Almond Butter Choc Chip Cookies

Everybody loves chocolate chip cookies! But how to make them healthy? I was so excited when I found Rapadura sweetened dark chocolate chips in a local co-op store! This is a recipe I developed that I make now and then for a treat - they're wheat free, dairy free and naturally sweetened, and really yummy - just ask the kids :)

The almond butter adds some protein and calcium, which is a plus. I make the almond butter first, in my Thermomix, then add the other ingredients. You could use any nuts, or pre-made nut butter - macadamia, cashew, peanut - (preferably not the horrible 'hydrogenated' bought peanut butter though), and you could also add some chopped pecans or walnuts if you like - yum! (Note: if you use other nuts, you may need less oil to make the butter - macadamia nuts may not need any oil at all.)

This recipe makes a lot, so you could half it, or just roll some of it up in plastic wrap and keep it in the freezer until you 'need' some cookies. You just have to thaw the dough out for 10 minutes or so, then you can slice it into rounds, place on a baking tray and pop them in the oven. It's great to have some in the freezer when visitors drop by!

(Preheat oven to 175 degrees celcius)

1. First, make your nut butter (or you can use a bought one)...
Grind on speed 9 for 30 seconds, then scrape down sides with spatula:
- 250g almonds

2. Add and mix on speed 9 for 20 seconds:
- 50g macadamia or light olive oil
Scrape down sides of bowl again.

3. Add and mix on speed 6 for 30 seconds:
- 150g Rapadura 
- 180g raw honey (1/2 cup)
- 3 medium eggs
- 230g macadamia, coconut or light olive oil (1 cup)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

4. Add and mix on speed 6 for 10 seconds (using spatula to help mix):
- 500g plain spelt flour (can be a mixture of wholemeal and white, and may need more or less than 500g - you should be able to roll the dough into balls)
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 2 tsp baking soda

5. Turn dough out into a large bowl, add a little more flour if needed. (I do this in a bowl as the Thermomix is a bit too full at this stage, and the heavy dough slows down the blades.) Add choc chips and mix in with spoon:
- 1 cup mini dark choc chips, Rapadura sweetened (or malt sweetened) *


6. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto greased or papered baking trays and bake in oven at 175 degrees celcius for about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. (Or you can roll dough into balls and flatten with a fork.)

7. Cool on the trays for crispier cookies, or remove to a rack while warm for softer cookies. Or just eat them all while they're warm, and lick the chocolate off your fingers! :D

(If you do cook the whole batch at once, store them in the freezer so they don't go stale.)

* Note about Rapadura sweetened choc chips - I bought these at a co-op store in Cairns (Qld) - they are made by Rapunzel and can be bought online. Another naturally sweetened, allergy free brand is 'Enjoy Life Foods' - these ones are great as they don't contain soy, but are pretty expensive.  I know in the USA you can also get malt sweetened choc chips, but I haven't been able to find them here.

Raw Sprouted Buckwheat Granola

This is a great recipe which I like to make for breakfasts and snacks. The buckwheat is sprouted, then mixed with the other ingredients and dried in a dehydrator to make a crunchy granola-style cereal. Very good for you - it contains no gluten, bad fat, over-processed grains or refined sugars like you usually find in breakfast cereals! You can add more or less sweeteners as desired. The original recipe is from Serene Allison's 'Rejuvenate Your Life' raw food 'cookbook' - the Apple-Almond version is my own 'tweaked' version. I use my Thermomix to grind up the seeds, chop the nuts and dried fruit, and grate the apples.

First, sprout your buckwheat. You'll need:

- 1 very large colander or 2 medium size (stainless steel is best)
- 1 large pot for soaking

- buckwheat kernels (about 4 - 6 cups or so - make lots and dry them to use in granola and treat balls)

1. Put your buckwheat kernels in large pot and soak overnight with plenty of water to cover - they'll expand quite a bit, maybe over twice their size, so don't fill pot more than half full of buckwheat!

2. In the morning, pour your grains into your colander to about half full. (You may need to use more than one colander.) The buckwheat will produce a natural mucilage (like linseeds), so rinse this off really well, then place the colander on a plate or in a large bowl to catch the drips. Cover colander with a tea towel.

