I always bake for pregnant yogis in their last week - in your 40th week if you have no issues, but earlier if you're scheduled for a C Section or induction. This week is the first time that I've been set the challenge of baking for someone with Gestational Diabetes.
Gestational Diabetes means no regular cakes with lots of sugar, so I did some searching and have found this Courgette Loaf recipe on Diabetes UK's website. I changed it to put it in muffin cakes, but otherwise didn't alter the recipe. I was tempted to add nuts but wasn't sure what impact that would have on the nutritional information and didn't want to mess up my yogi's carefully balanced diet management.
Ingredients are:
Courgette Muffins
2 eggs
75ml oil
1tsp vanilla extract
3tbsp granulated sweetener
300g courgette, grated
200g wholemeal flour
1tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
Method
Preheat oven to 180oC
Oil the tin and set to one side
Beat together eggs / oil / vanilla / sweetener in a bowl
Add courgettes then add flour / baking powder and cinnamon (I always mix the baking powder and flour well before adding as no-one wants clumps of baking powder in their muffins)
Put in the oven and bake for approx. 20 mins (30-35 mins if in a loaf tin).
I tasted one with my morning coffee and they're not bad. Another time I would use muffin cases rather than oiling the tins as the recipe suggested as I think it'd make it easier. Plus I think they'd be better with some oats / nuts / seeds but will consult my friendly nutritionist friend for advice.
Anyway, hopefully she will appreciate that I've tried to make her something special for her last week. I hope that her Gestational Diabetes is left behind her once she has her baby (apparently 50% of the time you get to keep that particular joy with you forever!) and she can once again indulge in occasional sweet indulgences like the rest of us.
In the meantime, does anyone have any other suggestions of recipes using sweetener? I've got a massive pot of it now and can't see me getting through it any time soon.