Low fat banana bread with chocolate chips

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Caution. I’ve included a lot of non-food photos for today’s posts. Just skip down if photos of kids / nature / flowers are not your thing :)

The last two weeks have been pure pleasure. Am in Lebanon for vacation, spring is finally here, and am finally here to watch. I love spring because I think of it as the time of the year where life comes back to nature after being worn out from long, cold winters.

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Speaking of flowers, guess who loves flowers too?

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You guessed right, Celine.

And Sophia, of course.

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Today, I don’t really feel like talking much. Instead, i’ll share some photos of my vacation, needless to say, I like the serenity of being away from the city, stranded in the middle of nowhere.

I love Lebanon because I love the simple things in life. The kind of things that don’t need a lot of work in order to be enjoyed. Such as this cake. Just a simple banana cake. The kind you’d come home after a long day at school and find that your mom has baked while you were away (using the leftover bananas you refused to eat in the morning because they were too ripped).

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Its truly amazing that it made with only two tablespoons butter, yet it does not taste healthy at all. It also has the right amount of sweetness without overpowering the taste of bananas. I really hate banana cakes / breads that are overly sweet to the point that you can barely taste the bananas.

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A few notes about this cake:

  • I used Lebanese bananas while make the cake. These are different from other types of bananas because they are short and fat, (as opposed to the tall, and slim African bananas)
  • Use ripen bananas. This is a must. Green bananas will taste bland. Use only yellow, freckled ones. I always check if my bananas are ripened enough for this cake by asking myself if i should through them into the garbage. If the answer is yes, then bananas are good enough for this cake. If the answer is No, unfortunately, I won’t be making this banana cake, but on the bright side, I still have completely edible bananas.
  • This cake tastes better the next day. I always make it one day ahead and let all the flavors combine overnight.
  • My chocolate chips sunk. But so what? No one complained but me (I only complained because David Lebovitz’s chocolate chips didn’t seem to sink). Speaking of which, use the best chocolate chips you can get your hand on.

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Low fat banana bread with chocolate chips.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Yield: 12 servings

A low fat banana bread that can be made in less than 15 minutes. Recipe adapted from David Lebovitz

Ingredients

  • 1½ cups (210g) flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 cup (150g) sugar
  • 2 tbsp (30g) butter, melted
  • 1 large egg white
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • 1 cup (250g) banana, mashed, from very ripe bananas
  • ½ cup (125ml) plain unsweetened yogurt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup (60g) chocolate chips (or use walnuts)

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 180C / 350 F / Gas mark 4.
  2. Butter a standard size loaf pan, dust with flour, line the bottom with parchment paperset aside.
  3. In am large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and sugar.
  4. In an another bowl, mix using a fork or large wooden spoon the butter, egg white, egg, banana puree, yogurt, and vanilla.
  5. Add liquid ingredients to the dry ones. Mix until just combined, you will know when to stop once all the flour has been absorbed. (Resist the urge to over mix, else the cake will be dry). Fold in the chocolate chips.
  6. Pour into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 40 – 45 minutes, or until the cake is golden. Cool on a wire rack before serving.
  7. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for 3 - 4 days.
http://sukarah.com/2013/05/low-fat-banana.html

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When was your last vacation? What was the best thing about it? Are you a flower type of a girls (yes, am assuming the majority of my readers are females). Do you love bananas? Or you one of the few majority who loathe it?

P.S. can you guess how many times I’ve said bananas in this post? I hope you won’t go bananas on me for this, cliche, i know. Sorry guys, I just couldn’t stop myself)

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Skinny oat bran muffins

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Am very sorry to disappoint you, but that thing drizzled over the muffins is not chocolate ganache.

As much i wish it was chocolate, its not. Its carob molasses. Or as we in Lebanon call it, debs el kharoub. We usually combine carob molasses with tahini and have it as a dessert on its own, or sometimes on a slice of bread, this is the Lebanese equivalent of the American peanut butter and jam sandwich. If you’ve never had carob molasses before, it tastes a bit like chocolate, though it has a deeper, more pungent taste. Its also very sweet, so a little goes a long way. Sure, you can skip the carob molasses and use melted chocolate, but then you’d be depriving yourself the pleasure of experimenting and trying a new food that will enlighten your sweet molasses tastebuds as it never did before.

Let me assure that these healthy skinny oat bran muffins, are not a pain to eat. Am not going to lie, they do taste healthy, but they kind of grow on you. once you get past the first bits, try to take a moment to absorb all the flavors (think of something else other than sugar). Once you absorb the flavors; once you feel the tangent taste of the cinnamon – nutmeg combination, once you taste the earthy carob molasses, once you feel the moisture from the yogurt embossed into the nuttiness of the oats, then you’ll realize that this recipe is a recipe you can’t afford not to make.

