Swank-friendly Chocolate Cupcakes

My experimenting has paid off! I have successfully created a Swank-diet friendly chocolate sponge which opens up a whole world of scrummy chocolate baking. Sure, it's not a dirty full-fat utterly chocolatey result, but beggars can't be choosers!

Here's the recipe (especially for Ms. Crankypants)

1 cup soya milk
1/2 tsp cider vinegar
1/3 cup oil
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup of sugar
1 cup flour
3/4 baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb
4/5 tsp or 20-25g low fat hot chocolate powder (I used Options)

Mix the hot chocolate powder with about 1/4 cup boiling water and mix well to make a paste. Allow to cool.
Meanwhile, put the soya milk in a bowl with the cider vinegar. Do not stir. The mixture will curdle slightly. [Alternatively, you could use skimmed milk instead of the soya/vinegar mixture]
Add the oil, almond and vanilla extract, chocolate mixture, and sugar, and whisk lightly until combined.

Sift in the flour, bicarb and baking powder and beat just until combined. Do no over mix because the chances are the cakes will go flat. The mixture will be fairly runny, but that's fine.

Bake in cupcake cases, in the middle of an oven set  at 200 deg C or 180 deg C (fan oven) for about 20 mins.

For any Swankers out there, my recipe worked out at:
Oil: Roughly 13 tsp - so just over 1 tsp per cupcake.
Fat: Roughly 2 g with the hot chocolate and milk - so about 0.1g saturated fat per cupcake.....hardly worth counting! Woo hoo!

My official taste tester...

Ta da!

Tis the season to be PODGY...fa la la laaa....

I haven't written for a while, mainly because, like so many people at the moment, I've been trying to get my head around Christmas.

I haven't been going over-board, but it dawned on me that going away for Christmas week means not only planning for Christmas, planning for a holiday at the same time! It'll be worth it though....it'll be brilliant to have the whole family together.

The weather at the moment is miserable, so it seems a great day to crack on with last minute Christmas bits and bobs, and get the baking done.
Feeling a bit bitter the other day that I was going to be missing out on so many treats this Chrimbo I decided to try and make some Swank-friendly mince pies, and I have to say they weren't that bad an alternative to the butter goodness of normal ones.

The pastry is made with oil (the mayonnaise pastry recipe just didn't seem to fit with mince pies!) and it was pretty good. It came out quite flaky and crumbly which was good, though I noticed that it went 'stale' and quite hard after a couple of days. I suppose they would freeze well though, so I think I'll run up a big batch today to see me through until Christmas.

Here's the recipe. There's no saturated fat in them at all, so even if you're not on the Swank diet, they're a healthier alternative!

SWANK-HAPPY MINCE PIES

APPLE AND PEAR MINCEMEAT (taken from The River Cottage Handbook No.2)

Made about 1kg (will probably do about 4 dozen mince pies)

500g apples (I used russet apples, but bramleys would be good)
Zest and juice of 1 large orange
About 200-250g firm pear
100g currants
100g raisins
100g sultanas
50g orange marmalade
125g demerara sugar
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
Pinch of nutmeg
25ml ginger wine or cordial
50g chopped walnuts
25ml brandy or slow gin (optional)

Peel, core and roughly chop the apples, then put into saucepan with the orange juice. Cook gently until tender (about 10 mins). Blend to a puree.
Put the puree into a large bowl and add all the other ingredients, except the alcohol. Mix thoroughly, cover, and leave for 12 hours.
Preheat the over to 130 degC/Gas Mark 1/2. Put the mincemeat in a large baking dish and bake, uncovered, for 2 hours. Stir in the alcohol (if required) then spoon into a warm sterilised jar, making sure there aren't any air pockets. Can be stored in a dark, cool place. Use within 12 months.

SWANK'S OIL PASTRY

Makes enough for a dozen mince pies.

2 cups of plain flour.
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup of sunflower/vegetable oil
1/4 skimmed or soya milk
1/4 cup of caster sugar

Mix flour and salt.
Pour the oil into a measuring cup, then carefully add the milk (do not mix together).
Pour all at once into the flour and stir lightly until mixed.
Gather into a ball.
Roll out between waxed or greaseproof paper.
Cut two circle for each pie (one smaller than other)
Line cupcake tray with larger pastry circles (remember to grease the tray first!)
Fill with mincemeat mixture
Brush with egg
Place smaller circles on top and pierce pastry to allow steam to escape.
Bake in 200 deg C oven for roughly 10-12 mins (until brown on top)
Allow to cool slightly before putting on cooling rack.

Home-made Pad Thai

Again with the Thai food...I'm obsessed! However, it's a cuisine that works really well with the Swank Diet and I've enjoyed giving new things a go.
This recipe for Pad Thai is really easy to do, and would be a great thing to knock up if Si's getting a takeaway. It's served with home-made steamed Vegetable Gyoza dumplings (recipe to follow).

