Desserts & Sweet Treats

-Banana Bread
-Date & Walnut Loaf
-Easy Light Chocolate Mousse

Banana Bread

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp ground cinnamon (I added a touch more, vary to your taste)
1/2cup artificial sweetner (I used splenda, you can use caster sugar if you prefer which adds an extra 0.5 points per serve)
1/2tsp salt
1 egg
1/3cup sunflour oil
1tsp vanilla extract (I left this out as I had none in the cupboard, still turned out fine)
4 medium very ripe bananas, mashed
20g walnuts, roughly chopped

Method
Preheat oven to 180c(160c fan forced), grease and l ine the base of a 900ml loaf pan

Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon and sugar with salt into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine egg, oil and vanilla.

Add wet mixture to the dry ingredients with banana and walnuts and fold until just combined - do not overmix.

Place into loaf pan and bake for 50mins until golden.

**Alternatively, you can leave the walnuts out of the mixture and sprinkle them over the top with a light drizzle of honey or golden syrup prior to baking

Serves: 12
Points per serve: 2 (2.5 if using caster sugar instead of sweetener)
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Date & Walnut Loaf

Ingredients
2 tbs maple syrup
1 1/4c plain white flour
3/4c rolled oats
1 1/4c walnuts
1/2c brown sugar
1c boiling water
100g pitted dates
1 tsp bi-carb soda

Method
Preheat oven to 180c (160c fan forced). Grease a 6.5cm deep, 9cm x 19cm loaf pan. Line base and sides with baking paper.

Place dates in heatproof bowl. Pour over boiling water and maple syrup. Stand for 15 minutes.

Sift flour and bi-carb together into a bowl. Add oats, walnuts and sugar. Stir to combine.

Add date mixture to dry mixture. Stir until well combined.

Spoon mixture into prepared pan, smooth surface. Bake for 50-55mins until a skewer inserted into centre comes out clean.

Allow to cool in pan for 5-10minutes, lift onto wire rack to cool.

Serves: 8-16
Points per serve:
8 = 4.5points
12 = 3 points
16 = 2 points
* This is a very dense loaf, I find splitting it in to 16 serves although a bit small is still very satisfying

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Easy Light Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients
1/2c boiling water
2 tsp powdered gelatine
2 tbsp cocoa powder
4 eggs separated
1/3c splenda

Method
Combine water & gelatine in a jug. Whisk with a fork until gelatine is completely dissolved. Stir in cocoa. Set aside to cool for 10mins.

Using an electric mixer beat eggwhites in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Add splenda, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until meringue is thick and glossy. With the mixer on high speed, add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Slowly pour gelatine mixture into egg mixture (making sure they are at the same temperature before you combine them), beat constantly until well combined.

Spoon mixture into 6 serving cups. Refrigerate for 4hours. Serve dusted with a little extra cocoa if desired.

Tip: when beating eggwhites you can add a small pinch of cream of tartar, this helps stabalise the egg producing a light fluffy mousse.

Serves: 6
Points per serve: 1.5