I love peanut butter, do you? Peanut butter works well in so many different flavour combinations, peanut butter and chocolate, peanut butter and white chocolate, peanut butter and oreos, peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and pretzels, peanut butter and banana, as you can see, I could go on all day with this, so I’ll stop there. If you’re a big peanut butter lover like I am, give this smoothie a try.
Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie
1/2 banana
1 cup milk
1/2 tblsp chia seeds
1 tsp sweetener
1 tblsp peanut butter
Blend all the ingredients together and enjoy. This is a great snack to keep you going in between meals or bulk it up with some oats and protein powder for a fulfilling meal.
I don’t usually keep a lot of junk food in the house, so when I need a treat I have to be creative. If you’re in need of a simple, easy treat, with ingredients you’d already have in your fridge or pantry, give this a go.
Peanut butter banana pastry
I made a very small batch, this made 4 pastries, feel free to double or quadruple if you need more.
1/2 a sheet of puff pastry (you could just use slices of bread)
1 banana
2 tblsp peanut butter
1/2 cup cream
1 tblsp icing sugar
Pre heat oven to 190C. Cut pastry into 4 rectangles. Cut 2 pieces of baking paper and place your pasty inbetween them on the tray. Place something heavy on top of the pastry to keep them flat (I sandwiched the pastry between 2 baking sheets and also used ramekins for some weight). Put in the oven for 15 minutes, or until lightly golden, mine were more like golden brown, oh well, still tasted good.
Slice bananas. And whip cream with icing sugar. Once pastry is cooked and cooled split the pieces in half, this can be tricky, so you can skip this step. And just have an open pastry instead.
Spread a layer of peanut butter on each of the pastries, fill with banana slices and cream, top with remaining pastry slice and decorate how you wish!
This has got to be considered a healthy dessert right? It’s got nuts, fruit and dairy, must be good for you! Enjoy these little peanut butter, banana pastries, they’re a tasty treat for any time of the day!
A few weeks ago, I made these Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies from Picky Palate. They were delicious. My little man, Muhammad Uzayr loved them too, he even learned how to say “cookie”, I now call him my little cookie monster, for a little kid, he can devour a cookie in minutes!
Since he is so into cookies lately I decided I would whip some up for him (secretly, they were for me too). I didn’t have chocolate chips, so I had to come up with something else. I decided on peanut butter and white chocolate. I always have peanut butter in the house and I also had half a bag of white chocolate chips in the pantry. These white chocolate, peanut butter cookies were amazing, the flavours make a great combo. Especially when the cookies are still slightly warm, and the white chocolate is still gooey inside.
White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
80g Butter
50 g peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 3/4 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup roughly chopped white chocolate melts/buttons
Pre heat oven to 180C. Cream butters and brown sugar on a high speed till light and fluffy. Add in egg and vanilla and mix well. On a very low speed, tip in flour, salt and baking powder until combined. Lastly throw in chocolate chips and ensure they are mixed through well, you may need to do this part by hand. Roll dough into balls and place an inch apart on a baking sheet. I made fairly small balls.
Tip: I only baked 10 balls. The rest I left to freeze on the baking sheet, then packed them into ziplock bags once they were frozen. Here’s another secret, I would pop 1 or 2 out of the bag and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Who knew microwaves could cook cookies? Best thing I ever did! I had little peanut butter white chocolate treats when ever I wanted (I wanted them everyday, sometimes twice a day. Shhh!)
These white chocolate, peanut butter cookies are a must to try out! Let me know if you give it a go!
… not a dinner date. A medjool date, or whatever type you like really!
It is a sunnah of our Prophet (pbuh) to break your fast with dates and water. “If one of you is fasting, he should break his fast with dates. If dates are not available, then with water, for water is purifying.” [Ahmad]
I know we all would have stocked up on dates before the start of Ramadhaan so if you’re looking for some new ways to use your dates here’s one, date filled with nuts, you could almost call it a date baklava.
Nut filled dates
Ingredients
6 tsp nuts of your choice (I used cashews and pistachios)
12 dates ( I used medjool)
Note: the ratio is approximately 1 tsp of nuts to 2 dates
Method
Slice dates on one end and remove pit. Grind nuts in food processor or grinder. Fill each date with a teaspoon of ground nuts and serve.