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Skinny Oat Bran Muffins

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Yield: 12 Large muffins

150 cal per muffin

Recipe slightly adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups (173 g) all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup (113 g) oar bran
  • 1/2 cup (80 g) medium cut oats
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 1/2 cup (350 g) yogurt
  • 1/3 cup (72 ml) carob molasses (or unsulphured blackstrap molasses)
  • 6 tbsp (60 g) unsalted butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup (180 g) raisins

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 180C / 350 F / Gas mark 4. If using muffin papercups, line them into the muffin pan. If not (I didn't) butter the sides and bottom of muffin pan.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, oat bran, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, molasses, butter, and eggs. Add to dry ingredients, stir until just combined. Using a spatula, fold in the raisins.
  4. Divide equally among muffin cups (an ice cream scoop works best for this). Bake for 20 -25 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.
  5. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.
http://sukarah.com/2013/05/skinny-oat-bran-muffins.html

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I wish I was a dietician to sit here and write a post about the benefits of oat bran and oats. Alas, am not, so am just going to repeat what every other dietician rumbles: they are healthy, loaded with fiber, and lower cholesterol. Not a lot of foods have this reputation.

I’ve “lebaniased” these muffins by adding carob molasses. What would you add if you were me? Do you love oats, or do you just loathe anything stamped healthy? We’d love to hear from you, so share your comments below.

 

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Lemon Bundt Cake

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Sometimes its the simple things in life that make life memorable. If you read this blog often, you probably now that  am a working mom to two daughters, Celine who is 27 months & Sophia 8 months old. Today, i’ll share with you something about Celine. She helped me bake this cake. She really did. She helped cream the eggs and sugar, add the eggs, squeeze the lemon juice & add the yogurt. She had fun licking the bowl, but what kid wouldn’t do that?

Since i started this blog celine has been watching. She is the one who sits on the kitchen floor near the oven waiting for the cake to be done. She is the one licking the spatula while i decorate the cakes. She is the one sitting while I shoot the cake, waiting for the first slice. but honestly she is not always just “sitting and waiting”, I cant tell you how many time she has stuck a fork in the cake while I wasn’t looking. But its ok, she is my baby, and if my baby can’t mess up my cake, I don’t know who can. (I cried once when she dropped my two layers frosted carrot cake to the floor, but that’s another story)

This lemon bundt cake reminds me a lot of the time I was pregnant with Celine. Am not sure whether my sweet tooth has to be ashamed of this, but when I was pregnant with her, this cake was the only dessert I could have. I became nauseous at the thought of chocolate or vanilla or even caramel. I added lemons to everything, even to my water.

Celine

Attacking my Tunisian citrus almond cake

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Waiting, so she can grab a blueberry muffin

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Sticking a fork into a cake that never made it to the blog

Oh, and Celine, she loves lemons as much as I do. I once heard that children develop their taste buds in the womb. This would explain why she loves lemons so much.

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Celine, being coy not to crash the lemon cake.

So lets talk about this lemon cake.Saying that this is a moist cake would be an underestimate. Even if you’re not a lemon cake person, this cake is for you. the lemon flavor is very subtle, yet the cake is not overly sweet.

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I used Dorie Greenspans method to rub the lemon into the sugar before creaming into butter – this will infuse the flavors. This step is mandatory in this recipe if you want to get the best smelling lemon cake ever.

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Lemon Bundt Cake

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 60 minutes

Total Time: 80 minutes

Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup (200 g) unsalted butter,
  • 3 cups (345 g) all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 cups (400 g) white sugar
  • Zest of 5 lemons, finely grated
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
  • 1 cup (235 g) yogurt
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • For the Glaze
  • 1/8 cup (31 ml) fresh lemon juice
  • 1 cup (115 g) powdered sugar

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 180C / 350F / Gas mark 4. Butter and flour a 12 cup bundt pan, make sure all the sides and rim are buttered well, my pan was not non stick and I had no problem removing the cake from the pan (baking spray works also).
  2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
  3. Place the sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Use your fingertips to rub the lemon zest into the sugar. Add the butter, use the paddle attachment to cream the butter and sugar.
  4. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla and mix for 3 minutes on medium high speed.
  5. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients alternating between the dry ingredients and the wet, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
  6. Pour into the prepared baking pan. Bake in the center of the oven for 60 – 65 minutes, or until a skewer inserted turns clean with few moist crumbs.
  7. Once done, remove from the oven, place on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Then place a plate on top of the bundt pan, hold the plate with one hand and the cake pan with another, use oven gloves, if needed, and turn the pan upside down. Remove the pan, and let the cake to cool completely before decorating.
  8. To make the icing, combine the powdered sugar and lemon juice. Mix until combined.
  9. Pour on the cooled cake. Allow the icing to set for 20 min at least before serving.
http://sukarah.com/2013/05/lemon-bundt-cake.html

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Healthy carrot cake with mascarpone cream cheese frosting

I’ve recently come to the realization that most people are on some sort of diet. Either, low cal, low fat, low carb, or whatever new diet that is trending now. Which led me to realization that in one way or another we are all just searching for a way to better enjoy the food without our waistlines being affected.

