Yogurt Trifle : No Bake, No Cook: Dessert In A Glass: Healthy No Added Sugar Dessert

It was 5 years ago when I went to Istanbul Turkey when I first tasted a yogurt enriched with kefir and it was a love at first sight for me. Beautifully fermented and so authentic that my body immediately realised that I ate something good. What is Kefir, if you ask? Kefir or kephir (ke-FEER), is a fermented milk drink similar to a thin yogurt that is made from kefir grains, a specific type of mesophilic symbiotic culture. If you want to know more about the health benefits of kefir I highly recommend you read this.

Now, I am someone who takes probiotics supplements everyday because my gut health is not that good. So when I was recently asked if I would like to try products from the company called Biotiful Dairy, I instantly said yes and was so excited to give it all a try because their products are loaded and enhanced with kefir. Their portfolio of products is so interesting and attractive, from Original Kefir Drink to Kefir Cheeses. From Kefir+Protien deepened Drinks and Yogurt to Kefir Ice-cream and Kids Friendly Kefir range-they have it all covered.

Biotiful Cultured Dairy Milk is a great alternative to those sugar loaded drinks. On a dull afternoon while we played chess we gulped on Mango and Strawberry flavoured yogurt drink and were absolutely hooked. Nutritious Dairy drinks that are light and fruity- smooth, luscious bursting with fresh flavours.

I also tried my hands on Kefir Cheeses and I can bet they are amazing alternative to cottage cheese, feta cheese or those cheese spread you get in the market. There are so many ways you can use these cheeses in day to day recipes such as in sandwiches, omelettes, on your salad, over crackers with some tomatoes or just have them as a dip with crunchy cucumber and carrot sticks. I used two big spoons Herbs & Garlic Cheese into my tomato pasta and it made it so creamy and just so yum. The cheeses can beautifully flavoured and so light on tummy-you have to try them.

Biotiful also sent me Kefir + Protein snack tub which combines the gut-friendly benefit of Kefir with the high-protein creaminess of Quark. It has a pure, natural taste and a delightfully thick and creamy texture. This is a perfect after meal dessert idea or just to beat your hunger pangs during the middle of the day. You can add in some chopped fruits or berries or even top up it with handful nuts to make it even better and scrumptious. One day, when the temperature went up, I skipped my lunch and had mango and blackcurrant flavoured from this series and I was completely filled up and sufficed.

To tell you more about Biotiful Dairy; they produce cultured Kefir Dairy drinks and snacks using British milk and the ancient method of fermentation. The result? Cultured milk drinks and snacks that are naturally lower in sugar, full of gut-friendly cultures and high in protein. Almost all of their products are:-

• Billions of gut-friendly bacteria
• High in protein & calcium
• Source of Vitamins B12 & B2
• No sugar added
• Red Tractor approved farms
• Free of artificial colours, flavours and preservatives
• Gluten free
• Suitable for vegetarians
• Kefir made in the UK

When I was left with Strawberry flavoured Kefir + Protientub, I knew I wanted to create something with it. I understood that this ‘just rightly’ sweet snack will make a perfect dessert. Desserts in a glass are my all time favourite ones. Easy to make, easy to serve and looks beautiful too! So, with that thought I decided to make Yogurt Trifle. No bake, no mess, no cooking-easy peasy summery Yogurt Trifle.

This layered gorgeous looking dessert gets ready in a jiffy and there are tons of variations you can do here. I used Lotus Biscoff biscuits as my first layer but you can use any digestive biscuits, oreos, cream biscuits, cookies or even granola or crushed cornflakes. For the second layer I used Biotiful Dairy’s Kefir + Protien Starwberry tub but you can use any flavoured yogurt, fresh cream or just plain yogurt too. For the final layer I chose to use melted chocolate, but you can opt for caramel sauce, dark chocolate gauche, melted white chocolate or even fresh fruits or nuts. There are so many ways you can mould this recipe as per your choice and preference.

Ingredients:

½ cup of crushed biscuits. I used lotus

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup flavoured yogurt. I used Biotiful Strawberry

4 Tablespoons melted chocolate

Method:

Melt the butter in the microwave for 10 seconds. When done add in crushed biscuits and mix well. You should have crumbly biscuits.

Take a glass in which you want to serve the trifle and start layering.

Add in around ¼ cup of crushed biscuits to the bottom of the glass and press well.

