dessert – CLARE HOPKINS

Making Healthy Brownies (80 Cal Each)

April 14, 2020April 14, 2020Posted in HEALTHTagged brownies, dessert, healthy, healthy baking, healthy blogging, healthydish, healthyeating, healthyfoodielifestyle, Low calorie5 Comments

We’ve just come out of Easter and I’m sure everyone has spent the weekend enjoying lots of chocolate and other yummy, indulgent dishes. Whenever I’m trying to get back on track, I always bake some healthy desserts or I risk going to healthy and then just binging on all the leftover Easter chocolate…

Healthy dessert recipes mean that you can enjoy sweet treats whilst avoiding the sugar high that usually accompanies them. Whilst a sugar high (i.e. insulin spike caused by an overload of glucose) might sound fairly harmless in the short run, excessive sugar intake can have negative impacts in the long term. See here for information about how excess sugar affects your teeth, joints, skin etc.

To avoid these complications, I try to reduce my sugar intake whilst still enjoying great desserts. It all about everything in moderation!

This recipe has substitutes from the usual brownie recipe that we all know and love, that not only make it lower in calories, but also provide some wonderful health benefits with the same delicious taste.

Sweeteners

Bananas – These delicious fruits provide a wonderful texture to the brownies whilst also giving a subtle fruity undertone. Banana’s are rich in vitamin B6 which helps your body metabolise carbohydrates and fats and remove unwanted chemicals from your body. Banana’s also provide a healthy source of Manganese which helps your body produce collagen to boost your skin.

Sugar Free Maple Syrup and Chocolate – Sugar free alternatives are great ways to enjoy sweet, sugar-like flavour whilst avoiding cane sugar. It is important to note that some no-calorie sweeteners may upset your stomach. If this is the case opt for a natural sweetener like Stevia.

Healthy Fats

Coconut Milk – Coconut milk is rich in healthy fats and antioxidants, which help to protect you from harmful radicals that are produced when your body breaks down food.

Flours

Oat Flour – Oat flour is a naturally gluten free, whole grain flour, which provides an excellent source of fibre to help your digestion whilst keeping you satiated. If you enjoy the taste and texture, oats are a powerful substitute in creating a healthy recipe.

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas
3/4 cup canned LITE coconut milk
1/2 cup rolled oats or Oat Flour
1/3 cup cacao powder
3 tbsp sugar free maple syrup (or real maple syrup if you prefer that).
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
90g Chocolate – I like to use Well Naturally Sugar Free Chocolate
Optional: 5 drops of MyProtein Chocolate FlavDrops

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 C
Put rolled oats into blender and blend. Then, add bananas, coconut milk, cacao powder, syrup, vanilla extract, and baking powder into blender and BLEND.
Pour mixture into a bowl and stir in salt and chopped up chocolate. Add FlavDrops if you desire a richer chocolatey taste (the sweetness of this batter will subdue when it bakes, so aim for a mixture that is slightly sweeter than you desire).
Bake for 15 minutes or until fudgy brownie comes out on skewer inserted.
Allow to cool a little bit and then cut into 16 slices!

ENJOY! Let me know how the recipe goes! X

My Irresistible Homemade Hummus

October 18, 2019May 1, 2020Posted in FOOD, HEALTHTagged chickpea, chickpea cookie dough, cooking, dessert, fitness, HEALTH, healthy eating, healthy recipe, homemade, Pamela Reif, savoury, weight loss, zest4 Comments

Lately, I’ve been on the Hummus wagon.

I fell off for a while whilst I was struggling with IBS. To manage it my doctor had me on a low FODMAP diet where legumes are not allowed.

Now that I’m able to eat them again I’ve been using beans and lentils wherever I can. If you love chickpeas too you have to try Pamela Reif’s inventive cookie dough recipe – chickpeas are involved…

If you’re not adventurous enough to try chickpea based desserts, try a making a savoury hummus at home.

I find homemade hummus much more flavourful than the store bought kind, and it’s a brilliant way to get plant-based protein, anti-inflammatory nutrients, and healthy fats in.

