We must admit, we’re snacking a lot more now that we’re working from home. But snacks don’t have to be bad! We decided to try our hand at making some healthy snacks!
While we’re all at home, SuperValu is providing us with plenty of cooking and baking inspiration using their great value Own Brand Range.
So, we decided to try our hand at two of their recipes for healthy snacks.
First up, it’s a Carrot and Parsnip Traybake with cream cheese and maple frosting
Cake, but make it healthy!
For this delicious dessert, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Butter (for greasing)
- 2 medium Carrots
- 4 large SuperValu Eggs
- 200ml Light-Coloured Olive Oil
- 280g Low Fat Cream Cheese
- 225ml SuperValu Maple Syrup
For the frosting, you’ll need:
- 4 tsp Mixed Spice
- 1 large Parsnip
- 75g Sultanas
- 100g SuperValu Goodness Walnuts, roughly chopped
- 250g SuperValu Wholemeal Flour
- 1 large SuperValu Orange
And you’ll need to follow these steps:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.
- Grease the base of a 20cm x 25cm baking tray or roasting tin that is also at least 5cm high and line with nonstick baking paper.
- Keep 25g walnuts for decorating and add the rest into a large bowl. Add flour, sultanas, mixed spice and baking powder. Toss together well, make a well in the centre and set aside.
- Measure the maple syrup into a large jug and then the olive oil. Then, beat in the eggs.
- Peel and roughly grate the carrots and parsnip and stir through.
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour into the prepared tin and spread with the back of a spoon.
- Bake in the oven for 35 minutes. A skewer pierced into the centre of the traybake should come out clean. Let it cool a bit in the tin before removing it and allowing it to cool completely on a rack.
And to make the frosting, you’ll need to follow these simple steps:
- Grate the orange zest and reserve it for decorating.
- Squeeze the juice into a bowl and add the cream cheese and maple syrup.
- Mix until well blended. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
- Spread the frosting evenly all over the top of the cooled cake.
- Scatter the reserved walnuts and orange zest over. Cut into 12 portions and serve.
The next healthy snack we tried our hand at making were these scrumptious Bounty Bars!
For this, all you need is:
- 3 tbsp Coconut Oil
- 200g Desiccated Coconut
- 4 tbsp SuperValu Maple Syrup
- 1 pinch Salt
- 75g SuperValu Ground/Whole Almonds
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 200g Vegan Dark Chocolate (70%)
And this is the method you’ll follow:
- Place maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla extract in a pan set on medium heat. Stir occasionally until the oil has melted.
- Place desiccated coconut, ground almonds (blend almonds if whole) and a pinch of salt in a mixing bowl and stir to combine.
- Once coconut oil mixture has all melted together, add it to the dry ingredients and mix well.
- Place a sheet of non-stick baking paper on a baking tray (that can fit in your freezer.
- Spread coconut mixture onto the lined tray and form it into a square roughly 10cm x 10cm and 2.5cm high. Place the baking tray in the freezer for 20 minutes.
- place the chocolate in a heatproof glass bowl set on top of a pot of boiling water, making a bain-marie. Make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir occasionally until there’s a nice consistency. You can also melt the chocolate in the microwave.
- Take coconut mixture out of the freezer and cut into 12 solid squares.
- Using a ladle, cover the bars in chocolate, place on the lined baking tray and put them into the fridge for 10 to 15 minutes to harden.
And of course, you’ll get all of the ingredients for these healthy snacks and more at SuperValu stores.
And for more stunning recipe inspiration like this, make sure to check out SuperValu’s Inspiration Hub on SuperValu.ie.