Beat the yogurt well so that it becomes creamy. Top the yogurt on the biscuits layer. Around ½ a cup.

Add on biscuits layer on the yogurt now. Around ¼ cup of it.

And then top it off with the remaining biscuit mix.

Finally add the melted chocolate on the top. Keep it in the fridge and serve cold.

Notes: 

The amount of ingredients you use is also dependent on the size of the glass you are serving.
I like my desserts to be rightly sweet, so if you like extra sweet then you might need to add some honey or sugar in the yogurt. I feel that biscuits and chocolate balances the overall sweetness well.

Disclaimer: I was not paid or told to write positive review. The post is based on my experience and is unbiased. Thanking Biotiful Dairy  for sending products for review.

Whole Wheat Oats Chocolate Chunk Cookies | Dark Chocolate Cookies | Eggless Cookies | Chaki Atta, No Maida Cookies

Who doesn’t like a bit of sweet after dinner? We all need that little dessert after meals isn’t it? Most often we would sneak in the kitchen drawers looking for chocolate bars and cookies jars, m&ms, sweets or candies. Or we would open the fridge to look for ice-cream, a jar of nuttela or lollies. That’s why it’s so important to have ‘something sweet but something healthy’ to eat.

Indian desserts are loaded with milk, fats, ghee, sugar and a lot of frying goes in the process; so I decided to make cookies for that ‘something sweet but something healthy’ to eat. Whole Wheat Oats Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

What makes these cookies healthy?

• The choice of flour. These cookies are made with whole wheat flour (chakki atta or chapatti ata) and thus it’s much healthier compared to the ones made with all purpose flour (maida).
• I used oats as another main ingredient. Oatmeal cookies provide a small amount of protein that is not present in other cookies. Oatmeal cookies have a high fibre content compared to normal sugar cookies.
• Dark chocolate. I used 70% dark cocoa chocolate which is a very healthy alternative compared to milk chocolate or white chocolate chips.
• Less sugar. Because you added chocolate you wouldn’t have to add extra sugar to make your cookies sweet. The chunks of dark chocolate will make the cookies sweet and will also make it gooey.
• You can also add a whole lot of nuts like cashews, almonds, walnut or raisins to increase the health quotient of these cookies.

What is the healthiest cookie ever? How to make healthy cookies? Recipe for healthiest cookies?

• There is nothing called as healthiest cookie, but yes with some changes and better alternatives you can make cookies healthy. Use healthy flour such as whole wheat, rye, ragi or sorghum (jowar) flour. You can check Jowar Chocolate Cookies here.

• You must try and use healthy side ingredients too such as flaxseeds, sesame seeds, nuts or oats. All these ingredients help to bind the dough and give you those crunchy cookies without compromising health factor.

• Cut down on sugar; instead use honey, brown sugar, coconut sugar, applesauce or chocolate. I love to use 70-80% dark chocolate in the cookies-chocolate makes everything sweet and thus I have to add very little sugar in the whole process.

• Reduce the fat. Try to add less butter, oil or ghee in the recipe. I would say chocolate plays a good role here too; it adds both sweetness and buttery touch to cookies. I try to add in very less fat and add healthier alternative such as milk or yogurt to recipes; it not only binds the dough, the natural fat in milk and curd makes the cookies soft.

Ingredients:

¾ cup whole wheat flour

¼ cup rolled oats

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ cup butter

½ cup dark chocolate chopped into chunks

4 tablespoons sugar (I used brown)

4-5 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoons yogurt

Method:

In a large mixing bowl, mix flour, oats, baking soda, sugar, butter, chocolate chunks well. Try to form dough.

You will notice that dough is too hard so add yogurt and mix again.

Slowly add milk one tablespoon at a time and then keep forming dough. You should be left with hard and yet workable dough. This means that everything should be combined well and no crumbs must fall.

Keep the dough in the fridge for 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven at 170 C for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, line a baking tray with parchment paper/butter paper. Take a tablespoon from the dough and start making cookies. I made disc shaped cookies.

Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes.

Let it cool and serve.

Notes:

Milk, yogurt and chocolate chunk must be used right from the fridge. Rest all the ingredients must be at room temperature.

You can also use chocolate chips (milk chocolate on white chocolate) in this recipe instead of chunks.

Feel free to add chopped walnuts or almonds too.