Kiwi and Blueberry Cheesecake Cups

I love cheesecakes but they are so not diet foods, but this gives me a little bit of relief from my cravings without breaking the syn bank. This is a nice and easy recipe which is assembled in minutes. 

 

Serves 2

Syn free on Extra Easy*

* providing you use the cream cheese as your Healthy Extra A

2 kiwis

a handful blueberries

150g Philadelphia Light

200g fat free fromage frais

sweetener to taste

a few drops rum essence

2-3 tbsp caramelised buckwheat

In tall wine glasses, place the finely chopped kiwi flesh and blueberries. Mix together the cream cheese, fromage frais, sweetener and rum essence and spoon over the fruit. Just as you are about to serve, sprinkle the buckwheat over.

Chocolate Mousse with Raspberries

I used to make this a fair bit a while ago, but had forgotten all about it until I was looking through my old food photos trying to get inspirations for what to cook this week. This really does taste too good to be diet food, but trust me, there are only 3½ syns in each portion.

This is what you do for two people:

250g fat free fromage frais

6 tbsp cocoa powder

sweetener to taste

2 egg whites

fresh and/or frozen raspberries – I used both

3 tbsp low fat spray cream

a few sprinkles of caramelised buckwheat to decorate

Mix the cocoa powder with the fromage frais and add sweetener to taste. You might need quite a lot as cocoa powder is quite bitter and fromage frais rather tart.

Whisk up the egg whites until soft peaks form and gently fold in the fromage frais mixture. Spoon in to tall glasses and add the raspberries on top. Spray with cream and decorate with caramelised buckwheat.

I have served this a couple of times at dinner parties and my guests said they would never have guessed that the mousse was diet friendly. Try it for yourself and see. 

 

Buckwheat Kasha

I am totally hooked on buckwheat at the moment, and thought I'd have a go at making a Russian savoury porridge for breakfast. Kasha is a Russian word for toasted buckwheat – I remember the first time I tried it was in one of the former USSR states, in a small hotel in Minsk, Belarus. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

½ cup buckwheat

1 ½ cup stock

1 onion

4 slices bacon, all visible fat removed

1 tbsp chopped basil to serve

Dry toast the buckwheat until starting to brown and becoming fragrant. Add the stock and simmer for 15-20 minutes until all the water is absorbed. Meanwhile, sauté the onion in Fry Light until soft. Grill the bacon and chop. When the kasha is cooked, add the onion and stir well. Serve topped with the chopped bacon and sprinkle over the basil. 

 

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. 

 

Lemon Tart

The last 'international' dish this week comes from France. I have just amended it somewhat for the Slimming World plan, but even without the cream and pastry, it was very rich and creamy, with a refreshing tangy flavour. 

 

Serves 8

Syn Free on Extra Easy*

* ¼ syn for the whole cake

½ cup buckwheat

6 eggs, plus 3 egg yolks

2 tbsp sweetener

½ tsp baking powder

1 tub quark

juice and zest of 3 lemons

¼ cup sweetener, or to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 20cm 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 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.

Separate 2 of the eggs. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. In another bowl whisk the egg yolks with a quarter of the quark, the baking powder and 2 tbsp sweetener. Carefully fold in to the egg whites. Pour mixture on top of the buckwheat in the tin. Bake for 15-20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin. Don't worry if the cake looks very high at this stage, it will settle down when it has cooled.

Mix the lemon juice and zest with the ¼ cup sweetener and the rest of the quark. Beat well. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in the egg yolks. Taste and add more sweetener if the mixture is too tart for your liking, Pour on top of the cake base, and bake in the oven at 190°C for 20-25 minutes until the filling is set. Leave to cool before serving. 

 

Oranges in Syrup

Adapted from a Middle Eastern recipe, this is very refreshing and fairly simple to make. The original recipe calls for pistachio nuts for sprinkling, and of course sugar to make the syrup.

Husband and I agreed that serving fruit in nice glasses, presented prettily and with a sauce and/or topping, makes such a nice finish to a meal. It wouldn't be anywhere near as exciting to sit there and peel an orange to eat. 