As I’m also (weirdly) addicted to green olives, I’ve added them to the recipe as well – feel free to exclude them if you’re not as keen.

Blend the following until smooth, and try it yourself:

400g canned chickpeas (washed & drained)
Healthy dose of lemon, herb and garlic seasoning (I find the Masterfood’s blend the perfect amount of zest and flavour, but you can always use an actual squeeze of lemon, mixed herbs, and a clove of garlic).
Lots of Paprika
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp water
10 green olives, pitted and stuffed with pimento

Have you made your own hummus before?

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.

Avocado Brownies? You’re missing out if you haven’t had these

March 22, 2019May 1, 2020Posted in ALL POSTS, FOOD, HEALTHTagged avocado, baking, brownie, chocolate, dessert, HEALTH, healthy, healthy treat, keto, ketogenic, nutrition, recipe, snacks, weight loss2 Comments

There’s no denying that avocado is the best breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack food available. But who says it can’t be used as a dessert?

Recently I have been playing around with avocado based desserts, and I took inspiration from a post I saw for brownies made for the Ketogenic diet (high fat/protein, low carb).

I ended up modifying the recipe – more towards my taste preferences – and since I’m not following the keto diet, I did add in some honey (which you might want to swap for monk fruit or stevia, if you are looking for lower carb options).

I will admit my first go was very underwhelming. I completely missed the mark on the sweetness, so brownies tasted more like buttery dirt.

But, practice makes perfect, and after many flops I have formulated a avo-brownie recipe that is undeniably healthy. You will need:

1 medium avocado
1/4 cup nut butter – I love peanut Mayver’s butter
3 eggs
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup cacao powder
Cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp cacao nibs
2 tbsp warm honey (less sticky)

Mix everything (except cacao nibs) together in a blender until it is smooth and creamy, and press into a brownie pan. Sprinkle the cacao nibs and cinnamon on top.

Pop into an oven at 180˚C and bake for 20 mins.

Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts

Macro-nutrients	1 serving of avo-brownie (recipe makes 12)
Calories	150
Protein	4g
Carbohydrates	7g
Sugar	3g
Fat	12g

Rich Chocolate Protein Bites (V)

January 14, 2019April 25, 2020Posted in ALL POSTS, FOOD, HEALTHTagged 2019, chocolate, Colourpot, delicious, dessert, fit, fitness, healthy, healthy recipe, new year, protein, protein balls, protein bites, recipeLeave a comment

This summer I’ve been seeking out protein balls/bites/bars wherever I go. This could be due to my constant snack cravings, or because they are freaking moreish.

Either way, my recent obsession has prompted the careful creation of a rich, chocolatey recipe that combines all my favourite protein ball ingredients in one.

Cacao is a dream ingredient because of all the health benefits it provides. Not only it is a powerful source of antioxidants, I recently found out it contains anandamide, which targets receptors in the brain to balance mood swings.

This makes 10 bites:

You will need:

1/2 Cup Almond Meal
1/2 Cup Hemp Flour
Sprinkle of Salt
1/2 Cup Mayvers Peanut Butter
1/3 Cup Sugar Free Maple Syrup
20g Cacao Nibs
70g Loving Earth Mylk Chocolate

To make: Combine all ingredients in a bowl, squish it into a square pan and chill in the fridge.

To serve, you can make cute little designs on the square bites, e.g. with almonds, desiccated coconut, crumbled peanuts, or whatever floats your boat.

These little guys have around 10g of protein in them.. yet they taste like chocolate cookie dough. ENJOY!

Do you have a protein treat you swear by?

Can you believe it? Healthy Cinnabon Rolls

April 16, 2018April 23, 2020Posted in ALL POSTS, FOODTagged baking, blog, blogger, blogging, cinnabon, cinnamon, Colourpot, delicious, dessert, easy, FOOD, friends, fun, guides, happy, HEALTH, journal, LIFESTYLE, local, others, personal, photography, quick, roll, snack, thoughts, wordpress, writing2 Comments

Cinnabon’s aren’t the definition of ‘health’.