Let me be honest here. The thought of making a healthy carrot cake is very intimidating. I just didn’t want to take risks with my favorite classic and make a mess out of it. Many people already consider classic carrot cake to be healthy as is. After all, it contains vegetables (carrots), made using presumably healthy fats (oils not butter), it contains walnuts, spices etc.. The fatal heart clogging ingredients in carrot cake is of course, the cream cheese frosting. Whenever I make cream cheese frosting I avoid the weight scale for weeks because I feat I’ll be the weight of an elephant the next day. I simply cant practice self control when I know I have carrot cake in the fridge. I could eat the whole thing by myself in one sit.

Healthy Carrot Cake

The good news is I’ve come up with a healthier alternative. Let me assure you that this healthy carrot cake will not:

  • Clog your arteries
  • Give you  a sugar coma
  • Expand your waistline
  • Make you miss the old carrot cake that is loaded with oil and buttery / sugary cream cheese

You want to know the best part about this cake. The cream cheese frosting. Its even healthy. It does not contain any butter or sugar and it still tastes great! It a combination between mascarpone and cream cheese. P.S. don’t use low fat cream cheese else, the frosting will be too runny, (I learned this the hard way).

Although this cake is healthy, its is still as delicious as any regular oily carrot cake. It is moist, fragrant, fulfilling and more importantly healthy.

First and foremost, this recipe needs preparations. Shred the carrots. Crush the pineapple. And chop the walnuts. Once you do that, everything else is a piece of cake.

For the carrots decorating the cake, i use the marzipan (almond paste). I used orange and green food coloring, (don’t forget to wear gloves, else your hands will be the colors of a carrot for days) i shaped the carrots using my palms, and used a clean garlic crushed and a knife to make the green part of the carrot. You can make your carrots look more real by using the back of the knife, a little cocoa then gently press horizontal lines on the carrot.

Don’t worry if the carrots don’t look perfect, or have a uniform size. Just remember that real carrots come in all shapes and sizes ;-)

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So the next time you’re in a mood for a carrot skip the regular carrot cake, and make this healthy alternative instead.

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Healthy carrot cake with mascarpone cream cheese frosting

Ingredients

    For the cake
  • 2 1/2 cups (288 g) whole wheat flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp cinnamon powder
  • 1 tsp nutmeg powder
  • 1 tsp ginger powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup (225 g) sour cream
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 3/4 cup (173 g) dark brown sugar
  • 3 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 3 cups (400 g) shredded carrots,
  • 1/2 cup (113 g) pineapple, crushed and drained
  • 1 cup (120 g) chopped walnuts
  • For the frosting
  • 1 cup (250 g) mascarpone cheese, room temperature
  • 1/2 pack (112 g) cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1/4 cup (80.5 g) maple syrup

Steps

    To make the cake
  1. Preheat oven to 180C / 350 F / Gas mark 4. Grease and flour a 9 inch sprinform cake pan (or a deep cake pan). Set aside.
  2. In a medium size bowl, shift the wheat, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt. Set aside.
  3. In the bowl of the mixer, mix the sour cream, olive oil and sugar until combined.
  4. Add the eggs, mix until combined.
  5. Gradually add the dry ingredients. Mix until just incorporated. Don’t over mix.
  6. Using a spatula, fold in the carrots, pineapple and walnuts.
  7. Pour into the prepared baking pan. The batter will be thick. Don’t worry, it supposed to be like this. Bake for 50 – 55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center come out clean.
  8. Cool for 15 minutes in a wire rack before removing the cake mold. Cool completely before frosting.
  9. To make the frosting
  10. Beat the mascarpone cheese and cream cheese together until light and fluffy.
  11. Add the maple syrup. Beat until combined.
  12. Spread on the cake once it has cooled completely.
http://sukarah.com/2013/05/healthy-carrot-cake.html

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So what do you think about healthy food? Are you on a diet? Where do you stand on healthy foods? Do you automatically assume anything healthy will taste bad? Are you willing to take a risk with your favorite classic and turn it into something healthy? I’d love to hear from you, so please share your stories.

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Coconut Basbosa

الوصفه بالعربي في اسفل الصفحه. وصحتين سلف

If you’re not an Arabian, chances are you’ve never heard of Basbousa. So please let me introduce you to this wonderful, easy, simple cake that requires 10 minutes to make.

If you are an Arabian, you probably know Basbosa by one of its many, many different names. The most famous name for this dessert is from Egypt where its called Basbosa, in Lebanon its called Namoura نموره, in Morocco and Jordan its called Hareesa هريسه, while in Turkey its called Revani.

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No matter what its called, all these naming refer to one type of dessert. A dessert that is made using semolina flour and soaked in orange flower simple syrup. Like I said, this type of dessert is very simple to make, no mixer is needed, culinary skills required to make this are the following:

  • how to use a wooden spoon to beat ingredients (if you’re lazy like me, go ahead, use your food processor mixer)
  • how to grease a rectangular Pyrex dish
  • how to place a rectangular Pyrex dish in the oven
  • how to remove a rectangular Pyrex dish in the oven
  • how to cut the Basbosa into diamond shapes (this is very hard, and am far from perfecting this yet)

The hardest part is obviously the last point, but hey, it you don’t strive for perfection, you can just omit it and cut these into square shapes, no one will complain!