With Ramadhaan right around the corner, I thought I might put together a few tips on making Ramadhaan a little more healthier. I’m not sure what Ramadhaan is like at your place, but at our place, Ifthaar is an array of deep fried goodies. I guess I can blame that on my Indian heritage. We usually try to compensate for the foods we missed during the day which is very unhealthy. This year I’m attempting a healthier Ramadhaan and here are a few tips:
1. Incorporate nutritious items onto the menu: including foods that are low GI to for a more sustained energy release, porridges such as oats as well as fruit like bananas are filling and keep you fuller for longer. Add fresh fruit and vegetables into your Ifthaar/Dinner which will leave your tummy feeling lighter and give you the energy for Taraweeh (night prayers). Don’t forget the dates, they’re nutritious and full of fibre, and most importantly breaking your fast with dates is a Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W).
2. Prepare your meals in advance: It is more likely that you will be able to keep healthier if you have a clear idea of your meals in advance. Being unprepared is more likely to leave you flustered and running to grab the closest thing that can be quickly prepared in the fryer.
3. Space out your meals: Spreading out your meals will help to get your metabolism going as well as giving your stomache enough time to digest between meals.
4. Bake everything: During Ramadhaan we tend to prepare many ‘fry-ables’ in advance, like samoosas and spring rolls, etc. Try baking these instead, it still has all the flavour and crispiness, but feels so much lighter on the tummy.
5. Fluid Intake: Drink lots of water during Ramadhaan. This is 1 thing we tend to neglect, but it is very important. It seems hard to fit it in, but keep up with the 8 glasses. Remember to sip your water instead of sculling it, drinking in 3 sips is another Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W).
Hope this helps all of you have a healthier Ramadhaan.
It seems lately that macarons have shot into popularity with them being featured frequently on TV cooking shows like Masterchef & Zumbo. My first taste of a macaron was in Singapore with my husband. I had no idea what to expect, I bought a chocolate macaron. I bit into it’s crisp shell and soft, luscious inside just melted into my mouth with the creamy ganache filling. YUM!
I have been determined ever since to recreate these little treasures. After a lot of research, I realised it wasn’t going to be an easy task. Macarons are notorious for being temperamental and hard to master. That shattered my spirits a little but hey, why not give it a go. Well, I did, my first 3 attempts were complete failures. But I kept going. Plucked up the courage to try once more and finally achieved my first decent macaron. Pistachio!
Here’s my recipe (taken from various sources, cookbooks & websites)
Ingredients (this has to be precise and measured as accurately as possible)
35 g Egg whites (approx 1 egg white)
55g Pure icing sugar (pure icing sugar without any corn flour/starch)
45g Almond meal (blanched-skins removed)
30g castor sugar
This recipe makes about 10 macarons once sandwiched (20 halves)
Method
Combine almond meal and icing sugar, grind until it becomes a fine powder. Sieve the almond meal and sugar mixture and discard any big bits, set aside. In a clean stainless steel or glass bowl, with an electric whisk, whick the egg whites until soft peaks form. Slowly drop in castor sugar until the egg whites are stiff and glossy. If using food colouring add it into the egg whites now and give it a quick whisk once more (a gel colouring is recommended). I used a little blue and yellow colouring to make a green shell, next time I think I’ll go darker. Sieve the almond and sugar mixture onto the egg whites and fold it in. Keep folding until the mixture is just incorporated into the egg whites. The mixture needs to be firm but loose enough that it settles back into itself if you make a line through the centre.
Line a tray with baking paper, then fill a piping bag with the mixture and pipe into 3cm rounds. Leave aside for 30 minutes to form a skin and pre-heat the oven to 150°C. The cooler weather in Australia at the moment is ideal for macarons, the humidity during summer can really affect the formation of a skin (Tip – You know the macaron is ready for the oven when you touch it with your finger and it does not stick)
Put it into the oven for 15 minutes. By definition a macaron must have that cracked, airy crease at the bottom (known as feet), you should see this after 5-10 minutes of baking. Let the macarons cool and remove them from the baking paper. If they’re having trouble lifting off, sprinkle some water under the paper. Set aside to cool, ideally leave the macarons for a day in the fridge in an airtight container. Fill macarons with buttercream or ganache filling. I filled my macarons with buttercream that I had added crushed roasted pistachios to.
