The lure of the bakery...

...got me this morning. Let's call this breakfast shall we?!

An apple doughnut. My favourite. I can't the remember the last time I had one of these and this was perfect, slightly crispy on the outside, soft apple on the inside, and sweet icing on top!

After dropping Izzy at school, Toby and I went to Lidl to pick up a few things (veg, soy sauce & dates - I managed to resist even looking at any aisles that weren't on the list!) and Toby discovered how to slide out of his pushchair by flattening himself and slipping under the tray!! I wouldn't mind him walking if he actually walked in a straight line, but he spends the whole time trying to wriggle out of my hand to run after random dogs and/or babies!

So a bribery from the bakery it was...

I was happy that we made it all the way home with him sitting down in his pushchair, and Toby was happy that, as usual, he had got his own way (well, kind of, I think cake beats walking in Toby-land!)

The last time I had to resort to a bakery bribe was actually last Monday (although I didn't buy anything for myself that time) - I guess Toby must suffer from "Monday morning" syndrome like the rest of us!!

Oh, and the reason for needing to buy dates? I'm back on the fudge baby train! I've actually been eating them again for a while, but I had a couple of tubs in the freezer to work my way through before needing to make any new ones. It was time to replenish my supplies last night though...

I actually found myself standing in the kitchen at about 7pm on Sunday night, talking out loud to myself, slowly, through clenched teeth - "my.husband.has.hidden.my.food.processor" - haha, not something I thought I'd ever need to say! Liam feels justified in his hiding though - apparently he put it away in a cupboard about 2 weeks ago and I've only just noticed...but I've informed him that now I'm back into fudge babies it needs to remain out on the counter for easy access!! ;-)

Have you tried fudge babies/raw dough balls before? What is your favourite flavour? The above are chocolate chip cookie dough, but I think my favourite that I've made so far were chocolate macaroon babies - they don't seem to be on Katie's flavour list any more but they were just dates, coconut butter and cocoa powder, delicious and so fudgy once frozen! I love having these little bite-sized treats in the freezer. I can pretend that way that it slows the eating process down slightly (out of sight, kind of out of mind!) and it makes the babies even richer than at room temperature :-)

Lots of Fudge Babies!

Do you remember the majorly reduced dates Liam brought home for me the other week?

Well, I still had lots left and didn't want them to go to waste.

The solution?

Fudge Babies!

I first made a double batch of Samoa Babies...

These worked perfectly, and I loved the light taste of chocolate running through them.

Next I made a quadruple batch of Pumpkin Pie Babies (this was actually the same size as all my other batches - just Katie's pumpkin recipe was smaller than the others...all my batches made approximately 30 babies)...

These didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. The 'batter' tasted amazing, but despite adding extra almonds, and even, in desperation, some oats, there was no way these were going to roll into neat babies. I managed to form them into rough blobs and quickly get them into the freezer (hence they filled so many containers, as I put them flat in one layer). They still taste delicious - but have an almost ice cream consistency, as opposed to the normal chewiness of the other fudge babies.

For my final flavour, I made a double batch of Macaroon Babies, except I added in 10g of cocoa powder as I realised none of the flavours I'd chosen were properly chocolatey!

Despite the unattractive photo, these were great. Not surprisingly, as they contain coconut butter, these were quite oily. But once they'd been in the freezer a while the texture was fantastic, so rich and smooth.

When I first made them, the Samoa babies were my favourite. However after being in the freezer a while, the Macaroon babies are now my favourite, I just love the almost velvety texture they have! The Pumpkin Pie babies aren't really comparable - within minutes of getting them out of the freezer they have melted all over your fingers. I do adore the taste of them though, just have to eat them quick! I've taken to eating a tasting plate of the babies most nights...

 

Yum!

Have you made any fudge babies or similar recipes before? What are your favourite flavour combinations? I love all the ones when you can taste the nut, but also love chocolatey ones, and I adored the pumpkin variety - the texture just wasn't quite right. So I really love them all - dates, nuts, mini treats...you can't go wrong really!!

