A sugar free Solstice / Christmas

We're celebrating Yule tomorrow instead of Christmas, so maybe you're wondering how you enjoy the festivities without refined sugar.

The shops are full of mince pies, chocolates, nibbly things and sauces, all chock full of sugar (not to mention the other nasties).

Here's the menu for my daughter for tomorrow - she's so excited as she chose it all herself!

Starter

Egg mayonnaise with salmon and melba toast

Main

Turkey
Roast potatoes
broccoli
carrots
mashed swede
gravy

Apple juice and fizzy water to drink

Pudding

Choice of:

Christmas pudding
Baked chocolate cheesecake
Profiteroles

Darling daughter has also been busy making cones to hang on our tree which are full of sugar-free sweets and chocolates for her to nibble on. Along with Cheese and biscuits and vegetable crisps to pick at in the evening I don't think she is going to go hungry or feel deprived; do you?

If you want any specific recipes, drop me a comment and let me know! Have a wonderful celebration yourself; let me know what you're eating; I always love to be inspired by other people's menus.

Lavender biscuits

I've been asked for this recipe several times. I've got an octogenarian friend who loves these and I make them every Christmas for her as a special treat. They remind her of her childhood when her Mum used to make anything and everything with lavender.

This biscuit recipe is fab - it uses minimal and frugal ingredients and is adaptable to your favourite flavour. You can substitute the lavender for grated lemon peel, spices, chocolate chips, vanilla - you name it, if you can dream it up, then try it!

I've listed the recipe using fructose, because that is what we use at home, but if you want to use regular sugar instead, use 2 oz caster sugar.

Ingredients

• 4 oz butter
• 1 - 1 1/2 oz fructose
• 6 0z plain flour
• 1 tbsp dried lavender
  

Method

• Cream the butter and fructose
• Stir in the flour and lavender and keep mixing until it forms a dough (You might need to use your hands for the last bit)
• Knead for a moment then roll the dough into a ball and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes
• Preheat oven to 200
• Roll out and cut into shapes
• Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes until just beginning to brown.
  

A decadent breakfast!

The other day, DD woke up in 'one of those moods'. It had been raining for ever, we were all fed up before the day had even begun and she needed something lovely for breakfast.

She asked me for something 'different', 'something with chocolate' she requested with big brown eyes looking into mine.

'Something like you'd give me if it was my Birthday'.

How could I resist - we all need comfort food on a grey day.

So here's what I did. I have a bit of a Mum thing about wanting her to eat fruit for breakfast as a healthy start to the day, so I layered some vanilla ice cream ( I make my own using agave syrup) and sliced banana and toasted some oats in melted butter to layer in between the fruit and ice cream.

Then I topped it off with a couple of squares of sugar free chocolate, a dusting of cocoa powder and a squirt of agave syrup.

It didn't look pretty in the glass, but my daughter's face was a pretty picture and by the time she got to the bottom, she had a lovely gooey chocolatey, vanilla cream to scoop out!

Chocolate crunch / chocolate concrete / chocolate tarmac

I mentioned chocolate crunch on Facebook last week and had lots of people writing to me for the recipe.

Depending on which area of the country you come from, you'll have heard this as either chocolate crunch, chocolate concrete or chocolate tarmac!

Chocolate crunch takes me back to my school days where it was served with bright pink custard; like Tellytubby custard ...

When I worked at the bank, chocolate crunch was back on the menu again; this time with a more grown up chocolate sauce.
Now I know why institutions serve it up - it's amazingly easy and quick to make and the ingredients are pretty frugal.

I discovered 'by accident' that you can also make chocolate goo: depending on your preference, you can bake this long and slow for a crunchier texture or give it a blast for 15 minutes, where you will end up with a crispy coating and a gooey interior. My two prefer the latter so this is what I now do.

