Diet Snacks
Diet snacks, can they be good for you?
Russian littérateur Nabokov, in a humorous mood wrote, “Kings, queens and rabbits; All have peculiar habits; The male humming bird…”. Similar is the case of diets encouraged by world celebrities and Hollywood icons. Even cakes and teatime snacks are diet controlled with their calorie values checked and controlled. Here are a couple of recipes of diet snacks authenticated by internationally famous dieticians. If you need to have some snacks, it is important to know how to make them.
Diet Biscuits (Recipe): Take 225g medium oatmeal, 2 tbsp plain flour, ¼ tsp sea salt, ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda, ½ tsp melted white butter, 100 ml warm water and double refined sunflower oil for greasing the baking sheets. Now pre-heat the oven. Oil very lightly two baking sheets. Mix together the oatmeal, flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter and enough water to form a firm dough. Lightly kneed until a smooth dough is formed. If the dough breaks, don’t despair – just stick it back in the bowl, add a little water, kneed vigorously and try again.
Sprinkle lightly with flour and roll out the dough. Take a 7cm cutter and stamp out the oatcakes. Now place them on a baking tray. Kneed together the trimmings and repeat the process until you have used up all the dough. Bake in the preheated oven for ten minutes. The cakes/biscuits are cooked when they turn color.
Aromatic Diet cake (Recipe): This is a really gorgeous aromatic cake that is perfect for afternoon tea. Since it is rich in dried fruit, it is an unusual but functional way of getting energy-boosting iron. You will need 115g currants, 115g sultanas, 115g raisins, 180g fructose, 300 ml hot strong tea, sunflower oil for greasing, grated zest of one orange, grated zest of one lemon, 175g granary flour, 100g plain white flour, 1 ½ tsp baking powder and 1 medium egg.
Now measure the dried fruits and fructose into a bowl. Pour over the hot tea, cover and leave overnight. If your kitchen is warm, allow the mixture to cool and then store it in the fridge. The next day, preheat the oven. Line a 900g loaf tin with greaseproof paper and grease it lightly. Stir the orange and lemon zest into the tea-soaked fruit. Mix together the granary and plain flour in a large bowl then stir in the baking powder, followed by the tea-soaked fruit mass and any remaining liquid. Finally stir the egg, spoon the mixture into the tin and place it in the oven. Bake for about 1 hour 30 minutes. Remove it from the oven and rest it for 10 – 15 minutes before turning it into a cooling rack. Once cold, wrap it in a foil.