After working pretty hard and pretty late all week as well as juggling babysitters, food shopping, cooking, laundry and general looking-after-the-house tasks – did I forget anything? Oh, kids! Yes, they need juggling too – anyway, what I want to say is: I feel in need of some indulgence. Some serious gourmet indulgence.
Cue my foodie blog browsing where I came across this fabulous recipe for healthy banoffee parfaits on Top With Cinnamon. What a genius idea AND it’s healthy! Egg-free, gluten-free with plenty of fruit and your choice of either greek yoghurt if you want a breakfast combo or whipped cream for an even more indulgent, slightly less healthy, dessert variant. Both are totally fine with me.
OMG Izy, you are good! Can you believe the author of super popular Top With Cinnamon is only 18 years old, sitting her A-levels and has been blogging for 3 years!? No wonder she’s got a cook book coming out at the end of the year and though I managed to make brief contact with her she disappeared into cyberspace or more likely her kitchen again before I could ask her if I could feature her recipe. Well, actually I did ask her but she never got back to me… ho hum… dissed by an overachieving 18 year old. Never mind. I’m sure she’ll be delighted to gain some new readers from this site and still remember me when she’s joined the ranks of Jamie Oliver and Martha Stewart. Yeah, right!?
So, here is Izy’s mouth-watering recipe, just need to add it to the juggling list.
For more mouth-watering photography follow Izy on Instagram.
HEALTHY BANOFFEE PARFAITS WITH DATE CARAMEL AND STOVE-TOP GRANOLA
Serving Size: 3 jam jars or small glases
INGREDIENTS:
1 large, ripe banana
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt (I used a mixture of half Greek and half regular yogurt)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I used vanilla paste, for the speckled effect)
1 recipe of stove-top granola (see recipe below) or 2/3 cup of granola of your choice
1 recipe of cooled date caramel (see recipe below)
Slice the banana into 1/4″ thick coins (see notes if serving later). In a small bowl, stir together the yogurt and vanilla extract/paste.
DIRECTIONS:
In 3 small, clean glasses or jars, layer the ingredients like this: 2 tsp granola, a few banana coins, 1 tsp date caramel, 2 tbsp of Greek yogurt. Repeat. Do this for all the jars/glasses. To finish, top with any remaining granola, banana and caramel.
For the date caramel:
Put 1/3 cup of pitted, chopped dates (see notes), 1/3 cup of milk, 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt into a blender, blend together until smooth. Pour into a saucepan and heat whilst stirring over a low flame for 5-10 minutes, until thickened and reduced down to ~1/3 of a cup in volume. Set aside to cool.
For the stove-top granola:
Chop 3 tbsp of almonds (see notes) into small, rough chunks. Place with 1/2 cup of old-fashioned oats into a small frying pan, toast for 5 minutes over a medium heat. Then melt in 1 tsp of salted butter, and stir in 1 heaped tsp of honey just until evenly coated. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Photography | Izy Hossack [Top With Cinnamon]