 

Serves 2

Syn value is negligible

2 oranges

½ cup sweetener

1 tbsp rose-water

½ pkt sugar free orange flavoured jelly crystals

fat free fromage frais to serve

handful toasted buckwheat

Using a vegetable peeler, peel one of the oranges down to but not including the pith. Cut the orange peel into fine strips and boil in water several times to remove the bitterness. Drain.

Add 300ml water to the orange peel, along with the sweetener and bring to a boil. Sprinkle in the jelly crystals and stir well to dissolve. Add the rose-water and leave to cool, but don't leave it too long, as you don't want it to set to a jelly, just thicken a little.

Completely remove the pith from the oranges and cut them into thin slices. Arrange in two dessert bowls, pour over the syrup, serve with fromage frais and sprinkle some toasted buckwheat over the top. 

 

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. 

 

Banoffee Pie

I love it when I discover ways of making my favourite desserts syn free. This recipe is adapted from the Slimming World Love Desserts book, from 6 syns per serving to a quarter of a syn for the whole pie. 

 

Serves 8-10

¼ syn for the whole cake on Extra Easy

generous ½ cup buckwheat

1 tbsp sweetener

2 eggs

2 tbsp sweetener

½ tsp ground ginger

1 tub quark

½ tsp baking powder

3 tubs Müllerlight Smooth Toffee Yogurt

sweetener to taste

2 tsp vanilla essence

2 egg whites

2 sachets gelatine crystals

3 bananas, thinly sliced

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 20cm 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 one tablespoon sweetener and around two tablespoons 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.

Separate the eggs. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. In another bowl whisk the egg yolks with a quarter of the tub of quark, the baking powder and 2 tbsp sweetener. Carefully fold in to the egg whites. Pour mixture on top of the buckwheat in the tin. Bake for 15-20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin. Don't worry if the cake looks very high at this stage, it will settle down when it has cooled.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff. In a separate bowl, mix together the toffee yogurts, sweetener if using and the rest of the quark. Dissolve the gelatine crystals in 100ml boiling water and leave to cool slightly. Gradually stir in the yogurt mix, and then gently fold into the egg whites. Pour over the cake base and leave in the fridge to set for at least two hours.

Take the pie out of the fridge at least half an hour before serving to let it reach room temperature – unless of course you really like your food ice cold. I find that the flavour of food improves as the chill comes off it. Just as you are serving, slice the bananas and place on top of the pie. Squeeze over some toffee sauce if you like, at 2.5 syns per tablespoon, and/or grated chocolate at 1.5 syns per tablespoon. 

 

Key Lime Pie – Version Two

This time I decided to just use fresh limes rather than the jelly crystals, and it was a much better end product. It went down very well at our Slimming World party this morning. 

 

Serves 8-10

½ syn for the whole cake

generous ½ cup buckwheat

2 tbsp sweetener

¼ tub quark

2 eggs

½ tsp baking powder

2 tbsp sweetener

2 x 500g tub fat free fromage frais

¾ tubs quark

1 cup sweetener (to taste)

1 tsp vanilla essence

zest and juice of 3-4 limes

2 sachets gelatine crystals

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 23cm 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 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.

Separate the eggs. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. In another bowl whisk the egg yolks with a quarter of one of the tubs of quark, the baking powder and 2 tbsp sweetener. Carefully fold in to the egg whites. Pour mixture on top of the buckwheat in the tin. Bake for 15-20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin. Don't worry if the cake looks very high at this stage, it will settle down when it has cooled.

Using an electric whisk, beat together the fromage frais, the rest of the quark, 1 cup of sweetener and the lime zest. Place the lime juice in a non- metallic container and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds. Dissolve the contents of the packets of jelly powder in the lime juice and beat well to ensure it is properly mixed. Allow to cool a little before gently mixing in to the fromage frais mixture. Keep tasting the mixture and adjust the sweetener/lime until the combination is just right. Spread the mixture over the cake and leave for at least two hours to set.

I like to take the pie out of the fridge for a couple of hours before eating, as it makes the topping nice and creamy and a softer consistency. 

 

Raspberry Cheese Crunch

A nice, easy dessert which is very filling so a great choice after a light meal, or maybe as a treat later in the evening.

