All tagged easy baking

Dark chocolate date and nut butter fudge

Dark chocolate, nut butter and medjool dates! 3 wholesome simple ingredients only and this fudge is unreal! Of course it is high in sugar (the dates) and calorie dense (nut butter) but if you’re going to treat yourself, do it with real food ingredients you know and recognise!

My tip? Cut into small squares. Go on, have a go and let me know!

Simple and delicious oat cakes

Good old fashioned oat cakes are so so delicious and versatile. They are also super easy to make, as a batch and keep. With the main ingredient being pinhead oats (or steel cut oats) they make the perfect high fibre savoury snack teamed up with our smoked mackerel pâté or French sardine pâté. Another French way to enjoy those is with a little butter, some sliced radishes and a little salt. I like to vary the herbs or spices I mix in them; I have tried and tested rosemary, oregano, garlic, turmeric, curry powder, cumin and paprika. If you want to have them with cheese, I recommend to stick to herbs.

Delicious dairy free date brownies

Life without the occasional brownie is not for me! For that reason, I love trying to play with swapping and replacing ingredients for those with a better nutritional value. For these brownies I have not used refined white or brown sugar but instead opted for medjool dates. You would honestly not notice the difference. But I will let you be the judge of that…Go on, have a go and let me know!

Easy Chickpea flatbread - Socca

This is hand on heart the easiest flatbread you can make and it’s naturally gluten-free! Socca is a traditional French dish from Nice where I partly grew up. It was probably my favourite street food. Cooked on very hot grills, they were usually served in a cone of brown paper with a sprinkling of coarse sea salt and pepper, maybe thyme or rosemary. It it was one of those South of France classic for which everyone has their own technique for cooking, but the ingredients however are pretty much always the same: equal parts chickpea flour and water, add olive oil, that’s it. That simple!

carrot and banana spiced bread

There is often a debate in my house which goes like this: there is team carrot cake and team banana bread . So I thought I would try and bring the two together! Brave I know and lots of confused faces! I will leave you to judge on that once you’ve tried it! Delicious served toasted with a dollop of your favourite nut butter.

Savoury tomato & herbs crumble

If you have never tried a savoury crumble, now is the time with this recipe! This is a fun, really quick and easy vegetarian meal you can put together in the evening for kids. It can be used as a side or as a main dish. Add Oregano as you herb of choice and it will taste like a pizza! Add olives and Herbes de Provence and you’ll find yourself in sunny South of France. I’ve had massive thumbs up and great success with kids with this recipe and you could turn it into a pick and mix where kids make their own veggie choices and share the crumble topping in individual dishes!

Olive, feta and red pepper bake- "cake aux olives"

This is hand on heart the easiest most delicious bake you could ever make ahead and keep for a healthy and balanced lunch.
Growing up, in France, I probably had something like this once a week! The flavour combinations are endless, vegetarian or not, you can go with the flow of seasonal veggies, add spices and even play around with flours. What’s not to like? My favourite is olive with anything.

raspberry and coconut flapjacks

Most flapjack recipes are packed with sugar - but if you include some sweet fruit, such as raspberries then you can really cut down on the sugar content. We have used honey as well as the berries to sweeten these flapjacks. The first time I cooked these I left them on the side and when I came back to them my daughter and husband had helped themselves to quite a few squares. So these were definitely a hit and as they are super easy and nut free make a great school snack!

mango & coconut oat cookies

Rolled oats are THE staple ingredient I run out of the most often! I use it for everything, savoury or sweet, breakfast or dinner!. High in fibre, naturally gluten free if you chose the right brand and so so versatile. If you have oats and bananas you can always make cookies! Yes, bananas are another twice weekly must buy on the shopping list . The base recipe for these delicious cookies is just the 2 ingredients. You can add your choice of extras (seeds, nuts of choc chips) and make a thumbprint in the centre ready for a jammy filling. Mango and coconut it is today!

pumpkin pie oat slices

Pumpkin, spice and everything nice....I know I know...this has become an overused phrase BUT it truly is a wonderful combination. In a variation from the classic American pumpkin pie I used to enjoy when living in New-York, I have kept the warming pumpkin and spice element and dressed it into an oat square. Perfect to enjoy with a cup of spiced apple or cinnamon tea. Kids loved it too!