The Fourth Day of Christmas – With A Healthy Twist
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me…..Four cuddling koalas, three little penguins, two pink galahs aaaaand a kookaburra up a gum tree
Ahhh, Caramello Koalas. They are so cute and tasty. Especially on the fourth day of Christmas.
Just in case you are wondering how they fare in the world of treats, one regular sized Caramel koala contains 99 calories and this includes around 1 teaspoon of fat and just over 2 teaspoons of sugar. If you get sucked into a fundraising vortex and decide to go the Giant version, this effectively doubles the dose. Well, maybe a bit more if you get guilted into buying the whole box.
So should you eat them? They are quite delectable and can help you experience a moment of bliss, so they are perfectly designed as an occasional treat. But when I know that one little koala takes up some of my total daily intake, I do what I did today. Go look at a cute image of them…. zero calories, fat and sugar but still the moment of bliss.
Some darker varieties of chocolate contains a bunch of powerful antioxidants that can do good works in our bodies. Don’t go crazy though – two squares of good quality dark chocolate will do the trick, you don’t need the whole box that you were given!
If you are looking for something sweet but a bit more satisfying than a little koala, try these on the fourth day of Christmas.
Christmas Muffins
(Makes 12 regular or 24 mini muffins)
Ingredients
300g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
75g muscovado or brown sugar
250g fruit mince
300ml buttermilk (or 1/2 yoghurt, 1/2 milk)
80ml (1/3 cup) vegetable oil
1 egg
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
1-2 tbs lemon juice
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon and pinch of salt in a bowl.
Method
Stir in the brown sugar. Beat together buttermilk, oil and egg until combined, then add to dry ingredients with the fruit mince and stir until only just combined. Fill each muffin case with the mixture and bake for 20 minutes. Set aside to cool. Place icing sugar in a bowl, add enough lemon juice to form a soft icing and drizzle over the muffins.
