Peanut Butter Cookie Bars

Reasons why the gym I go to is better than your gym?? There's loads... but these bars after training are definitely a good reason to show up!! I'm usually baking, thinking about or wishing I was baking, so it's really great to have so many people who are happy to act as taste testers... I took a batch of these bars to training during the week and I was left with a clean plate... Good sign right?! 

I genuinely think one of the best things about my recipes is that you can pick up all the ingredients in the supermarket, so no expensive trips to health food stores required....So if you're in the supermarket over the weekend, pick up the ingredients for these bars and get baking... 

• 75g butter, melted & cooled
• 1 tsp organic vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp raw organic honey
• 1 egg & 1 egg yolk
• 200g ground almonds
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 100g dark chocolate, chopped roughly
• 1/2 small jar of crunchy peanut butter 

Preheat oven to 160d (fan). Line a 7" square baking tin with non stick baking parchment. 

Start by beating the melted butter, vanilla, honey & egg together until well combined.

Next, add the dry ingredients and stir well. 

Finally add the chopped chocolate (technically can add it with the dry ingredients but since I forgot to buy some, I had to add it later)... 

Remove 1/4 of the dough and set aside. Press the remaining dough evenly into the base of the lined tin. 

Spread a generous layer of the peanut butter over the dough. 

Finally, crumble the reserved dough over the top. It won't cover the whole thing, but that's ok... you want the peanut butter to ooze out a little during baking. 

Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until golden and firm. 

Set aside to cool before cutting into bars. 

Mikado Biscuits...

I'm not going to lie... these take a little more patience than is required for most of my recipes, but I promise they're so nice, it's well worth it!! They're not difficult to make so don't be deterred...

I often marvel at how little patience I have generally, but when it comes to baking and cooking, I'll happily spend hours in the kitchen fussing over the smallest, most intricate details! 

For the biscuit base: 

• 200g ground almonds
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 2 tbsp raw Irish honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp water

Add all the ingredients to a bowl.

Mix until well combined. Depending on the type of ground almostyou're using, the mixture may look a little dry, if so add another tsp of water. You're looking for a firm dough. 

Place in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 160d (fan).

Once chilled, roll out the dough to approx 1/2 inch thickness between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper. 

Use a square cookie cutter to form the base. Place on a non stick baking tray. 

Bake for 9-12 minutes until slightly golden. Keep an eye on them as they go from underdone to charcoal pretty quickly... 

Set aside to cool on a wire rack. 

For the raspberry jam filling: 

• 150g frozen raspberries
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Add the raspberries and lemon juice to a saucepan. Bring to a boil, and allow to simmer over a low heat for approx 5 minutes to allow the jam to thicken. 

For the raspberry marshmallow topping: 

• 3 egg whites
• 2 tbsp Irish honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 sachet Gelatin powder
• 50g frozen raspberries
• 3 tbsp water

Place raspberries & water into the microwave for 20 seconds at a time. Stir and mash in between each 20 second burst until the raspberries are softened, broken up and the mixture is steaming.

Sprinkle the gelatin powder over the hot raspberry mixture and set aside to dissolve. It's really important to pour the gelatin onto the liquid and not the other way around or you'll end up with a hard lump. Also make sure the liquid is steaming hot (not boiling) before adding the gelatin or it won't dissolve fully.

Next add the egg whites, honey & vanilla to a heatproof bowl over gently simmering water.

Whisk the mixture constantly until it forms stiff glossy peaks. (If you don't whisk constantly, you'll end up with scrambled egg whites). This should take about 5 minutes.

At this stage, your gelatin should have dissolved, cooled and will be ready to use. It's important that both the gelatin mix & the egg white mixture are approx the same temperature, otherwise the gelatin will set too quickly and form strings... The egg white mixture will be warm, just make sure the gelatin has cooled sufficiently.. 

Add the gelatin mixture to the egg white gradually, whisking constantly. I recommend pouring the gelatin in a slow, steady stream. Once fully combined, you can stop whisking.

To assemble: 

• 50g unsweetened dessicated coconut

Using a small piping nozzle, pipe a narrow line of the cooled raspberry jam down the centre of each biscuit base. 

Next using a medium sized star nozzle, pipe marshmallow on either size of the jam filling. 

Coat generously with dessicated coconut. 

Leave aside to set for 30 minutes before serving. 

Jaffa Cakes...

I get really excited about recreating people's favourite snacks & treats. I love the challenge of not only making a healthier version, but also one that people love to eat!

A very good friend of mine adores Jaffa Cakes and I'm always baking him cakes based on the Jaffa Cake. I started to wonder if I could make him a healthier version of his favourite treat. First attempt turned out so well I couldn't help being delighted. I've promised to hang out with him this week and we're going to have a baking day... Jaffa Cakes will absolutely be on the menu :)

The best part of this recipe is that it's actually really simple to make, so kids will LOVE helping out just as much as they'll love devouring the finished goodies...

