Carrot and Ginger Cupcakes

Another variation on my favourite – and immensely popular – butternut squash muffins. These are dangerously moreish, but at just half a syn (less in fact) each, you can really enjoy a couple without feeling guilty. They don't last very well in the fridge or a cake tin; but they freeze well – I have placed mine in containers with six cakes (without the icing) to take out for as and when we want a little treat, without going overboard.

Makes 36

½ syn each*

* providing you use the oats as your Healthy Extra b and cheese as your Healthy Extra A. Nine cakes constitutes one HexB and HexA.

140g porridge oats

2 tubs fat free thick plain Greek yogurt

100g sultanas

2 tsp baking powder

8 eggs, separated

2-3 tbsps mixed spice

½ – 1 cup of sweetener to taste

1 can sugar free ginger beer

3-4 large carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks

a knob of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

300g cream cheese

sweetener to taste

a few drops of rum essence

First of all, in a small bow, place the sultanas and pour over enough ginger beer to cover. Leave to infuse and swell. Next put the oats in a large bowl and mix in the yogurt and the rest of the ginger beer. If you are using a thinner, runnier yogurt, cut down on the amount of liquid you use.

Leave these mixtures to soak for at least a couple of hours, ideally overnight. Boil the carrots with the ginger and leave to cool. Whizz in a food processor until smooth.

In a large bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Whisk the egg yolks and add the sweetener, mixed spice and baking powder. (Don't do as I did – thinking that I might forget to add the baking powder – I wasn't following a recipe, I was making it up as I went along – I measured it out when I thought of it earlier and just put it on top of the oat mixture for stirring in later. Wrong! By the time I came to stir it in, the baking powder had drawn the moisture from the oat mix and was one hard, white cake. Oops. I managed to break it up by whisking it in with the egg whites, but it was certainly a learning point!)

Stir the egg yolks and carrot mix into the oat mixture, add the sultanas and gently fold in the egg whites, making sure everything is mixed in well. Spoon into well greased muffin cases. I find I like to keep stirring the mixture while I am putting it into the little muffin cases, as the sultanas tend to sink to the bottom fairly quickly.

Bake in the oven at 180°C for 20-30 minutes, until they are cooked through. They should be springy, not fluffy when you touch them gently with your finger, and a skewer inserted should come out clean.

For the icing, mix together the cream cheese, sweetener and rum essence and spread on top of the cakes.

Enjoy!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

These work out at under than half a syn per cupcake providing you use the oats as your Healthy Extra B and the cream cheese as your Healthy Extra A

Makes 12 little cakes

70g rolled oats

1 tub Müllerlight toffee yogurt

1-2 tbsp water

4 tbsp cocoa powder

sweetener to taste

3-4 beetroots, depending on size

1 tbsp baking powder

4 eggs, separated

150g reduced fat cream cheese

200g fat free fromage frais

sweetener

a few drops of red food colouring

Soak the oats in the yogurt for at least two hours, ideally overnight. Add the cocoa powder and sweetener to taste. Add some water if necessary to make a soft consistency.

Peel and cook the beetroot until soft and mash using a potato masher or a fork. Be careful at this stage as it can be quite a slippery customer and bits have a habit of flying out of the bowl and staining whatever they land on.

Mix the beetroot in with the oats and add the baking powder.

In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. In a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks. Mix the yolks with the oats and beetroot and carefully fold in the whites. 

 

Spoon in to 12 greased muffin cases and bake for 20-25 minutes at 180°C until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool.

For the icing, mix together the cream cheese, fromage frais, sweetener to taste and a few drops of red food colouring. When the cakes are cool, pipe the icing on top. 

 

Zucchini Muffins

There's been a lot of talk on Facebook amongst my American friends recently about the virtues of Zucchini Muffins (courgettes to those of us in England), so I thought I'd try a little experiment, by combining the ever-so-succesful oat pancake recipe, the half-syn roulade recipe and a traditional carrot cake recipe, but substituting courgettes for the carrots and baking it in muffin cases rather than cake tins. I peeled the courgette because the skin was a little blemished, but this should not be necessary. Of course, you may want to peel it to avoid having green bits in your muffins.

The result was way better than I had hoped for. The cake was light, moist and tasty, with the consistency of a bread pudding, and the taste was very spicy and fruity. 

 

Serves 4*

1 Syn on Extra Easy**
** Providing you use the oats as your Healthy Extra B

You could, of course, omit the sultanas and make the cake almost syn free, as there is only ½ syn in the baking powder. I thought the sultanas were worth the syns though.