But, I wanted to devise a recipe which was just as yummy, but didn’t use up half my daily caloric intake (the average cinnabon has 880 calories).

When my cinnabon craving first hit, I was scrolling through recipes that take about 3 hours to prepare and bake. That was simply too long and I knew I had to find a cheaters quick version.

So, here’s the cheat sheet to my 45 minute, Plant Based Cinnabons:

Dough:

2.75 cups of all purpose flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 package instant yeast = 2.25 teaspoons
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup almond milk
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp ground chia seeds + 3 tbsp water

Filling:

0.5 cup pureed dates (1/4 cup water)
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1 medium apple finely chopped
coconut oil as a base

Time: 45 minutes, Serves: 8, Calories: 294 each

Method:

Preheat oven to 100C
Mix flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a bowl
Heat water, almond milk and coconut oil in the microwave for 30 seconds
Add chia seeds, milk/oil mixture and flour mixture together and knead with hands until dough forms – set aside for 5 minutes
Roll out the dough on baking paper into a rectangle

Spread the coconut oil and pureed dates on the rolled out dough
Sprinkle the apple and almonds on top

Roll the dough into a log, and cut into 8 even segments

Put each segment into greased baking tins.

Put into the oven, and turn the oven off. Leave in rolls there for 20 minutes. Then, turn the oven to 200C and bake for 20 mins.

Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Let me know how it goes! xx

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!

Trying the Best Korean BBQ in Sydney

October 3, 2017April 23, 2020Posted in ALL POSTS, FOODTagged baking, beef, betty crocker, blogging, bul go gi, chocolate, chocolate cake, dessert, eel, froyo, frozen yogurt, fun, homemade cake, journal, kimchi, korea, korean bbq, korean cuisine, korean dining, Madang, midnight baking, nostalgia, ox tongue, pork, splurge, spontaneous, Sydney, the urban list, wordpressLeave a comment

Madang. The Korean BBQ restaurant that’s revered in Sydney. I had to try it.

In Korean BBQ you get given deliciously marinated raw meats (of your choosing) and cook them at the dinner table.

Yep, your table turns into a frying pan, where you whip up your meal and garnish it with lots of tasty condiments such as spicy kimchi and seaweed, potato mash, soy paste, fish cake, miso paste and more.

You could be very adventurous and get sliced ox tongue, but since my dining partner screwed her nose up at that, we opted to share Dweji Bul Go Gi (marinated pork) and Bul Go Gi (beef in traditional Korean sauce), with the Jang Uh Gui Jungsik (grilled & marinated eel). The table service was very attentive, and I would recommend the tender Bul Go Gi and Jang Uh Gui Jungsik. The pork wasn’t my thing, I had a couple of bites and didn’t’ LOVE it.

This was a lot of meat (and therefore a lot of protein) to have in one meal, so if you’re planning on heading to Korean BBQ for dinner prepare your stomach by making your other meals that day a little smaller (I forgot to do this and afterwards felt like I was going to pop from all the food inside).

Madang is located in the middle of a little Korea-town. Left, right and centre there were Korean restaurants dotted about that I’m now dying to try out. Seoul-Ria, Basax Korean Chicken and Dining and Arisun are on my ‘to go to’ list.

I finished off the night with and an epic froyo. Imagine this: chocolate and strawberry frozen yoghurt, loaded with cookie dough, chocolate chips, tim tams, oreos, chocolate wafers, and strawberries. Mouthwatering? I thought so.

Note: Madang was said to be the best by The Urban List, one of my go-to sources for dining information around the city (you have to check it out if you are in Sydney).

***

I also had a random craving for chocolate cake this week.

Usually, I try to make a natural ingredients cake with cacao, banana, and maple syrup (a delicious recipe I will share soon). However, this day nostalgia was calling me and I whipped up my childhood favourite: Betty Crocker Devil’s Food Cake mix.