A few notes about the recipe:

  • If its not too sweet, its not Basbosa. It soaked in syrup. The recipe does make almost two cups of syrup, you might think its too much, but I assure you it’s not. Use all the syrup to soak the cake.
  • The syrup must be made while the cake is in the oven. Let your syrup cool. And pour it over the cake while its still warm. Let the cake cool completely before serving.

Coconut Basbosa

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 15 - 18 servings

Recipe adapted from Nestle desserts

Ingredients

    for the basbosa
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1 can (397 g) condensed milk
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups (320) semolina
  • 1 cup (100 g) dried coconut flakes
  • 1 cup (250 ml) coconut milk (or water)
  • for the syrup
  • 1 1/2 cup (300 g) sugar
  • 1 cup (250 ml) water
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp orange rosewater blossom

Steps

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C / 350 F / Gas mark 4.
  2. Grease a large rectangular Pyrex dish with butter. Set aside.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, use a large wooden spoon to mix the butter, condensed milk and baking powder. Add the eggs and mix until blended. Once they are mixed, add the semolina flour coconut flakes and coconut milk. Mix until all are incorporated.
  4. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes (until the top is browned).
  5. Meanwhile, prepare the syrup. In a medium side pot, place the sugar and water over medium heat. Once they boil, simmer for 6 - 8 minutes. Remove from heat, add the lemon juice and orange blossom.
  6. Once the cake is ready, remove from the oven. Pour the syrup on the cake. Cool on a wire rack. Cool completely before serving.
http://sukarah.com/2013/05/coconut-basbosa.html

There are many variations of this dessert, today am sharing the coconut Basbosa. The recipe is basically fool proof, with no skills required to make it. So you have no excuse not to make this. Once you do, you’ll be adding it to your favorite go-to desserts. But I warn you, don’t make this for your friends, because they’ll be asking you to make it every-single-time they meet you!

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البسبوسه بجوز الهند

المكوّنات
اصبع زبده واحد
1  علبة أو 397 غ حليب المكثف المحلى
1  ملعقة صغيرة  البيكينغ باودر
2 بيض
2  أكواب أو 320 غ السميد
1  كوب أو 100 غ جوز الهند المجفف
1  كوب أو 250 مل حليب جوز الهند (او ماء)

للقطر:
1½  كوب أو 300 غ من السكر
1  كوب أو 250 مل من الماء
1  ملعقة صغيرة من عصير الحامض
1  ملعقة طعام من ماء الزهر

طريقة التحضير

يُدهن قالب بايركس مربع كبير بالزبده.
في وعاء كبير، تمزج الزبده والحليب المكثف والبيكينغ باودر  بملعقعه خشبية كبيرة وتُحرّك جيّداً. يضاف البيض ثم يُضاف السميد وجوز الهند المجفّف وحليب جوز الهند. تخفق المكونات حتى تمتزج.
يُسكب المزيج في قالب البايركس ويُخبز لمدة 35 – 40 دقيقة او حتى يصبح الوجه ذهبي.
في هذه الاثناء يحضر القطر. يوضع السكر والماء في قدرٍ ويُغلى. بعد ان يغلي يُترك على نارٍ خفيفةٍ لمدّة 6 إلى 8 دقائق ثم يُرفع عن النار ويُضاف إليه عصير الحامض وماء الزهر.
يُستخرج القالب من الفرن ويُسكب فوقه القطر ثم يوضع في مكانٍ معتدل الحرارة كي يبرد ويُقدّم

 

What do you think of this dessert? Ever had a semolina cake? Ever heard of basbosa? Please try this recipe and let me know what you think.

If you enjoy Sukarah’s posts, please like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or check Sukarah’s Instagram! Or follow our pins on Pinterset.

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Chocolate zucchini cake

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Chocolate & zucchini cake, welcome to my life.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, I’ve just climbed from whatever rock  I was living under for the past twenty something years and just discovered that chocolate and zucchini makes a killer combo. Chocolate and zucchini! Who’d have thought? Not me for sure.

I‘ve heard about this cake before but I’ve just never got the courage to actually bake it. I was afraid I’d bake it and my picky family would refuse to eat it because it contained zucchinis. But yesterday I found some zucchini is the fridge which I am too lazy to cook and make as kousa mahshi (its basically a middle eastern food, where the zucchinis are cored and then stuffed with rice and lamb meat and then cooked in tomato sauce. it tastes great, but takes ages to make!). I’d hate to waste completely edible food, so I decided to venture and take my chances and make a chocolate zucchini cake.

Let me tell you that this is the best venture I ever made. And no you can’t taste the zucchinis. You can’t taste the zucchinis. You’ll have to trust me on this one ok. Just trust me. Unless you blurt it out that it contains zucchini, no one will ever know. I made a little experiment by not letting my family see or know that this cake contains zucchini and guess what? They never guessed. Even when I told them, they did not believe that it contained zucchini,  I tried to convince my husband but he still thinks its one of my jokes.

