Traybakes and Cookies

Date & Apple Cake / Traybake

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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

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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.

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Giant M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies

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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 🙂

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Lemon Cookies with Lemon Glaze

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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 😉

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Gluten Free Cookies

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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.

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No Bake Almond Butter & Oat Cookies

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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.

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Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

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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.

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Energy Bars – Nut Free, Gluten Free, Sugar Free

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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.

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No Added Sugar Lemon Honey Oat Biscuits

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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.

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Gluten Free Almond Bites

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We’re big fans of anything almond flavoured at cozebakes HQ and when they are gluten free, it’s a bonus for us with two coeliacs to cater for. The added issue of a preferred low sugar diet can complicate things sometimes but this recipe seemed to have lots of potential.

Initially I doubled the quantities as it seemed a very small amount to spread out in a 20cm square tin. Personally, I’ll be making these again and just dropping scoops of the batter onto a baking tray rather than what the original recipe suggests. Either way, they are really, really delicious. As per usual, I reduced the original sugar quantities and think they are lovely but if you like a good sweet kick, then check my suggestions in the ingredients.

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Cinnamon Oat Cookies

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This recipe originates from Shugary Sweets but I wanted to make these lovely cookies a little bit healthier. I also wanted them to be good for your daily cuppa or equally perfect to give as a gift, bring to a Coffee Morning or enjoy with friends. They have a lovely mix of spice and can be served with or without the cinnamon icing.

You can easily convert these cookies to Gluten Free. Simply use GF oats, GF plain flour and GF baking powder.

I baked them for 15 minutes at 170C (conventional oven) but if you like your biscuits on the crunchy side, then leave them in for 16/17 minutes just to give them that bit extra.

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Apple & Cinnamon Crumble Squares

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Basically, this recipe is a hug in a traybake! It’s so delicious, so warming and full of comfort. The bonus is that it’s really simple to make too. You can serve it with crème fraiche or whipped cream for a dessert or just slice into squares and share with your friends over a cuppa.

These delicious squares can easily be converted to Gluten Free by replacing the flour and oats to gluten free options. As it’s basically a crumble, it will convert well.

Depending on the size of the bars, you should get about 16 generous slices out of this recipe. You don’t need to turn the oven on until you’ve almost completed the apple filling so you can make the filling first if you need to get ahead.

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