Carrot, Apple and Oats Muffins

Have a busy week ahead? Don't have time to cook breakfast? Not to worry!! Bake these healthy muffins during the weekend and grab and go breakfast is sorted.

Ingredients:

- Rolled Oats - 1.5 cups

- Grated Carrot - 1 cup

- Grated Apple - 1 cup

- Vegetable Oil - 1/4 cup (You can use any white oil).

- Baking Powder - 1 tsp

- Egg -1

- Vanilla Essence -1 tsp

- Sugar - 1/4 cup (I like keeping it less sweet as the apples and carrots add some sweetness too! Feel free to add more sugar if you want breakfast to be sweeter and less healthy!)

- All Purpose Wheat Flour - 1/4 cup (For binding, you could use self-raising flour too.)

- Milk - 2 tbsp or more based on consistency of batter.

 

Method:

- Mix all the wet ingredients i.e., sugar, oil, egg, vanilla essence in a mixing bowl.

- Add all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, oats) to it and fold the mixture in.

- At this point you should have ribbon like consistency for the batter. If you dont then add milk and mix again.

- Add in the carrot and apple and mix well.

- Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

- Line your muffin tray with muffin cases, leave 1 muffin section. 

- Fill the muffin cases halfway through with the batter.

- One muffin hole that you left empty, fill it halfway through with water. This helps keep the muffins moist when baking. 

- Bake for 30-35 mins.

- Let it cool and enjoy with honey. Can be stored in an airtight container and left in the pantry in winter. In summers storing in the refrigerator would make more sense. Grab one or two when running late and have no time for breakfast.

Chocolate Coconut Cake

In all these years of cooking and baking, if there is one thing I have mastered it has to be cake. It is our (me and my daughter) favourite pastime during the weekends. I bake a cake each week. It could be any type based on the mood and the princess's choice. This goes into lunchbox during the week and is also used as our afternoon snack.

Ingredients:

- Self Raising Flour - 1 cup

- Oil (Veg/Canola/Olive) I used olive oil, but its up to your choice and pantry - 1/2 cup

- Sugar - 1/2 cup

- Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp

- White chocolate chips - 2 tbsp (I did not have chip so chopped up a white choc bar)

- Moist Coconut flakes - 4 tbsp

- Chia seeds - 2 tsp

- Eggs - 2

- Milk - 3 tsp

- Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp

Method:

- Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

- Line a cake tin with butter paper and keep it ready.

- Crack 2 eggs in a big mixing bowl.

- Add sugar and beat with a spoon until there are no granules and sugar is mixed well with the eggs.

- Add oil and mix well until everything is mixed and forms a batter.

- To this add half the flour and fold it in.

- Add the next half and fold it in too. Do not mix too much else end result might be a crispy cake 😆. 

- Now add cocoa powder and fold that in too. Make sure there are no white spots left else you might end up with a marble cake .

- Add in and mix vanilla essence and milk at this time to get the right consistency.

- Mix in coconut flakes, chia seeds and white chocolate.

- Pour this mixture into the cake tin evenly.

- Once the oven is preheated, put the cake on the middle rack and bake for 20 min.

- Do the toothpick test, if not completely baked, bake for another 5 mins. Baking time will vary based on the strength and design of your oven.

- Once baked, take out of the oven and let it cool.

- Cut and serve. 

Note:

- This cake can also be used as a base for birthday cakes.

- Can be stored in an airtight box in the pantry for a week (does not last that long at my place 😉)