It was so much fun to just splurge and spontaneously treat myself by baking a simple cake for no occasion. I finished decorating it around 1:00am and it was so satisfying to sit on the couch afterwards savouring a big piece with a cup of tea.

Comment below if you did anything spontaneous this week!

Banana and Almond Muffins? Yes pleaaassee

September 12, 2017April 23, 2020Posted in ALL POSTS, FOOD, HEALTHTagged almond, baking, banana, blogging, colour pot, Colourpot, craving, dessert, filling, FOOD, fun, HEALTH, healthy, healthy eating, healthy recipes, healthy snack, muffin, recipe, snack, treat, vegan, weight loss, wordpress1 Comment

You know when you have that sudden craving to bake? Well, I experienced this at about 11pm last night and stayed up until midnight baking & feasting away.

I usually head straight for the cacao and dates to make something super chocolatey, fudgy and sweet, but for some reason today my eye caught the two overripe bananas that were sitting on the kitchen ledge.

So, I preheated the oven to 180˚C and gathered together what I could find in the pantry for my banana and almond muffins. These can be vegan and are gluten free.

I used almond meal instead of ordinary flour, as it is high in protein and vitamin E – providing essential nutrients whilst filling you up (read more here). The bananas are the perfect natural sweetener, and they provide a sweet note as well as potassium and fibre.

Dry Ingredients:

1 cup almond meal
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
Sprinkle of salt

Wet Ingredients:

2 eggs (use an egg replacer for the vegan option)
2 bananas
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp almond milk (or any milk of your choosing)

I popped the dry ingredients into a blender, whisked them together (make sure the oats are ground into a fine powder) and poured them into a bowl. Then I blended the wet ingredients to form a runny mixture, which I combined in the bowl with the dry ingredients.

I placed about 2 heaped spoonfuls of mixture into 8 lined cupcake tins. All they needed was 30 minutes in the oven (check with a skewer – no mixture residue should be on it when you poke it through the middle of a muffin), and they were done. Voila!

Nutritional Breakdown (per serve):

137 calories/572 kilojoules
5.0g Protein
8.5g Fat (0.8g Saturated)
9.0g Carbs
43mg Sodium

Cheesy Eggplant Lasagne for Fathers Day

September 8, 2017April 22, 2020Posted in ALL POSTS, FOODTagged apple crumble, blog, blogger, blogging, connoisseur, creme brulee, dad, delicious, dessert, dinner, eggplant lasagna, family, fathers day, FOOD, fun, guides, happy, HEALTH, home cooked, ice cream, lasagna, lindt, lunch, meal, milk chocolate, photography, Recipes, salad, treat, white chocolate, wordpress, writing4 Comments

When I realised Father’s Day was approaching, I had the annual freak out… What am I going to buy Dad? Is there anything he’s mentioned he wants?

The reality is that Dad never says what he wants and says he’d be happy with a card. Since I’m not going to just wake up, toss him a card and consider my job done, I decided this year I’d cook a big lunch.

I kept it super simple. Dad’s favourites are the plainer dishes; lasagne, sausages, chops, lamb shanks, vanilla ice cream, milk chocolate…

So, I decided to do lasagne, with a twist.

Cheesy Eggplant Lasagne. Think gooey cheese, creamy chickpeas and aromatic tomato arranged together to create a healthier twist on Italian comfort food.

The eggplant soaks up all the delicious creamy tomato sauces and becomes a soft mess that tastes incredible with the chickpea/almond meal base and cheese oozing throughout.

For dessert, we enjoyed my favourite Healthy Apple Crumble recipe with Connoisseur white chocolate/raspberry ice cream (you could go for Halo Top for a lower calorie alternative, Connoisseur is Dad’s favourite).

I also sourced a block of Lindt’s creme brulee milk chocolate – a Lindt flavour I haven’t seen before. I hope they keep stocking the shelves with it because it was the perfect mix of crispy caramel and creamy milk chocolate.

Even though we kept it simple, it was nice to enjoy a home cooked meal. What did you do for Father’s Day?