For the Jaffa filling:

• juice of 3 large oranges
• 1 tbsp orange zest
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp Irish honey
• 100ml water 
• 2 sachets of powdered gelatin (12g sachet x 2) 

Line a 7" square tin with parchment paper or cling film. 

Mix the first 5 ingredients together and heat to just before boiling point. 

Remove approx 150ml of the hot liquid and place in a separate shallow bowl. 

Sprinkle the 2 sachets of gelatin over the hot liquid & set aside to dissolve for 5 minutes. Once fully dissolved, stir gently to ensure there are no lumps remaining. 

Pour the gelatin mixture back into the remaining liquid gradually, whisking constantly to prevent the gelatin forming lumps or strings in the mixture.  

Once fully combined, pour into the prepared tin & place in the fridge until set (should only take about 25 minutes but you can make a start on the sponge base while you wait). 

For the base: 

• 3 eggs
• 2 tbsp Irish honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 75g ground almonds
• 1/2 tsp GF baking powder

Preheat the oven to 160d (fan). 

Start by whisking the eggs, honey and vanilla until pale and doubled in volume. 

Fold in the ground almonds & baking powder until just combined. 

Divide mixture into a non stick shallow bun tin. (This recipe yields 12) 

Bake the sponge base for 8-10 minutes until slightly risen and firm to touch. 

Allow to cool for about a minute before carefully removing the sponge discs from the tray. Place on a wire rack to cool. 

To assemble: 

• 100g dark chocolate (85% cocoa solids) 

Using a round cookie cutter (slightly smaller than the sponge discs), cut out circles of the orange jelly. 

Place on top of the sponge base. 

Melt the chocolate gently in a heatproof bowl over gently simmering water.

Using a teaspoon, pour chocolate over the centre of the jelly disc and spread gently to coat the sides in order to hold the jelly in place. 

Allow the chocolate to harden before serving. 

I'm not kidding, these taste better than the original. There's more jelly filling, it actually tastes like orange and they're healthier! What's not to love?! 

If you know someone who loves Jaffa Cakes, share this recipe with them... they'll love you for it! 

Walnut Chunk Cookies...

Everyone loves cookies! These cookies are everything you could ask for... they're chewy in the centre, crunchy on the outside & have chunks of rich dark chocolate & walnuts. You would never guess there was no bad stuff in them.... 

I love sharing recipes like this, I hope it goes some way towards showing you that you really don't need to buy processed foods if you're having a snack.. Trust me, once you get into the kitchen you'll wonder why you never took more of an interest in cooking...

I always try to use commonly used ingredients to spare the expense of buying something new for just 1 tsp in a recipe... however I do recommend buying the walnut oil for these cookies as it adds an amazing rich nutty flavour to the cookies. Walnut oil is great for salad dressings AND I'll be using it in a carrot cake recipe which will be posted soon! 

For the cookies:

• 50g unsalted butter, melted
• 4 tbsp walnut oil 
• 3 tbsp Irish honey
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 200g ground almonds
• 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 50g chopped walnuts
• 50g chopped chocolate (I used 81% cocoa solids) 

Mix the melted butter, oil, orange zest and honey together until combined. 

Whisk in egg and vanilla. 

Finally mix the dry ingredients in gently. Don't over-mix as this will give you a dry cookie. 

Allow to chill for 30 minutes in the fridge. 

To bake:

Preheat oven to 160d (fan oven).

Roll tbsp size balls of dough with your hands, and flatten gently. 

Place on a non stick baking tray. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes until pale golden. Keep an eye on the cookies to make sure they don't over-bake as they'll burn & become very hard quite quickly. 

Cool for a couple of minutes on the baking tray to allow the cookies to firm up a bit. Remove and allow to cool fully on a wire rack. 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I must admit, I've experimented lots with grain free cookies, but they've always fallen short of expectations.. I blame coconut flour. As much as I love the coconut flavour it gives food, I absolutely hate the way it tends to dry out recipes and leaves food a little grey..

These cookies are really nice, they're crunchy & a little chewy at the same time... You do need a little bit of time on your hands though since you'll need to chill the dough for a few hours to allow them to firm up. It's worth the wait!

• 60g coconut oil, melted
• 1 tsp organic vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp raw organic honey
• 1 egg
• 175g ground almonds
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 50g chopped Paleo friendly chocolate or any chocolate with a high cocoa solid content... 

Start by beating the melted coconut oil, vanilla, honey & egg together until well combined.

Next, add the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

That's it!... Best & easiest recipe ever!!! Leave the cookie dough in the fridge for 2-3 hours. This allows the coconut oil to harden, giving you a firm dough. If you skip this step, you will have greasy cookies.... don't say I didn't warn you....

Once the cookies are chilled, take generous teaspoon size mounds of dough and roll into balls.

Place on a non stick baking tray, and flatten gently with your finger tips. The cookies only spread a tiny bit, so don't worry about leaving much room between them.

Bake for 10-12 minutes at 160d (fan oven), until the cookies are firm & golden brown.

Allow to cool on the baking tray, or just eat them warm...You can freeze the dough too, but I know you're not going to do that!