Kruidnoten are a traditional spiced, bite-sized cookie that is eaten around ‘Sinterklaas’ in the Netherlands. Sinterklaas is based on Saint Nicholas, who was the patron saint of children. Sinterklaas is the feast that celebrates Saint Nicholas’ name day on the 6th of December. It is often celebrated by giving presents and sweet treats to children on the 5th of December, Saint Nicholas Eve.
Plant-based alternatives for dairy have been around for a long time, but most had been based on soy. Lately, more and more other alternatives are hitting the stores.
I’ve never been interested in these alternatives. Firstly, because I never needed to. I don’t have allergies nor intolerances. Secondly, I have tried soy milk a long, long time ago and I hated it. Maybe I simply didn’t like the unsweetened kind, but I hadn’t touched any soy-dairy ever since.
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.
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.
Apricots – the season for this summer stone fruit is in full swing. They are juicy and full of flavor. Funny enough though, I don’t like them fresh that much. While I prefer most fruits and vegetables fresh over the canned ones, I do like canned apricots better. And I like them dried. Both not the best options when it comes to sugar, of course. The canned apricots are happily soaking in sugar syrup and the dried ones are (just like any dried fruit) little sugar bombs. So I try to avoid both (not always succeeding).
Spring is well on it’s way and summer is around the corner. That means fresh fruits, berries in particular, are available in abundance. I love to eat all kinds of berries just plain. This time of year, they are so juicy and sweet, absolutely delicious. But I also like to cook and bake with them. One of my favorite things to make? Jam! It preserves the vibrant colors and the sweet taste and I can enjoy them a bit longer. I recently bought 1 kg of blueberries. I know, that’s a lot of blueberries, but they were so good. I simply could not resist. But eating a whole kilo straight up was a bit too much. So I made me some blueberry jam!
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.
A really tasty, moist cake, that is low carb, gluten and refined sugar free.
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.