Although the recipe is adapted from king Arthur flour website, unfortunately, I can’t get that flour here where I live, so I modified the recipe and used the regular all purpose flour I was always use. The recipe survived and turned out fine.

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A few notes about the cake

  • I reduced the amount of fat in the cake by skipping the oil. I did not miss the oil, because the cake was moist due to the addition of sour cream and zucchinis. I even think next time i make it, am going to reduce the butter in half, am taking a wild guess but i think the cake would turn out fine.
  • I weighed my zucchinis before shredding them, they weighed almost 500 gram, then I squeezed the water out, weighed them again they weighed almost 190 gram, by volume they were about 1 & 1/2 cup. Bottom line I suggest you try to squeeze as much water out of them as you can because all that excess water can affect the moisture of the cake.

You want to know how good this cake is? its so goof that am willing to go out of my way to buy zucchinis, shred them and fold them into this cake.

Seriously. Get off your computer and go make this now.

Chocolate zucchini cake

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup (113 g) butter
  • 1 3/4 cups (347 g) sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup (226 g) sour cream
  • 2 1/2 cups (298 g) all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup (64 g) cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons instant coffee
  • 3 cups (340 g to 510 g) shredded zucchini, check my notes above*
  • 1/2 cup (85 g) chocolate chips
  • 1 cup (170 g) chocolate chips
  • Whipped cream to garnish, optional

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 180C / 350F / Gas mark 4.
  2. Grease a 9 inch cake pan with butter. Set aside.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until smooth.
  4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
  5. Stir in the sour cream alternately with the flour.
  6. Add the cocoa and instant coffee powder, mixing until smooth.
  7. Fold in the zucchini and 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
  8. Bake the cake for 50 to 55 minutes, until the top springs back lightly when touched, and it seems set.
  9. To ice the cake: Slide the cake out of the oven, sprinkle it evenly with the 1 cup chocolate chips, and return it to the oven for 5 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
  10. Remove the cake from the oven, completely cool on a rack before removing from the springform pan.
  11. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.
  12. Store in an airtight container up to six days in a cool dry place.
http://sukarah.com/2013/04/chocolate-zucchini-cake.html

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What do you think my dear reader? Is chocolate zucchini cake a yay or nay? Its a yay for me. Have you ever eaten vegetables in a cake? Do you think have vegetables in a cake makes it healthier? Share your thoughts.

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Thermomix Pizza Dough

As much as I loath myself for saying this, as just going to say it anyway. I have never had much luck making pizza dough on my kitchen aid. I know, I know, I know. It’s supposed to kneed bread and whatever, but for me, it just never worked. Even before I had a thermomix, and had a kitchen aid only, I used my regular food processor to make pizza dough. A food processor while the kitchen aid sat on the counter not doing pizza dough!

To be fair, I have to say am sure it’s me, not the kitchen aid. I mean come on, everyone makes pizza dough on their kitchen aid, but I just can’t make decent pizza dough out of that beautiful thing.

Kitchen aid, am sure its me not you. Don’t take it too personal.

This is where my thermomix comes to rescue. Basically  when I want to make pizza, I make the dough before going to work, let it rise peacefully till I come back in the afternoon, and then i come home and do my pizza magic.

As a person who always bakes her pizza from scratch, having a thermomix has made my life much easier (ok, not my life, just the kitchen side of my kitchen). I can easily make my pizza dough in less than 5 minutes, let it rise, and then when am ready to make my pizza, I make the tomato sauce in the thermomix which will take almost 5 minutes!

Although am far, far from being a vegetarian, I am not really a big fan of meat on my pizza. I also have a lot of reservations towards the safety of lunch meat so I skip these as well (it’s OK if you like them, but lunch meat is just not for me). So we usually just have a regular vegetarian pizza topped with lots of mushroom, olives and of course cheese. Lots and lots of cheese. This is the only pizza I like. This is the only pizza I know

Large (3)Anyways, am always trying to “improvise” as I cook, so last week something horrible happened. So horrible I was standind baffled in my kitchen. I ran out of all purpose flour. It was 7.30 am and I was in the middle of making my pizza doug. The horror, I know! Running to the grocery store at that time a morning is not an option so I had to improvise. I had the following types of flour in my pantry

  • Self rising flour
  • Strong bread flour
  • Chickpea flour
  • Organic oat flour

Logic would state that I use bread flour, but it was far inside the pantry that I had to grab a chair to grab it, since its early morning, I decided to just grab the easiest one, which in this case was oat flour. I have bought this oat a few weeks back but I haven’t ventured into using it in my baked goods cause I worried as to how the low gluten in oat flour would react in baking. But that’s me. A worr-ier..

 

So long story short, I added the oat flour. To my surprise the dough raised regularly as it would do with a regular 100% all purpose flour. Once baked, the pizza had a bit of nutty after taste, and it was flakier than usual. I always like my pizza thin and crispy.

Below is the recipe for thermomix pizza dough, let me know how it goes for you.