Serves 2

Syn free on Extra Easy*

* Providing you use the cheese as you Healthy Extra A

500g frozen raspberries, thawed

sweetener to taste

150g reduced fat cream cheese

1 cup buckwheat

½ cup sweetener

2 tsp cinnamon

Dry fry the buckwheat until browned and fragrant. Take the pan off the heat and add the sweetener and cinnamon with 1-2 tbsp water. Stir until the water has evaporated and leave to cool.

Place the raspberries in the bottom of a knickerbocker glory glass. Stir the cream cheese with a tablespoon or two of water to make it soft and a little runnier, then add sweetener to taste. Spoon on top of the raspberries and top with the crunchy buckwheat.

Blueberry Cheese Crunch

Being a great lover of berries with yogurt, I thought I'd give it a little twist and have the berries with cream cheese instead. Oh dear. Big mistake. It was just so delicious I am now well and truly hooked. Not good for the waistline...

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy*

* Providing you use the cheese as your Healthy Extra A

250g blueberries

150g cream cheese

sweetener to taste

½ cup buckwheat

1 tbs sweetener

½ tsp ginger

Heat a pan and dry fry the buckwheat over a medium-high heat until nicely browned and fragrant. Take the pan off the heat and add 1 tbsp sweetener and the ginger, with around 1tbsp of water to mix. Stir well until the water has evaporated. Leave to cool.

Mix the cream cheese with sweetener to taste and a tablespoon or two of water to soften the consistency.

Place the blueberries in the bottom of two tall, thin glasses, then divide the cream cheese between the glasses. Finally top them with the crunchy buckwheat. 

 

Strawberry Chiffon Pie

You can have your cake and eat it! At only 1 syn for the whole cake, this is very healthy and very tasty. 

 

Serves 6-8

1 syn for the whole cake

1 cup buckwheat

1 tbsp sweetener

800-1000g strawberries

2 sachets strawberry flavoured sugar free jelly

2 tubs Müllerlight strawberry yogurt

sweetener to taste

1-2 tsp vanilla essence

Heat a pan without any oil and dry fry the buckwheat for 6-8 minutes until crunchy, brown and fragrant. Take the pan off the heat and add the sweetener and one tbsp water. Stir until the water is absorbed. Use to line a greased 20cm springform cake tin.

Hull the strawberries and chop approximately half of them finely. Make the jelly up with only 250ml boiling water using both sachets. Leave to cool a little. Gradually mix in the fruit, then the yogurts. Leave in the fridge to thicken slightly before pouring on top of the buckwheat in the cake tin. Chill in the fridge for several hours to set, then decorate the top with halved strawberries. 

 

Plum Custard Tart

Tarts are no longer out of bounds on the Slimming World plan since I discovered buckwheat. Brilliant little grains, with a nutty taste and a crunchy texture – and syn free. Bring it on!

Serves 4-6

Syn Free on Extra Easy*

* Providing you use the plums as your Healthy Extra B

½ cup buckwheat

2 eggs

4 plums

1 tub fat free plain yogurt

sweetener to taste

Spray a flan dish with Fry Light. Dry toast the buckwheat until browned and crunchy and use to line the flan dish. Quarter the plums and remove the stones. Place on top of the buckwheat. Whip up the eggs and add the yogurt and sweetener to taste. Pour over the plums in the flan dish. Bake at 175°C for ca 30 minutes until firm and set. Leave to cool and slice. 

 

Ginger and Passion Fruit Creams

A very refreshing dessert, bursting with tropical flavours. 

 

Serves 2

½ Syn on Extra Easy

¼ cup buckwheat

2 tbsps sweetener

1 tsp ground ginger

5 passion fruits

1 egg

1 Müllerlight mango and passion fruit yogurt

4 tbsp spray cream

Dry toast the buckwheat in a pan until fragrant and browned. Take the pan off the heat and add the ginger with 1 tbsp sweetener. Add a little water (no more than a tbsp) and stir until the water evaporates and the sweetener and ginger is well mixed in with the buckwheat. Place in the bottom of two tall glasses.

Remove the seeds, pulp and juice form 4 of the 5 passion fruits and place in a bowl.

