Chocolate and Almond Brownies

Well I decided on the brownies to see me through tonight!

Another easy recipe to follow, although as before - I am not very sure about the cooking times! I took these out after 20 minutes and I wouldn't have wanted them in there much longer. Granted, I did it in the wrong sized tin for the recipe (oops) but if I had left them in for another 25 minutes they would have just been cinder! So I recommend that you watch them carefully during the cooking time.

Choc 'n' Almond Brownies

Ingredients (makes 15)

2 large eggs

6 tbspn sweetner

2oz/57g Flora Light

2 tsp vanilla extract

2.5oz/71g plain flour

3 level tbspn cocoa powder

1 tbsp baking powder

A pinch of salt

Fry Light

8 level tspn chopped almonds

How to:

- Preheat your oven to 180ºC. Whisk together the eggs and sweetner until the mixture is thick and pale. Beat in the low fat spread and vanilla extract

- Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt and fold into the egg mixture. Spray an 8inch/20cm square cake tin with Fry Light and pour* in the brownie mixture. Scatter the chopped almonds on top and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until springy to the touch.

- Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes before cutting into 15 squares. Serve warm or allow to cool completely.

Syns per serving: 3½ per square or 52½ for the whole tin

I believe that if you don't decorate them with the almonds then the whole cake will be around 34½ and around 2½ per square.

Once more, thanks to the Slimming World Just Desserts recipe book.

Verdict:

 

 I am very pleased with how these turned out! Although I wouldn't describe them as brownies (they certainly aren't squidgey enough for me to classify them in the brownie category) they have made a lovely light chocolate cake! It may be that I beat the mixture too much when mixing in the dry ingredients - beating in too much air may have caused them to be as light as they are. I am willing to try them again soon though. I think I will be taking them as a taster to weigh in and see what the other Slimmers think!   

 Tomorrow is a night off from the baking as I won't be back in time to do a proper dessert - lets hope I have some of these left!

The Chocolate Log will be next on the list though as I bought the fruit today... Looking forward to it!

*note: this for me was more of a 'smudge the brownie mixture around the tin with as many utensils as possible - it still didn't reach the corners!

Something Sweet

My weakness is sweet things. When people say they have a sweet tooth I think them pretty lucky - I have a whole mouth full of sweet teeth! A concerted effort has begun to find a low syn recipe for something truly delicious.

Tonight was Banoffee crêpes with chocolate drizzle as found in the Slimming World Just Desserts booklet (I believe it was with one of this year's magazines).

I halved the amount as there were only 2 of us eating, but I can safely say they were gorgeous.

Banoffee Crêpes with Chocolate Drizzle

Ingredients (to serve 4)

2oz/57g plain flour

2 tsp artificial sweetner

1 beaten egg

1/4 pint/142ml skimmed milk, plus 3 tbsp for the sauce

Fry Light

200g pot fat-free natural fromage frais

1 pot of Smooth Toffee MüllerLight yogurt

4 bananas

Juice of one lemon

6 Rolos

How To:

- Sift flour and sweetner into a bowl, add egg and milk and whisk until smooth.

- Spray a small frying pan with Fry Light and pour in quarter of the batter, tilting the pan to spread the mixture. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until lightly browned. Flip and cook for another minute. Remove from the pan and keep warm whilst cooking the other pancakes.

- Mix together fromage frais and toffee MüllerLight, set to one side. Thickly slice the banana and pour over the lemon juice.

- For the sauce: put the Rolos and 3 tbsp of milk in a bain-marie and stir until melted. Cut each crêpe in half and ripple one half on to a plate. Spoon over the bananas and toffee mixture then ripple over the other half. Drizzle with chocolate sauce and serve immediately.

Syns per serving: 4 1/2

I did it slightly differently in that I didn't put lemon juice on my banana, nor did I mix the MüllerLight with the fromage frais - there would have been far too much yogurt. We had most of a pot of the toffee MüllerLight between us. I also used a large frying pan and made very thin pancakes.

Some pictures (please excuse the quality - they were taken on my phone): 

 

YUM!

Do you have any delicious sweet recipes that you can share?

Tomorrow night's pud is Hot Lemon Soufflés at 3 syns a piece... Can't wait!

My Journey

I have been on the weight loss journey since July 27th 2009.
It was the day I moved to a new city and decided that a change was needed.
I longed to wear clothes from high street shops.
It had reached the point where I had convinced myself that I was a size 18. I was nearing 18 stone (in fact my first weigh in at Slimming World had been 17 stone 13 and a half pounds), and I was in denial. It had reached the point where I would just refuse to buy clothes in any size over a 20, whereas realistically I probably would have needed a 22 or a 24 to comfortably support the excess.
Here I share with you, dear reader, the trials and tribulations of the fight for a healthier Danielle.
They say you are what you eat, and 69 weeks ago I would have been rectangular, brown and melted in the sun. My addiction to all things sweet (except sugar in tea - why ruin the lovely taste of tea?) and a long ride on cupid's diet, an impressively weak will power and university lifestyle is what got me to where I stood, wanting to cry when seeing those numbers appear on the scales.
Roll forward 69 weeks, and I am almost three whole stones lighter (a great achievement in itself - although it has taken me a while to realise) and a regular exerciser.
I know when you do the calculations my total weight loss comes out at around half a pound a week, but I hate to think where I would have been if I had never assessed my life and made the decision I did.
I am almost at what I believe is my half way point.
I have been stretching the length of my journey recently, bouncing between gains and losses and not really taking a forward steps into a smaller me.
With my motivation dwindling, a fresh outlook is what is required.
I have set myself new targets (mini and very achievable) to get myself to the next stage of my weight loss journey.
Whether you have half a stone to lose, or a whole stack of stones to go, join me on my adventure - the treasure at the end will be the better me.

Stronger together, right?