Isabelle Grech

I made these earlier in the year and thought they might be an enjoyable bake to try if you have time. They don't have too many steps, which is great.

They have a lovely blend of fruit and vegetables; carrot, pineapple, apple puree, banana, and sultanas.

These also have brown sugar in which I marinated with lemon zest. The optional fruit puree adds moisture whilst the wholemeal flour gives it a nice nutty flavour.

It was a balanced recipe I found on a blog called Little Stuff. I just added a few things which I wanted to try to use up-(shop bought) seed mix and fruit puree, for example.
I also wanted to try to have a bit less sugar in my attempt, so I used a bit less but added a bit of fruit puree/banana instead to give a go. Hopefully, they won't mind my additions. Both styles would be lovely though.

Inspired by the 'Little Stuff;Sunday Recipe blog' recipe, I hope you find it an interesting bake to make if you can. It was made with all supermarket ingredients and store cupboard items and is quite nourishing too for a more sustaining sweet treat.

Happy cooking and baking this summer 🙂

Ruby chocolate heart plaques brushed with edible gold lustre spray. A part of the 'MixItUp Wellness Boxes' from about 2020. The recyclable pouches these came in had some of these and some dark chocolate heart plaques too. I liked the simplicity of the mould and the traditional brick design. Could be something fun to try and make for a treat if you like to bake. 🙂

Here are photos of a few no-cook yoghurt and chia breakfast pots I made recently, which I thought might be an idea to try sometime. I looked at quite a few recipes to see which to try and thought this from; Three Little Chickpeas online was really well balanced.

I adapted a few things but not many, mainly to try and incorporate things I already had.
I incorporated the remaining defrosted bag of frozen fruit, which I'd used when making the frozen yoghurt 'yollies' as a topping, too.

I'm glad to have found the recipe as it was fun to follow and had a great consistency too which I was mindful about when making with the chia seeds.

It's really nourishing and great for convenient breakfast ideas.

I added a bit of vanilla and lemon as I was reducing the honey in mine, but that was just my take on it.

I hope you enjoy it if you can give it a go.
Happy cooking and baking this Summer 🙂

Archives* (2020" approx)

Here's another post from a classic sponge I made to try out some stencilling ideas I'd seen online. The idea was try and create it for photos, practice and recipe work that was happening at the time.

It's not a more 'health' minded bake but a classic sponge.

The stencil was drawn with a pen on A4 paper and then cut out with scissors, to try and make the design fun and accessible. I used icing sugar to sieve through the stencil, but you could potentially try different edible things, depending on your creation. If you're making a treat for someone special, give it a go if you like. 🙂

Happy cooking and baking this Summer

Thought I'd give another of the more health minded bakes I've been trying for a while a go last week, which were yoghurt ice lollies. I had a mould which was ok so I tried that. I thought I'd try something fairly seasonal but got frozen berries and left them to thaw a bit before chopping and mixing through the yoghurt base.
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The base was a bit acidic as I put lemon zest and a bit of juice in, but they were quite refreshing aswell really.
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There's no additional sugar in, just from the berries.
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Give some a go if you have a mould, they can be quite fun to make and not really too time-consuming.
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Here's a general list as an idea to try, but you can change what you prefer to your taste really. And by all means add a bit of sugar if you like, it might balance out the yoghurt and lemon.
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See what you think...;

350g-Natural yoghurt (0 % fat)
80g-Cherries (frozen)
140g-Mixed berries (Imperfect frozen)
1 lemon-zest (fresh)
25g-Lemon juice (fresh)
1 pinch Salt
Bit of the juice from the frozen fruit about 20g or so

▪︎Thaw the frozen fruit.
▪︎Mix the yoghurt, lemon zest and salt well and leave to marinade a bit whilst you cut your fruit.
▪︎Once the fruit is thawed a bit, chop unevenly and mix into the yoghurt base.
▪︎Stir through the lemon juice, mixing well but gently if possible, so the lemon juice doesn't split the yoghurt blend. If it does, try adding a bit more yoghurt to balance it out again.
▪︎Taste and adjust to your liking, adding your bit of sugar now if you'd like, or not.
▪︎Pour or spoon into your moulds, attach the tops, and freeze overnight ideally.
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Just to let you know, I bought the ingredients from the supermarket but you could change to your preferences, whatever's easier.
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You can try whatever mould you might have or try getting one, I had mine from quite a long time a go and it was very affordable and has lasted well really, so it wasn't too much of an outlay really. This example made about 9 lollies.
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I hope you enjoy making them if you can. Happy cooking and baking this Summer. ☀️

2021

Another of the archives posts I'll be trying to post. Here are some beginning stages of vegan bon bons inspired by the sea. I started these in 2021 when trying to develop more vegan and lower sugar ganaches (which I'd started trying prior to this) and bon bons. I already had some vegan ones, but I wanted to try and create a bit more variety for those areas.

These were painted with a paint brush and I used a colour which I thought might most contrast the chocolate. The chocolate I used to mostly try to make these items with was darker chocolate, which can be less sweet. But it is still chocolate, of course.... 🙂

I'm gonna give something like this a go again soon and will post again when I've tried the first one. I won't be trying to recreate these, this is just a guide and a bit of an explanation.

Happy Spring baking & cooking 🌸

Here's the follow-on post from the recent post showing the lovely stall at Sydenham Gardens for their Spring Fair this year, which I really enjoyed volunteering at, thank you. 🙏
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Here are some making photos of what I donated to the bake sale this spring. I was trying to work out what to make for a while and looking at different recipes and what would potentially be enjoyed by the people at the community Fair and would be most beneficial for fundraising and perhaps a bit of a celebratory treat for the visitors too.
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I settled on pistachio and white chocolate cookies which were inspired by Jane's Patisserie recipes as they're really accessible recipes. In addition to a take on a recipe I found on Taffey Bakery for banana biscoff muffins, but I added a bit of frozen raspberry, too. I tried making some biscoff items when I volunteered for their last community bake sale and they seemed to be enjoyed so I thought I'd try something similar to that again but that might also be a bit Spring like aswell, so I put a bit of lemon zest in the cookies. Hopefully, the original creators wouldn't mind my trying. 🙂
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To give it a bit of something special for everyone and to keep in some relative theme to items I was making when selling/making previously, they had some Callebaut chocolate in; Gold and white.
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I've tried to show a few of the stages of the process of making them incase anyone might want to have a go themselves, I hope it's helpful.
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These weren't adapted with any more nutritional tweaks in mind as have been some of my baking movements for the last while, but it's nice to create a balance for people and a mix of everything too.
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Happy Spring cooking and baking and have a good rest of the week 🙂

Had a lovely day volunteering and contributing to the Sydenham Gardens Spring Fair last week and helping out on their cake and bake stall. There were so many fantastic things donated and a great chance to see all the different sorts of things people enjoy for their sweet treat, too.
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I really enjoyed donating some baking, as well, and trying to work out what people might enjoy and what would help with fundraising most for Sydenham Gardens.
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I'll share a few pics of what I made in another post 🙂

Hello, Just to let you know I've spent some time trying to refresh the page. I'll try to build up the page moving forward with a blend of things from the archives; past work from Libellules or previous cooking roles for e.g with a mix of more current things I've been making, developing or working on.

I don't have a website or Etsy page any more as those closed down when I stopped selling products, so I'm going to continue with this page and Instagram as a kind of portfolio and trying to reconnect with different things whilst I work out what kind of platform might be best website wise.

If you'd like to reach me there's a number here or reach out on my socials or those who've known me longer there's my email.

Enjoy your evening x