I made these blondies for a lovely lady who I am lucky to have in my life - the mother of the wonderful man I am blessed to have as my partner. Her favourite cookies are cranberry and white chocolate, but I wanted to go just one step further for Christmas...and I think that those flavours in blondie form really deliver! I am beginning to love Smitten Kitchen's ever so adaptable blondie recipe and am looking forward to trying more combinations of chocolate, nuts and dried fruit.

Since we have just moved into a new apartment block, and we have met so many nice people in our building I wanted to bake some little treats to give our lovely new neighbours for Christmas. It's so pleasant being able to stop and chat to our neighbours, unlike in my old apartment where you could hardly get a hello out of someone unless they were drunk or high and then the hello was unwanted!

I had a variety of chocolate chips left over that I wanted to use up and can't seem to get through a Christmas without making some form of ginger flavoured treat and apparently this year is no different! I didn't think you could really improve much on traditional gingerbread but hey, how can you wrong with chocolate chips? As I was pressed for time baking these last minute, I didn't roll them into individual cookies as it was going to mean numerous batches and just pressed it all into the one tray for make trusty old bars. I like how they turned out though, nice and soft but am curious as to how they bake up as cookies - so if you try this please let me know!

 For Christmas this year we moved into a beautiful new apartment 5 minutes from the beach. Apart from the amazing holiday lifestyle and finally feeling settled with my man in a home (rather than the old bonsai sized Kings Cross apartment); it also meant that I got a brand new kitchen for me to play in! So how could I possibly resist baking everyone's Christmas presents this year?!

Whilst the kitchen is not huge by any means, it has ample storage, a gas cooktop and good oven, space for a large fridge (heaven) and a microwave - something I forgot about the convenience of. It is also just generally much more pleasant to be in and I am feeling inspired to bake and cook again...well once my body sculpting meal plan becomes a bit more flexible anyway! Nothing like eating exactly the same six meals every day made from only chicken, red meat, fish, rice vermicelli, green beans, eggs and mountains of salad, to put a stop to any creative kitchen thoughts! Still it's been fantastic for getting results and my overall health as well. BUT...I can still bake for everyone else luckily, because the holiday season seems to bring out my baking urges!

I use a fantastic all natural protein isolate powder called Vital Protein. It's made from golden peas and has the most balance amino acid profile of any plant based protein and is highly bio-available. It is 88% protein and vegetarian, vegan, certified kosher, lactose and gluten free. It also has a high alkalinity level (Ph 7.5) which is quite unusual for any protein powder. My favourite things about this protein powder is that it has no artificial sweeteners or flavours or anything and still tastes delicious.

I use it daily in my green smoothie and also after training. I have also recently started experimenting with some baking recipes as it is not altered at all by heat or cooking, again another plus. So for our recent road trip I wanted to take some muesli bars as they are easy, healthy snacks when made right. Adding in the protein powder just helps to boost the protein content so you are getting a more balanced nutritional profile as well as feeling fuller for longer, without too much of a carbohydrate spike.

Now don't be put off by the long list of ingredients - I just like to cram in as many different nuts, seeds and dried fruit for fun. It is so simple to make that once you measure everything out it is super quick. You can always just keep the ratios of nuts, seeds and dried fruit the same and use less types too.

I came across this recipe on one of my favourite food blogs Anja's Food 4 Thought. I always find delicious and healthy looking recipes on her site and have finally gotten around to trying one.

I substituted a few ingredients with what I had in the pantry and also halved the recipe. These little bars are quite delicious, a lovely banana flavour with the crunchy nuts and bursts of sweet dried apricots. They stay quite soft with a little crunch on the edges and I think next time I would bake them as individual biscuits so that you get just a little more crunch!

Dear beloved sweet blog,

My sincerest apologies for neglecting you of late. I have no excuse other than being busy and trying so hard not to let food interfere with all my running and gym going. It's been hot as well, and turning on the oven is just not cool right now (pun intended).

Still, I know you miss me and I was craving Anzac cookies the other day...but I honestly didn't even have time to shape each cookie and bake two batches! So I made some lazy and nutritious Anzac slice. It's not low in fat, but they are good happy fats and I don't think you care anyway since blogs don't have waistlines.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I am...they are far too delicious and moreish!

Much love,
Zoe