Cinnamon Crisps with Mixed Fruit Dip

I love surfing the net for ideas of what to make. I mostly just type in just one or two keywords and press “Images”; and take a look at the pictures that come up. Usually I can find a recipe I can adapt or I get an idea for a completely new one. This is something that I would never even have considered, but it was certainly worth the effort. It's very different and the texture of the crisps goes well with the softness of the fruit. Remember to syn the fruit if you cook or purée your fruit or berries.

** I used frozen mixed fruit (apples, blackcurrants, redcurrants, blackberries and raspberries) from Farrington Gurney Farm Shop. It is available loose, has a lovely fresh taste and saves a lot of chopping. 

 

Serves 2

Syn free*

* providing you use the wraps as your Healthy Extra B

2 BFree Wheat and Gluten Free Wholegrain Wraps

2 tbsp sweetner

1 tsp cinnamon

finely chopped fruit or soft berries to serve**

Cut each tortilla in 12 pieces and place on a pizza cooking plate. 

 Spray with Fry Light. Mix together the sweetener and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the tortillas. Spray with Fry Light again over the top and bake in the oven at 200-210°C for around 5 minutes. 

You need to keep an eye on it as they can easily burn. They are done when slightly puffed out and have turned crispy. 

 

Leave to cool on a tray until cold. 

 Serve with the fruit for dipping. 

 

Apple and Cinnamon Tart

Husband loves anything with cooked apple (I prefer the apples raw, and end up eating all the skin as I peel them for his dishes), so I am constantly trying to work out low syn recipes containing apple. 

 

Serves 6-8

½ syn for the whole cake on Extra Easy*

*Providing you use the cooked apples as your Healthy Extra B

½ cup buckwheat

2-3 tbsp sweetener

1 tsp cinnamon powder

2 tbsp quark

½ tsp baking powder

2 eggs, separated

vanilla essence

2 tbsp sweetener

2 tsp cinnamon powder

7 apples

sweetener to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Grease a spring form cake tin by spraying it with Fry Light. Heat a frying pan to medium-high heat and dry toast the buckwheat until they start to brown, 3-5 minutes. Switch off the pan, add 2 tbsp sweetener, 1 tsp cinnamon and ca 1 tbsp water to mix it all in. Stir until all the water has evaporated. Quickly line the bottom of the cake tin with the buckwheat and leave to cool.

Mix together the egg yolks, baking powder, 1-2 tsp vanilla essence, 2 tbsp sweetener, cinnamon and the quark, using an electric whisk. In a separate clean bowl, using a clean whisk, whip the egg whites until firm. Carefully fold the yokes into the whites. Pour the mixture on top of the buckwheat and bake for 10-15 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool.

Peel and core 5 of the apples and cut into small chunks. Place in a saucepan with the sweetener and 2 tsp cinnamon and enough water to only just cover the apples. Simmer until the apples are very soft and mash up with a potato masher. Pour the apple sauce over the cake in the tin.

Peel and core the rest of the apples and slice very thinly. Arrange in a pattern on top of the sauce and bake at 200°C for 25-35 minutes until the apples are cooked through. 

 

Tilslørte Bondepiker

Directly translated the name of this Norwegian dish means “Veiled Country Lasses”, but I have no idea how it got its name. Traditionally it would be made with whipped cream and rusks fried in butter with sugar and cinnamon, but I have created a syn free version to fit into the Slimming World plan. 

 

Serves 3

Syn Free on Extra Easy*

* Providing you use the cooked apple as your Healthy Extra B

5 eating apples, peeled, cored and chopped

1 tsp cinnamon

sweetener to taste

200ml sugar free appleade

1 cup buckwheat

1-2 tbsp appleade

1-2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp sweetener

200ml fat free fromage frais

sweetener to taste

Gently boil the apples in 200ml appleade with sweetener (if using) and cinnamon until the apples can easily be mashed with the back of a spoon or a fork. Mash and set aside to cool.

Mix together 50ml appleade with 1-2 tsp cinnamon and 1 tbsp sweetener. Dry fry the buckwheat until browned and fragrant. Take off the heat and add the appleade mix, stirring all the time until the liquid has evaporated. Spread on a plate to cool.

Mix the fromage frais with sweetener to taste.

Layer tall glasses with apple, fromage frais and buckwheat alternately. 

 

Fried Apple Rings with Cinnamon

I made this dish for breakfast, but it would be equally good as a dessert. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy*

* Providing you use the cooked apple as your Healthy Extra B

4 apples, cored and sliced

200ml sugar free appleade

1-2 tsp cinnamon

1-2 tsp sweetener (optional)

To serve:

fromage frais

sweetener

cinnamon

Fry the apple slices for a few minutes in Fry Light, then add the appleade, cinnamon and sweetener if using. Continue to simmer until the apples are tender. Serve with fromage frais mixed with sweetener and cinnamon to taste. 

