Oat Crunchies...

By the time you have finished reading this blog post, you will 100% want to make these little a squares of joy! There is no need in buying sweets this year for the trick-or-treaters just hand out these... although we can't guarantee that they won't come back for more! 

All you need is... 

180g hopper pot cane sugar porridge

250g dark or milk chocolate 

100g unsalted butter - cut them into small cubes

150g digestive biscuits 

1.  Break the chocolate into small pieces, put them in a heat proof bowl and add the butter. Melt gently over a pan of hot water, making sure to stir it now and then. Once the chocolate mixture is completely smooth, carefully lift the bowl off the pan and place the heatproof bowl onto a safe surface. 
2. Put the biscuits into a plastic food bag and use the rolling pin to break the biscuits, no smaller than you thumbnail, add the oats to the bashed biscuits. Then add both the biscuits and the oats to the melted chocolate and mix well so all the oats and chunks of biscuits are covered well. 
3. scoop all of the mixture into a greased tin and spread evenly. Cover with cling film and the leave to chill in the fridge for about 2 hours. Then cut them into equal size squares. Then sit back, relax and enjoy!! 

Do You Want A Healthy Heart?

Well... Did you know that oats are key to having a healthy heart?
It is said that if you have a daily heaping of fibre that is found in oats, particularly our porridge oats... it can help to prevent diabetes and also cut down your cholesterol and blood pressure levels.
What can we say... everyone here at Hopper HQ has healthy ticker, they eat their porridge!

Could You Be Our Winner?

Have you entered our competition to win a one of  two £50 vouchers to spend on Grasshopper products...? 

You'd be silly not to, it's so simple all you need to do is take a selfie of you with your hopper pot. You can be in the office or out on a horse back ride... anywhere you want. The more adventurous, the better.  We've already had Hopper Pots climb mountains, sunbathes on the beach, and even surfs but we want know where you would take them! 

So.. why don't you get involved and who knows you could be our lucky winner! You can enter on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter too. Make sure you tag us in your picture and don't forget to follows us too!

Santa is on his way...

As the autumn leaves fall, are you wondering where the year has gone?... we are too. And we known that this only means one thing is around the is on it's way... Christmas! With 64 sleeps left, why not treat your family to some delicious home cooked food.

So here is one of the traditional favourites... the mighty apple crumble.

All you need is..

300g plain flour, make sure you sieve it and add a pinch of salt
1 pot of cane sugar porridge oats, or 60g plain oats
175g unrefined brown sugar
200g unsalted butter and a knob of butter to grease the ovenproof bowl


450g cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into small pieces
50g unrefined brown sugar
1tbsp plain flour

What to do...

You should start by preheating the oven to 18C/350F/Gas 4.

Then place the flour, oats and sugar into a bowl and mix well. Take a few cubes of butte at a time and rub them into the mixture. Use the tips of your fingers to mix together, you should keep rubbing until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Then you should place the fruit into a large bowl and sprinkle over the sugar and flour. Make sure you stir well but be careful not to break the fruit.

Use the knob of butter to grease a medium size ovenproof bowl, spoon the fruit mixture into the bottom of the bowl, then you should sprinkle the crumble mixture on the top.

Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until the crumble topping is a golden brown and you can see the fruit mixture bubbling. Of course, I don't need to say what's next but just incase.. serve with custard and watch the family enjoy!

Weekend Tips Worth Trying!

As you all loved the pervious post about the healthy bake off, we have decided to give you a few more healthy tips that you can try out this weekend!

Here we go...

1. If you add mashed bananas and/or berries to your cookie recipe you can add colour, texture and even flavour which means you can replace the sugar in your recipe.
2. Im sure you know that peanut butter is high in heart-healthy monounsaturated fat compared with butter, so why not us peanut butter instead?

So this weekend you have no excuse not to try these healthy substitutes. 

The Healthy Bake Off

As we have already established many a times, baking doesn't have to just be unhealthy. We have a few tips that can turn your baking into healthy baking.

1. Possibly the most important tip of all... switch your flour for oats. Or you could even mix the both together to boost your fibre intake and lower the glycaemic index, which means that it will release the energy slowly through out the day.

2. you can also replace sugar by adding bits of dried fruit rather than sugar to your recipe  it will help you to increaseyoyur levels of fibre, vitamins ans also minerals.

3. Last but by no means least, to cut down fat and calories you should use cocoa powder if you are making a chocolate based recipe.

We are sure that these healthy tips will come in handy at some point, and if you think of it like this then you can eat more and not feel as guilty, sounds go hey!

Do You Love Jelly

Do you have lots of empty Hopper Pots? Well... don't throw them away, we have so many different ways to recycle them and our favourite is... the D.I.Y jelly mould. It’s so simple. All you need is a packet of flavoured jelly and some delicious fruit and, of course a empty Hopper Pot. Make the jelly as per the instructions the packet... allow to cool slightly before adding fresh fruit. Our favourite is pineapple and blueberry, but any combination is going to be delicious and healthy.

 Stir gently to ensure that the fruit is evenly distributed. Place into the fridge to set. If you pop the lid back on, you can put it in your child’s lunch box and send them to school with a healthy treat - guaranteed to make the teachers love you! What do you think? Good tip hey?

Spook-Tacular Tips

October holds cold nights and the one thing that adults look forward to more than the kids... Halloween!

So we thought we'd give you a few of our favourite top tips for all-out Halloween fun!

1. Here at Hopper HQ we live by the rule "You are never to old to go trick-or-treating" 

What do you have to lose? 

2. Make sure you buy an extra bag of sweets to give to all the trick-or-treaters, the more that's left, the more you have all to yourself! 

3. Don't throw away your seeds - If you are a regular pumpkin carver that throws away their pumpkin seeds but keeps the flesh then you need to STOP! 

Pumpkin seeds are packed with protein and fiber and not to mention that they are very tasty, you can gently toast them in a frying pan or even in the oven and you have a healthy salad topping or even a light snack. 

We'd love to know if you have any other spook-tacular tips...

A Treat For Everyone...

October is here and we all know that it means one thing... Halloween!! Even if you're 13 or 33 we know that everyone looks forward to the endless amount of unhealthy treats. Well... here is a slightly healthy recipe (it's not very healthy at all)  that you should love! Don't believe me, you'll have to try it out - wont you? 

Let me introduce you to our  "Oaty Moments"

What you need...

• 200g/7oz butter, softened
• 100g/3½oz caster sugar
• 1 free-range egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250g/9oz self-raising flour
• 140g/5oz oats
  
  
  
  
  What you do...
  Preheat the oven to about 180C/200F and make sure you line the baking tray with greaseproof paper. 
  Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until it is light and fluffy.
  
  
  Then you should beat the egg until it is well combined, stir in the vanilla and flour until well combined. 
  Separate the dough into 12 equal pieced and roll the ball s in the oats then put them on the baking try. Gently squash the balls with the palm of your hands.
  
  
  Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until they are a golden brown. 
  
  
  Get the kids or the better half to do the washing up whilst you put your feet up and enjoy your oaty moments.