Recipe: On-the-go Breakfast Bars

Want to keep hunger locked up 'til lunch but don't have time to rustle up the most important meal of the day? Believe me, I know exactly where you're coming from! I leave the house at 7am and embark on a two hour commute so a healthy breakfast is always something of a quandry! This recipe, though, has made it onto my must-do things for Sunday afternoons, so that I have a batch ready to last me for the week. I first found it on BBC Good Food, but have adapted it to include all the yummy things I like!

Makes about 14 pieces

Ingredients

50g butter

2 x small ripe bananas

3tbsp golden syrup

85g demerera sugar

140g porridge oats

Half tsp ground cinamon

50g dessicated coconut

2tbsp linseeds, slightly crushed

1tbsp sesame seeds

100g chopped hazelnuts

1. Melt the butter, syrup and sugar in a pan.

2. Add the bananas, mashed.

3. Add everything else, stirring in well.

4. Place the mixture in a greased tin and spread out into the corners.

5. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 160C / gas mark 3.

Of course, this is something that you could throw just about anything into. I'm keen to experiment with some dried fruit at some point so I'll let you know how it goes!

Recipe: Brownie Heaven

I could quite possibly be in heaven. These are, quite frankly, the best brownies ever! I've been having a bit of fun baking lately and have ended up making no less than four batches of these. I sent my husband off to work with a batch and have been asked to make more already! Someone even suggested I go into business! Now, I'm not sure about going into business off the back of one winning recipe, but I can definitely tell you, that these will have you coming back for more.

This isn't my own recipe, I did find it somewhere on the internet, however I can't remember where so apologies for the lack of linkage. But I'll share it with you, just because something so good shouldn't be kept to oneself.

Ingredients

185g unsalted butter

185g best dark chocolate

85g plain flour

40g cocoa powder

50g white chocolate

50g milk chocolate

3 large eggs

275g golden caster sugar

1. Cut the butter into small pieces and tip into a bowl. Break the dark chocolate up and add to this. Fill a small saucepan with water and put on a low heat, placing the bowl on top so it's not touching the water. Stir occasionally to mix the butter and chocolate together as it melts. Remove the bowl and leave the melted chocolate to cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 180C/ gas mark 4. Line a 20cm square tin with baking paper.

3. Sieve the flour and cocoa powder into a medium sized bowl. Chop the white and milk chocolate up into small chunks and put aside.

4. Break the eggs into a large bowl and tip in the sugar. Using an electric mixer, whisk together until it is thick and creamy and leaves impressions on the surface when you dribble some across it. (This can take a few minutes).

5. Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the eggy mousse and gently fold together with a spatula. Do this until the mixtures are one and it's a dark, mottled brown.

6. Hold the sieve over the large bowl and resift the cocoa and flour over the eggy mixture. Gently fold this in. It will end up looking nice and fudgy :0) Finally, stir in the chocolate chunks.

7. Pour the mixture into the tin and put in the oven for 25minutes. When it's done, take it out and jiggle the pan slightly. If the brownies jiggle too, it needs another few minutes. One of my batches I didn't quite cook for long enough and it didn't bind together properly. Still tastes lovely, but falls apart when you try to cut it into squares!

8. Leave to cool before cutting into squares.

These are best eaten warmed up for 20secs in the microwave, and if you're feeling indulgent, a scoop of vanilla ice cream to boot! Enjoy!