70g porridge oats

1 tub Müllerlight toffee yogurt

2-3 tbsp sugar free appleade

1 large courgette, grated

½ cup sweetener or to taste

2 tsp mixed spice

20g sultanas (total 3 syns)

2 eggs, separated

1 tsp baking powder (total ½ syns)

Start the day before you want to eat the cakes. Soak the oats in the yogurt with 1 tbsp appleade, the spices and sweetener overnight. In a separate small bowl, soak the sultanas in just enough appleade to cover them.

The next day, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the baking powder. I find it is best at this stage to taste the oat mixture and adjust the spices or sweetener if necessary. Mix together the oats, grated courgettes and sultanas with the egg yolks and stir thoroughly. Carefully fold in the egg whites and pour into 12 muffin cases. Bake at 200°C for 10-15 minutes until a skewer comes out clean and the top feels spongy. Mine took a bout 18 minutes in total. 

 

Cheese and Bacon Muffins

 

This is my first attempt at savoury muffins, and I have to say I was very apprehensive at first. They are not really muffins in the true sense of the word of course, as there is no flour in the recipe, the consistency was more like soufflés. They were very moist and soft – maybe they would firm up if they were allowed to cool? Who knows, we scoffed them all while still warm. Use a strong cheese such as parmesan to maximise the flavour - mustard powder helps to bring out the flavour of cheese while adding no extra calories or syns.  

 

Makes

¼ Syn on Extra Easy*

* Providing you use the cheese and oats as your Healthy Extra A and B, half this recipe will be ¼ syn.

35g rolled oats

170g fat free natural yogurt

60g parmesan cheese, finely grated

¼ tsp salt

2 tsps mustard powder

1 gammon steak, cooked and chopped

1 large leek

2 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

Soak the oats in yogurt and 1 tbsp water overnight. Thinly slice the leek and sauté in Fry Light until soft. Separate the eggs, and whisk the whites until soft peaks form. Mix the egg yolks with the oats, baking powder, salt, mustard powder, leeks, gammon bits and cheese. Fold in the whites gently, making sure it is all mixed well. Spoon into individual muffin tins and bake at 190°C for 20-25 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. 

 

I did get rather carries away taking photos of the muffins. 

 

Blueberry and Ricotta Muffins

These have the taste of muffins, but the texture is much lighter and a bit more spongy. They are sugar free, fat free, gluten free and certainly guilt free. Enjoy!

Makes ca 12 muffins

3 syn on Extra Easy for the whole recipe*

* Providing you use the ricotta as your Healthy Extra A, and oats as Healthy Extra B

35g rolled oats

85g fat free natural yogurt

1 tbsp sweetener

2 eggs

85g ricotta

½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

100g blueberries

Start the day before you want to eat the muffins. Soak the oats in the yogurt, sweetener and ca 2 tbsp water (depending on the consistency of the yogurt) overnight.

Separate the eggs and whisk the whites until soft peaks form. In a separate bowl, mix together the yolks, ricotta, baking powder, oats and cinnamon. Adjust seasoning and if necessary add more sweetener. Stir in the blueberries. Carefully fold in the egg whites, one third at a time.

Place spoonfuls of the mixture in muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes at 190°C, until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the muffins, and the top is nicely brown. 

 

Rhubarb and Ginger Pudding

The idea for this came from the carrot cake, but obviously the rhubarb mixture didn't set very well, so I immediately changed it from a 'cake' to a 'pudding'. It has a very moist, soft centre and is very gingery.

You need to start the day before you want to eat the cake in order to get everything done, so it's not a five-minute wonder.

I used 3 stems of rhubarb to get 250g cooked fruit, cooking it to a pulp with very little water.

Serves 2

1 syn on Extra Easy *

* Providing you use the oats as your Healthy Extra B

For the ginger:

Large knob of ginger, about the size of your fist

1 cup sweetener

For the pudding:

70g porridge oats

1 Müllerlight rhubarb yogurt

1 tsp vanilla essence

350g cooked rhubarb

½ cup sweetener (or to taste)

½ tsp baking powder

2 eggs, separated

½ cup cooked ginger

a few more slices ginger

1-2 tsp ground ginger

Peel the ginger and slice into 1mm thick slices. Place in a saucepan with the sweetener and enough water to cover. Cook, covered, on a low heat for 2½ – 3 hours, checking on it from time to time to top up the water to stop it boiling dry. The ginger should have a translucent look about it when it's done.

