelt flour and baking powder and mix well.

Gently fold in egg whites.

Pour batter into prepared cake tin. You can use a bundt tin, spread the batter on a rimmed baking sheet for a layer cake of make cupcakes.

Bake until a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean. On a baking sheet, the baking time was 12 minutes, in the bundt tin it took 25 minutes.

Let cool completely before serving. The bundt cake, I served plain (a dollop of whipped cream would be good though).

The sheet cake, I used for two small sweet layer cakes for Valentine’s.

Aren’t they cute?

Enjoy!

Cakes, Bars & more, Gluten-Free, Low Carb, All Recipes

Apple Almond Cake

ByNicole | On February 03,16 | 0 Comment

Moist, delicious apple almond cake, you won’t believe this cake is healthy!

If I have to make a list of my favorite comfort food, apple cake (preferably straight out of the oven) definitely makes it to the top ten. But traditional apple cake or apple pie usually equals carb and sugar heaven, even without an optional mandatory serving of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.

Healthier version

After a few attempts to make an equally delicious treat, I think I’ve come up with a recipe that will hit all the right spots, even though it’s a healthier version . Taste-wise, there was nothing really wrong with the first attempts. But the results were either too eggy for me (more baked omelet kind of texture) or too dry or too crumbly. And I am a bit fuzzy when it comes to texture.

But this apple almond cake… The texture is a bit grainy, but that is due to the nature of almond meal. And I don’t mind that at all. Because it’s not dry, it’s deliciously moist. But not eggy or soggy.

I decided to use a bundt pan for this cake, don’t ask me why. Just felt like it.

Partly due to the addition of xanthan gum, the batter is not pourable, you’ll have to press the batter into the pan with a spatula of the back of a spoon. Xanthan gum is optional, but it prevents the cake from crumbling too much (there’s no gluten to hold everything together).

You can either mix the apple into the batter before filling your bundt or press the apple dices into the batter, like I did here.

Once baked, I placed a cake plate on the pan and turned the cake upside down. Maybe not the prettiest side of the cake, but I didn’t feel like flipping it back again.

When I served the cake, I turned the pieces so the apples were facing up.

This apple almond cake is so yummy! I actually ate it plain, but feel free to serve it, warm or cold, with whipped cream and/or some vanilla ice cream (sugar-free, of course)… Enjoy 🙂

Not into apple cake? Maybe this almond cake is more up your alley!

Cakes, Bars & more, All Recipes

White Chocolate Buttercream

ByNicole | On February 01,16 | 16 Comments

Last week, our oldest son turned 7. He had his birthday party with his friends at an indoor playground. Three hours of fun, ice cream and pancakes. With an “Indian” theme, where they got to color shirts (and keep them afterwards), got an Indian headdress with feathers and stripes on their cheeks. Total exhaustion afterwards :).

For school, I had made mini donuts. Sam was so chuffed. He said that no-one had ever brought donuts for a birthday. Most kids bring cupcakes, cake or waffles. Sometimes fruit skewers. But Sam wanted something different. He actually wanted Oscar the Grouch cupcakes, as his little brother had Cookie Monster cupcakes when he turned 5. But with the school’s policy of healthier treats and preferably NO buttercream and the like, I told him that we had to do something more plain. He was a bit disappointed, but when we came up with ‘never before brought to school’ donuts, he was happy. He didn’t dismiss the Oscar the Grouch cakes though. Nope. He decided that since he couldn’t have the cupcakes for school, I could make him a birthday cake for his party at home, with the family. Yeah sure, why not.

Oh gosh… a whole cake? 3D of course, not a 2D fondant ‘picture’ of Oscar. It had to have ‘hair’, just like the Cookie Monster cupcakes Noah got. Oh and he does live in a dumpster. All right. I can do that. No problem. And once I said yes, I had to make one.

Personally, I was quite happy with the result. But as you can see, I’m not the world’s best cake decorator…

Most important thing: Sam was over the moon! And that meant ‘mission accomplished’ ;-).

As one of our nephews has gluten sensitivity, I definitely wanted to make all cakes gluten free again, so he could have a piece of everything too. And that included the birthday cake. For the cake itself, I have found the best gluten free white cake recipe ever! It’s not my own, all credits go to Mary of ‘Barefeet In The Kitchen’. If you’re interested in the recipe, you can get it here.

