Flapjacks Recipe!

In my opinion, no bake sale is complete without a flapjack! And this is the perfect recipe where you can add anything you fancy. Take out 100 grams of the oats and replace with 100 grams off raisins, chopped glace cherries, chocolate chips, chopped nuts anything you can think of!

Ingredients:

• 750g Oats/Muesli
• 350g Butter
• 350g Sugar
• 8 tbsp Golden Syrup

Method:

Place butter, sugar and golden syrup into a large saucepan and heat gently until all sugar has     melted.

Add oats into saucepan with wet ingredients and mix until all combined.

Put oat mixture into a large, greased and lined, tray bake tin (approx 12"x 9") and bake

in a preheated oven (180 C) for about 30 minutes until golden brown with a slightly wobbly           centre.   

Mark into 20 pieces whilst still warm.

Leave in tin for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a cooling rack and cut completely.

Enjoy with a lovely cup of tea!  

Love Vic x

Healthy Homemade Nutella Recipe (and Bloggers Block)!

And I'm back! Sorry for my recent absence, on here ass well as victoriahornagold.wordpres.com, recently I have had a rather bad case of bloggers block. Now I'm not entirely sure if that's a common phrase, but I thought if it's good enough for writers - then its good enough for blogger!

To make up for it (I hope) I'm returning with a goodie. Nutella. And not just any Nutella; Helathy Nutella. That's right, this recipe is made purely of hazelnuts, cacao powder, and maple syrup. If you look at the ingredients for the 'real' Nutella, it's made of Sugar, Palm Oil, Hazelnuts (13%), fat reduced Cocoa and other rubbish providing you with absolutely nothing; apart from perhaps a sugar rush.

Hazelnuts are a great source of unsaturated fats, that lower 'bad' cholesterol and raise 'good' one. One cup of hazelnuts contains 86% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin E, along with other minerals, protein, fiber.

Cacao, the raw unrefined version of cocoa, when in its natural state as it is here provides you with antioxidants, magnesium, live enzymes, protein, fiber and a whole bunch of vitamins,.

So now you can grab your spoon tuck into that jar of nutella in the fridge with a bit less guilt!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of Hazelnuts
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup of a good quality maple syrup (depending on personal taste)
• 2-3 tbsp of raw cacao

Method:

Spread that hazelnuts on a baking tray and bake at 180C for 10 minutes.

Remove and cool in fridge. Place in a food processor for at least 10 minutes, topping and starting occasionally to scrap down and really get it well blended. 

Add the lower amounts of maple syrup and cacao. .

Once combined, gradually add the water. Mine was quite runny after this, but don't worry it sets up to the perfect consistency in the fridge. Taste to see if you need to add a bit more syrup/cacao.

Fill an empty jar (I just used a jam jar, but a clean Nutella, coconut oil or whatever you've got is fine).

Store in the fridge and enjoy! I've been enjoying this spread on apple, banana, in porridge as an alternative to nut butter (in chocolate recipes). Of course, it would taste delicious spread on some toast as a slightly more nutritious way to start your day. I've heard biona do some delicious breads, which would be a perfect alternative to the classic Nutella on Toast - but with all the amazing taste!

Love Vic x

First Impressions: Sweet Potato Brownies

I hope you have all had a merry Christmas and a great New Year! To be perfectly honest I don't feel like I have any amazing plans in 2015 that I'd say I'm counting down to; but I guess that makes the year ahead even more exciting as I really don't know what to expect!

I also think I should apologise about my  previous two posts, as I came to write this I realized I don't think they actually published! Woops ... As other bloggers will know, the days leading up to Christmas I sought of just pressed publish and carried on stuffing my face. Again, I apologize.

But to get back into the blogging swing of things is something I'm really excited about - Sweet Potato Brownies! But not just that, a sort of review of Deliciously Ella's Sweet Potato Brownie recipe. I thought this would be a good idea as its all very well sharing a recipe, but if I don't think it's as good as it could be I don't want to simply share it on without putting my word to what I thought of the recipe.

Original Recipe:

Makes 10 brownies

• 2 medium to large sweet potatoes (600g)
• 2/3 of a cup of ground almonds (80g)
• 1/2 a cup of buckwheat or brown rice flour (100g)
• 14 medjool dates
• 4 tablespoons of raw cacao
• 3 tablespoons of pure maple syrup
• a pinch of salt

Improvements:

- I used oat flour (oats ground in a food processor) as I didn't have any buckwheat/brown rice and you could definitely taste it. I mean, it didn't ruin it, and as a I haven't used any of the recommended flour I cant comment on what they taste like, but next time I'd just use plain/all purpose flour or buy the buckwheat/brown rice.

- 5 tbsp of cacao, for me it just needed that bit more chocolaty kick

- 4tbps maple syrup, I know they're not meant to be as sweet as the typical brownie, as they are of course using all natural good for you ingredients, but especially as the first plant based recipe (and if sharing with family) I'd say a bit more wouldn't go a miss.

- another slight substitution I made was using 335g dried dates soaked in boiling water (+6tbsp of that water), simply because they were cheaper and I had them to hand. So if you do use medjool dates, you probably wouldn't have to include that extra tablespoon of syrup as they are sweeter.

Let me know if you've tried this recipe before and what you thought!

Love Vic x

1 Day Of Christmas - Reflection & Honey Roasted Nuts!

'Twas the night before Christmas. As far as these 12 Days of Christmas posts go, I think I've done alright actually?!

I just came back from the loveliest church service I've ever been to, there was no special circus act or an abundance of free food at the end (apart from some biscuits at the end). But there was a lovely flute rendition of Holy Night, a friend I know singing, a couple of readers as usual. But the whole thing was just lovely and vicar really said some inspiring things while still keeping it 'jolly'. One thing in particular he said that stuck with me was 

'World peace starts with yourself'. And I think that's very true.

This year I've learnt that for you to be happiest, you must take care of yourself first! That doesn't mean be completely selfish, but to try and be the happiest you can, which will in return make the people around you happier, which will (if you're like me and seeing other people happy make a you happy, which i image many people are) will make you even happier! 

Now onto a slightly less deep note - FOOD!  

Ingredients

• 2 cups raw almonds
• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 tsp canola oil
• 2 tbsp honey

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350° degrees. Cover baking sheet with foil, dull side up; this helps them roast faster. Roast for about 10 minutes or until browned. The rule of thumb is once you can smell them they are done. Let nuts cool completely. Leave the foil on the baking sheet to be used later.
2. In a small bowl mix together sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
3. Add wet ingredients to a large sauté pan and heat over medium high heat whisking constantly until it comes to a boil. Add nuts and stir constantly until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the nuts, about 2 minutes. Be very careful not to scorch your nuts. Add dry mixture and stir until sugar has caramelized. A little more than a minute. Spread in a single layer on your foil covered baking sheet and let cool before serving.

Hope you have an amazing Christmas, 

Love Vic x