Everyone knows January is a time for New Year’s resolutions and a strive towards a healthier self after all the Christmas indulgence. If you love to bake that is sometimes easier said than done, but baking does not always have to be bad for you, the guys at Baking Mad, hold a collection of healthy baking recipes so you can still fulfil your passion for tasty treats without any guilt! I decided to give their low calorie apple strudel a try.

I was asked to take part in their healthy baking challenge using a low calorie sugar, the product was Silver Spoons, Half Spoon Granulated Sugar, (http://www.silverspoon.co.uk/home/products/low-calorie-sugars-and-sweeteners/half-spoon-granulated-sugar) this was sent to me and I had a choice of what I would like to bake with it. I chose the strudel after reading out the list to the Family & Max getting very excited over the it.

I must admit, I didn’t think I was going to like this product, many of these types of sugars taste just to artificial and I thought that this would come a cross in the strudel. We are all die hard sweet tooth people in this family, especially my Daughter and Myself and we love our sugar, so it was going to be tough.

The strudel was gorgeous, simple to make, bursting with fruit and beautifully spiced with nutmeg and cinnamon, the addition of the orange zest really made the dish lovely. In keeping with the theme I brought some low fat ice cream to serve with it. Everyone loved it, I didn’t mentioned the Half Spoon Granulated Sugar and when I asked for feed back, apart from being told it was lovely, the only criticisms were, a little too much cinnamon and a little to fragrant. I had to laugh, no one noticed the sugar, success! If I can get it past this lot, you can get it past anyone.

This has inspired me to try Half Spoon in more recipes, I love baking for the Children, I know that if it is homemade I know exactly what has gone into it and that there are no artificial preservatives, colours, flavourings, no nasty baddies I’d prefer my Children not to have. If I can also halve the calories as well, then thats all good. I wonder if I can use Half Spoon Granulated Sugar and low fat butter, low fat cream and so on to create loads of really healthy goodies, I’ll give it a go and any successes I will post on here.

Please check out the Baking Mad website for more low calorie baking ideas:-
http://www.bakingmad.com/recipes/dietaryrequirementsbaking

Buon appetito


Ingredients

650 grams eating apples
30 gramsground almonds
1 tspCinnamon
0.50 tspNutmeg
35 gramsHalf Spoon Granulated Sugar (Silver Spoon)
1Orange Finely grated zest
Approx. 4 tbsp sunflower or grapeseed oil, plus extra for brushing and greasing
6-8 ready made filo pastry
Cinnamon and Half Spoon sugar for sprinkling

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan170°C/Gas 5.

Peel, core and thinly slice the apples into a bowl. Add the ground almonds, spices and sugar and orange zest.

Unroll the pastry and cover with a damp cloth to stop it from drying out. Taking on e sheet at a time brush each sheet of filo pastry with the oil, then place the sheets of pastry on top of each other onto a large sheet of greaseproof paper.

Arrange the apples in a narrow strip, lengthways down the centre of the pastry to within 3cm of each shorter edge. Fold the 2 shorter edges over the filling and then fold over 1 long edge and tuck the fruit firmly underneath the pastry. Brush with any remaining oil and fold over the other edge, so that it overlaps by at least 5-6cm. Carefully transfer the strudel to a large oiled baking sheet. Brush with a little oil. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until crisp and golden.

Leave the strudel to cool down slightly. Dust with a light sprinkle of cinnamon and Half Spoon sugar before slicing and serving with low fat custard or low fat Greek yogurt.

Tip: Add sultanas or dried apricots to the apples.