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Thermomix Pizza Dough

Yield: Makes two large pizzas

Slightly adapted from Super Kitchen Machine

Ingredients

  • 380 g all purpose flour
  • 120 g oat flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 240 g water
  • 100 g extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 sachet (10 g) instant yeast
  • 1 tsp sugar

Steps

  1. In a separate bowl, combine the all purpose flour, oat flour, and salt.
  2. Add the water and oil to the thermomix bowl, mix for 20 seconds/37C/speed 1.
  3. Add the instant yeast and sugar, mix for 5 seconds/37C/speed 3.
  4. Gradually add the flour mixture, mix for 15 seconds/speed 8.
  5. Knead dough for 2 minutes on dough mode.
  6. Slightly grease a glass bowl with olive oil. Remove dough, shape into a ball, and place into the greased bowl. Cover with cling film and place a wet cloth on top of the bowl (this is a tip I learned from my mom which presumably helps the dough rise, it has something to do with moisture I suppose)
  7. Place the bowl in a warm place. Let it rest until it doubles in size (one to two hours).
  8. Once the dough has doubled in size, divide into two equal balls, allow to rest for 10 minutes before shaping. You can use a rolling pin, or just your hands. The dough is quite stretchy.
  9. Bake using toppings of choice for 25 minutes in a preheated oven at 220C / 425F.
http://sukarah.com/2013/04/thermomix-pizza-dough.html

For my pizza, i used tomato sauce base, topped it with sliced onions, black olives, mushrooms, green and yellow pepper. sprinkled mozarella cheese  and topped it with fresh thyme and basil.

Am having trouble not eating it off my screen now.

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How do you make your pizza dough? What ingredients do you like on top of your pizza? Do you like your pizza vegetarian? Or do you add exotic toppings like figs and walnuts to your pizza?

If you enjoy Sukarah’s posts, please like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or check Sukarah’s Instagram! And while you’re at it pin us on Pinterset.

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Healthy Blueberry Muffins

 

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Although breakfast is the most important meal of the day, as all dieticians state, most of the time, due to morning rush, the hurry to get to work on time, beat traffic, get the kids ready to school etc, its usually the unhealthiest meal of day. Sad but true. Therefore, breakfast can easily become a challenge, especially if you are like me, trying to eat a fresh homemade breakfast that doesn’t include milk (am lactose intolerant), cereal (come on, we all know its loaded with junk), or a store bought granola bar (I hate these!)  But with a little planning, breakfast can easily become healthy again because it’s never a bad idea to start the day with a healthy breakfast.

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The idea behind making these muffins originated because my two years daughter, Celine, loves everything cupcakes. (She doesn’t know the difference between cupcakes and muffins, but then most of us don’t either).  As much as I would love for her to eat an organic egg omelet every day, it usually a struggle to just get her to eat anything, not just breakfast. Unless it’s a kinder surprise egg, then she has no issues eating it in a nano-second. She is quit a very picky eater, just like any other toddler, I suppose. So knowing how much she loved cupcakes, I made here these healthy blueberry muffins, that are kids friendly in the sense that they won’t get your little one into a sugar rush,  and adult friendly in the sense that they won’t get your blood sugar into the roof.

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You might think that because these are healthy, than they won’t taste as good. Let me assure you that the taste was no bargain while making these, although they have only little butter,  trust me you won’t miss the butter because the  sour cream make these muffins moist, the bananas add sweetness, and blueberries adds the antioxidants. Let us not forget the oat bran and wheat germ. Oat bran is loaded with vitamin B and fibers, while wheat germ is an excellent source of vitamin A & E and other stuff I have no idea about. Not bad at all, especially for the most important meal of the day.

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Healthy Blueberry Muffins

Yield: 12 Muffins

Ingredients

  • • 1 1/2 cups (173 g) all purpose flour
  • • 1/2 cup (75 g) oat bran
  • • 3/4 cup (50 g) wheat germ
  • • 3 tsp baking powder
  • • 1/2 tsp salt
  • • 4 tbsp (60 g) butter, melted
  • • 3 bananas, ripe and mashed
  • • 1 cup (245 g) sour cream
  • • 3 eggs, _at room temperature
  • • 1 tsp vanilla
  • • 1/4 cup (50 g) unrefined dark brown sugar
  • • 1 1/2 cup (230 g) frozen blueberries, _not thawed