Place the oats in a bowl and mix in the yogurt, vanilla essence and 1 tbsp water. Stir well and leave to soak overnight.

The next day, whip up the egg whites until soft peaks form. Place the ginger in a spice grinder or food processor and whizz until a pulp. Finely chop the extra ginger slices. Mix the cooked rhubarb, ginger pulp and bits, ground ginger, baking powder and sweetener to taste with the oat mixture. Mix in the egg yolks and finally fold in the egg whites.

I used two 4-inch cake tins to bake this in as I was planning on a cake, but next time I will use individual pudding basins. If you use one large basin, make sure you adjust the baking time accordingly.

Bake at 180°C for 25-30 minutes. The puddings will have a cake-like outside and a soft gooey centre. 

Carrot cake

My favourite cake is very much out of bounds while trying to lose weight, so I thought I'd try a little experiment, by combining the ever-so-succesful oat pancake recipe, the half-syn roulade recipe and a traditional carrot cake recipe.

The result was way better than I had hoped for. The cake was light, moist and tasty, with the consistency of a bread pudding, and the taste was very much carrot cake.

I made one with icing and one without, and we both preferred the naked version.

I bought some 4-inch children's cake tins yesterday in The Range for £1 each, and they were ideal to make two small cakes. I am sure it would work with one slightly larger tin too, but you will have to adjust the baking time accordingly.

Serves 4*

1 Syn on Extra Easy**
** Providing you use the oats as your Healthy Extra B

* I made two cakes, and we did eat a whole one each, but half a cake would be enough for one person really, we were just being greedy.

You could, of course, omit the sultanas and make the cake almost syn free, as there is only ¼ syn in the baking powder. I thought the sultanas were worth the syns though.

70g porridge oats

1 tub Müllerlight mandarin yogurt

2 small carrots, finely grated

½ cup sweetener or to taste

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground nutmeg

20g sultanas (total 3 syns)

2 eggs, separated

½ tsp baking powder (total ¼ syns)

Icing (optional)

2 tbsp quark

2 tbsp sweetener

Start the day before you want to eat the cake. Soak the oats in the yogurt with 1 tbsp water, the spices and sweetener overnight. In a separate small bowl, soak the sultanas in just enough water to cover them.

The next day, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the baking powder. I find it is best at this stage to taste the oat mixture and adjust the spices or sweetener if necessary. Mix together the oats, grated carrots and sultanas with the egg yolks and stir thoroughly. Carefully fold in the egg whites and pour into two greased 4-inch cake tins. Bake at 180°C for 10-15 minutes until a skewer comes out clean and the top feels spongy. Mine took a bout 17 minutes in total.

Mix together the quark and sweetener for the icing if using, and spread across the cake.

Enjoy a guilt free cake with your morning coffee! 

Cinnamon Oat Pancakes with Balsamic Strawberries

It seems everywhere I look on the net is a recipe for balsamic strawberries, and I feel that I have been missing out as I have yet to try this so-called delicacy. Until this morning that it. They were nice, but not that special, so I can't really see what all the fuss is about. I would do them again, but they didn't have the 'wow' factor I was imagining. Oh well.

On one of the slimming forums on the net I found a recipe for oat pancakes, which I amended slightly to suit the Slimming World plan. You can use whatever flavour of yogurt you fancy (checking the syn value of course), and vary the fruit too. Next time I think I will make them using toffee yogurt and serve with sliced bananas. The oat cakes would make a nice dessert too, served with some fat free fromage frais or sweetened/flavoured quark.

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy providing you use the oats as your Healthy Extra B

For the Oat Cakes

70g rolled oats

tub fat free yogurt

1 tsp cinnamon

sweetener to taste

4 eggs

2 tbsp water

½ tsp vanilla extract

For the Balsamic Strawberries

punnet of strawberries

1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

3-4 tbsp sweetener

a little freshly ground black pepper

Hull and halve the strawberries. Sprinkle with the sweetener and leave to infuse before adding the vinegar and pepper.
  
Place the oats in a bowl with the yogurt, the sweetener, cinnamon, vanilla essence and a little water. Leave for several hours or overnight to soak.

When ready to cook, add the eggs to the oats, stirring to ensure they are well mixed. Heat a little Fry Light in a pan and add the oat mixture to cook a few minutes each side like pancakes. . You can either cook them as small individual pancakes using cooking rings, or as one large one using a small frying pan. I did both this morning as there was way too much mixture to go in the four rings I had.