Baked Mini Maple Glazed & Cinnamon Sugar Spiced Doughnuts

Everything's turning orange, I've started a super scary series on Netflix called The Haunting of Hill House and my rain mac is drip drying in the hallway -IT MUST OFFICIALLY BE AUTUMN!

You may all shout at your laptop screens at this, but when the weather starts to chill off and the long-trousered jammys come out, to me, that just signifies that the smells of Christmas are in the air and I'm allowed to start devouring boxes of Celebrations.

Too early?

Me thinks no.

Sticky Date Flapjack

I had the loveliest comment from a fellow blogger Welsh and Wonderful who gave me a good kick up the bum as I hadn't written any recipes in a wee while.

I've been a busy bee, well...summer busy....I'VE BEEN TOO HOT OK!

I've been snaffling away my baked goodies instead of sharing them with the world! (Which is fine with William as he can then gobble them up quicker before I've had chance to take a bazillion photos of them!)

I'm obsessed with flapjack, I used to always chose it when going for a Ribena with my mum at the local shopping centre. I then recently discovered the M&S Belgian choccie flapjack, have you tried it?

Holy pants...it's derrrrlicious.

So thought I'd try out my own! And it was a GREAT SUCCESS!

I'll be making several batches next week and getting high off the sugar content once more! I feel like they're healthy because they've got dates in them...but let's face it...they're not.

Me no care.

Makes // 16 flapjacks
Prep time // 10 mins
Baking time // 25 mins


What you'll need//

x1 baking dish (8in x 8in)

180g unsalted butter
60g light brown sugar
6 tbsp golden syrup or honey
330g oats
1 tsp cinnamon
200g dried dates, chopped
handful mixed seeds

What to do//

Preheat oven to 170 degrees fan/375f and line a 8x8in baking dish with greaseproof paper.

In a small saucepan, heat your chopped dates on low with a splash of water for a few minutes. Mash dates into a spreadable smush! (technical term)

In a large saucepan, on a low heat, melt your butter and stir in sugar, golden syrup/honey and cinnamon until the sugar has dissolved.

Remove from the heat, pour in your oats and stir until it's all covered in sticky yumminess.

Evenly spread half the mixture at the base of the lined baking dish. Smush down hard with back of a tablespoon. Cover with layer of sticky dates :) then add the remainder of the oaty mixture. Repeat the smushing so the entire flapjack is well compact.

Sprinkle on your seeds.

Bake for approximately 25 minutes.

Leave to cool slightly before refrigerating for a couple of hours to help it solidify.

Slice up and enjoy for your 'elevenses' with a cup of iced coffee!

Enjoy you little flapjack fiends!

Betty x

Spiced Apple Crumble Muffins

When stepping inside your front door, nothing beats the welcoming smell of spiced muffins baking in the oven.

These fruity, crumbly-topped numbers are packed full of flavour, leaving the sweet taste of cinnamon and nutmeg on your tongue. The perfect accompaniment to a chai latte me thinks!

The first batch of muffins I ever baked were a complete disaster and I nearly threw all my toys out of the pram....or muffins out of the tray, I should say. They tasted like a dream but were completely the wrong texture.

My second attempt with my Gooey White Chocolate & Blueberry Muffins were an absolute hit! So I'm continuing my muffin adventures with much more confidence now!

MUFFIN LESSON #1: NO OVER MIXING!

Muffin lesson learnt.

I've been munching away at these whilst being glued to Love Island. Team Jack & Dani!

Who are you rooting for??

ZERO BADDIES Nutty Cocoa Bircher

By gosh and golly, have you tried the Nutty Cocoa Bircher from M&S?

Well it's swiftly becoming my favourite indulgence when on the run. So I took a gander at the ingredients and thought instead of spending my hard earned pennies each time, why not just make a version of my own, freeze it and take it on my jaunts in tupper ware/tupperware (is it one word? who knows) instead of buying it each time.

Ground breaking!

Aren't I clever.

And the bonus is it's pretty healthy really. It feels like you're being naughty and having a chocolatey bit of heaven, but it's packed with natural sugars, nuts, chia & oats for energy, apple to keep the doctors away and natural yog to keep your bones strong and gut happy!

I've added in a few little extras too for personal taste :)

PS I didn't eat the Viola. That were to make me picturrr look pretty weren't it!

