So I'm making a concerted effort to cut out all convenience and pre-packaged food from my diet, and so far it's been going brilliantly. I've lost almost a stone in a month, and I feel so much better for. Sharper, more energy and that warm sense of healthiness from selecting a better diet.
However there's a problem, removing such foods from my diet had meant I can no longer reach for my staple in-between meals snack. The humble biscuit. Chocolate digestives were, for a long time, the corner stone of evening snacking. Utterly terrible I know, but I'd quite easily nail a packet in one sitting with a pint of milk.
Not sustainable, woefully unhealthy and probably a fast track to diabetes and losing a foot.
So I've set about finding biscuit/cookie recipes that still allow me a certain indulgence of my sweet tooth but at the same time aren't loaded with junk like high fructose corn syrup and the like.
This week's outing:
Oaty Raisin Cookies
Preheat oven to 180 degrees, and grease two baking trays.
Combine the butter/spread and caster sugar until smooth, then blend in the honey. Once combined, add a beaten egg and the cinnamon. In another bowl combine the flour, baking powder, oats and raisins and give a good mix. Then add to the wet mixture gradually until all combined and coated.
Place heaped desert spoonfuls on to the baking tray. I used 2 small trays and got 6 cookies on one and 4 on the other. Bake in the oven for 11 minutes, or until slightly browned on the edges. Leave on the tray for a minute before transferring to a cooling rack.
The result? A deliciously moist, cake-like chewy cookie with loads of flavour and much tastier than shop bought biscuits. The best part? You can turn this around in less than 20 minutes.
The Mrs also made a request for chewy chocolate chip cookies, these alas are nowhere near as frugal with the sugar as the above. In fact, they're ridiculous. I used an entire pat of butter, and a hideous amount of two types of sugar. However, they taste awesome. Especially fresh from the oven. The house smells amazing.
I figured that as choc-chip cookies were an American thing, that an American recipe would be best. Turns out Martha Stewart knows her stuff. This is the recipe I used:
http://www.marthastewart.com/344840/soft-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies
However there's a problem, removing such foods from my diet had meant I can no longer reach for my staple in-between meals snack. The humble biscuit. Chocolate digestives were, for a long time, the corner stone of evening snacking. Utterly terrible I know, but I'd quite easily nail a packet in one sitting with a pint of milk.
Not sustainable, woefully unhealthy and probably a fast track to diabetes and losing a foot. So I've set about finding biscuit/cookie recipes that still allow me a certain indulgence of my sweet tooth but at the same time aren't loaded with junk like high fructose corn syrup and the like.
This week's outing:
Oaty Raisin Cookies
- 50g low-fat margarine or butter
- 40g caster sugar
- 1 1/2 desert spoons of runny honey
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 50g wholemeal flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 80g porridge oats
- 75g raisins
Preheat oven to 180 degrees, and grease two baking trays.
Combine the butter/spread and caster sugar until smooth, then blend in the honey. Once combined, add a beaten egg and the cinnamon. In another bowl combine the flour, baking powder, oats and raisins and give a good mix. Then add to the wet mixture gradually until all combined and coated.
Place heaped desert spoonfuls on to the baking tray. I used 2 small trays and got 6 cookies on one and 4 on the other. Bake in the oven for 11 minutes, or until slightly browned on the edges. Leave on the tray for a minute before transferring to a cooling rack.
The result? A deliciously moist, cake-like chewy cookie with loads of flavour and much tastier than shop bought biscuits. The best part? You can turn this around in less than 20 minutes.
The Mrs also made a request for chewy chocolate chip cookies, these alas are nowhere near as frugal with the sugar as the above. In fact, they're ridiculous. I used an entire pat of butter, and a hideous amount of two types of sugar. However, they taste awesome. Especially fresh from the oven. The house smells amazing.
I figured that as choc-chip cookies were an American thing, that an American recipe would be best. Turns out Martha Stewart knows her stuff. This is the recipe I used:
http://www.marthastewart.com/344840/soft-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies
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