It's New Year's Eve and the young ones are off out doing what all young people should do and that is celebrate the coming in of the New Year. I guess Adriano and I have seen too many of them because this year for the first time we are staying at home. But we did pop a bottle of expensive French champagne and I made nibbles to go with it. I am getting used to cooking for Adriano and Dario and then separating out the grain for me but these I made grain-free so I didn't have to worry. When I was slurring my words ever so slightly, I cooked dinner with every intention of photographing it, but then I couldn't be bothered and we ate it and now it's too late so all you get tonight are the appetizers. If you malabsorb lactose, make sure you use lactose-free milk and cream cheese. But first a photo of the young ones in our garden before they departed this evening, then the recipe. Dario and Alex (on the left) and their friends Salmon Cream Cheese Bites Print … [Read more...] about Salmon Cream Cheese Bites – grain-free
cream cheese
Carrot Cake Cupcakes – can’t beat these classic favourites
My favourite cake of all time, even beyond chocolate and caramel, is carrot cake. I made and blogged about the carrot cake cookies I made a while back and today I returned to this great classic in the form of cupcakes. These don't just have carrot, they have grated apple and raisins as well. I remember many years ago when I was on Weight Watchers (after a particularly long renovation without a kitchen and many takeaway meals later) that they told me a piece of carrot cake equates to a full day's calories when on a weight-loss diet.. By the way, also a McDonald's Big Mac is a day's calories. Just in case you wanted to know. Anyway, I have never been able to look at carrot cake quite the same again. And I never touched any McDonald's food again, Big Mac or otherwise. But, carrot cake does have carrots and therefore can't be all bad, surely. And if you add apple and raisins then maybe that balances out the calories. Or perhaps not. You could look at it this way. Either you can … [Read more...] about Carrot Cake Cupcakes – can’t beat these classic favourites
Chocolate Cheesecake Bars
I have seen several bars like these on the various food blogs I visit and today I decided to make them. Unfortunately I chose the recipe from a blog that had it completely wrong. I had to make adjustments all the way through, even doubling the quantities in two of the layers of the recipe because it was obvious that there wasn't enough to cover even a smallish baking dish. I had to put them in the fridge after baking them to firm up the mixture enough to be able to cut them.They turned out looking pretty ugly but they taste good and I guess that is the important thing at the end of the day. The base is made of oreo biscuits and butter which is why it is so dark. Then there is a cheesecake layer with cream cheese, eggs, sugar, melted choclate and vanilla. On top was a cookie dough mixture, which could have been better. The problem is that I mucked around with the recipe so much that I have no idea of quantities so I can't give you the recipe. So sorry. … [Read more...] about Chocolate Cheesecake Bars
Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Filling – Weekend Baking
I'm a little over cupcakes for the moment so I decided to make my very favourite cake - carrot cake. However, I didn't want to make a full cake. Luckily I found this great recipe for carrot cake cookies sandwiched together with cream cheese icing on the cravingchronicles.com blog. I remember seeing somewhere that if you eat a slice of carrot cake with cream cheese icing, that is basically your calorie allowance for the day if you are not wanting to gain weight. A rather daunting thought but hey, I only bake in the weekend and I have people to help me eat them. There's also something therapeutic about baking and sharing it around. [print_this] Carrot Cake Cookies Ingredients: 3/4 cup golden raisins BUY HERE 1 1/4 cups flour 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ginger pinch of cloves 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 114g unsalted butter, softened 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar BUY HERE 1/3 + 3 tablespoons cup granulated sugar 1 large egg 1/2 … [Read more...] about Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Filling – Weekend Baking
