Nut butter cookies

Looking for an easy vegan cookie recipe I found this one from the Veg Space. I used almond butter and almonds, instead of peanut butter and peanuts, although I had to factor down the amounts as 185g of nut butter is bigger than the entire jar I had! Interestingly, 0.6 of the recipe made 16 perfectly decent cookies, so they came in at 135 calories each not 272 as per the original (12 made from the full recipe).

They were... OK. They tasted fine but spread a LOT more than the ones on the blog, and cooled to a very crunchy texture (harder than ginger nuts) - would benefit from a dunk when eating. They were also quite greasy to handle. Not sure I would make them again when there are so many peanut butter cookie recipes around.

To be fair, it may just be that the almond butter is a thinner consistency (and more oily) than peanut butter. But there is a lot of sugar (more than flour, by weight), which is probably responsible for the hard and crunchy texture, so I'd like to find a less-sweet one that bakes up much softer.

Oaty breakfast bakes

Original recipe from Get your kids to eat anything, by Emily Leary. This book did not live up to its title promise for us (!), but this is a quick, easy and tasty recipe which I've made several times. It's a great alternative to banana bread for using up overripe bananas, and a handy healthy snack that travels well.

Ingredients:

450g yogurt of your choice (Greek or regular, any fat content seems to work)
3 medium eggs
2 medium ripe bananas, mashed (can also do 3 bananas and 2 eggs)
400g porridge oats
30-80g maple syrup, to taste

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

...plus fruit/nuts/seeds of your choice. I've used milled chia seeds, chopped hazelnuts, cranberries, sultanas, pumpkin seeds. You can also add any spices or other flavours you like.

Mix the yogurt, eggs and banana. Add the dry ingredients and any add-ins and mix well. The original recipe suggested topping with fresh fruit such as blueberries or blackberries, but I haven't tried that yet.

Bake covered with foil at 180°C fan for 30 mins (recipe suggests a 30x25cm tin). I tend to line a big shallow tin/tray with silicon baking sheets, and spread the mix on those, about 1.5cm depth. 

It makes a soft but solid bar, easy to cut once cool, freezes well. Because it's moist it can go mouldy in a couple of days so freezing is recommended!

Made based on the above with low-fat natural yogurt, 3 small bananas, 2 medium eggs, 100g jumbo raisins, 80g mixed seeds and 20g cacao nibs, and cut into 20: per piece 165 cals, 7g protein, 24g carbs, 4g fat.

Black bean brownies

Original recipe from ifoodreal via 200 is plenty sweet. These are low in sugar and high in fibre.

1 400g can black beans, rinsed
2 large eggs
140g no-sugar apple sauce
48g cacao powder
60g dates
80g dark chocolate, chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp bicarb
(optional) 40g protein powder
(optional) milk of your choice to loosen

I used 2 x Ella's Kitchen pear baby food (70g each) for the 'no-sugar apple sauce' (as I couldn't find any other option, and no time to make my own), and I chopped 70% dark chocolate rather than using chips. I added 40g of plain protein powder that I had been given as a sample, and some oat milk to loosen the batter (due to the powder and only having medium eggs). My food processor did't get the mixture super smooth but it's not a problem.

Baked at 175C for 30 mins in a 20cm x 20cm tin, cut into 16. It did stick to the paper a bit so there were plenty of crumbs - would use non-stick baking paper in future. Per piece: 130 calories, 9.3g protein, 2.7g fibre.

It's quite a dark, intense chocolate flavour and the inclusion of chocolate pieces in the batter is definitely needed, but it suits me perfectly as I don't like things too sweet. Using your own apple sauce rather than the quite thin baby food might be better, but it's still a good fudgy texture.

(yes, I ate one before the photo...)

Chocolate hazelnut "bliss balls"

Aldi has discontinued my favourite flavour of their Palaeo bars (cacao-hazelnut, not that I ever saw the mythical brazil-cherry that was on the shelf tag as that sounded awesome too...). I figured I could make something similar, and found this recipe from A Cupful of Kale.

80g hazelnuts (whole or chopped - I did not bother roasting mine)
200g dates
1.5 tbsp cocoa / cacao powder (5g?)
2 tbsp peanut butter (40g)
2 tbsp maple syrup (40g)

In a food processor, chop the nuts if you have whole ones, then add the rest of the ingredients and process until roll-able into balls. I had about 350g of mixture so made 17 balls of about 20g each. Two of them would be about equivalent to one of the bars.

They taste great, but could use even more cocoa flavour so next time I will add more of that, and a little salt.