Chocolate crunch

Ingredients

• 7 oz butter
• 5 oz fructose
• 10 oz self raising flour
• 1 oz cocoa powder
• 2 eggs
  

Method

• Preheat oven - 150 for a crunchy texture or 180 for gooey.
• Melt the butter in a large saucepan.
• Meanwhile, weigh out the rest of the ingredients.
• Take the butter off the heat once melted and mix in the other dry ingredients - bung it all in the saucepan; I'm one for making the washing up easy!
• Add the eggs and beat all the ingredients well together.
• You don't need to be too fussy with this recipe; just beat it up and don't worry about lumps of cocoa or bits of flour that are not mixed in properly.
• Put in a greased oven proof tray; I use a brownie tin. Choose the size of tin dependant on the texture you want - it you want it crunchy, choose a larger tin and spread the mixture thinner. If you want fudgy goo, keep the tin small so the mixture is thicker - play around and have some fun experimenting.
  
• Bake for 30 minutes at 150 for a crunchy texture or 180 for 15 minutes for a gooey inside.

Lemon drizzle cake

This is a delicious lemony cake. Both DD and DH love this one and I feel good about it because the lemon is chock full of vitamin C - just the thing to slave off winter colds, coughs and flu!

Both lemons and limes contain unique flavonoid compounds that have antioxidant and anti-cancer properties. They also have antibiotic properties.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Ingredients

• 6 oz butter
• 4 oz fructose
• Rind of 2 lemons
• 2 eggs
• 6 oz wholemeal SR flour

For the lemon drizzle

• juice from the 2 lemons
• 2oz fructose
  

Method

• Preheat oven to 180
• Gently heat the butter and fructose in a saucepan, until the fructose is dissolved
• Take off the heat and stir in the lemon rind, whisk in the eggs
• Fold in the flour and pour the mixture into a greased baking tin (I used a brownie tin but you could use any shape you like)
• Bake for 25 minutes until golden
• Squeeze the juice from the lemons into a saucepan with the fructose and heat gently until the fructose dissolves
• Poke holes in the cake and pour the drizzle syrup all over to soak in.
  

Pumpkin scones

I made something edible from pumpkin! Well, squash actually. NONE of us like pumpkins or squashes, even the smell of carving it makes me feel queasy. However this weekend my daughter wanted to carve some gourds and I couldn't bring myself to throw 'food' away afterwards. I hate waste especially food waste, so I made it my mission to create something yummy.

In the past I've roasted it, turned it into soups, curried it and made pie with it. All recipes have remained uneaten.

Today was the day I surpassed myself - here is my recipe! There was very little flesh from these tiny pumpkins but you could easily add more flesh and put in a little more flour to compensate.

Pumpkin scones - makes 8

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup stewed pumpkin / squash flesh
• 40 gm butter
• 220 gm self raising flour
• pinch salt
• 6 dates, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp agave syrup (you could use honey or date syrup)
• 1 beaten egg
  

Method

• Take the pumpkin / squash flesh, cut into tiny cubes and stew in a tiny amount of water until pureed - about 15 - 20 minutes
• Preheat oven to 200
  
• Meanwhile rub the butter into the flour and salt
• Add the chopped dates, cinnamon, agave syrup and egg - mix well until everything is incorporated
• Add the cooked pumpkin and mix well; you'll get a soft dough.
• If the mix is too wet add more flour; if it's too dry you can loosen it with a little milk
• Shape the dough into 8 scones and put on a greased baking tray
• Bake for 15 minutes until golden

These were delicious served like a traditional cream tea - buttered with a thick layer of sugar free apricot jam and topped with cream!

My two loved them and asked for more. So I've definitely made my peace with pumpkins and squashes, which is just as well because I have three pumpkins growing in the garden which I have nurtured in order to get the seeds.

I would love to hear of any of your favourite pumpkin and squash recipes.

Last day for blackberry picking

Today is the last day to pick blackberries!

According to legend; on the night of Michaelmas (September 29th) the devil spits on blackberries, making them inedible. So get out in the sunshine and see what you can forage!

We managed a small harvest this morning, much to our delight. I really thought we had seen the last of them, but we've been blessed with beautiful weather, so they are still ripe and plump.

We've left plenty for the birds and mice, however and have really enjoyed our wonderful harvest this year; it's been a real blessing. The only thing I wished I had got around to doing was making jam. I've never made jam of any sort and I wanted to try blackberry and apple. That will be my goal for next year!

What have you made with blackberries this year?

This year we have made:

blackberry muffins.



blackberry and chocolate brownies.



