"Low-fat" baking

Over the summer, an extra 3 kilos crept onto the bathroom scales. The time has come to do something about these, before they start getting too settled in and claiming squatters’ rights.

I like a little sweet hit during the day, so I was looking for something low-ish fat that would hit the spot and found these.

Chocolate and cranberry skinny muffins

250g self-raising flour

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

85g brown sugar

85g dried cranberries

25g dark chocolate, chopped

125g tub low-fat Greek yogurt

125ml skimmed milk

3 tbsp of melted butter (the original recipe uses 3 tbsp sunflower oil, but I find that this makes the buns rubbery)

1 egg, lightly beaten

Skinny chocolate and cranberry muffin

Heat oven to 180° Celsius. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl. Stir in the sugar and cranberries. I then melted the chocolate and the butter together in the microwave as I thought that this might lesson the chances of the chocolate curdling.

In a jug, stir the yogurt, milk and the egg together. I then mixed the buttery chocolate mixture through this. Make a well in centre of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix to combine. Spoon the mix into the muffin cases and bake for 15-20 mins until risen and firm to the touch.

I’m not sure if these still classify as being low in fat, but they were tasty. For more of a chocolaty hit, substitute some of the flour with some more cocoa. Of the two muffins I baked, these were the most flavoursome and the most satisfying.

Hairy dieters skinny lemon muffins

200g self-raising flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

75g golden caster sugar

100g blueberries

the juice of one lemon

2 large eggs

150ml low-fat Greek yogurt

4 tbsp semi-skimmed milk

50g of butter, melted (the original recipe has 50ml sunflower oil)

Skinny lemon muffin mixture

Heat your oven to 200°Celsius and line your muffin tray with bun cases.

Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl and stir in the sugar and blueberries. Make a well in the centre.

In a jug, beat the eggs, and add the yogurt, milk and melted butter with the lemon juice until well combined. Stir into the flour mixture with a large metal spoon until very lightly mixed.

Fill the bun cases with the batter and bake in your oven for 16–18 minutes or until the cupcakes are well risen and golden brown. Transfer them to a wire rack and leave to cool.

You could put some icing on these, but I figured they were sweet enough.

They were not very lemony and the taste wasn’t amazing, but they are enough to get something sweet into your day, so they are useful.