cookies – CLARE HOPKINS

4 ingredient Vegan Choc-Peanut Cookies… that actually taste good

April 3, 2019April 25, 2020Posted in CHRISTMAS, FOOD, HEALTHTagged choc chip, Clare Hopkins, cookies, dairy free, dessert, health treat, healthy, peanut butter, quick treat, treat, vegan6 Comments

Hello and happy hump day!

Today I thought I’d share with you my favourite 4-ingredient cookie recipe. It’s perfect for whipping up on a Sunday night, so you have healthy treats to enjoy throughout the week.

Now that we’re getting cooler weather in Sydney (and by cold I mean the weather has changed to 22C/71F, but that’s freezing for Sydney Siders), it’s lovely to have some healthy comfort food. Comfort food is so important for balance, but I love options that make me feel good after as well.

This recipe uses substitutes sugar for bananas, to get a sweet tang and also a fudgy texture. The peanut butter gives that nutty, salty crunch which makes them so delectable.

It’s important to use natural peanut butter (just peanuts with a little bit of salt) to reap all the fantastic benefits that peanut butter brings – high protein, fibre, healthy fats and magnesium for bone and muscle fortification.

The Four Ingredients: 2 ripe bananas, 1/4 cup creamy organic crunchy peanut butter, 1 cup rolled oats, 1/2 cup roughly chopped organic dark chocolate.

Method:

Mix bananas, peanut butter, and oats in a bowl. Once a dough forms, stir through chocolate chunks (feel free to eat the mixture here… it’s almost better than the cookies themselves).

Roll mixture into small balls on a lined baking tray to bake. Bake for 10 minutes at 200C/390F.

Nutrition per serving:

Serves 8
200 Calories
6g Protein
21g Carbs
5g Sugar
12g Fat

ENJOY!

What are you favourite, simple treat recipes? Comment below! I’d love to know.

XMAS Healthy Salted Caramel Cookies

December 16, 2017April 23, 2020Posted in ALL POSTS, CHRISTMAS, FOODTagged Australia, baking, CHRISTMAS, CHRISTMAS, Christmas baking, Christmas spirit, climate, cookies, delicious, dessert, dessert recipe, desserts, holiday, hot, recipe, salted caramel, snack, treat, yum2 Comments

Okay so yes this is your usual Salted Caramel cookie recipe, however, for a sprinkle of Christmassy festivity I added cinnamon, nutmeg and rich dark chocolate to the dough.

Read on if you’re interested in my simple, yet divinely tasty XMAS Caramel cookies. Or better; create them yourself in 20 minutes.

Gather the following:

Chocolate Chips (I love Doorstep Organics Dark Chocolate Drops Chips)
3/4 Cup Coconut Oil
3/4 Cup Maple Syrup
1.5 cups coconut sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
4 cups plain flour
1/2 cup caramel sauce (I use Natvia No Sugar Caramel Sauce)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp baking soda
Sprinkle of salt
Cinnamon
Nutmeg

The Method:

Mix all the ingredients (except chocolate chips) together, until you form a cookie dough. You can add almond milk gradually if the mixture is too flour-y.

2. Use a rolling pin to knead the dough out on top of an acrylic/plastic/stone surface.

3. Here’s where it got a little more complicated. I’m currently experiencing an Australian summer, so naturally the sun was beating down at 30˚C, which made all my cookie dough melt and stick to my hands. So, I wrapped it in cling wrap and popped it in the freezer for 5 mins to make it think it was in Antarctica.

4. Cut little shapes out with the cookie cutter.

5. As the cookie cutter will make the raw cookies a lot thinner and smaller than Betty Crocker recommends for cookie sizing, you only have to place them in the oven for 8 minutes at 180˚C (350˚F), so they don’t burn.

The perfect Christmas treat. Enjoy!

5 Go-to Healthy Snacks

May 21, 2017April 17, 2020Posted in ALL POSTS, FOOD, HEALTHTagged affordable, baking, clean eating, cookies, cooking, diet, FOOD, fruit/nuts, go-to snacks, healthy, healthy baking, healthy cookies, healthy eating, hummous, pantry, popcorn, Recipes, snacks, sugarless baking, sugarless cookies3 Comments

As mentioned in my previous posts, I am a huge snacker.

To stop me from standing in the pantry and eating everything in sight, I have five healthy snacks that I go for when hunger strikes.

These are:

Carrot sticks & Hummous – carrots are my favourite veggie because of their sweetness. I buy Pilpel Hummus to go with them, as it has so much flavour and is basically just chickpeas.
Dried fruit/nut mix – I go for a mix of pecans, pepitas, dried apricots, sultanas and walnuts. The fruits satisfy any sweet cravings and the nuts fill you up.
Carman’s Nut Bar – Carman’s does such a great range of healthy and filling muesli bars. If your local supermarket stocks them I would recommend checking them out. They are the perfect snack, and funnily enough, I got up at 2am the other night because my stomach was rumbling, and the Carmen’s nut bar was the perfect fix to send me back to sleep.
Popcorn – try to avoid popcorns that are doused in butter, just plain corn kernels will do the trick.
Sugarless banana & oatmeal cookies (see recipe below)

Sugarless Banana/Oatmeal Cookies Recipe

I have been making batches of these for longer than I can remember because they are the perfect moreish snack, especially when I’m on the go.

You will need:

1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup self-raising flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Sprinkle of salt
1/4 cup olive oil (be ready to add more in case your mixture is too dry)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sultanas
2 soft bananas
1/3 cup pepitas
2 tbsp maple syrup
Handful of pecans (to decorate)
Feel free to add chocolate chunks if that’s your thing – I LOVE Pico Super Dark chocolate to bake with.

Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Mix the oats, flour, cinnamon, salt, sultanas, bananas and pepitas together in a large bowl. Then, add the olive oil, vanilla extract and maple syrup and stir to combine.

Add extra olive oil until the mixture is cookie dough consistency. Roll into small balls and whack in the oven for 15 – 20 minutes (or until golden brown).

I hope you enjoy these great snacks.