Re-vamped apricot & almond flapjacks, take 2

I started off today with a great gym workout. There were only 2 other people max in there at any time, woohoo. I did 45 minutes cardio (rowing, cross trainer, wave) and then some free weights arm exercises using 4kg weights (I usually use 2.5kg so this is good for me!) and some leg weight machines.

By the time I walked home, showered etc it was almost 11am, so I kept breakfast light. I picked up some kiwis on offer in Lidl the other day - they don't have a furry skin and they have golden flesh...

they look so vibrant! I will enjoy one whole soon, but these were chucked in the blender with half a banana and an apple...

plus a little leftover kale, some milk and a pinch of xanthan gum...

whilst this was blending, my daughter asked what colour it would be. She thought green, I thought yellow, we were both kinda wrong. This was a creamy colour with flecks, not really thick enough - very foamy!

despite the fact that the bowl was pretty full, I topped it with a packet of Bear tropical granola...

Those arms you can see in the background? That's my daughter, waiting not so patiently for me to finish. She likes me to save her the last few spoonfuls, making sure there's still some "crunchy" bits left...what can I say, the girl's got good taste! She's also never not hungry - she'd already had a me-sized bowl of banana porridge topped with almonds & golden syrup while I was at the gym, and she was already by this time asking what was for lunch & dinner. Ooops, not such a good habit of mine to pick up!

Lunch time soon came around though. I try to cook a slightly bigger lunch on Fridays as Liam has work in the afternoon/evening. Today I made a frittata using 6 eggs mixed with frozen broad beans and sweetcorn...

topped with baby spinach and goat's cheese (I'm loving this combo!)...

before grilling to finish it off...

Served with a blob of ketchup (and bread rolls for the others)...not the prettiest meal but delicious nonetheless...

I love having a warm lunch, so much more filling and interesting than a sandwich! (although some sandwiches can be delicious too of course!)

This afternoon I did some baking. First off, flapjacks. After making my Mum some healthier apricot & almond flapjacks a couple of weeks ago, she asked me to make her another batch with a few adjustments. This time I did x1.5 of the recipe to fill the pan, added some sultanas and substituted the molasses with honey, using slightly more honey and slightly less apricot fruit spread than the original version.

These turned out really good so I'll write down the recipe for me to follow again!

Apricot and Almond Flapjacks
(makes 12)

• 225g butter
• 120g apricot fruit spread
• 90g honey
• 275g porridge oats
• 100g apricots, chopped
• 30g sultanas
• 45g almonds, chopped

 Same method as before. For a more detailed step-by-step method see the original recipe post, but briefly - melt the butter, apricot spread and honey in the microwave/in a pan. Then stir in all the other ingredients, this time I had the help of a toddler to stir the mix...

this is what they looked like before going into the oven at 175C...

and 25 minutes later...

Mum let us keep one to try...

before taking the rest home with her...

Verdict: nicer than the molasses version (which had a slight tang/aftertaste) but still soft & crumbly rather than the soft & sticky I was after. Mum loved them though, she likes the subtle sweetness so I think a sticky version would probably be too sweet for her. Next time I think I'd add slightly more sultanas too.

Whilst the flapjacks were baking, I got the blender out again to whizz up some of Katie's cocoa fudge babies. I made about half the amount of her original recipe, and used cashews instead of walnuts as that's what I had in - these were not planned at all, I read a reference to them earlier which jogged my memory that I wanted to give them a try!

I'm so glad I made these!

A little sticky to roll out but absolutely delicious! The only downside is that they're too easy to eat! I've eaten 6 today already! My Mum had one (and added them to the list of things she wants me to make her!), daughter had one and I've put the remaining 4 in the freezer to hopefully keep them safe from me until tomorrow at least! So chocolatey, these reminded me almost exactly of the chewy chocolate oat cookies I've been making recently, although a lot healthier without all the added white sugar obviously!

Luckily I managed to stop myself eating any more babies before I completely ruined my appetite for dinner! Simple roast butternut squash and red pepper...

topped with a big blob of sweet potato houmous...

Yum. I love roasted butternut squash, so glad I rediscovered it! & the sweet potato houmous is still lovely, almost all gone now, time to get thinking of other variations!