SRC: Healthy Raspberry Bars

It's the 4th Monday of the month which can only mean one thing.... It's Secret Recipe Club Group D Reveal day! I love the Secret Recipe Club and look forward to reveal day every month. The concept is simple - each blog is assigned another blog in secret and the idea is that you choose a recipe to make from your secret blog and reveal it on the same day. It's a great way to discover new blogs and exciting recipes. 

This month my assignment is Without Adornment written by Bean. Her favourite hobbies are baking/cooking and photography, both of which she showcases on her blog. She is gluten intolerant and loves to experiment with vegan baking so her blog is a treasure trove of gluten free/dairy free/vegan recipes. I know more and more people with gluten intolerance and food allergies so this was a good opportunity to experiment with recipes and to bake outside my comfort zone. 

I had a real nosey round her blog and I do encourage you to pop over and say hi. She writes a beautiful blog with lovely accompanying pictures. I shortlisted a few recipes to try and in the end went with this raspberry bar as it sounded good and I had some fresh raspberries to hand. Her recipe is a gluten and refined sugar free vegan bar. I've made some adjustments as I did not have all the ingredients to hand so mine is not quite gluten free but it's dairy free with minimal refined sugar. I was really pleased that mine turned out almost exactly the same as Bean's. It tastes like a crumble and the sweetened, spiced tart raspberries are the perfect filling. These would be great for lunch boxes or picnics.

Other recipes I shortlisted to try are banana coconut cream pie, Vegan GF strawberry banana loaf with walnuts, Health(ier) Peanut (Not Quite) Brittle and Vegan Polenta Pizza. 

 flour and oat mix 

 adding coconut oil 

 looks like a crumble mixture 

 mix the raspberries with honey and spices 

 press more than half of the flour mixture onto a traybake tin 

 add a layer of raspberries 

 top with the remaining flour mixture 

 delicious!

Recipe adapted from Without Adornment

55g ground almonds

80 g brown rice flour

100g oats

55g wholemeal flour

100g spelt flour

1 teaspoon baking powder 

50g dark brown sugar

100g coconut oil

450g fresh raspberries

4 - 5 tablespoons honey (adjust to taste) 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• In a large bowl, mix the ground almonds, brown rice flour, oats, wholemeal flour, spelt flour, sugar and baking powder.
• Add the coconut oil and rub into the flour mixture with your fingers until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• In a separate bowl, mix the honey, spices and raspberries together. 
• Spray a traybake tin with non stick spray. Press more than half the flour mixture into the tin and smooth out the top with a spatula.
• Spoon the raspberry layer on top and finish with the remaining crumble mix.
• Bake for approximately 30 - 40 minutes or until golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before slicing into squares.

An InLinkz Link-up

SRC: No Bake Healthy Fudge

It's Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day again. My group (Group D) had a holiday during December so it's been 2 months since my last Secret Recipe post. A quick reminder if you are unfamiliar with this challenge - each blog is assigned another blog in secret and the idea is that you choose a recipe to make from your secret blog and reveal it on the same day. It's a great way to discover other blogs and it's undoubtedly one of my favourite blog challenges.

This month my assignment is The Wimpy Vegetarian. It's a lovely blog written by Susan who lives in San Francisco. She enrolled in culinary school after many years in business and has a passion for vegetarian food. She is currently writing a cookbook that focuses on recipes for vegetarians and omnivores so you don't have to cook two separate meals which is what she did initially with her carnivorous husband.  

She has a wide variety of recipes but of course I headed straight for the dessert section. I bookmarked a few to try but ultimately I decided to make her No Bake Healthy Fudge. I made this early in January when everyone was still recovering from the excess of the festive season. Almost everyone was on a diet of some sort but they still wanted treats albeit healthy ones. I was also quite busy and did not have a lot of time to bake so this recipe was absolutely perfect. It's my first time using coconut oil and it certainly won't be my last. I don't like coconut but this does not taste of coconut at all and it's a much healthier option. The fudge was absolutely delicious. I had numerous requests for the recipe and it's a great recipe for parties as it's healthy, no bake, gluten free, vegan and it can be prepared in advance. 

I also bookmarked a few other recipes which I can't wait to try such as Rustic Zucchini Bread with Brown Rice, salted peanut butter cookies with chocolate nuggets, strawberry cream cheesecake tians and blueberry buttermilk corncake. Do head on over to Susan's blog and say hello! 

I will be taking a general blog holiday in February so will be back with another SRC recipe on the last Monday of March.

 honey, peanut butter, cocoa powder, coconut oil and homemade vanilla extract 

 place in the fridge to set 

 slice and sprinkle some sea salt on top 

Recipe from the Wimpy Vegetarian

250g/1cup  peanut butter

200g/1 cup coconut oil

64g/1/2 cup cocoa powder

3 - 5 tablespoons honey (adjust to taste) 

4  teaspoons vanilla extract

sea salt for sprinkling (optional) 

• Place all the ingredients in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
• Stir until melted.
• Pour into a square tin and place in the fridge for a few hours but preferably overnight until set.
• Turn out and cut into slices.
• Sprinkle sea salt flakes on top before serving.