Oat Raisin Cookies – Gluten Free Version included

I found this recipe on Pinterest and originally from Two Purple Figs and I’m a sucker for a traditional Oat Raisin cookie but wanted to make them healthier and to be fair to everyone in the house, gluten free too so I’ve modified the original and it worked out great!

So these are a healthy cookie compared to what you would purchase or traditionally make. They use organic coconut sugar in smaller quantities, have protein powder and include some mixed seeds. All in all, a lot less guilt and some good stuff for you too 🙂

Continue reading

Gluten Free Biscuits

These delicious biscuits are perfect for cutting out using your favourite cutters and can be made at Christmas, Halloween or just because. They work well to different flavour additions and bake up in no time.

I used an embossed rolling pin to get a pattern on the dough and then decorated them with royal icing.

This recipe is free from soya, nuts and is vegetarian also 🙂

Continue reading

Lemon Shortbread – Regular and Gluten Free

This is a recipe for Lemon Shortbread which I converted to gluten free and it worked out well. It’s very short so can be quite crumbly. It needs time to sit both before baking (in the fridge) and after baking, in an airtight container. I found the gluten free version more sturdy the next day but once you follow the steps, it will be irresistible!

I used Lemon Extract to give the biscuits an extra zing of lemon but don’t worry if you don’t have any. The recipe calls for a tsp of lemon zest and you can add a little extra if not using the extract.

Continue reading

Date & Apple Cake / Traybake

I first sampled this delicious cake at a Neff Cooking Demonstration to help me understand my new cooker better and not use just 3 settings! After tasting it I asked for the recipe and the ladies very kindly gave it to me.

I made it in an 8″ / 20cm round tin but ideally if you want it to do the same, you need to use a 9″ / 23cm tin or as a traybake, use a 30cm x 20cm rectangular tin. You can serve up to 16 people so it’s a great crowd pleaser.

Don’t worry at all if you don’t like dates; one of my friends is not a fan so I blitzed the dates in a blender before adding them but you can of course just mush them with a fork or potato masher.  Continue reading

Butter Biscuits with Orange Cream Filling

These delicious biscuits come from the kitchen of Vanessa Greenwood and they are full of a wonderful buttery flavour which is only enhanced by the fabulous orange cream centres.

They are really simple to make and other than 10 minutes in the fridge before baking, it’s very straightforward with only a few ingredients and just a mixer. Now Vanessa is a better woman than me as she used a wooden spoon, even though you need the butter to be very soft, I still opted for an easier way 😉

If you were having a kid’s party or a pretty Afternoon Tea, you could dye portions of the orange cream in different colours for a really striking display – pastel for the adults and bright and bold for the kids.

Continue reading

Giant M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies

In honour of the 2018 Great British Bake Off season, I made these fantastically indulgent cookies for the first episode, Biscuit Week!

Not enough to have them full of chocolate chips, they are also full of delicious M&Ms for extra oomph! They are big cookies people ….. BIG cookies. There’s nothing delicate here. Just saying …

I reduced the sugar in them as you use two types of sugar and then you’re adding chocolate chips and M&M’s but wait, they have lots of wholesome oats in them so there’s the healthy ingredients 🙂

Continue reading

Lemon Cookies with Lemon Glaze

Some of you will know that Lemon is featured a lot at cozebakes HQ. We can’t help it. We love practically anything with lemon and when I saw this recipe from Martha Stewart (yes that Martha Stewart), I was always going to make them.

Once I converted them from US weights and cut the sugar in half, I think they are perfect. The great thing about this recipe is that there’s no chilling time in the fridge. They take 10 minutes to make and then it’s straight into the oven. They are what’s known as a “soft cookie” so there’s no crunch but I heard no complaints, no … not one 😉

Continue reading

Gluten Free Cookies

Originally these cookies were made to be sugar cookies where you roll the dough in sugar before baking but I’m not a fan of coating biscuits in sugar. I did add some mini chocolate smarties to these, just a handful to make them look nice and as I greatly reduced the sugar content in the cookies, I thought it wasn’t too bad to add a few for flavour.

You should get about 10 out of this recipe but it will depend on what size you make them.

Continue reading

No Bake Almond Butter & Oat Cookies

These are a combination of a protein ball and a soft cookie. I used crunchy almond butter to make these and I replaced the brown sugar with coconut sugar. If you like nuts, I would add a handful of unsalted nuts to give them extra crunch!

They are basically made in a saucepan and then left to set in the fridge. You need to leave them for at least 2 hours before eating as they won’t hold otherwise. I did try to shape them into balls for easy transport but they don’t have enough sticking power so having them in a cookie shape works better.

I’ve adapted the recipe from the “eating well” site and converted it from US to European measurements.

Continue reading

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

It’s hard to get a good gluten free biscuit recipe that tastes really good and this one seemed worth a go. I’m really glad I tried them as they are ridiculously easy to make and I also feel that the sugar quantity can be greatly reduced while still getting a delicious and decadent chocolate chip cookies to enjoy.

If you like a sweet biscuit or maybe if you are making them for a sweet tooth person then by all means use the full sugar quota but I would be happy to reduce by half. There’s quite a chocolate hit off these too which is a nice surprise as sometimes gluten free biscuits can lack in a flavour hit and all you taste is sugar.

Depending on how much you like your chocolate hit, use either milk or dark chocolate chips.

Continue reading

Energy Bars – Nut Free, Gluten Free, Sugar Free

Seeing the recipe for these Energy Bars in a Gluten Free Magazine, I wanted to give them a try as I have a few “athletes” in my house so figured these would be handy for pre or after training and for hunger pangs on the run.

What’s wonderful about them is you can make them Nut Free, they are naturally Gluten Free and if you leave out the maple syrup, they are basically Sugar Free too

I made them without the maple syrup because I wanted to see how they worked with the zest of an orange and some cinnamon to help the flavours and I felt they are lovely. If you have a sweet tooth or prefer a sweeter snack, then by all means add a good tablespoon of maple syrup.

Personally we love nuts so I did add a selection of natural nuts to give them a different flavour and if you can do that, try it as they are lovely.

Continue reading

No Added Sugar Lemon Honey Oat Biscuits

These biscuits are for when you want to be good but still want a treat and using honey instead of any processed or refined sugar helps to make these a perfect choice. Honey has a lot of advantages over refined sugar so is a good choice.

Using oats gives them great texture and if you use gluten free oats and gluten free oat flour, you can serve them to coeliacs too.

Just be aware not to use a large lemon. Only use a standard one and only zest half of the lemon and use the juice of one half only. Otherwise they can be overpowering as you don’t have the sugar to combat the tang.

Lemon and Honey just work really well together and I’ve adapted this US recipe to grams and offered a few options for ingredients.

Continue reading