Blackberry and apple turnovers.



blackberry regal cake.



blackberry sponge pudding.

Blackberry sponge pudding

I think this is the last of the blackberry recipes for this season! We scoured the hedgerows this week and didn't find much.

I've had 200gms of blackberries sitting in the 'fridge for a few days and knew I needed to use them up quickly. As time and energy were short, I made a simple sponge pudding - warming, satisfying but quick and easy to make.

Blackberry sponge

Ingredients

• 200gms blackberries (no need to be exact, just use whatever you have)
• 1 tbsp agave syrup (optional; the fruit might be sweet enough)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
  
• 4 oz butter
• 3 oz fructose
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp backing powder
• 4 oz plain flour
  

Method

• put the blackberries in a pan with the cinnamon and agave syrup if using and simmer with a lid on until the fruit is tender.
• Meanwhile make the sponge topping:
• Cream together the butter and fructose
• Add the 2 eggs and mix well until you get a batter - don't worry about lumps!
• Add the baking powder and flour and mix well until you get a stiff dropping consistency.
• Put the stewed fruit into the bottom of an oven proof dish and cover with the topping
• Bake at 180 for around 20-25 minutes until the top is risen and golden

This recipe is so simple and you can use any stewed fruit you like to make an instant comfort pudding. DH was praising the sponge saying it was really light and fluffy; that's the first time I've made anything 'light' with fructose; it tends to make things heavier, probably because it is wetter than refined sugar.
I'm not really sure what I did right, but perhaps the mix of ingredients was just right ;)

Blackberry regal cake

I normally shy away from recipes that have 'parts' to them. I'm more of a 'chuck it in and mix it around' chef.

But after our fourth blackberry hunt this morning, which resulted in a bumper crop, I decided to do a slightly more posh recipe for Sunday pudding. It was originally called blackberry and coconut cake, but hubby decided it looked like a Royal Crown so renamed it to Blackberry Regal Cake

This recipe has 4 parts to it and is adapted from the fab Veg box recipes site for blackberry and coconut slice:

1. Prepare the blackberries
2. Make the base
3. Make the topping
4. Assemble the cake and bake
   

Blackberry regal cake

Ingredients

For the base

• 150 gm butter
• 50 gm fructose
• 1 egg
• 200 gm plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 70-100mls milk
  

For the blackberry layer

• 500gm blackberries
• 40 gms fructose
  

For the topping

• 100 gm butter
• 50 gm fructose
• 2 eggs
• 50 gm plain flour
• 200 gm dessicated coconut
  

Method

Make the blackberry layer

• Put the blackberries and the 40 gms fructose into a saucepan.
• Bring to the boil slowly, then put a lid on and simmer for 20 minutes.
• Take the lid off and allow to thicken (I simply drained off the excess juice into a cup because I needed the oven for Sunday Lunch and chucked a bit of cornflour in there to thicken it)

Make the base

• Preheat the oven to 180.
• While the blackberries are cooking make the base.
• Cream together the butter and fructose
• Beat in 1 egg until you get a smooth batter
• Add the flour, baking powder and a little of the milk at a time until you get a thick, dropping consistency batter.
• Put this into the bottom of a greased deep cake tin and smooth over

Make the topping

• While the blackberries are still cooking make the topping.
• Cream together the butter and fructose
• Add the eggs and beat until you get a smooth batter
• Add the flour and coconut and mix well into a very stiff 'paste'

Assemble the cake

• Over the base of the cake, smooth the cooked blackberries
• Very carefully put the topping on. The topping is very stiff, so try and smooth it over with a knife but be gentle otherwise it will squash into the blackberries!

Bake the cake

• Bake at 180 degrees for about 25 minutes until golden on the top.
• We served it warm with custard and will eat it cold with creme fraiche tomorrow!
  

Verdict:
8 1/2 out of 10. I love it Mummy, the cake is yummy, the blackberries are delicious. I love the crunchy coconut. It's a bit filling though and a tiny bit too sweet.

Ginger biscuits

My daughter has been asking me to make her some ginger biscuits for ages. Ginger isn't something I use other than in curries because DH isn't keen on it.