And then the butter cream. I’m not too big a fan of plain vanilla butter cream. It’s OK, but I’m more a chocolate kinda girl. But for coloring the butter cream, the base has to be white. And what’s the best next thing to chocolate buttercream? WHITE chocolate buttercream of course! And have I got a tasty recipe for that.

For Oscar the Grouch, I made a double batch, but for a single batch, which should be enough to frost an 8″ or 9″ two layer cake, you need 200 g white chocolate (I used a bar of chocolate, but you can use chocolate chips), 250 g unsalted butter (softened to room temperature), ca. 300 g powdered/confectioner’s sugar, 60 ml cream and 2 tsp of vanilla extract.

Melt the chocolate slowly over low heat in a double broiler. Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave. Let cool just a little bit.

Put the butter in a large bowl and sift the sugar on top. Then cream butter and sugar together. Add vanilla extract and cream and beat a minute or two. Instead of vanilla extract, you could use powdered vanilla sugar.

If I don’t color the buttercream, I like to see the little specks of vanilla in the cream.

Keep beating the buttercream at low speed (I use my Kitchenaid) and slowly add in the white chocolate. Once fully incorporated, set the speed to high and beat 3 to 4 minutes, until fluffy.

Gorgeous texture, velvety smooth, and the taste… out of this world! I always have a hard keeping my finger, uh spoon, out of the bowl. It’s so good.

And if you can stop yourself from eating this buttercream with a spoon, use it for topping cupcakes or frosting a cake :).

Enjoy!

Cakes, Bars & more, Dairy Free, Gluten-Free, Low Carb, All Recipes

White Bean Blondies

ByNicole | On January 24,16 | 2 Comments

So yesterday, I made black bean brownies. Much to my husband’s dismay, who doesn’t like chocolate cake or brownies. Yes, I know, how is that even possible. He was hoping I would make something that he would like as well. The disappointment written all over his face.

Puppy eyes

But he was intrigued by the fact that I had made brownies using beans instead of flower. He wondered whether I could make a white cake as well. As in: anything but chocolate cake. Man, I had just cleaned up everything. Then he simply looked at me with puppy eyes, pleading… Alright. How about white bean blondies instead of black bean brownies.

Better than brownies

As I was happy with the previous experiment, I used nearly the same recipe. And believe it or not, I like these white bean blondies even better than the chocolate variety. These turned out so good. And you don’t taste white beans at all. A simple recipe, that’s gluten free, grain free and refined sugar free.

Ingredients

2 x 400 g cans of butter beans (net weight 2x 250g)

50 ml veg. oil

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

90 g Tagatesse

30 g coconut flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

30 g desiccated coconut

70 g chopped pecans (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C and line a baking dish with parchment paper.

Drain and wash the beans.

Put beans in the food processor and puree until smooth.

Add all wet ingredients (eggs, oil and vanilla extract) and process again until smooth.

Then add all dry ingredients, except the coconut and pecans, and process once more until smooth.

Fold in the coconut, pour batter into prepared pan and sprinkle chopped pecans on top.

Bake ca. 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Cakes, Bars & more, Gluten-Free, Low Carb, All Recipes

Black Bean Brownies

Fudgy brownies, made with black beans… gluten and refined sugar free!

Black Bean Brownies

Ugh, I’m so frustrated! No, no, no, it has nothing to do with cooking or baking. Have you ever sold something online? Well, I have. It’s an easy way to get rid of stuff you don’t need or want anymore. Instead of throwing good stuff out with the trash, I either sell stuff at low prices or give it away for free to people who can or want to still use it.

We have quite a few local FB-groups, where you can offer your stuff. Or find nice stuff, for that matter. Great groups! A lot of stuff changes owner that way. I like to think that we all save a bit of money and the environment that way. And if we can help other people, that’s an added bonus.

So, last week, I sold something and made arrangements for the buyers to pick it up. Waited the whole morning, nothing. Classic case of a no-show. Quite annoying, to say the least. I want to give people the benefit of the doubt, though. Even if you have made an appointment, you can forget about it. We all live busy lives and we all can forget things.