Picnic loaf (pan bagnat)

I have fancied trying this for a while, and a shared picnic gave me the opportunity. I used this recipe from Delicious mag but it's really simple and flexible! A large round loaf, some grilled veg, cheese and herbs, and some time.

The base is a crusty white "boule" loaf - mine was from Waitrose, 400g. It would have been handy for it to be a bit taller, but there wasn't any choice. It still worked. I cut a lid off and then scooped out the insides. The recipe said to leave 2-3cm of bread at the crust, but this was too much and I would leave a thinner border next time; it was quite bready to eat and I had leftover veg and cheese that wouldn't fit in. The bread can't be too thin or else it will fall apart, but I think it would be fine with 1-2cm. Also, I think my bread was fresh (instore bakery) on the day I constructed the loaf, rather than day old as specified, but I did the cutting and scooping and left it under a teatowel while I did the veg, so it did dry out a bit.

For the veg I used 2 medium courgettes sliced diagonally (0.5cm), 4 portobello mushrooms, and average sized red and yellow peppers cut into sixths. The grilling was the most time consuming element, but it was worth tending to them to get good and even browning. I marinated the grilled veg in oil, red wine vinegar, garlic and fresh basil, as per the recipe, for a couple of hours.

I spread tapenade into the bread bowl before layering up the marinated veg with some sliced ball mozzarella and more fresh basil, pressing everything well into the outside edges underneath the lip. Even packing it in, I still had enough leftover veg and cheese for lunch the next day! You could probably spin out a single mozzarella ball to do this recipe if you sliced it thinly enough.

The finished loaf was wrapped tightly in clingfilm and left under a baking tray weighted with six tins of beans (~3kg), a bit more than suggested in the recipe. After being pressed for a couple of hours I sliced it into 6 wedges (not 8) and left it in the fridge overnight. It was well recieved at the picnic and I'd make it again for a similar occasion .

Variations I would try:

• include olives, capers, sun-dried tomatoes, peppadew peppers or artichoke hearts (easy to make a tasty vegan version with some of these and no cheese)
• add salami or other flavourful meat
• try goat's cheese or feta
• swap tapenade for pesto
• individual versions in bread rolls

Slow-cooker pork and sweet potato

A recipe from Ultimate Slow Cooker which I adapted to suit available ingredients.

Ingredients (2 generous servings / 2 moderate servings and a littl'un):
300-350g pork shoulder, large dice
1 large sweet potato, peeled, 2cm dice
1 bramley apple, peeled and cored, 2-3cm dice
1 medium to large onion, 1cm dice
400g can chopped tomatoes
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 stock cube of choice
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch chilli flakes (optional)
salt, pepper, oil as needed

Method:
Brown the meat and remove from pan/slow cooker inner
Soften onion and garlic with spices.
Add crumbled stock cube, sweet potato, apple, and return pork to pan, mix well to distribute.
Add chopped tomatoes to cover.

Cook on high for 3-4 hours or longer on medium.

Even without the made-up stock cube as per the recipe, there was plenty of liquid. I ladled some out to put in the long-grain rice I cooked to go with it. Super tasty!

Squashage rolls

I take zero credit for this recipe - it's thanks to my friend Flo, who's a whizz at finding ways to use up squash :)  I baked them for a cake sale and they got rave reviews, so this is to help out those who wanted the recipe.


1 large butternut squash (1.5kg), halved and de-seeded
1 onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, to taste, finely chopped or crushed
small handful fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
125g mascarpone
1 medium egg plus another to brush on pastry
salt and pepper
500g pack puff pastry
oil for roasting and frying the onion

Oil the cut surfaces of the squash and roast at 150°C until tender. Allow to cool while you sweat off the onion and add the garlic, sage and seasoning.

Peel the cooled squash (I find it easier this way), mash half to two-thirds of it, and chop the rest.

Mix , taste and season as needed. If your squash was quite wet you might not need all the egg - a softer mix is harder to work with. You could add breadcrumbs if it's too sloppy.

Roll out the pastry to the desired size (I did it in four lots to keep things manageable) - you need to make a longish sausage that you can then cut into individual rolls. If the mixture is too soft then it's this bit will be difficult. As you can see from the pic, my rolls were full and quite narrow, and I think wider would have been better. You could also try cutting the pastry and then adding the filling.

Use beaten egg to seal the pastry and glaze the top, then bake at 200-220°C for 20-25 mins until golden brown.

Any leftover mix  can be cooked in dollops on a non-stick baking mat and used a bit like felafel, e.g. with salad, in a pitta, etc. If it's quite soft it makes an awesome toastie filling!