Cocoa Fudgy Protein Bars

This is a combination of half a dozen different recipes I found on the web, just mixing together the quantity of ingredients that felt right, and that gave the right kind of nutritional value.  It kind of took me back to my childhood, making mud pies in the garden :)

You really would not know that the recipe contains beans.  The finished result is quite soft and fudgy.  I used cannellini beans, but any bean would be ok.




Nutrition Info per bar (makes 10)
Calories: 169
Protein: 6g
Carbohydrate: 26g
Fat: 5g
Dietary Fibre: 6g


Ingredients
1 x 400g tin cannellini beans, drained
50g oats
20g hemp powder
20g cocoa powder
50g unsweetened desiccated coconut
200g light soya milk
200g dried soft figs
1 heaped teaspoon molasses (20g)
30g granulated xylitol


Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Put the beans in a large bowl and crush thoroughly with the back of a fork.  
• Stir in the oats, hemp powder. cocoa powder, coconut and xylitol.
• Put the figs and milk in a blender and blend until finely chopped.
• Stir into the dried mixture, along with the molasses.
• Pour into a greased 20cm non-stick square metal baking tin, and smooth.
• Bake for 25 mins.
• Remove from the oven and cut into 10 bars, leaving in the tin.  It will be firm on top, but of a squidgy consistency.  Cool in the tray on a wire rack, and then refrigerate for a couple of hours.
• Wrap individually in foil and store in the refrigerator.

Oat, Fig and Nut Cookie Bites

Today I did two variations of these.  The first is the one that holds together better, and is easier to make.  These are a little like a cookie form of my trail mix, but use more nuts.






Ingredients (makes 12-14 tiny cookies)
25g coarse porridge oats
25g almonds
25g macadamia nuts
40g sticky figs from a packet
about 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Method

•  Preheat an oven to 200C.
• Put  everything in a blender, and blend until finely chopped and sticky.
• Form teaspoons of the mixture into balls and press into rounds.
• Put onto baking paper on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
• Cool on a wire rack, and store in an airtight container.

Variation Ingredients
25g porridge oats
25g almonds
25g pumpkin seeds
40g dried apricots
1 tsp honey
about 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Note
Apricots aren't really sticky enough, and the pumpkin seeds don't bind so well.  Prunes would also work well as the fruit, I think, and other more binding seeds instead of the pumpkin seeds.  But the variation is also delicious.

Trail Mix

This is a really delicious and healthy snack. No measurements are given, because it's such a matter of taste!







Ingredients
Coarse oats
Almonds, chopped into thirds
Pumpkin seeds
Raisins
Dried blueberries
Dried figs, chopped into quarters
Dried coconut
Anything else you might like!

Method

• Preheat the oven to 170C.
  
• Spread the oats in a fairly thin layer on a baking tray, and toast for 20 minutes until crisp and golden brown.
• Pour into a large bowl, and mix in the other ingredients.
• Store in small containers for snacking!

If you like healthy snacks, you might want to take a look at the Sunday Snacks Event - Healthy Snacks.

And also some of my previous posts:
Cheesy Potato Marmalade Balls
New Potato Asparagus and Bacon Hot Salad
Melted Camembert with Toasted Walnuts
Balsamic Figs Ham and Blue Cheese
Mackerel on Rye Bread
Low Fat Lemon Pepper Houmous

Melted Oozing Camembert with Toasted Walnuts and Brandied Raisins

It's taken me a couple of goes to get a photo of this recipe and so be able to add this post, I'm usually too hungry to hang around taking photos!





Nutrition Information
Calories: 325
Protein: 12g
Fat: 10g
Carbohydrate: 34g
Dietary Fibre: 7g

Ingredients
2 slices of rye bread (total 62g)
2 segments of camembert or brie (total 34g)
8g walnuts (4 halves)
3 teaspoons of brandied raisins

Method

• Roughly crumble the walnuts into a saucepan and dry fry until hot and toasted.
• Put the rye bread on a microwaveable plate, a piece of camembert on each slice, and sprinkle over the brandied raisins and the walnuts.
• Microwave for 40 seconds until the camembert is just oozing. Flatten the camembert slightly.
  
• Eat immediately!
  

Brandied raisins

As the weather starts to get cooler, and as a memory of making the Christmas cake in England, here is a very simple recipe for brandied raisins.

It has been a family tradition to make the Christmas cake in about September or October, in order that it is well-matured by Christmas. A good dark fruit Christmas cake will actually last about a year undecorated, believe it or not - and be absolutely delicious for it! Even decorated with marzipan and royal icing, I have memories of still eating absolutely delicious Christmas cake in March..!

The secret is in the brandy. It is preserved with brandy. From the three weeks prior to making the cake (when you are soaking the raisins in brandy) to the months after baking the cake (and before decorating it), when you are carefully unwrapping the cake and sprinkling it with a tablespoon of brandy on a weekly basis - it is steeped in brandy - this cake is good stuff!

A few years ago, my mother did some of these raisins over ice cream, and believe me, they're wonderful! It's very simple - just put some raisins in a container, pour over a generous amount of brandy (you don't have to cover the raisins, but enough to swill them around in), shake well and keep in the fridge. Every few days when you think of it, open the container and toss the raisins a bit more. After at least a week, you can start eating them!  However, they do last almost indefinitely if they remain covered with brandy...

As I say, they're delicious hot or cold on ice cream or on Melted Camembert with Toasted Walnuts and Brandied Raisins.

Fruit and Nut Oat Bars

Like most people living in small apartments in Japan, I don't have an oven, making do with a 2 ring gas stove, a microwave, a rice cooker and a blender. Wanting to make a healthy-ish snack today, this is what I came up with...




Nutrition Data (per portion)
Calories: 199
Protein: 5g
Fat: 9g
Carbohydrate:28g
Dietary Fibre: 3g

Ingredients (makes 3 bars)
25g almonds
25g dried apricots
25g raisins
25g fresh pineapple
2 tsp pineapple juice
10g butter
50g rolled oats

Method

• In a blender, finely chop the almonds, dried apricots, raisins and pineapple.
• In a saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the oats and pineapple juice. Mix in the fruit and nut mixture and form into a ball.
• Put some clingfilm in a square container and press in the mixture.
• Chill in the fridge for 10 minutes and cut into bars.