Or, we have agreed to buy something and regret it afterwards. No sweat. I can totally relate. The decent thing to do then, is to let the seller know that you have changed your mind, right? No needless waiting. You can sell your stuff to someone else, etc. Unfortunately, decency does not seem to be a common trait in everyone anymore.

No message to cancel the appointment. Or to cancel the whole arrangement. Even after I messaged them, asking whether they are still coming, or are in any way still interested. Nothing. Radio silence. And I know they’ve read all messages. I think that’s just rude. So yes, I’m frustrated!

What to do to get rid of all that frustration? Well, first of all, write it all of my chest. Done ;-).
Next step: get into the kitchen and make myself something nice. A good ole cookie with sooth the pain. Or maybe a cake. Yeah, I think I need a whole cake. But it has to be chocolate, definitely chocolate. My favorite brownies? Hmmm, now there’s a thought.

Oh, wait, conscience kicking in. Alright, alright, I guess I’ll better make one of my healthier versions. But I also feel like trying something new. It’s been on my to-do list for quite a while an I had made notes on how I would probably make them: black bean brownies.

It sounds so out of this world. Had to give it a try. I’ve seen them popping up everywhere. So, where were my notes. Ah, yeah, got them.

First things first: black beans. Two cans of 400 g, that’s about 530 g of net weight. No, wait, first set your oven tot 180 degrees Celsius and prepare your baking dish (I used a 21 x 25 cm).

BlackBeanBrownies

Put the beans in the food processor together with the wet ingredients (eggs, oil, vanilla extract) and process until smooth.

Then add all dry ingredients (sweetener, cocoa powder, instant coffee powder, salt and baking powder) and process again until everything is incorporated.

BlackBeanBrownies

Then pour batter into prepared baking dish and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes (or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean).

BlackBeanBrownies

They turned out great! Fudgy and delicious. OK, I have to admit that I’d still prefer a traditional brownie with all it’s carbs and sugars, but this is definitely a tasty substitute, if you want to cut down on all those things.

And you know what? Kids devoured them! To me, that’s the best confirmation I can get.

BlackBeanBrownies

I ate one with a bit of Greek yogurt mixed with chocolate flavored whey protein powder and some dark chocolate shavings. They are good plain, but awesome with some whipped cream!

BlackBeanBrownies

Enjoy!

Like these Black Bean Brownies? Then what about some White Bean Blondies?

Save

Cakes, Bars & more, Gluten-Free, All Recipes, Bananabread & Co

Banana Bars with White Chocolate Chunks

ByNicole | On January 20,16 | 0 Comment

This recipe for Banana Bars with White Chocolate Chunks is one of those recipes that exist by chance. Having to use up ingredients and craving something totally different, makes you get creative.

Banana & white chocolate

I needed to use up a few overripe banana’s but I was also craving blondies with white chocolate. It’s known that banana pairs well with chocolate, but did you know it’s also great with white chocolate? Well, it is. These banana bars are super moist and fluffy and are studded with chunks of white chocolate. Delicious!

Ingredients

3 medium ripe bananas, mashed (ca. 260 g)

1 egg

1/4 tsp salt

25 g Tagatesse

25 g coconut blossom sugar

120 g buckwheat flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

60 ml walnut oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

60 g (sugar free) white chocolate chips/chunks

Instructions

Preheat oven to 170°C, line a baking dish and get all your ingredients ready.

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl (except chocolate chips) and set aside.

Then mix all wet ingredients an another bowl.

Add your dry ingredients to the wet and mix until incorporated.

Fold in chocolate chips. I actually used (sugar free) white chocolate and cut it up into larger chunks.

Pour batter into baking dish and bake ca. 17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cool before slicing (if you can wait that long) and serve.

We ate these bars plain, but I’m sure they would be fantastic with a cream cheese frosting.

Enjoy!

Cakes, Bars & more, Gluten-Free, Low Carb, All Recipes

Almond cake

ByNicole | On January 16,16 | 0 Comment

A really tasty, moist cake, that is low carb, gluten and refined sugar free.

Old recipes

I love a good cake. Too bad the best cakes are found in the non-healthy section… loaded with sugar and carbs. I do enjoy them though, just once in a while.

I do try old recipes and swap the sugar for a more healthy ingredient. And I’m happy if I succeed to make a sugar free version that’s tasty, but made with regular flours. I’m not all too keen on swapping regular flours for coconut flour or other low carb substitutes, as the results are often too eggy for me. Not so much the taste, but the texture.

