Cinnamon raisin walnut bread (2)

Tweaking the original recipe from a year ago, I made a loaf of cinnamon raisin walnut bread to take to my in-laws over the holidays. 

Cinnamon raisin walnut bread

Blueberry cheesecake

It's been over a year since I last made a cheesecake, so a month ago, I made a raspberry cheesecake with a chocolate glaze from Dr William Davis's Wheat Belly Cookbook. It was beautiful and tasted divine, but all the photos of this cake mysteriously disappeared from my mobile before I had a chance to upload them. 

So a couple of weeks later, I tweaked the original recipe slightly and made another cheesecake, this time with blueberries and leaving out the chocolate glaze. The result was still satisfying. 

Blueberry cheesecake

Fluffy brownies (1)

I had some ripened avocados in the fridge and decided to use them before they turned. The last few batches of brownies I made were more fudgy and dense. This time, I thought I'd try a lighter, fluffier variety. 

Fluffy brownie

Cinnamon raisin walnut bread (1)

Ever since I made the basic walnut bread, I'd been itching to try making a variation using cinnamon, raisins, and walnuts. And after a trip to Holland & Barrett to pick up a few missing ingredients, I got to working.

Cinnamon raisin walnut bread

Basic bread (with walnut)

On the heels of my success with the chocolate-frosted yellow cake, I tried out another 'base' recipe from the Wheat Belly Cookbook, the Basic Bread. I had tried making loaf bread before using only coconut flour but it came out too dense for my liking (hence even though I have the recipe written down, I haven't posted it). This basic bread recipe called for garbanzo bean, or chickpea/gram, flour. I couldn't find ready-made chickpea flour in the shops here (I didn't try very hard, only looking at the usual shops I go to), so I got a bag of dried chickpeas and proceeded to make my own.

It was actually quite easy to do, as long as one had the tools - food processor, or in my case, a mini chopper, a coffee/spice grinder, and a sifter - good sound insulation in the kitchen (or whatever room you're working in), a bit of time, and lots of patience. I made two batches, using one for this bread and kept the rest in a air-tight jar for future use.

Basic walnut bread

Pineapple coconut loaf (2)

After a full schedule for the first two weeks of May, I finally had the time and energy to try out the tweaked recipe for my pineapple coconut loaf with less liquid and sugar. I also used the ground walnuts left over from making the chocolate walnut torte.

Pineapple coconut loaf

Decadent chocolate walnut torte

As my mini chopper successfully blitzed cauliflower for rice, I felt more confident that it could handle grinding walnuts well. And seeing as it'd been a while since I made any chocolate desserts, I reached for the bag of top quality antioxidant, non-alkalised cocoa that I bought a good while ago and my trusty Green & Black's dark chocolate bars to make this decadent chocolate walnut torte. 

Banana walnut mini muffins

I had two very ripe bananas, one in the freezer and one in the fruit bowl. I decided to make my trusty banana & walnut loaf, except this time, I'm making it into mini muffins. This recipe is adapted from my banana & walnut bread. 

Banana walnut mini muffins

Nutty fudgey brownies

I was invited to a ladies luncheon at a girlfriend's last week. I knew she was a fan of brownies, so I decided to make a some to bring over even though I'd never made any before. 

Banana & walnut bread

After a few loaves, I'm fairly confident with my banana bread. I made a loaf to bring down to my in-laws over Christmas so I could have something to eat for breakfast while I was there for the holiday.

Banana & walnut bread

And here's the recipe that guarantees to satisfy. 

Banana pecan & walnut bread

A second go at a flourless banana bread with a few changes from the previous version: 1) use of butter rather than coconut oil; 2) use of fine sea salt rather than coarse sea salt and much less of it, too; and 3) 1 extra ripe banana.

Rainbow carrot cake

I bought a pack of rainbow carrots before the holidays and didn't manage to cook them. On New Year's Day, I decided I'd better use them up before they went off, so I turned to an all-time favourite - carrot cake.

Courgette loaf (1)

This is a recipe I adapted from Rachel Allen. I saw her making this bread a few years ago on TV and was instantly intrigued by the idea of pairing courgette with sweetness rather than the usual savoury (I love it sliced, grilled, and sprinkled with a little bit of sea salt).