What you'll need//

500g fat free natural yogurt
2 apples (cored & grated)
2 tbsp cacao or cocoa powder
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp molasses (optional)
100g oats
4 tbsp chia seeds
4 tbsp dessicated coconut

To sprinkle on top//
chopped cashew nuts
cacao nibs
blueberries
coconut flakes

Makes approx 6 portions (you don't need much it's quite filling)

What to do//

In a small bowl mix together your honey, molasses and cocoa powder.

In a large bowl mix all your other ingredients and stir in the honey mixture.

DONE!

Cling film and refrigerate or freeze in batches and munch away as and when.

Sprinkle over your cashews, blueberries, cacao nibs and coconut or any other personal faves. Why not try it with chopped banana and a dollop of peanut butter or pistachios and raspberries!

Yummm.

Enjoy lovely friends :)

Betty x

Ps, are we Instabuddies? Come and say hello!

Pps, did you see my Carrot Cake Cookies post?

Carrot Cake Cookies!

Well tickle my tummy and call me Annie. William claims these are, 'the best things I've ever baked'!

Well thank you young William! I'm chuffed :)

Close your eyes and picture the taste of Christmas, mixed with carrot cake, mixed with cookie...

That.

They're packed full of cinnamon, oats, carrot and date syrup, and with zero refined sugars the actual cookies are pretty healthy, (if you leave off the frosting!) They'd make a cracking breakfast cookie! For me, I'm just obsessed with cream cheese frosting so...give me a bucketful of that!

My Monday so far has been great! I've become addicted to selling my worldly possessions on Ebay and had four items sell this morning :) so I'll be munching some of these cookies for breakfast (oops) before heading down to the post office (in the snow!) and sprinting back to get warm again!

Anyone else in the London snow/sun/snow/sun situation right now? So bizarre.

Ah well.....COOKIES!

What you'll need//

Makes 10 cookies.

95g oats
80g plain flour
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger or nutmeg
1 flat tsp baking powder
1 grated carrot
5 tbsp coconut oil
7 tbsp date or maple syrup (I used a combo)
couple drops vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk of choice

for the frosting//
20g soft unsalted butter
30g cream cheese
50g icing sugar

decoration//
handful of pecans or walnuts
orange and green fondant icing (I only had white so had to improvise with food colouring! Tis why my carrots look a bit anaemic!)

What to do//

Preheat oven to 170 degrees (fan) and line two baking trays with baking parchment.

In a large bowl, mix together all your dry cookie ingredients (except the nuts) and grated carrot.

In a separate bowl melt your coconut oil until liquid form and mix together with the syrup, vanilla and milk.

Combine the wet mixture with the dry and mix well.

Make into little balls and flatten slightly onto your baking trays.

Bake for 10-12 mins swapping the trays from top to bottom shelf halfway through.

For the frosting, make sure your butter is really soft, not melted but just starting to melt. Whisk it vigorously for a few minutes. Add in your cream cheese (making sure it's not the watery bit of the cream cheese) and whisk again for another couple of minutes. Gradually whisk in your icing sugar until you're happy with the texture of your frosting.

When your cookies have completely cooled on a wire rack, using the back of a teaspoon, smush on your frosting (technical term) and add your chopped nuts or make mini carrots with your fondant icing :)

Now look at how pretty they are and smile all day long :)

Let me know if you try these out! They're absolutely glorious (if I may say so myself).

Betty x

Ps. Did you see my White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies?

White Chocolate & Raspberry CHEESECAKE COOKIES!

You glorious human beings of the internet!

I am BEAMING over how many of you have messaged about making my Zero Baddies Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies, what a great success! So I thought I'd treat you to a naughtier cookie this weekend!

I've given my White Choco Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies a revamp and (own trumpet about to be blown) They. Are. Banging!

This was one of the very first bakes I ever posted on my blog and as you can imagine, my photography skills back then were pretty much non existent. So I've decided to give both recipe and photos a kick up the bottom!

'Cheesecake?' I hear you say...

'Cookie?' I hear you say...

Well if you've ever tried The Hummingbird Bakery's, Black Bottom Cupcakes, then you'll know where I'm coming from when I say, I think they're possibly the best cupcakes I've ever put in my mouth! Cupcake + Cheesecake = Cupcake Heaven.

So why not do the same with a cookie?!

*WARNING* These colourful cookies are seriously moorish. SO be sure to have a pint glass of milk to hand for some serious dunking.

(And perhaps book in a gym class the following day)

(or don't!)

Makes approx 16 cookies

What You'll Need //

115g butter
60g (+ half a tbsp) granulated sugar
100g light brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
220g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
100g white choc chips
70g raspberries
2 heaped tbsp cream cheese

What to do //

Line two baking trays with baking parchment.

