Monday, February 4, 2013

Douwe Egberts The Flavour Collective Review



I am really pleased to be reviewing the Douwe Egbert Flavour Collective, as many of you know I have been on Slimming World, successfully reaching my goal and getting back into size 8's a drop of three dress sizes. I am on a maintenance eating plan now. I find I can relax and have the odd blow out, but try to eat healthily every day. My sweet tooth demands a fix every now and then and so as not to reach for biscuits and cakes, I try to eat sweet foods that have not got the killer fat in.
Hard to do but the new flavoured coffees from Douwe Egberts are really helping. On Slimming World they are free and certainly keep the sweet cravings away.

Just made up in a mug these are all delicious.I was pretty surprised to find Chris dipping in to the jars as he drinks his coffee strong and black and rarely goes for flavoured coffee.

My tips so far are try the hazelnut one with your healthy extra allowance of Alpro hazelnut milk to make a latte. The caramel flavour is lovely and though sweet its wort adding a little extra.  I drink normal coffee without sugar and my first cup of the Douwe Egberts Caramel I found a bit strong, the sweetness added really brings out the caramel flavour. 

The vanilla flavour is lovely with an options sachet of choice mixed in,it gives a real creamy taste.

These are my tips for keeping a sweet treat healthy, but as I said before I can also have the odd splurges now and Douwe Egberts have come up with a range of recipes using the Flavour Collective range. These are certainly a little more indulgent.



Baked Chocolate Coffee Fudge Loaf
 Serves 12 – 16 slices
Ingredients:

400g plain chocolate, broken into small pieces
120g unsalted butter
40g golden caster or soft brown sugar
100ml single or whipping cream
2 tbsp The Flavour Collective Smooth Caramel coffee dissolved in 2 tbsp hot water
5 medium eggs, beaten
2 tbsp plain flour, sifted
To serve:
Cherries, raspberries or redcurrants
   
1.       Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2. Prepare a 7cm x 30cm oblong cake tin lined with non stick parchment paper.  
2.       Place the chocolate, butter and sugar in a large pan over a low heat and melt the mixture slowly until it is just smooth.
3.       Taking the pan off the heat whisk in the eggs into the chocolate mixture with the flour.
4.       Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and place into a roasting tin, half filled up with water before baking for  1 ½ hours.
5.       Leave to cool for 10 minutes before placing in the fridge to chill and cool completely.
6.       When cold, serve in slices with seasonal fruits like cherries, raspberry or redcurrants.



ICED COFFEE

Ingredients:
Cold water (dependent on glass size)
3 - 5 Ice cubes
Milk (to taste)
Sugar (to taste)
1 tsp of your favourite flavour of The Flavour Collective coffee

Preparation:
1. Put some cold water in a tall glass (about fifth of the capacity)
2. Add 1 teaspoon of your favoured The Flavour Collective coffee and 1 teaspoon of sugar (optional - you can vary the amount of sugar to taste) 
3. Use a milk frother to blend the mix for about one minute, until a rich and creamy foam is created. If you don't have a milk frother, try using a cocktail shaker instead to shake the mixture thoroughly.
4. Add ice cubes to the top of the glass and pour over cold milk.
5. Enjoy!



Sticky Toffee Squares with Toffee Sauce

Ingredients:
50g unsalted butter
175g light brown muscovado sugar
200g self raising flour, sifted
1 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp black treacle
2 medium eggs, beaten
1 tbsp The Flavour Collective Roasted Hazelnut coffee dissolved in 2 tsp hot water
225g pitted dates, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda
For the sauce:
100g light brown muscovado sugar
100g unsalted butter
180ml double cream
1 tbsp The Flavour Collective Smooth Caramel coffee dissolved in 2tsp hot water

For the caramel shard:
100g caster sugar

1.       Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Grease and line a 23cm square tin with non stick parchment paper on the sides and base.
2.       For the caramel shard, heat the sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and, without stirring, heat until the sugar dissolves. When the sugar darkens to a deep caramel colour, using an oiled spoon, drizzle the caramel onto a piece of non-stick baking paper and set aside to cool.
3.       For the cake mixture, cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour, syrup, black treacle, eggs and coffee.
4.       Meanwhile, put the dates in a pan with 300ml water, bring to the boil then simmer for around 8 minutes until the dates are soft. Leave to cool for 10 minutes and then stir in bicarbonate of soda. Process the in a blender until smooth then carefully stir into the flour mixture.

More recipes to be found on the Douwe Egbert Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/DouweEgbertsUK

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