I have to admit, after baking these I started to feel enthusiastic about Christmas! The kitchen smelled gorgeous. I baked two types of ginger biscuits, followed by an apple and spice cake to help use up a glut of cooking apples. I felt proud too; these biscuits looked great when they came out of the oven - a gorgeous golden colour which looked just like the ginger nuts you buy in the shop.

Ginger is a great spice with many beneficial properties. It's used as a treatment for morning sickness because it has a soothing and calming effect on the stomach.

Ginger has anti inflammatory properties, which makes it really useful for people with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis.

In addition, ginger is a great ingredient for the first aid kit. Ginger helps to promote sweating during colds and flu. Maybe one of these ginger biscuits would be a good way to encourage poorly children to get better soon!

Ginger biscuits (makes about 18)

Ingredients

• 2 oz butter
• 4 tbsp agave syrup
• 2 tbsp fructose
• 5 oz self raising flour
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 3/4 tsp ground ginger

Method

• Pre heat oven to 180.
• Melt the butter, syrup and sugar until just melted. Don't allow to boil or leave for too long otherwise some of the ingredients can evaporate and alter the balance.
• Allow to cool a little, then mix in all the other ingredients until you have a smooth dough.
• The dough should be quite dry; if it is too wet, add some more flour, a little at a time until you get the right consistency.
• Using a teaspoon, drop spoons of the mix onto two greased baking trays. Allow a little room for expansion between each biscuit
• Bake for 10 minutes until golden

Verdict: 10/10 Just the right amount of ginger anybody would want and a really nice texture.

Cheese and sage flapjack

Inspired by Wonderwoman; over on the Green Parent forum, we made savoury flapjack today. I can't believe I hadn't thought of this before!

I've made savoury muffins and savoury scones, but never savoury flapjack.

This turned out really well and DD loved it. It's so simple to make and wonderwoman pointed out; if it falls apart it makes the perfect savoury crumble topping too!

We served it with chips and home grown tomatoes fried with onions and herbs. The flapjack is excellent eaten cold with salad too and is so filling, so perfect for when your kids have hollow legs for a lunch box!

Cheese and sage flapjack
Ingredients

• 2oz butter
• 5oz oats
• 5oz grated cheese
• 1 finely diced fresh sage leaf (you could use a pinch of dried if you don't have fresh)
  

Method

• Melt the butter in a large saucepan
• Add the rest of the ingredients
• Press into a greased brownie tin or square cake tin
• bake at 180 until golden - about 30 minutes

Verdict 10/10 I can't remember what she said now, but DD raved about it and ate lots of it!

Sugar free breakfasts

I'm often asked how on earth I manage to feed my daughter while keeping her off sugar. People rightly point out that most breakfast cereals contain sugar, all squashes and drinks have either sugar or artificial sweeteners in them, so what on earth do I do!?

Feeding a child a varied and nutritionally balanced diet takes care and attention, but basically the secret is to AVOID products aimed at kids! Most are full of sugar, salt and fat and ruin a child's palate in no time, leaving them hankering after stronger tastes.

I thought I would keep a photo diary of my daughter's breakfasts for a week, so you can see what she eats in a typical week.

Enjoy!

Monday

Oats soaked in natural yogurt, served with apple and blackberry compote (find the recipe from the apple and blackberry pie recipe)




Tuesday

Home made waffles served with fresh berries



Wednesday

banana mashed into natural yogurt and served with fresh nectarine



Thursday

porrage with yogurt, dried mango and sliced apple

Friday

bowl of sugar free cereal with fruit juice and a sugar free cereal bar - great for days when you don't have time to prepare anything! We're currently using Nature's Path Millet and oatbran flakes and the bar was a Lyme Regis 'Fruit 4 U' bar which is basically fruit leather or dried fruit.


Saturday

Homemade apple turnover and yogurt


Sunday

Scrambled eggs on toast


As you can see, it's not difficult to ring the changes over the course of a week and not an ounce of refined sugar in sight!

Blackberry and apple pie and turnovers

A turnover is simply an individual pie as far as I can make out. The difference is that a turnover is portable; a bit like a sweet pasty I suppose, whereas a pie usually requires a dish and spoon.

After our second blackberry picking expedition we decided to stick to a more traditional recipe, hence the blackberry and apple pie.

