Heavenly supereasy carb free almond treats

I can not believe how good these spongy biscuits taste without any sugar or flour. I did add a tablespoon of xylitol, so technically they do have some carbs, but very very little, almost negligible amounts. You can leave out the sweetner and they will still be tasty. And to prove the case, M gobbled them up and gave them to his workmates. So if he considered them good enough to share around the office, well they must have been delicious!

Photo © Charlotte Tolhurst

Gooey chocolate, beetroot and ginger cookies

These are absolutely delicious soft cookies which are best eaten warm straight out of the oven. The combination of chocolate, beetroot and bits of stem ginger are quite divine and a winning combination. I also like them because they aren't too sweet. They were devised by Kate Wesson, a food and prop stylist I frequently have the pleasure of working with. Kate like myself has a passion for healthy wholesome foods and together we can get quite excited about the latest gluten free bread mix or wotnot.

Photo © Charlotte Tolhurst

Meeting UK barista of the year, Gwilym Davies

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Gwilym Davies, last year's world and UK barista of the year. We hung out at Whitecross street market where Gwilym used to run a stall. He borrowed his former coffee stand to show us how to make a proper soyaccino with the soy milk he has helped Alpro develop especially for professionals. This was amidst a constant stream of people coming to get their daily coffee and chinwag with the great team producing world class coffees. It was such a great vibe and a really interesting morning learning a great deal about coffee. I also managed to capture this shot of Gwilym, which I can't wait to put up on my website.

Gwilym Davies for Alpro, Photo © Charlotte Tolhurst

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Welcome to my food and photography blog

 Yep it's a food blog, a photography blog and a food photography blog. But, hopefully, this one offers a slightly different angle than the others I have seen. It will focus on images of food photography, the work of a food photographer and this particular food photographer's passion for all food, especially healthy and nutritious foods.

 To explain further, being a food photographer means I get to shoot and taste lots of new recipes. I will be publishing some of these, but also i will write about my job as a food photographer. A bit of a behind the scenes peek. And that's not all, one of my main aims is to share my love of healthy nutritious food. I believe every meal counts, so why waste it by eating something with little goodness. I have no professional qualifications in this area, but have completed a course in nutrition, studied macrobiotics and read a lot on the subject. I think a mix of passion for nutrition and also a love for new tastes, flavours and recipes means I have an informed and adventurous take on the weird, exotic and superfoods out there.

 Here my first recipe for Sweet Potato muffins, which are unusual but delicious and can be eaten as a sweet or savoury depending on what you spread on them. As you can see there is no sugar in the recipe. I try to steer clear of refined sugar as much as possible. Instead I experiment by using honey, molasses, xylitol, stevia, agave or no sweetner at all.

Sweet potato muffins
Photo © Charlotte Tolhurst

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups diced (1" square), cooked, mashed and cooled sweet potato
2 1/2 cups oat bran
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1 cup water
3 eggs, separated
2 tbsp melted butter

Method

Preheat oven to 400˚F/205˚C. Mix sweet potato, oat bran, baking powder, cinnamon and all spice. Make a well in the centre and add water, egg yolks and melted butter, mix. Beat egg whites until they are stiff and fold these into the mixture. Fill 12 greased muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes until when pricking the muffin the skewer comes out clean.

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