Vegan salty balls

Original recipe from Hannah Grant via her @dailystews Instagram account. Modified as to what I had to hand, with some thoughts for next time...

- 130g dark roast crunchy peanut butter (next time try smooth, either almond, cashew or coconut)
- 5.5tbsp maple syrup (used half honey as I ran out of syrup)
- 50g Vive chocolate protein powder
- 50g oats (basic porridge oats so not whizzed to flour, but would try next time)
- 25g desiccated coconut
- large pinch salt
- juice and zest of 1 lime (thought this would go better with the chocolate protein)
- 1 tsp cocoa powder (my addition)

I was able to press and roll these into balls rather than cutting into squares, I think squares would have been more difficult.

This made 24 x 15g balls. Each: 64 calories, 3.5g protein, 5g carbs, 3.5g fat. They taste pretty good and are a nice alternative to the date/cocoa based ones I've done before. More lime, more salt next time = margarita balls ;)

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.

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.

Parsnip cake

A Moosewood recipe, originally entitled Anna's Country Spice Cake. I have metricated the (American) recipe and added my own topping - orange-cinnamon icing with caramelised walnuts. You could sub carrots for the parsnips.

It's possible to make this vegan by subbing the eggs with aquafaba.

Mix together 120ml (=100g) vegetable oil, 165g brown sugar, 2 eggs [6 tbsp aquafaba] and the zest of a large orange. When well combined, stir in 300g grated parsnip (equated to one large one, minus the toughest bit of core) and 120g chopped/crushed tinned pineapple (half a tin of chunks, drained then chopped roughly).

Sift together 225g self raising flour, extra 1tsp baking powder, a pinch of salt, and then cinnamon, ginger and cloves to taste (suggest 1.5tsp cinnamon, 1tsp ginger, 0.5tsp cloves). Stir into wet mix, then fold in dried fruit and nuts to your preference (cranberries work really well, also sultanas, and walnuts).

Bake in a 20cm square tin (greased & lined) for approx 1 hour at 160°C (fan) or until risen and springy.

To decorate: make up icing sugar to the desired consistency with orange juice, and add orange zest and cinnamon. This could be just a drizzle or enough for a full-on topping, as you like. Optionally, sprinkle with chopped walnuts, and for an extra touch use caramelised ones (55g sugar, 15g butter, melt and coat (chopped) nuts, then separate on a silicone mat before they solidify, or deliberately allow to set together then bash/chop into pieces of brittle).

I made this again for a bake sale and topped it with a pack of Violife 'cream cheese' blended with icing sugar and orange zest to taste. I caramelised some pecans using sunflower spread and caster sugar - they're a bit grainy but it works!

Khoreshteh Fesenjan (Persian chicken & walnut stew)

I made this for a friend's themed party - it peeked out of the November 2013 edition of BBC Good Food I was browsing just a day or two before the invitation arrived, so I took that as a good omen!

This is an easy dish, utterly unlike anything I have cooked before, and it turned out well. I think it works best as part of a bigger spread as it's too rich on its own. Essentially it's chicken thighs and browned onion simmered in a sauce made of walnuts, water and pomegranate molasses. It needs little prep and a long cooking time, and tastes best if left overnight.

8 skinless chicken thighs (I used thigh fillets and diced them, to make it more of a sharing dish)
1 large onion, chopped
Olive oil for browning

1 tbsp flour
550g walnuts, finely chopped/ground in a food processor
300ml pomegranate molasses (= 2 x 210g bottles from Waitrose)
1.2 litres cold water

to serve: pomegranate seeds, chopped walnuts, parsley

Brown the flour slightly in a dry (large) pan, then add the walnuts and toast gently, stirring often so they don't burn (this is important!). Add the water, stir well, bring to the boil, then simmer for 1hr. (I wondered whether in future I might toast the walnut halves before whizzing them, as it was hard to stir such a large volume of ground nuts.)

Meanwhile, season and brown the chicken and set aside. Slowly cook the onion in the remaining oil/chicken juices, then add chicken and onions to the main pan once the hour is up on the walnut sauce. Also add the pomegranate molasses. Simmer on a low heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally (I'd uncover for the last hour if it hasn't thickened much). Serve over basmati rice or with flatbread, plus a nice crunchy salad - the BBCGF feature recommends tomato, cucumber, red onion and more pomegranate seeds, plus a dressing of lemon juice, sumac, mint and dill.

I was surprised there was no other spice or seasoning apart from what's put on the chicken, but it works fine. The pomegranate molasses is a nice blend of sweet and sharp, and rounds out what tasted like a worryingly thin walnut sauce. It did become much darker and richer over time, so definitely plan to make it ahead.

Plum and cinnamon slice

Another one from Hannah Miles' Cakes and Cookies book. I made it the other week to take to some friends and since a) it was a success and b) the pastry was on offer and I got 2 blocks, I've made it again :)

Ingredients

• 500g block puff pastry
• 4 tbsp ground almonds
• 1 tbsp icing sugar
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 100g marzipan, chilled in the freezer and then grated
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 10 plums, halved and stoned
• 55g flakes almonds
• 2 tbsp clear honey
• milk for glazing

Method

Preheat the oven to 190C.

Roll the pastry out to 20 x 30cm, 5mm thick and place it on a baking tray. Score a line 1-2cm from the edge, without cutting all the way through the pastry.

Mix the ground almonds, icing sugar and oil into a smooth paste. Spread it inside the lines on the pastry and sprinkle on the marzipan and the cinnamon. Place the plum halves on top, drizzle with honey and sprinkle with the almonds. Brush the edges of the tart with the milk.

Bake for 25-30 minutes - the pastry should be golden and the plums tender. Leave to cool on the tray and then cut into eight.

So, how did it turn out? I love this recipe. The plums are soft and the pastry edges and almonds are crispy, the sweet marzipan and honey pair up well with the slightly tart fruit, and the cinnamon gives it a lovely autumny warmth. On round 2 I put cinnamon in the ground almonds/sugar mixture, and also some extra oil to make the paste easier to spread (about half a tbsp is enough). I needed more than 10 plums (a dozen - and then I had to creatively flatten them to take up more space!) but even slightly underripe ones sweeten up perfectly.