Cream together your butter and sugars (leaving half a tbsp of granulated sugar for the cream cheese later) until well mixed.

Crack in your egg and vanilla extract and combine.

Sift in flour, baking powder and salt. Mix thoroughly and then stir in your white choc chips and raspberries, leaving a few of each for decoration (and a few for accidentally falling into your mouth as you go...)!

In a small bowl, stir together your cream cheese and half tbsp of sugar.

Now for the fun part - you'll need two spoons.

Scoop out a big dollop of cookie mixture with one tablespoon and a little scoop of cream cheese mixture in t'other and swirl it around the cookie mixture dollop. Make into a rough ball on your baking tray and repeat. Leave a bit of a gap between cookies as they will spread slightly. Decorate with remaining choc chips and rasps. (Be sure to squish them into the mixture as otherwise the tops will burn slightly).

Refrigerate for 20 minutes! (IMPORTANT STEP)!

10 minutes before taking your cookies out of the fridge, turn on your oven to 180 degrees (fan).

Bake for approx 15-18 minutes

Leave to cool on a wire rack before pouring yourself that glass of milk we talked about and dunking like nobody's watching!

Happy weekends one and all! Make sure you bake a batch and treat yo-selves for being such snazzy human beings!

Let me know how they turn out in the comments below :)

Betty x

Ps, come and give me some lovin' on Insta!

Classic Banana Bread

Banana bread has to be one of my all time favourite teatime treats.

Some like it slathered with generous helpings of butter, warmed in the microwave or simply on it's tod with a cup of steamy tea. I prefer mine topped with thin slices of 'nana, or if I can't be chewed...then it's just loaf in one hand, peeled 'nana in t'other :)

Whilst I was baking this I had the banana phone song stuck in my head...

Did anyone else see this floating around facebook a wee while back?

Well here it is to get stuck in everyone's heads :)

'ping pong ping pong ping pong ping....bananaphoooone'

Sorry.

I realised that I didn't actually have a classic banana loaf recipe on here. I made this creamy dreamy Blueberry Cheesecake Banana Loaf a while back which is also a MUST, but not yet the staple itself.

I've adapted my recipe a lot over the years but feel as if I've now achieved 'the one'.

So it's time!

Enjoy baking buddies!

What you'll need//

70g butter
100g light brown sugar
220g self raising flour
half tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 flat tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
3 medium (very ripe) bananas
3 tbsp date syrup (or maple syrup)
half tsp vanilla extract

What to do//

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C (fan) and line a loaf tin with baking parchment.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.

In a separate bowl mix together your flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

Beat your eggs and pour into the butter/sugar mixture along with half the sifted flour mixture and stir until most of the flour is incorporated. Add your mushed up bananas, (consistency of baby food mush), date syrup, vanilla and remaining flour and stir until all the flour disappears.

Pour the mixture into your lined loaf tin and bake for 60 - 65 mins.

Leave to cool on a wire rack before devouring many slices with your steamy cuppa! (In my case - 3 slices in a row...)

I'd love to know how you get on making it, so do leave a comment below if you do :)

Betty x

Ps. Did you see my Cocoa Orange Nak'd Bar recipe? YUMO!

ZERO BADDIES Cocoa Orange 'Nakd' Bars

Yum, yum in my tum.

I have a smug little face right now because I've managed to recreate my favourite bought snack :)

These copycat Nakd bars took about 8 minutes to make, no baking is involved and all you need is a food mixer! I don't know why I didn't make these sooner to be honest.

I've chomped away on more than my fair share for the day, I'll need to start rationing myself!

*Zero Baddies* These not-so-naughty little numbers are vegan friendly and only contain natural sugars.

SO I give myself permission so have about 4 a day...

That's how it works right...

 What You'll Need//

Makes approx 14 bars

200g dates
200g cashews
50g mixed dried fruit
1 orange (zest and 2 tbsp of juice)
4 flat tbsp cocoa powder
1.5 tbsp date syrup (can use honey or hot water instead)

What To Do//

Put all your ingredients except the date syrup into a food mixer and blend for about 30 seconds until all the nuts are chopped up pretty small. Add in the date syrup and blend again -  you might find it blends into a big ball of some sorts, that's grand.

Turn your mixture out onto some greaseproof paper in a dish and flatten as evenly as poss.

Chill in the fridge for however long you can be patient for, before cutting it up into bars and munching.

Enjoy lovelies! And don't forget to comment below and let me know how you get on :)

Betty x

Ps. Are we instabuddies? Pop over and say hello!