If you want to make these completely sugar free, the secret is to use sweet eating apples. People get so hung up on using the 'right' type of cooking apple but experiment and see what you can come up with. Some apples are much sweeter than others and some eating apples cook down nicely just like cooking apples.

I used 1 James Grieve (which can be used as both an eating and cooking apple early in the season) and 2 discovery apples along with about 300gms of blackberries and the sweetness level was just right.



Blackberry and apple pie and turnovers

Ingredients

• 300 gms blackberries
• 3 good sized eating apples
• 8 oz plain flour
• 4 oz butter straight from the refrigerator
  
• Around 6-8 tablespoons chilled water
• Couple of tablespoons of ground almonds (optional)

Method

• Prepare the fruit - skin and core the apples and cook in a tiny amount of water with the lid on, until soft. This takes about 20 minutes. Add the blackberries for the last 5 minutes of cooking time to soften them
  
• While the fruit is cooking, make the pastry:
• Cut the butter into small dice and put into a big bowl with the flour
  
• Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Work quickly and lightly, using only your fingertips to keep the butter cool.

• Gradually add the chilled water, a tablespoon at a time. Mix with a wooden spoon as you go until you get a soft dough.
• Chill the dough in a plastic bag in the fridge for 1/2 hour to make it more manageable.
• Lightly flour a clean work surface and your rolling pin and start to roll the dough out to whatever shape you need it - you'll need a base for your pie dish and a top. The rest can be used to make individual turnovers
• To make the pie, put the pastry base in a lightly greased oven proof dish, fill it with the prepared fruit and place a pastry top on the pie. Make a few holes in the pastry topping to let steam out.

• To make the turnovers, roll the pastry into large rounds, sprinkle each round with a desertspoon of ground almonds (this helps to stop the pastry go soggy) and add a desertspoon or two of fruit filling into the centre of the pastry. Gather up the edges of the turnover, put a dab of water along the edges of the paste and squeeze together to make a pasty shape. Again, make a couple of holes in the pasty to let out steam
  
• Put the turnovers on a lightly greased baking sheet
  
• Bake in a preheated oven at 180-200 degrees for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden

Verdict 10/10 I love these, they are just the right sweetness and I love the pastry

Chocolate things

My daughter made these, erm, chocolate things all by herself and I think they look smashing.

They are simple to make and the dough handles beautifully; it doesn't go greasy like some does, which is a blessing for the dramatic handling that my daughter can inflict on food!

They are a frugal recipe too, using minimal ingredients, so might become a family favourite. And if that isn't enough; they seem to last for ages without going off!

Chocolate things

Ingredients

• 4 oz Self raising flour
• 1 1/2 oz butter
• few spoons full milk
• Squares of sugar free chocolate - we used Plamil 'no added sugar' hemp chocolate which uses xylitol (from the birch tree) as a sweetener
  

Method

• Rub the butter into the flour
• Add enough milk until you get a soft dough
• Break the dough into ping pong ball sizes and shape into rough rounds
• Push a piece of chocolate into the top of each shape
• Bake at 180 degrees for 15 minutes

Do you have some favourite recipes that children can make?

Blackberry and chocolate brownies

We've been blackberry picking three times this year. The first time we made blackberry muffins, which we are huge hit. Last time we made a traditional blackberry and apple pie (recipe to follow) and this time my daughter suggested that blackberry and chocolate brownies would be a good idea.

Here's what I came up with. This recipe is delicious and moist, as you can see from one of the photos. It has a lovely purpley brown colour and the blackberries and chocolate work surprisingly well. They would look lovely with the addition of some white chocolate chips! I just loved the colour left in my bowl after crushing the blackberries; they look so cheery; just the thing for adding some warmth to the feelings of autumn already in the air.

A successful brownie has a slight crust with a soggy inside which goes fudgy as they cool down.

Blackberries contain high levels of antioxidants and can help protect against cancer; so go to the hedgerows and grab a handful of these cute berries and pop them in your mouth!