This cake though… O.M.G. This cake totally rocks! Super tasty and moist. And… it’s low carb, gluten free and (refined) sugar free.

Swapping ingredients

I used unbleached ground almonds for this recipe and instead of regular flour, I used a mix of oat flour (ground up oat meal) and coconut flour. As a sweetener, I used Tagatesse, a low calorie sweetener that’s great for baking. Tagatesse is twice as sweet as regular sugar, so you need to keep that ratio in mind if you use another sweetener. In place of butter, I used coconut oil.

First, I melted the coconut oil and let it cool a bit. Then I mixed the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Then I mixed all wet ingredients in another bowl.

Added the wet mixture to the dry mixture and blended well. Then poured into a prepared round cake pan (lined with parchment paper and greased sides).

Into the preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius, baked for about 25 minutes. Then dusted with some powdered sweetener (ground in a coffee grinder).

I am so so happy with the result! One of the best low carb, sugar free cakes I’ve ever tasted. Even if I have to say so myself.

So yummy! I’m glad I took pictures before I put the cake on the table….

Delicious on it’s own, crazy good with a ‘dollop’ of vanilla whipped cream 😉

Enjoy!

Searching for something else? Why not try this elegant chocolate cake?

Cakes, Bars & more, Dairy Free, Gluten-Free, Low Carb, All Recipes, Bananabread & Co

Pumpkin Banana Blondies

ByNicole | On December 29,15 | 0 Comment

How do you like to eat banana’s? I don’t like to eat ripe banana’s. I don’t like the texture and the sweet taste. They don’t even have to be ‘overripe’, if they start to get yellow, they are already too far gone for me. I like banana’s if they are still a bit greenish, firm and not sweet at all. I actually keep banana’s in the fridge. The skin does get brown spots, but inside they keep fresh for a longer period of time.

Yet, I still manage to have overripe banana’s. Throwing out is not really an option (unless they are really past being edible), I hate to waste food like that. So every other week or so, I use them in a recipe. Making loads of banana breads. And sometimes smoothies and milk shakes. Or instant ice cream, using frozen banana slices.

So now, I once again ‘found’ three overripe banana’s. They were kind of pushed to the back of the fridge. Time for cooking then. But I wanted something else. But what? Saw a chocolate banana bread. Hmmm. Never had chocolate banana bread. But then again, I would be the only one in the house eating it. Ok, start browsing the pantry for inspiration. Closing the pantry. Moving on to the fridge. Browsing the fridge. Nope, no inspiration yet. Browsing the freezer. Oh hey, I still have loads of home made pumpkin puree. Have to do something with that as well. Closing freezer. Back to pantry. No, wait. Pumpkin. Back to freezer. Holding frozen pumpkin puree in my hand. Thinking, thinking, thinking. Light bulb moment! Let’s try something with banana and pumpkin. Blondies? Yes, blondies!

Uhm, ‘frozen’ pumpkin puree. Alright, first thaw that pumpkin puree. Little set back, but nothing I can’t overcome. Once I set my mind to making something, I have to make it. Just teeny tiny bit more patience required. I’m good at that. Not.

Well, at least I have enough time to think about the recipe. I’d also like to try a lower carb version. Normally, I’d use regular flour for banana bread. Low carb versions often use coconut flour. But I’m not a big fan of baking with coconut flour. Results are usually way too eggy for me. So, pantry browsing again.

Well, after giving it some thought, I settle for almond meal/ground almonds and oat flour. Then collecting all other ingredients. Trying to make something up as we go along. I think I got something.

Preheat oven to 170°C. Line a baking dish (I used a glass oven dish, about 9 x 13″) with parchment paper.

First mix all dry ingredients: 100 g ground almonds, 100 g oat flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 25 g coconut blossom sugar. You could use more or less coconut blossom sugar (or any other sweetener) according to taste, but I don’t like them overly sweet. The banana and the pumpkin provide a fair share of sweetness.

Set aside. The mix all wet ingredients: 275 g mashed banana (about three medium banana’s), 225 g pumpkin puree (about 1 CUP), 2 eggs, 60 ml vegetable oil, 2 tsp vanilla extract.