Peanut Butter + Banana Cupcakes.

Combining all my favourite flavours into one mighty baked good...

 Banana and peanut butter cupcakes with a chocolate fondant centre and topped with marshmellow frosting.
the ultimate combo ... peanut butter + bananas + chocolate = win.

PB and banana is one of my favourite sandwiches so why not have it all in a cupcake and be a very happy Miss Bake n' Beebz. I used this recipe and tweeked it a little. I Made mine with yoghurt instead of added butter and half splenda/sugar.

Peanut Butter Banana Cupcakes
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar substitute like splenda
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup fat free vanilla yoghurt
2 tbsp creamy peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
 1 ripe banana, mashed
To decorate

6 squares chocolate

6 marshmellows 

• Preheat oven to 180 /c or 350F. Line 6 holes of a cupcake tin with large muffin papers.

• In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

• In a large bowl, cream together sugar and peanut butter until fluffy. Beat in yogurt and vanilla extract. 

• Add in the eggs one at a time, followed by the bananas.

• With a spatula, gently fold in the flour mixture until just combined. Evenly distribute batter into 6 muffin cups and push in the squares of chocolate until they have disappered. bake in the centere of your oven for 15 minutes

• place a marshmellow on the tops of each cupcake and place back into oven to bake for a further 3 minutes 

• Remove cakes from oven and gently push down each marshmellow until they are nicely squished. add a pinch of sprinkles and allow to cool.

Just after I took these pictures, in all my excitement I tripped up, knocked over a table and all the cakes went flying. cupcakes smushed :(  Believe me its very difficult to scrape gooey marshmallow off the carpet but I can inform you the crumbs tasted nice.

Luckily 3 survived and they were very well recieved! all the family very much enjoyed them.
these are probably the best low fat cupcake i have ever made due to the addition of banana and yogurt they were most but the cupcake itself was tender and light, even and very fluffy. A good balance of banana nuttiness and not too sweet. Oh they would be incredible with a peanut butter or chocolate cream frosting... I will have to bake more now just to try out all the icing options!

Hummdinger Hummus.

 

I have had a hankering for some good Hummus for a couple of days now, One of my old time favourite go to snacks is carrot sticks dipped in my favourite middle eastern accompliment. Luckily, i happened to come across a tin of chick peas hidden away in the back of my cupboard, calling out to be made in to a tastey dip.

Healthy Hummus recipe

• 1 tin of drained chick peas
• 1tsp lemon juice
• 1tsp olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic (crushed)
• 4 tbsp water
• 1tsp paprika
• 1tsp ground cumin
• salt and pepper to taste

1.  To soften chick peas further boil them in a pan of water for 5 minutes, take off the heat and drain.
2. In a bowl combine all ingreadints and blitz using a hand blender.
3. serve with a sprinkle of paprika and drizzle of olive oil!

It takes seconds to whiz up but is a very easy, lower fat and cheaper version of the supermarket variety.
I would like to try more versions like this one by Nigella using peanut butter  or perhaps play with adding different spices and additions like pesto.

Tummy full of chickpea/pretzel goodness, I'm off to the park to feed and chase the ducks with Bobbin and Mr bake and Beebz!

Whadda pear! and ginger drizzle cake.

Hello there. its Sunday, my favourite day of the week! The only day when you don't have to feel guilty about doing nothing productive. Today I have enjoyed being a lady of leisure; pottered around the kitchen walked bobs in the park, read some gossip magazines and blogs, enjoyed a day of procrastination from Uni work.
  
Pear and ginger lemon drizzle cake
Good ol' diet soda cake strikes once again, but its all spruced up.
I used the weight watchers lemon mini muffin kit and added some diced pear and crystallized ginger.

 After my last batch of cakes I didn't have any muffin cases so i poured it into a cake pan.
 Oh so very tastey and only 80 calories for a generous slab of this moist cakey torte. The combination of the spicy ginger, sweet pear and zesty lemon works brilliantly.

Ingredients

• 1 boxed cake mix
• 1 small pear
• 5 pieces of crystallized ginger
• 5 tablespoons water
• egg white

Directions

1. dice pear and slice ginger
2. add dry mix and combine with fruit and wet ingredients
3. bake at 190*c (350)  for 30 minutes
4. remove from oven and cool
5. in a separate bowl, combine icing sugar 1 tbsp of water and lemon juice for icing.
6. drizzle icing mixture all over cake and enjoy.  

There wasn't that much mixture and it only just covered the base of the tin so its a shallow cake. would be best in muffin cases i think. oh and the extra egg white isn't necessary but I added it to make sure it rose successfully, and it did.

Time to curl up on the sofa with a cuppa tea, my dog and some cake. I will do work tomorrow!

This is how the cookie crumbles!

I've had a pretty good day today. had a leisurely walk with beebz along the sea front into town, did some knitting and a ole lotta baking.

Started off with the cheesey bread then i moved on to...
Phase two of baking saturday... dog biscuits. They are bone shaped this time using this recipe

 Phase three ... Human biscuits...well cookies. these low calories healthy bites are more cakey and crumbley rather than chewy, but non the less very moreish and will nicely satisfy a cookie craving.

 Chocolate chip applesauce cookie.
I adapted this recipe i found by 'tastes better with friends' and cut down the quantities, because i don't need 36 cookies (well i do).

• 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1/4 cup of applesauce
• 1 tsp. of baking soda
• 2/3 cup of flour
• 1/2 tsp. of salt
• 1/2 cup of raisins/chopped ginger/choc chips
• vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375F or 180 degrees C
2. Cream sugar and applesauce. add in egg white and vanilla extract and whisk further.
3. Sift flour with baking soda and salt .
4. Add sifted ingredients to applesauce mixture and stir until smooth.
5. Add your combo of mix ins, i added chopped crystalized ginger, chocolate chips and raisins.
6. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheet, spacing the cookies 1 to 2 inches apart.
7. Bake about 12 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Makes 11 cookies at 66 calories each.

  NOW EAT! whilst the chocolate is still ooey gooey.

Gonna dip and slurp mine with a glass of milk, whilst looking out at this view!

BALCONY VIEW.

Pretzels pronto

There must be something wrong with me, But tonight I wanted something savoury, something crunchy and salty, which is definalty not like me. I needed a salt hit quick...Pretzels were calling.

I have only ever eaten tiny supermarket outta the bag pretzels, so i was looking forward to this challenge, only problem, no yeast to make my dough, dough. Not having quite the right ingredients doesn't stop me. Searched the internet for a while and found me an alternative recipe for baking soda pretz.
Ingredients

• 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tsp milk/ enough to bind dry ingredients to form dough.
• 1 tsp vinegar
• salt and butter (melted) for topping

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, sift together whole wheat flour and baking soda. Stir in milk and vinegar until dough pulls together. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly to form a firm dough.
3. Divide dough into equal pieces. Roll each piece into a long wiggly cylinder approximately 8 inches long. Form into classic pretzel shape. place on lightly greased baking sheets.
4. brush with melted butter and Sprinkle each pretzels with salt, and bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 10 minutes. 

I had mine warm with some hummus for dipping.

HAPPY SNACKING.

I'm sure my sweet tooth will be back to cover stuff in chocolate tomorrow.