Sweet Tooth

This recipe is an alternative to the usual choice for those with a sweet tooth

TO FILL A SWEET TOOTH

You will need certain items from the following:
Whole rolled oats, porridge will just do (raw and uncooked)
Sultanas
Malted milk powder, like Horlicks
Cocoa powder
Honey
Marmalade or jam
Liquid in the form of milk, cream, yoghurt or fruit juice
Chocolate shot or chocolate chips

Some of us like to finish a meal with some sweet food. And sugary sweetness means fattening. And fattening is meant to be a bad thing.
So perhaps end a meal with fruit (sugar) or cheese (fat). All right, fruit is good for you, as is cheese.
Chocolate, or chocolates, fit the bill for that sweet tooth. Chocolate is meant to be good for you, but it is usually combined with sugar, milk, and that sweet gooey stuff in the middle of Belgian chocolates. So chocolates, although just a possibility, are fattening and expensive. Chocolate shot or chips are just passable.
But there is a real alternative – one that I enjoy if something sweet is not readily available. And it is relatively healthy.
The basis of this concoction is rolled oats – whole rolled oats. These, we are often told, are wonderful for your health and wellbeing. Good.
Put some in a bowl.
Now add sultanas. These will provide sweetness and fruit. They are, after all, just dried seedless grapes. And they are convenient to handle, and terrific value.
The next step is to add some Horlicks, or other malted milk powder. One has the feeling that this is a wholesome product, as it is meant to nourish the body and aid sleep. It will help the final mixture to coalesce. If adding cocoa powder, use only a very little. It will dry up the mixture.
You could now add some crushed nuts if you feel like it and if they do not prevent your body from functioning properly. I tend to skip them. Peanut butter is very fattening.
You might like to add another texture to the mix – like crumbled digestive biscuits or Scottish oatcakes. I don’t.
Stir the mix together.
Whatever you have chosen to add – and up to now it has been pretty healthy stuff – the mixture will need moisture.
A little runny honey won’t supply much liquid but will add health and sweetness. Don’t over do it. Much the same can be said for marmalade, which adds sugar and orange. Jam will also add sugar and fruit.
Yoghurt is an ideal semi-liquid, offsetting the sweetness of the sultanas. Stir it in to form a sort of paste.
Fruit juices, concentrated or otherwise, are other liquid possibilities. Milk is another.
Cream may well be the tastiest addition – though only for those unconcerned with their weight.
The result of all this will be a bowl of sweetish goodness, preferably in a sticky form that lends itself to consumption by spoon.
Now your sweet tooth will have been satisfied, leaving your health-consciousness happy or, at least, reasonably at ease.
There is scope here for your imagination. But start with just raw oats, Horlicks, sultanas, and yoghurt or cream.