Healthy à la Mauricienne : Healthy pecan pie!

Hello! So once again, it feels like such a long time since I have updated this blog, but it was all due to some exciting news. After months of applications, interviews, assessment centres and so on, I have finally secured a graduate job! I am going to be an associate in the Audit department of one of the Big 4 accountancy firms, studying for the ACA qualification. I start in September and cannot wait to start this exciting journey. Adding on to this great news, I have also booked my holiday back to Mauritius in June and just can't wait to have a relaxing holiday without any university stress! To mark the end of the term and the beginning of Easter holidays, a couple of us went to Steve Aoki's concert which was amazing with lots of cake throwing, crowd surfing etc.

On to the recipe! A friend of mine is the biggest pecan pie lover and although I had never made one before, I thought that it'd be a great recipe to try out. I made a normal full fat version as well as a healthy alternative to compare results. Both turned out great and I will definitely be making these mini healthy ones again. I only made 3 mini cupcake sized pies, so increase the quantities according to how many you'd like to make.

HEALTHY MINI PECAN PIES
Base:

3 tbsp group almond
2 tbsp oat flour (ground up oats)
0.5 tbsp honey or brown sugar
1 tbsp cocoa (optional for chocolatey base)
About 1 tbsp coconut oil to bring it all together

Thoroughly mix together the ground almond, oat flour and cocoa. Stir in the sweetener and oil, varying the amounts until the mixture just starts coming together.
Press the base into greased or silicone cupcake cases and set aside whilst you make the filling.

Filling:

15 dates, soaked for 5 minutes in warm water to soften
1 egg
Cinnamon
0.5 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp honey
About 50 g broken pecans

Drain the dates, blend until smooth along with the egg. Stir in the vanilla, cinnamon and honey, varying quantities according to your preferences. Fold in the pecan nuts.
Pour the mixture on top of the prepared bases.
Bake in a preheated oven at 170 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes or until the mixture looks set.

I recently attended the Cake and Bake show 2014 in Manchester which was amazing! I was able to see live demonstrations by Eric Lanlard (my idol!), Rosemary Shrager and many of the Great British Bake off contestants! The cakes on display were amazing. This year's show hosted the Jungle theme and we were greeted by a huge elephant made of cake, chocolate and intricate sugar work. I think the pictures speak for themselves!

I've also been slightly cupcake obsessed. Cupcakes are so versatile, easy to carry around and make the perfect present for any occasion. Here are a few of my creations: dark chocolate cupcake stuffed with chocolate filling and topped with peanut butter frosting and peanut brittle, carrot cupcake with cream cheese frosting and coffee cupcakes with caramel frosting.