PAD THAI 

(recipe adapted from the BBC Good Food website) - serves 2


1 tbsp dried shrimps (optional)
100g dried rice stick noodles3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 garlic cloves, smashed
200g small fresh prawns, peeled
100g bean sprouts, rinsed
2 spring onion greens, chopped into 3cm/1in lengths
3 tbsp Thai fish sauce (nam pla) - I used oyster sauce as an alternative1 tbsp tomato ketchup2 tbsp lime juice½ tsp dried chilli flakes or cayenne
1 tbsp brown sugar2 tbsp roasted peanuts, lightly crushed 
2 tbsp coriander sprigs
1 lime, quartered

1. Grind the dried shrimps to a fluffy powder in an electric coffee grinder (you can clean out the grinder by whizzing raw rice in it).
2. Cover the noodles with boiling water and leave for 15 minutes or until al dente. Rinse in cold water and drain well, then use 1 tsp of oil to coat your hands and run them through the noodles to help prevent sticking.
3. To make the omelette, heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a wok and swirl to coat the surface. Pour in the beaten eggs and swirl to make a very thin omelette. Run a knife around the edge, turn out, slice into strips and set aside.
4. To cook the noodles, add remaining oil to the wok and heat. Add the garlic and the prawns and toss over high heat. Set the prawns aside.
5. In turn, add the noodles, omelette strips, bean sprouts, spring onions, shrimp powder, fish sauce, ketchup, lime juice, chilli and sugar, tossing constantly over high heat.
6. To serve, scatter with crushed peanuts, coriander leaves and quartered limes.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

One thing I will say, make sure you follow the order it says in the recipe.

The Guilt-Free 'Takeaway'

So this weekend has been a bit rubbishy.
I've had a bit of a cold so I've been all achy and tired and....bbleeeuurrgghh. Meanwhile Lib's endured her first molar popping through so has been understandably grumpy, snotty and suffering with nappy rash. Bless 'er. Then to top it all, I think Si's come down with the flu! :(

Luckily I've felt better throughout the day though I tell you, if I was drinking, this would definitely be an evening for a glass of wine and a takeaway!

However, being sensible and sticking to this diet, I decided to create myself a home-made alternative to the takeaway to 'treat' myself.

I used a recipe out of the Swank Diet cookbook for Sweet-and-Sour sauce which was lovely.

Here's the recipe -

1 tablespoon of oil
1 small can of pineapple pieces
1 onion
1 small red pepper
1 small carrot
2 cloves of garlic
A handful of mushrooms
(The veg wasn't in the recipe, but I added it to make the whole thing a bit healthier! Beansprouts and water chestnuts would be nice too.)

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar (I used light brown sugar)
1 1/2 tablespoons cornflour
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato juice (I used tomato puree)
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 cup pineapple juice (I didn't have any, so used some cloudy apple juice instead)

Dice the onion and finely slice the veg.
Heat oil in a wok or pan and sauté the onion, garlic,vegetables and pineapple.
In a bowl combine sugar, cornflour, soy sauce, salt, tomato juice, vinegar and pineapple juice. Add to veg and simmer for 5 minutes. I watered the mix down with water to create a thinner sauce, so I had a couple of batches to go in the freezer.

I served it with shallow fried Panko breadcrumb-coated tofu and rice vermicelli noodles.

For the tofu: slice firm tofu to required size, dry with kitchen paper, dip in beaten egg or milk, then coat in seasoned breadcrumbs or flour. Then shallow fry them, turning occasionally, until golden brown.

Low-fat Chocolate Blondies

After a morning of the chocolate grumbles, I decided to give one of the recipes in the Swank recipe book a go, so I could have at least some sort of sweet puddingey moment without feeling guilty afterwards, and hazzaaa, there was a recipe for Chocolate Brownies!

However, after seeing the colour of them, they've now been downgraded to 'Blondie' status. They didn't do much to curb my chocolate cravings, but they are tasty nonetheless...quiet caramely and flipping sweet! I think in the future I'd put only a 1/3 cup sugar in because I used Lyle's Chocolate Syrup. That's the problem with it being an American book...I suspect chocolate 'syrup' is actually chocolate sauce. I think I might get something like this. Still low fat, but should deliver more of a chocolate hit!

Here's the recipe:

LOW-FAT CHOCOLATE BLONDIES 

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup chocolate syrup (or sauce)

1/3 cup of oil

3/4 cup self-raising flour

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1/2 tsp salt (which I left out)

Preheat oven to 170 deg C (150 deg for fan oven)

Beat eggs until foamy

Add sugar and vanilla and beat until thick

Add chocolate syrup and oil

Beat until smooth then add flour and salt

Mix throughly, then add nut or sprinkle them on top for a crisp crust

Spread in an 8-inch non stick square pan (I line it with greaseproof paper to make sure they came out!)

Bake for 30 mins.

Cut while warm, then remove from pan. 

Makes 16 small blondies.

Today's Achievement: Curried Pumpkin and Vegetable Soup

Made with two numb hands and only three sliced fingernail mishaps (not in the soup, I hasten to add). Perfect for Halloween!


INGREDIENTS

The scooped out inside of your Halloween pumpkin (or just any old pumpkin!)
2 onions
2 large potatoes
One small swede
2 carrots
1 tsp ground ginger
2 heaped tsp mild curry powder
1 pint vegetable stock
2 tbsp flour

- Dice the vegetables into small chunks and remove any seeds from the leftover pumpkin.
- Fry the onions in oil until soft.
- Add the vegetables and fry for approx 5 minutes.
- Add the spices and flour, and fry for another minute, allowing them to coat the vegetables.
- Pour over the stock, bring to the boil then turn down the heat and simmer for half an hour or until the veggies are really soft.
- Season to taste and blend if you prefer a smooth soup.

My 'I Can Bake Again!' Flapjacks

In celebration of my left hand improving, I thought it only right to get some bake on!
So voila....flapjacks. So simple and it doesn't involve too much stirring. Perfect for recuperation!

Here's the recipe I used:

250g porridge oats
125g butter
125g brown sugar
3 tablespoons of golden syrup

- Melt the butter, sugar and syrup over a low heat.
- Take off the heat and mix in the oats.
- Press into a square tin lined with greaseproof paper and bake in a preheated 190 degrees oven for about 20 minutes until golden.
I used an 8 inch tin, but it didn't reach the edges! I'd probably double the mixture and up the baking time to get thicker flapjacks next time.

They taste good though....a bit too good!