Toffee Nut Cheesecake

My challenge this week was to make an indulgent cheesecake but with fewer calories than the norm, I was really happy with the result and so were the rest of the cheesecake recipients! So here you have my Toffee Peanut Cheesecake.

P.S The info at the end of the recipe are the syn values for anyone following the Slimming World plan.

Makes 3 individual cheesecakes

For the base:

6 x Kellogg’s Nutrigrain Oats & Honey Breakfast biscuits

Pinch of cinnamon (optional)                

1 teaspoon melted Lurpack Lightest     

Crush the biscuits and add the cinnamon, mix in the melted butter and divide between 3 individual dishes, press down firmly, chill in fridge.

For the topping:

50g Chocolate Philadelphia

1 tablespoon crunchy peanut butter

1 sachet Options Toffee Hot Chocolate

½ tub Quark

1 Toffee Mullerlight Yoghurt

2 leaves gelatine

Vanilla Extract

Sweetener (optional)          

Sliced banana or fresh raspberries

Icing Sugar for dusting

Put the gelatine in a bowl of cold water and leave to soften

Mix together the chocolate Philadelphia and the peanut butter until well combined

Whisk in the Mullerlight yoghurt and vanilla, fold in the Quark, add sweetener to taste (optional)

Squeeze the water from the softened gelatine, put into a small saucepan with small amount of water, heat gently until dissolved

Add the gelatine to the cheesecake mixture and mix well.

Pour the mixture equally onto the biscuit bases and put in fridge to set for 4-6hours.

Top with fresh raspberries and dust with icing sugar

Enjoy!

SW Info

Total Syns per recipe 15 & 3 HEB

Per portion 5syns & 1 HEB 

Chewy Coconut Peanut Butter Slices

If you were to ask me my favourite flavours up there in the top 5 would be coconut & peanut butter, so as you can imagine I LOVE this recipe!

These are delicious, chewy, nutty moreish slices of delight! And believe me, if you are a peanut fan like me, you’ll love them!

The original recipe came from the book ‘Simple Slices’ by the Australian Woman’s Weekly which I picked up at the airport on the way home from holiday in Gozo. I adapted it slightly to use up the ingredients in my cupboard.

Oh, and the best thing about this recipe? No baking and it keeps for up a week......

Chewy Coconut Peanut Butter Slices

Ingredients

·         60g butter, chopped

·         90g honey

·         110g light brown soft sugar

·         95g smooth peanut butter

·         2 tablespoons marmalade (whatever flavour you like, I used pomegranate as that was all I had in the cupboard - also from my hols in Gozo!)

·         90g rolled oats

·         50g Rice Crispies

·         35g desiccated coconut (plus extra for sprinkling)

·         75g dried fruit (I used cranberries but any dried fruit will be fine)

·         55g finely chopped glace cherries or pineapple.

Method

·         Line a 23cm square tin with baking parchment

·         Combine the butter, honey, sugar, peanut butter & marmalade in a large saucepan and heat gently till the sugar has dissolved (don’t boil).

·         Once the sugar has melted bring to a boil for 30 seconds or so and remove from heat.

·         Stir in all the remaining ingredients and mix well.

·         Pour into your lined tin and press down firmly till smooth and even.

·         Sprinkle with the remaining desiccated coconut.

·         Refrigerate till firm, slice, serve, enjoy!!!

·         Will keep for at least a week in an airtight container kept in the fridge. Serve at room temperature.

Honey Maple Goodness Bites

Little guilt free (almost) squares of goodness

Ingredients

100g flaked almonds
100g rolled oats
100g seeds of your choice, pumpkin, sunflower, pine nuts etc – I used a mixture.

35g dessicated coconut

70g dark brown sugar
70g honey
70g maple syrup
60g unsalted butter
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1tsp teaspoon cinnamon
60g rice crispies or puffed wheat or cornflakes
120g dried fruit of your choice  e.g cranberries, blueberries, raisins, apricots.

Spread the almonds, oats, coconut & seeds onto a baking tray lined with parchment and toast in the oven for 8-10mins at 200c until lightly browned and smelling delicious! Allow to cool slightly and then transfer to a large bowl.

While your ingredients are toasting, line an 8-inch square baking tray/tin with parchment paper, let the parchment drape over the sides a little as this makes life a lot easier when removing them from the tin.

In a small saucepan, heat the honey, maple syrup, butter and sugar over a medium heat, allow it to boil until all the sugar is dissolved and a caramel is created, about 5 minutes, WARNING: be very careful as the caramel is VERY HOT!! Do not be tempted to dip your fingers in it!

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla and cinnamon.

Pour the caramel over the nut, oat, and coconut mixture, add the dried fruit and cereal and stir until evenly coated.

Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and spread into an even layer, press down as much as possible. Cover the mixture with a second sheet of parchment and either weigh it down with tins or baking beans. Let stand for about 2 hours. Remove the top piece of parchment. Using the overhanging paper, lift out the square of goodness. Cut into 12 large bars or 24 smaller squares and enjoy!

Eat within a few days, or the squares can be wrapped and frozen.

Enjoy!

Adapted from Blueberry Pumpkin Seed Energy Bars,

www.theresanewfinmysoup.blogspot.co.uk

Double Peanut & Chocolate Cookies

Double Peanut & Chocolate cookies

These cookies are deliciously sweet & nutty with a hint of salt, crisp on the edges and chewy in the middle just like a cookie should be.

Makes approx 20 cookies

Ingredients

115g soft unsalted butter

125g crunchy peanut butter
140g light muscavado sugar
1 large egg, beaten
½ tsp vanilla extract
225g self raising flour
100g good quality chocolate of your choice chopped into chunks (I chose a Green & Black’s bar with almonds for even more nuttiness)
150g roasted salted peanuts

·         Preheat the oven to 180c & lightly grease, or line with parchment several baking trays.

·         Put all the ingredient, except the peanuts into a bowl and mix well with a wooden spoon,  or you can throw it all into your mixer for a minute if you have one, until you have a well combined and formed dough

·         Sprinkle the peanuts into a shallow dish

·         Take ‘ferrero rocher’ sized ball of dough, roll into balls and then gently press them into the peanuts, so you get a nice coating on each ball.

·         Arrange well spaced out on the baking trays (peanut side up)

·         Bake for 15mins until light golden brown

·         Leave to cool on the trays for a couple of minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

·         Enjoy!

·         These will keep in an airtight container for 2-3 days or can be frozen for up to a month.