Blackberry and chocolate brownies

Ingredients

• 250-500gms fresh blackberries, lightly mashed with a fork
• 6 oz plain flour
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
  
• 3 oz fructose
• 140 mls melted butter (about 4oz before melting)
• 125 mls milk
• 2 beaten eggs

Method

• Mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and fructose in a large bowl
• Add the melted butter, milk and eggs and mix briefly; don't worry if it's a bit lumpy
• Stir in the mashed blackberries
• Put into a greased brownie tin and smooth the top
  
• Bake for 25 - 30 minutes at 180 until just set on the top

Verdict
9/10 Mmmmmmm, delicious Mummy. I knew they would work!

baked beans

I've always wanted to make my own baked beans! Don't ask me why; I guess, like bread, it's just one of those satisfaction things to be able to do.

In addition, finding sugar free baked beans is not easy (or cheap). Sure, I can get them in large supermarkets, but we try to avoid those. Plus my small local health food shop do not always have them in.

So today I set myself the challenge of making some beans and this is the recipe I created:

Sugar free baked beans

Ingredients

• 1 finely diced onion
• 1 clove smashed garlic
• 1 finely diced red pepper
• a little oil for frying
• 10 tbsp passata
• 2 tbsp agave syrup
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• pinch mustard powder
• pinch allspice
• pinch cinamon
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tin drained haricot beans
  

Method

• Fry 1 finely diced onion, 1 clove smashed garlic and 1 finely diced red pepper in a little oil until soft
• Add the rest of the ingredients, pop a lid on and simmer for 30 minutes

Verdict:

10/10 - better than Heinz! My daughter asked for more vinegar next time and DH asked for less vinegar and more salt; so I guess it's a question of taste. But this was a huge success and I was able to make an organic, sugar free product for less than I could buy it for.

I was really pleased and had a Ma Larkin moment!

banana and brazil brownies

I made these brownies after finding some brazil nuts in the cupboard which no one was eating. Rather than wasting them I decided to add them to a recipe.

I found a recipe for banana and brazil brownies on Recipe Zaar which started life as a vegan, gluten free version.
As we don't need to worry about gluten and are not vegans, I adapted it and came up with my own version.

Next time, after hearing the verdict from my daughter, I will increase the brazil nuts to 3 - 4 ounces, reduce the fructose by an ounce and add another tablespoon of cocoa. They are filling and 'robust' as my husband calls them, with a lovely, fudgey texture.

They freeze well too, so make a glut and freeze them for later use.

Brazil nuts are one of the best sources of selnium, which is drastically depleted in our soil due to over farming. Selenium is vital for fertility in both sexes, helps to balance thyroid function and is a powerful antioxidant. Studies have shown that brazil nuts can help prevent breast cancer.

Just three brazil nuts a day will provide your daily recommended amount of selenium, but this is much nicer way of eating them!

Banana and brazil nut brownies

Ingredients

* 2 very ripe bananas
* 6 ounces flour
* 2 tablespoons cocoa
* 3 ounces of fructose
* 140 ml melted butter
* 125 ml milk
* 1 egg
* 2 ounces brazil nuts, crushed

Method

• Mash the bananas in a mixing bowl.
• Sieve in the flour and cocoa.
• Add the fructose, butter and milk
• Mix in the egg
• Mix well then stir in the crushed brazil nuts.
• Put the mixture in a greased brownie tin and bake for 40 minutes at 180.
  

Verdict: 8/10 perfect texture; nice and chewy.
It smells of chips (??!!), don't put so much fruit in next time and not so much fructose; it's a bit sweet.
Could you put more chocolate in next time; they're not very chocolatey?

banana and walnut loaf

This recipe received a huge thumbs up from both my daughter and husband! Even the cat was hanging around by the oven door as I took it out.

I set myself a challenge this week to use up things in my kitchen cupboards instead of buying new. I wanted to try and find yummy recipes for the things I have bought that none of us have used.

Enter left stage: a packet of walnuts.

They've been sitting in the cupboard looking at me for several months. I bought them for DD as she really got into nuts at one stage. Like all kids though, she knew what she liked and she only liked pistachios.

I bought walnuts because they are power houses of nutrition. They are a hard nut to follow and provide huge amounts of omega 3s which helps to support heart function, the brain and all manner of things.

Walnuts are also high in antioxidants, manganese (brain function) and copper (anemia, hair loss, dry skin).