Steps

    Stand Mixer
  1. Preheat oven to 180°C / 350° F / Gas mark 4.
  2. Spray a muffin pan with no stick vegetable oil or line the muffin pan with paper liners.
  3. In a large bowl combine flour, oat bran, wheat germ, baking powder and salt. Reserve two table spoons of the dry ingredients for tossing the blueberries (step 4). Set aside.
  4. In the bowl of the stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the bananas, and sour cream , for 3 – 5 minutes unit blended.
  5. Add the eggs one by one mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla. Add the sugar, mix for 2 minutes.
  6. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour. Once all the flour is used, increase to speed to medium high and mix for 3 minutes.
  7. Fold the blueberries with the reserved two tablespoons flour.
  8. Using a spatula, gently fold the blueberries into the mixture.
  9. Divide the mixture evenly into the prepared muffin pan. Bake in a preheated oven for 25 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean
  10. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.
  11. Thermomix way:
  12. In a large bowl combine flour, oat bran, wheat germ, baking powder and salt. Reserve two table spoons of the dry ingredients for tossing the blueberries (step 4). Set aside
  13. In the thermomix bowl, mix the butter, bananas, sour cream, 60 seconds, speed 4.
  14. Add the eggs one by one mixing for 30 seconds speed 4 Add the vanilla and sugar and mix for 60 second, speed 4.
  15. Use the thermomix measuring cup to pour the dry ingredients into the thermomix bowl. Mix on speed 4 until the dry ingredients are incorporated.
  16. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour. Once all the flour is used, mix on speed 5 for 30 seconds.
  17. Using thermomix spatula, fold the blueberries with the reserved two tablespoons flour.
  18. Using thermomix spatula, gently fold the blueberries into the mixture.
  19. Divide the mixture evenly into the prepared muffin pan. Bake in a preheated oven for 25 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean
  20. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.
http://sukarah.com/2013/04/healthy-blueberry-muffins.html

A little side note, I’ve drastically reduced the sugar because I like to reserve sugar for my desserts. As much as I would love to have dessert for breakfast, am afraid my waistline has no mercy on such behavior. So, skip the typical sugar and butter loaded muffins and make a batch of these instead. Your waist line will thank you.

Btw, these muffins have the same effect on Celine as the kinder surprise eggs. They are gone in a nano second.

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Do you usually struggle to have a decent and healthy breakfast everyday? Do you struggle with your kids to get them to eat breakfast? Or to eat anything at all?

Do you think breakfast should be the healthiest meal of the day, or do you indulge in breakfast and eat healthy for the rest of the day?

I’d love to hear what you think so please share your thoughts.

Enjoy your breakfast ladies and gentlemen!

If you enjoy Sukarah’s posts, please like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or check Sukarah’s Instagram! And while you’re at it pin us on Pinterset.

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Tunisian Citrus Almond Cake

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Please don’t sway away in horror just because this is a gluten free cake. I am still the same person who loves gluten and sugar, and butter, but this time I thought I’d try something new. It sure wouldn’t kill me to eat a gluten free cake. So when I stumbled on this recipe I knew I had found special cake for April. I’ve modified the original recipe to make it gluten free, sugar free etc… My fingers were crossed in hopes that the cake wont explode in the oven (one time an eggplant exploded in my oven, so please don’t ask), when it didn’t explode, I knew I had found a keeper. This Tunisian cake is everything that you can expect from regular wheat laden, sugar loaded, empty calorie cake. Its also very crunchy. I like that about a cake. Not a lot of cakes can claim to be crunchy, and yet moist. I can’t believe that a cake that is gluten free, sugar free, and butter free would be so melt-in-your-mouth cake!

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You know whats the best part about this cake? It’s a one bowl cake! Yes one bowl. You only need one bowl (I realize I’ve said it three time already) to mix all the ingredients, and then just dump them in the cake pan.

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  • Don’t worry if the mixture seems a little runny. Its supposed to be like that.
  • Don’t worry if the cake seems to fall a little after baking its normal. Mine puffed a lot while baking, but it fell a little after cooling. That’s completely normal.
  • If you notice the cake top browning too fast, half time through baking, cover the top of the cake with aluminum pan.
  • You can make this cake even if you don’t have a mixer.
  • I’ve included the thermomix way to do the cake and the syrup in the recipe below. Just because it’s so easy to make it on the thermomix. But you don’t need thermomix or any other mixer to make this cake. All you need is one bowl and a wooden spoon.

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Tunisian Citrus Almond Cake

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes

Yield: 1 one 9 inch cake, serves 6 - 8

Adapted from Waitrose

Ingredients

    Cake
  • 1 cup (100 g) Almond Meal
  • 1/2 cup (75 g) cornmeal (polenta)
  • 1 1/2 tsp gluten free baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/3 cup (110 g) honey, preferably raw
  • 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp (200 ml) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 tsp orange zest
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
  • For the syrup
  • Juice of 1 orange
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1/8 cup (50 g) honey, preferably raw
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 2 pods cardamom
  • 1/2 tbsp orange-flower water
  • 2 tbsp pistachio, grounded (for garnish)