With an electric whisk, whip up the egg with the other tbsp of sweetener. In a double saucepan (or in a bowl over gently simmering water), stir the egg with a wooden spoon until it has thickened. This will take about ten minutes. Make sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl and the heat is not too high, otherwise you will end up with scrambled eggs rather than custard.

Mix the passion fruit with the custard and pour into the glasses on top of the buckwheat. Chill in the fridge for two hours.

Divide the yogurt, then the spray cream between the two glasses and top with the pulp, juice and seeds from the last passion fruit. 

 

Key Lime Pie

I have really got the fat free baking bug now, and decided to have a go at another adaptation of the original half-syn roulade recipe, this time turning it into a key lime pie. Waitrose do the best version of this American dessert, but I needed something that fits in with the Slimming World plan. The name comes from the small key limes that are prevalent throughout Florida and the pie dates back to the 19^th century Key West – the original recipe used the chemical reaction between the lime juice and condensed milk to 'set' the pie. It is thought the local sponge fishermen created the recipe out of necessity – being at sea for days on end without a fridge or an oven, they took with them foods that weren't perishable or didn't need baking, such as canned milk, sugar, limes and eggs.

I am not sure if the same reaction would occur between fromage frais and lime juice, so I have used gelatine in my recipe. These days, because of the health scares of eating raw eggs, key traditional lime pie is usually baked anyway. Because the cheesecake I made became quite 'floppy' with just one packet of powdered gelatine, I played safe this time.

Serves 8

3 ¼ syns for the whole cake

generous ½ cup buckwheat

2 tbsp sweetener

¼ tub quark

2 eggs

½ tsp baking powder

2 tbsp sweetener

500g tub fat free fromage frais

1 ¾ tubs quark

1 cup sweetener

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 packets sugar free lime and lemon jelly

zest and juice of 3-4 limes

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 23cm 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, the ginger 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.

Separate the eggs. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. In another bowl whisk the egg yolks with a quarter of one of the tubs of quark, the baking powder and 2 tbsp sweetener. Carefully fold in to the egg whites. Pour mixture on top of the buckwheat in the tin. Bake for 15-20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin. Don't worry if the cake looks very high at this stage, it will settle down when it has cooled.

Using an electric whisk, beat together the fromage frais, the rest of the quark, 1 cup of sweetener, the lime zest and vanilla essence. Place the lime juice in a non- metallic container and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds. Dissolve the contents of the packets of jelly powder in the lime juice and beat well to ensure it is properly mixed. Allow to cool a little before gently mixing in to the fromage frais mixture. Spread the mixture over the cake and leave for at least two hours to set. 

Blueberry Cheesecake (Almost Syn Free)

After the success with the half syn roulade, I decided to take the recipe one step further and make something else from it. I adore cheesecake and an idea was beginning to take shape..... The secret to the crunchy bottom lies in the buckwheat, which is syn free, unlike crushed up biscuits mixed with butter.

Serves 8 (or two very greedy people)

½ syn for the whole cake

generous ½ cup buckwheat

2 tbsp sweetener

1 tbsp ground ginger

½ tub quark

4 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

4 tbsp sweetener

500g tub fat free fromage frais

1 ½ tubs quark

1 cup sweetener

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 sachet gelatine*

400g fresh or frozen blueberries

* The cake was really quite soft, which was rather nice, but if I was serving it for a dinner party, I would probably use 2 sachets or 1½ in future as it started to droop fairly quickly.

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 23cm 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, the ginger 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.

Separate the eggs. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. In another bowl whisk the egg yolks with half of one of the tubs of quark, the baking powder and 4 tbsp sweetener. Carefully fold in to the egg whites. Pour mixture on top of the buckwheat in the tin. Bake for 15-20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin. Don't worry if the cake looks very high at this stage, it will settle down when it has cooled.

Using an electric whisk, beat together the fromage frais, the rest of the quark, ½ cup of sweetener and vanilla essence. Dissolve the contents of the gelatine in 120ml boiling water and beat well to ensure it is properly mixed. Allow to cool a little before gently mixing in to the fromage frais mixture. Spread the mixture over the cake and leave for at least two hours to set.

Finally top with blueberries, remove the sleeve and serve.

This is one of the best experiments I have done for a very long time, and I can see me making this often as Husband absolutely loved it too!