Then I went to the farm shop and was asked if I made banana cake because bananas were going brown and were half price today. Aha! Banana and walnut cake here we come.

Banana and walnut loaf; adapted from Kate Ford's "Compassion in farming" recipe

Ingredients

• 3oz butter
• 1/4 cup fructose
• 1 egg
• 1 mashed banana
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 4 tbsp crushed walnuts (I put them in a bag and battered them with a rolling pin)
• 1/3 cup natural yogurt
• pinch salt
• 1 1/4 cups self raising flour
  

Method

• Preheat oven to 180
• Cream together the butter and fructose
• Mix in the beaten egg until you get a smooth batter
• Add the banana and lemon juice and mix well
• Add the remaining ingredients and put in a greased loaf tin
• Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden

Verdict: 10/10

This didn't rise as much as I though it would, but my daughter shoved a massive piece into her mouth and went skipping down the garden with it; giving me a thumbs up sign as she went. She spent most of the night raving about it and asking for more.

Hubby, who isn't really into such things loved it too; so I think it's safe to call it a family favourite AND it means I will eventually get through the packet of walnuts! I think you could up the amount of walnuts easily; the original recipe called for 2 tablespoons, but I doubled it and now I know my two liked it, I'll add more next time.

Blackberry muffins

This week we went blackberrying! We managed to get 250gms of juicy, ripe berries; just enough for 24 fairy cakes (or fewer muffins if you prefer)

Blackberry muffins / fairy cakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup natural yogurt
• 3/4 cup fructose
• 1 cup melted butter or oil or a mix of butter and milk
  
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups self raising flour
• 250 gms blackberries
• grated rind of 1 orange

Method

• preheat oven to 180
• Mix together the following in a large bowl: yogurt, fructose, eggs and oil / butter and whisk until combined.
  
• Tip in the flour, blackberries and orange rind and combine.
• Don't overwork the mix; it's ok for it to be lumpy
• Pour into muffin cases and bake for 20 minutes until golden.

What I loved about these was the beautiful colour - they look like art on a plate. They aren't light, like fairy cakes; the fruit makes them heavier, but very moist and soft.

Verdict: 10/10 nice mix of sour and sweet and the cakes are really soft.

Jammy buns!

I love the name of these; jammy buns - it just makes me laugh and I couldn't wait to make them.

I found the recipe over on the lovely "Diary of a Frugal Family" website. What I loved about making this is that it is SO easy. Children can handle the dough easily and it's super quick to make. Definitely a recipe for a beginner.

My daughter always eyes up the jammy dodger biscuits in the shops, and of course those are loaded with sugar (and goodness knows what else), so these will make a great alternative for her. There is even REAL fruit in the jam, so a tiny bit of nutritional value. Ok, I know that's stretching it a bit, but at least there aren't any nasties in there!

Jammy Buns

Ingredients:

• 8oz self raising flour
• 3oz butter
• 3oz fructose
• Few tablespoons of milk
• few teaspoons of St Dalfour strawberry jam (or sugar free jam of your choice)
  

Method:

• preheat oven to 180
• Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs
• Stir in the sugar
• Add milk, a desertspoon at a time until you have a soft dough (I needed 8 desertspoons to give you an idea of quantity needed).
• Get your hands in the bowl and divide the mix into little balls. I made 20 ping pong sized balls.
• Place balls onto a greased baking sheet
• Made an indentation into each ball and drop 1/2 teaspoon of jam into each
• Bake until golden - it took 12 minutes in my fan oven.
  

Now here is my confession

I was in such a rush I FORGOT the fructose LOL! So I'll be serving them up for pudding today and we'll see how they are received. To be honest, I don't think DD will worry about it; anything that taste remotely like biscuits or pastry she loves. I'll slap a bit of creme fraiche with them and see what happens.

It will be interesting to see and if she doesn't say anything, then they are even more frugal than I thought!

I've just figured that you could probably use these as a savoury dish as well if you omit the sugar. I think I might experiment and see what I can come up - the easiest vol-au-vents in the world probably!
Verdict

10/10 "I think next time there is no need to put the jam in them because they are fine as they'd be fine without it."
Well there is clearly no accounting for taste! This is probably the most frugal thing I could ever make!