 

Eplegrøt med Melk

This is one of the happy memories from childhood food in Norway – apple compote with milk. I was reading this morning how much goodness there is in the apple skin, so I left it on for this recipe – I think it would probably be nicer removing it. At my home when I grew up, we would crush up some rusks to serve with this too, but obviously that would add to the syn value.

Serves 3

3½ syns on Extra easy

3 large cooking apples, peeled and cored

sweetener and cinnamon to taste

3 tbsp corflour

milk to serve from your Healthy Extra A allowance 

 

Chop the apples finely and place in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Add sweetener and cinnamon to taste. Gently simmer until the apples are cooked through but still retaining some shape. Mix the cornflour with a little cold water, and add to the apples, stirring for a few minutes until it has thickened. The grøt should be served warm, not hot, with cold milk. 

 

Apple Cake with Summer Fruits

This was a complete experiment as I had a whole bag of apples from a buy-one-get-one-free deal. Husband loves apple cakes and puddings, so I had to think of something to do with the apples that was also portable for our picnic. It makes a very moist cake, and because of the relatively short baking time, the apples retain a nice crunch. 

It is no doubt best the day it is made, as the juice from the berries stained everything blue the next day. It comes out a little messy on the plate (the slices don't retain their shape very well), but tastes absolutely yummy.

 

Serves 6-8

½ syn for the whole cake on Extra Easy*

*Providing you use the cooked apples and cream cheese as your Healthy Extras

1 tub quark

½ tsp baking powder

4 eggs, separated

vanilla essence

6 tbsp sweetener, or to taste

1 tsp cinnamon

4 apples

200g frozen mixed summer fruits, thawed

125g blackcurrants to decorate

150g reduced fat cream cheese

Peel and finely chop the apples. Mix together the egg yolks, baking powder, 1-2 tsp vanilla essence, 2 tbsp sweetener, cinnamon and half the tub of quark, using an electric whisk. In a separate clean bowl, using a clean whisk, whip the egg whites until firm. Carefully fold the yokes into the whites.

Grease two 20cm springform cake times and divide the mixture between the two. Place the apples into the cake mix in the tins. Bake at 180°C for 10-15 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool.

Remove the cakes from the tins. Spread one of the cakes with the rest of the quark mixed with 2 tbsp sweetener. Top with the mixed berries and carefully place the other cake on top. Mix together the cream cheese and 2 tbsp sweetener and spread on the top of the cake. Top with the blackcurrants. 

 

Apple and Sultana Couscous Cakes

Putting my thinking cap on for cakes that don't contain flour, I remembered a couscous cake we had in a private home in Cape Verde a few years ago. My friend Google came to the rescue again, and I found a nice little recipe which I adapted heavily to fit in with the Slimming World plan.

The cakes are very tasty, and extremely moreish albeit a little crumbly. The recipe filled 12 muffin cases with a little to spare – if you didn't put as much in each case it would probably make 15-18 little cakes.

I added sultanas to mine – although you can reduce the syn value to almost nothing if you leave them out (and use the apple as HEXB).

Syn values for the whole mix:

70g sultanas = 7 syns

2 tsp baking powder = 1 syn

3 apples cooked = 12 syns*

*If you don't use the cooked apple as your Healthy Extra B

1 cup couscous

1 cup diet appleade

70g sultanas (optional)

1 tub fat free vanilla yogurt

½ tub fat free natural yogurt

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

½ cup sweetener

3 eating apples

2 eggs

Place the couscous and appleade in a saucepan and bring to the boil. As soon as it boils, switch the heat off and put a lid on the pan. Leave for at least ten minutes for the couscous to cook and absorb the liquid. Place in a large bowl and fluff up with a fork.

Whip the eggs until frothy. Mix with the yogurts, sultanas (if using) , cinnamon, baking powder and sweetener.

Grate 2 of the apples and finely chop the third. Mix with the other ingredients and stir well. Place in individual muffin cakes and bake at 170°C for 15-20 minutes until cooked through and slightly browned on top. 

 

Alpen Baked Apple

I have only recently discovered how the Red Days work on the Slimming World Plan, and have taken advantage of that to have two Healthy Extra B choices today.

Serves 2

Syn Free on a Red Day*

* Providing you use the Alpen Light and cooked apple as you 2 HEXB

I suppose it works on a Green Day too, but it took me long enough to get my head around the Red days, I don't want to confuse myself.

2 apples

2 Alpen Light Apple and Sultana bars

sweetener and cinnamon to taste

200ml diet appleade

1 tub quark

sweetener and cinnamon to taste

100ml diet appleade

Core the apples and immediately dip them in cold water with lemon juice. Score the skin all over. Place in a deep ovenproof dish. Break up the cereal bars and stuff into the centre of the apples. Mix appleade with cinnamon and sweetener, and pour all around the apples. Bake in the oven at 220°C for 15-20 until the apples are just soft but not mushy.

Serve with cinnamon sauce: mix together quark, sweetener and cinnamon, and add appleade until you get a smooth pouring consistency.