Welcome 2015!

Wow - a brand new year, like a brand new diary, each page waiting to be filled. Brimming with potential and with many milestones to achieve. You probably would be expecting a list of New Year resolutions. But I seem to have outgrown those mere excuses of effort, which would last not even a fortnight!

Instead, these have been replaced with a deep sense of purpose: to bring pleasure to peoples’ lives through good food, to travel & explore new cultures with my spouse and to live a healthy life. 2014 has been special, for the clarity of vision and purpose that I finally got in this year. Something tells me 2015 is going to be a super busy year for HeartBakes, and that’s something I am really looking forward to!

Now for a baker, leading a healthy life might seem like a misnomer, especially one who has been struggling with ‘weighty’ matters her entire lifetime! For a baker, it’s an occupational hazard, especially when a tasting session often becomes a feasting session (despite all good intentions). But though it is difficult, it isn’t impossible. Last year I also managed to lose 6 kilos despite the baking: a big number for someone who had been yo-yoing for an entire lifetime. The remaining excess baggage will definitely be shunned this year!

So is HeartBakes really healthy? No and yes. All that butter, flour & sugar can never be in absolute terms. It probably doesn’t make any business sense for me to admit this. But at times like these, conscience takes over my business sense (which by now you gather is limited).

BUT the HeartBakes menu is healthier than your other mass based options, mainly because of the following reasons:

1. All items are baked fresh to order: so none of the cakes or cookies that you have ordered has been stored in freezer for months and flash baked before delivery (!).
2. Every item is baked from scratch. So no pre-mixes are used (there are dearth of them in the market today)! The magic of seeing humble ingredients such as flour, eggs and butter transform into a delicious, moist pound cake gives me the high every time. I don’t really trust what goes into any other unnatural form.
3. All ingredients are bought fresh & local, including eggs which are farm fresh.
4. We do not use margarine until and unless the recipe specifically calls for it. The butter versus margarine tussle is age old and I rather choose a natural form of fat (butter) than something that has been produced artificially in a laboratory though economical (margarine). 
5. Whereas flour is one of the most basic ingredients in baking, I often use almond flour in some of my recipes (again, I make my own) which is a healthier, but more expensive gluten free substitute.
6. Hygiene, hygiene, hygiene: that’s a given in HeartBakes’ kitchen

So, even while you indulge, you know it comes in its healthiest version with no compromise on taste.

2015 is going to be a special year for me, an extension of the beautiful journey which began in 2014 called HeartBakes. And thank YOU for being part of this incredible ride!

HeartBakes wishes you a phenomenal 2015!

P.S.: If you want to read more about the butter vs. margarine debate, click here or Google please.