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Sugar-Free Fruit Jelly
And so my quest for sugar-free treats continues. I went into the supermarket the other day to take a look at jelly. I don’t mean the super-sweet bag of sweets, I mean the jelly that you make up yourself. The kids and I like it for a sweet treat on occasion. First up, the block of jelly that you cut into cubes then dissolve in hot water. That contains a lot of sugar. Instantly that got crossed off my list. Next, the powdered jelly in sachets that you dissolve in hot water. They’re marked sugar-free. Hooray I thought, only when I had a good look at the ingredients list I…
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Sugar-free Flapjacks
“An é seo folláin?”/”Is this wholesome?” My 5-year-old requires absolute honesty when we go shopping together. He won’t buy anything unless it’s “folláin” (the Irish word for wholesome). As I call out items from the list and he wanders around the supermarket; he’ll pick up items, and check the wholesome factor. It wasn’t always like this. A couple of years ago I wouldn’t have been able to walk the gauntlet that is the biscuit aisle, or the chocolate aisle, without picking up biscuits and treats. Now products that don’t pass his test get put back and he meanders on, scrutinising the shelves. If I don’t buy the sweet treats then…
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Strawberry Jam
One of the best signs of Summer is when stalls by the roadside start to sell strawberries and new potatoes. If you roll down the window of the car on a warm day you can smell the sweetness as you get close. How can you resist picking up fresh local strawberries? Once we’ve gorged ourselves on punnets of fresh, warm, sun-kissed strawberries and licked our lips clean of the juices, what else can we do with them, if we have any left? Jam is a way of capturing all the summer sunshine in a jar. Its beautiful warm from the pot, spread on toast and I like to keep at…
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Eton Mess
There are days that I love nothing more than working in the kitchen on “oven watch”. These type of days are when I’m not stuck at my computer for hours on end, and the sun isn’t splitting the stones. Lately though, with the sunny weather and my two boys being that bit older all they want to do is to play out in the front garden with the big boys. That’s all great, except we have an open garden system where we live and that means we don’t have gates that I can close to keep the boys safe and the road is very close to the house. So if…
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Chocolate Banana Cake
If, by chance, you have any chocolate left over after the excesses of last Sunday, you might want to consider making this chocolate banana cake. It’s cake, not banana bread, and will freeze for up to 2 months if wrapped well. Not that you’re going to want it to last that long!
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Raspberry Poke Cake
Don’t worry, this raspberry poke cake isn’t a technical bake, it’s more of a crumbly gooey fun cake to make and enjoy. It won’t take you too long, and the most arduous part of this cake is the fact that you have to wait until it’s completely cool to enjoy it.
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Orange Crisps
These are blood orange crisps, but this recipe isn’t just limited to blood oranges, it’s just I had blood oranges and they look so pretty when they’re preserved. If you want to make an incredibly easy gift that looks amazing in jar, like you paid loads of money to buy then keep on reading. They can also be used to decorate cakes, or hung on ribbons in the house.
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Gur Cake
I mentioned on Saturday that I was making gur cake. I really didn’t expect the response I would get on all my social media channels from Dubs (people from Dublin), Corkonians (who call it chester cake) and Deise natives (from Waterford, who call it donkey gudge cake apparently). This is a cake that has huge heritage, and yet comes from a very humble beginning.
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Lemon And Lime Cake
Baking in this house requires organisation because the 2 year old understands when I’ve something baking. He likes to sit in front of the oven and demand instant results. His naps are beginning to shorten too so if I want to bake I need to be able to lash a cake batter together rapidly and have it cooked and cooling by the time he wakes up.
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Blueberry Slice
I buy fresh berries in bulk and then freeze them to use over the winter. Berries go into smoothies, baking, jellies, salads and sometimes into something that is so decadent you won’t want to share. In fact you’ll want to eat this blueberry slice right out of the baking tray.
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Chewy Fruit Flapjacks
I realised yesterday that I hadn’t baked so far this year. Yes I know, that’s crazy talk coming from me. Normally I’m cranking up the oven at least 3 times a week to bake treats for the boys or the weekend. There are no excuses for this type of behaviour and of course I had to fix it. After consulting with a few readers on the Facebook page, I made these chewy fruit flapjacks.
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Toffee Apple Cake
I’ve been testing this recipe for a while, in fact since Hallowe’en. I know it’s a long time to be playing around with a bake as important as Toffee Apple Cake but it was important that I got it right. My taste-tester-in-chief has declared it the best apple cake he’s ever tasted. He always says that, I think because he’s afraid if he doesn’t flatter me then his steady supply of cake will dry up. No matter, I have plenty of willing volunteers to take his place!