Steps

    Cake
  1. Preheat oven to 180C / 350F / Gas mark 4. Grease and line 9 inch springform cake pan.
  2. Mix the almond meal, cornmeal, baking powder & salt. Add the honey. Beat in the oil, eggs and both zests.
  3. Pour into the prepared cake pan for 40 to 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for five minutes then turn out on to a plate.
  4. Syrup
  5. Put all the ingredients except the orange water into a pan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Simmer for five minutes. Remove the cinnamon and add the flower water.
  6. While the cake is still warm, pierce it all over and pour on half the syrup. As it cools, spoon on the rest. Just before serving, sprinkle the grounded pistachios.
  7. This cake even tastes better on the next day, so keep in a airtight container for one week in the fridge.
  8. Thermomix way:
  9. In the bowl of the thermomix, make the almond meal. Blitz the almond on speed 10, 15 sconds.
  10. Add the cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Mix on speed 4 for 10 seconds.
  11. Add the honey, olive oil, eggs, lemon & orange zest. Mix on speed 4 for 2 minutes.
  12. Bake in a preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes.
  13. Meanwhile, wash the thermomix bowl, and prepare the syrup. Through all the ingredients (except the orange blossom water & pistachios) in the thermomix bowl, Cook for 3 minutes at 90C on speed 1. Add the orange flower water, and cook for 30 seconds.
  14. Follow the directions from step 5.
http://sukarah.com/2013/04/tunisian-citrus-almond-cake.html

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This post is part of the cake of the month project for 2013, where every month I make a new cake from a new country.

In January I made this Swedish Saffron Cake.

In February, I made these mini Mexican chocolate cakes.

In March I made this Kuwaiti Cardamom & Saffron Cake.

Now, in April it was this Tunisian Citrus & Almond Cake. A gluten free, vegan, sugar free, butter free cake.

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There you have it my dear readers. A gluten free, sugar free, butter free, and ~almost~ vegan Tunisian Cake.

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Maltesers Cake

Let me tell you the story about this scrumptious chocolate Maltesers Cake.

This cake is fit to be a birthday cake, a celebration cake, or if you are like, you can just consider it as “I-have-no-excuse- to make this cake but am going to make it anyway”. I call this baking guilt. These kind of thought occur to me because, errr, I like bake a lot, so when someone asks what’s the occasions, am left baffled, trying to invent an imaginary birthday / special occasions / reason to make a cake. Just so you know, in my opinion it’s rude to ask people why they are making cake. No one needs an excuse to make a cake.

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Now that that’s off my chest, I can move on to our topic. This indulgent cake. You know I loved about is cake? How easy it was to decorate it. Just arrange chocolate malted milk balls. How hard can that be? And the end result looks like it was bought from a fancy bakery. seriously it’s so easy to decorate that my two yo daughter can do it, however I didn’t let to because she’d eat ALL the Maltesers before they made it to the cake.

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Notes about the cake:

Firstly, you will need a lot more Maltesers than you think to make this cake. I say that with good intentions. If you are like me, you’ll end up eating some while decorating it. Which is totally ok by me, just make sure to have enough else you’ll have to make a quick run to the store. (Not fun when you’re in the middle of decorating a cake)

Next time am making this am skipping the buttercream and frosting it with ganache instead. I found the buttercream not sticky enough for my precious Maltesers.

I used 8” cake pans, I recommend using a 9” cake pans instead, there was just alot of cake batter for an 8″ pan.

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Maltesers Cake

Prep Time: 50 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours

Yield: one cake, 2 layers, serves 9

Ingredients

    cake
  • 2 cups (230 g) flour
  • ¾ cup (90 g) cocoa powder
  • ½ cup (90 g) malt powder
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 cup (220 g) butter, room temp
  • 1 cup (200 g) white sugar
  • ½ cup (100 g) brown sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup (250 ml) milk
  • chocolate Ganache
  • ½ cup (125 ml) whipping cream
  • ½ cup (100 g) semi sweet chocolate chips
  • chocolate butter cream
  • ½ cup (113 g) butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup (100 g) powder sugar, sifted
  • 4 tbsp malt powder
  • 4 tbsp milk
  • 15 – 20 Maltesers bag (each bags weighs ~ 37 g)

Steps

    Cake
  1. Preheat oven to 180°C / 350° F / Gas mark 4.
  2. Spray two 8” cake pans with non stick vegetable oil. Place two disks of parchment paper into the pans. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl sift the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, malt, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
  4. In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter, two kinds of sugar until light and fluffy. About 5 minute on medium high speed.
  5. Add the eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition.
  6. With the mixer on low speed, slowly and gradually add the dry ingredients alternate between the dry ingredient and milk until all ingredients are used. Mix for additional 5 minutes on medium high.
  7. Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 40 – 45 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
  8. Cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.
  9. Chocolate Ganache
  10. In a medium size sauce pan, bring the cream to boil. Watch closely, you don’t want the cream to boil for long.
  11. Place the chocolate in a heat proof bowl, pour the cream immediately and whisk until all chocolate has melted. Allow to cool and come to room temperature.
  12. In the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, mix on high speed for 2 – 3 minutes.
  13. Let it cool in the fridge.
  14. chocolate buttercream
  15. In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy.
  16. With the mixer on low speed, add the powder sugar gradually.
  17. Add the malt powder. Mix for 3 minutes, on medium high speed.
  18. Reduce the speed to low, add the milk.
  19. Assembly
  20. Place one cake layer on turntable. Spread chocolate ganache. Place the second layer on top and press gently. Frost the cake using the buttercream. Decorate with chocolate malted milk balls.
http://sukarah.com/2013/04/maltersers-cake.html

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See you next cake.

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