White Chocolate almond butter cups

My favourite food 'genre' is a pretty odd one. I am obsessed with healthily unhealthy food, be that in the form of chocolate covered salted almonds, deep fried and tempura sweet potato- and pretty much anything with peanut butter or avocado!

In January, we are all a bit freezing and a little bit blue but also on a mad detox afer the festive season. So considering that gruelling combo, right about new seemed the perfect time to showcase my most recent discovery- white chocolate almond butter cups truly is the perfect blend of  Reeses-decadence and health.

Quite frankly January is calling out for some guilty treats disguised as a superfood. So here's my recipe...

Source: Blissful Basil

You will need:

175g white chocolate 

1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil

2 big tablespoons of almond butter

Sea salt flakes

Melt the white chocolate and coconut oil to liquid, I do this with short burst in the microwave but a bain-marie is probably the 'proper' way 

Spoon equally into small cupcake cases, leave about a quarter

Dollop in equal amounts of almond butter to the chocolatey mixture

Make sure the almond butter dollops are covered with the remaining chocolate

Put in the fridge to set for about 30 minutes and top with sea salt flakes

If covered and stored in the fridge they will last weeks.

There you go, easy peasy... January blues be gone! 

New Book Spotlight: Livia's Kitchen (& her cashew butter flapjack recipe)

I eat all healthy foods. Literally. There is nothing that I don't like. The idea of eating clean may sound like a nightmare for most veggie haters but not to me, give me sprouts and celery any day. There is just one problem. I am an absolute chocoholic, sweetaholic, cupcake and cookie monster. Unfortunately, eating clean means my choice of sweet foods is limited to products such as dates, fruits and cacao. I have to say this does not tend to hit the spot. And then one day, I came across Livia's Kitchen. She makes clean-eating desserts and sweet treats and quite frankly you can't tell the difference. And so I thought I would share with you a recipe and shed a little light on her new book that I can not wait to get my hands on. Order online here: Livia's Kitchen, £13.60

100g oat flour

300g oats

100g coconut sugar

200g cashew butter

150ml maple syrup

40g desiccated coconut

3 teaspoons vanilla powder

70g coconut oil

125g raw chocolate broken into chunks

pinch of salt

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and grease or line a baking tin.
• Start by adding the oats, oat flour, desiccated coconut, raw chocolate chunks, vanilla powder and salt to a bowl.
• Set the dry mix aside and then add the maple, coconut sugar, coconut oil and cashew butter to a pan on a low to medium heat.
• Once all of the wet mixture has melted and is fully combined, pour it into the bowl with the dry mix and stir until it is all well mixed.
• Pour into the tin and flatten the surface.
• Place into the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and slightly soft to the touch - I found 23 minutes was perfect for me.
• Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Slice into squares and then leave to cool entirely.

You can also buy her tubs at several stockists such as Selfridges and Harvey Nics.

ARW x

A week of healthy office lunches

I have a confession. I never, ever make and bring lunch to work. I have another confession. I am terrible at Maths. I am of the opinion that these two statements are directly related. This is because when I employed the help of my not-so-mathematically challenged colleague, I worked out just how much my daily lunch splurges were costing me. The grand total was around £2600 yearly. Not to mention all the calories I must be gorging on every single day!

Here is how we worked it out for the skeptics. 

Average daily lunch/ breafast/ snack spend: £10 

Average weekly spend: £50 

Average monthly spend: £200

Average yearly spend: £2600 

Which in normal people terms equals most of this:

LUX hotel, Maldives, Private Pool Villa, £690 per night

Larson & Jennings, £225

Chritian Louboutin, £575

YSL, £1350

The problem is I just want to be lazy when I get in and whats-more I hate whatever lunch I do bring in. So, I challenged myself to a week (well, everyone needs a Friday treat) of healthy and easy work lunches. Here is how it went. 

Monday

Feta, cucumber, avocado and edamame bean salad with feta and simple dressing. Gluten-free pita chips with taramasalata 

Tuesday

Lean turkey slices with cherry tomatoes and cheddar, cucumber snacks. Hummus and pretzels, berries and protein flapjack.

Wednesday

Leftovers: quinoa and currant salad with a butternut squash and broccoli salad (tomatoes and avo in for good measure). Sour cream and onion corncakes, pear slices and shortbread. 

Thursday 

More leftover quinoa with spinach, sweetcorn and feta. Hummus crisps and homemade cinnamon balls with blueberries.

Fri-YAY

Okay well not quite a week...

Comment below with any tips you have to help me continue with this healthy habit!

ARW x

How to decorate a cake in 2 minutes

I love baking. I love making cakes. I make them for friend's birthdays, celebrations and on random rainy Tuesdays. The only problem is, I mix, I taste, I weigh, I bake, I make icing and then... I'm totally and utterly bored and over it. Over the years, I have created my own and stolen some ideas to make things a little easier for myself. So I've pulled these together and this guide is for people who are like me, a little bit restless but love to make things look beautiful!

Cheat option A: The Fruity Fan

This option is great for things like cheesecake or tarts. It is probably the easiest out of the three options. It can range from tumbling a punnet of blueberries on top of a cheesecake to something like the below. All I did was slice some strawberries, randomly arrange the fruit in the middle and dot the raspberries around the outside. 

Cheat option B: The Chocolate Fence 

In terms of this option, the 'fence' around the outside can be anything from kitkats, matchsticks to chocolate fingers. I think it is best for a two-tiered cake as the kitkats are big enough to accommodate quite a height. The easiest thing to do is to pour in something like m&ms, smarties or skittles but it would be just as easy to add fruit- or try out some intricate design! 

Cheat option C: The Almond Flowers

This idea was given to me by Lorraine Pascale (former supermodel) in one of her growing collection of cookbooks of which I am a huge fan. It is a lot easier than it looks and I think the result is very impressive. This probably best for a flatter cake or torte. All you need to do is elegantly place raspberries and then use almond flakes stuck in (pointy side up) to create the illusion of petals.

Enjoy lazybugs! 

ARW x