3. Rinse sprouts really well, for a minute at night and a minute in the morning, for one or two days, depending on the weather. If you live in a hot climate, be careful not to leave them too long and rinse them well, or they'll go brown and 'sour'. They usually only take about a day for me. If you need to save water, fill your sink with fresh water and dunk the colanders, running your fingers through the sprouts to rinse. They should look like this:

Buckwheat Granola/Muesli:

1. Mix together really well in a huge mixing bowl (or a wok):

- Approx. 14-16 cups sprouted buckwheat

- 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

- 3/4 cup raw honey

- freshly ground linseeds (a cup or so)

- freshly ground sesame seeds (2 cups or so)

- add lots of raisins, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chopped almonds, chopped walnuts, shredded coconut, chopped dried fruit (unsulphered apricots, dates, figs, etc) - whatever you like

- a good sprinkle of cinnamon or a splash of vanilla extract or flavour to taste

2. Spread on greased mesh dehydrator sheets, and dehydrate overnight or longer, until crispy. (The smell will make you hungry - smells divine!)

[If you don't have a dehydrator, you can dry this on baking sheets in a very low oven - if you prop the door open a little this will lower the temperature. I'm not sure how long it would take in the oven, so keep an eye on it.]

Enjoy with milk of your choice, or some yoghurt if you can have it, and fresh fruit - yum!

My Apple-Almond Variation:

(Photo at top)

1. Grind up a good couple of handfuls of pitted dates in Thermomix (speed 9 until desired texture)

2. Add to Thermomix 4 - 6 peeled, cored apples and grate on speed 5, 5 seconds.

3. Add to above recipe, leaving out pumpkin seeds, and adding lots of chopped almonds (or pecans or walnuts). I also use apple juice concentrate and agave nectar to sweeten it instead of honey, and add lots of cinnamon and nutmeg.

I don't really measure amounts, just keep adding, mixing and tasting til it's how I like it :)

Dairy-Free Spelt Scones

Scones have always been a 'staple' of our diet - we have them for breakfast or morning tea at least once a week. They're so quick and easy (pop them in the oven and they're ready to eat by the time you've had a shower)... And they are equally nice with jam and cream, or avocado, salt and pepper! (I never put sugar in my scones, so we can eat them with either savoury or sweet toppings.) We also like them with 'Eggs-a-la-Goldenrod' (chopped boiled eggs in white sauce), or white sauce with mince (ground beef). (I know, we have strange things for breakfast!)

Anyway, when I decided to go completely dairy-free for six months, the thing I missed most was butter in and on my scones - lots of it! Sigh. But I found that you can make really nice scones with oil instead of butter, and I'm enjoying them again for breakfast... often with fruit spread and cashew cream, as in the photo above. Yum!

(This recipe is written for Thermomix, but can be easily done by hand too.)

1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees.

2. Weigh into Thermomix bowl and mix for 6 seconds, speed 6:

- 440g plain spelt flour (grind up to 200g of the flour from spelt grain first if you want wholemeal)

- 4 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt

3. Add oil and mix in for a few seconds on speed 5:

- 60g macadamia oil, or light olive oil

4. Add and mix for 5 seconds on speed 5, or until dough almost comes together:

- 230g rice-almond milk, or other milk substitute

- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar (optional)

5. Set dial to closed-lid position and mix for 20 seconds on interval speed. Dough should be soft and slightly sticky - adjust flour and milk if needed.

6. Turn out onto lightly floured bread mat and pat into 3cm thick round. Cut scones out with the MC (cap in the top of the Thermomix lid), dipping it into flour after each one. Place onto floured/greased tray so that scones are touching each other. Cook in hot oven for about 15 mins, or until scones are lightly browned, and cooked through (pull centre ones apart to check).

Crunchy Gingernut Cookies

The kids and I enjoyed these gingernut cookies today - and I'm sure when Daddy gets home from work, he'll enjoy them too! (Hopefully not too much - I want some left for tomorrow!)

In my quest for dairy-free substitutes, I decided to try lard instead of butter. Some of you may be throwing up your hands in horror, but if you're not vegetarian, you'll probably agree that some animal fat is okay, and even desirable, in your diet. In case you didn't know, lard is making a comeback after years of vilification by big food corporations eager to push on us their plastic substitutes. To read up on lard, and why it's better than margarine and vegetable oils, read this article. (I've used a mixture of lard and light olive oil - you could use butter or coconut oil instead of the lard if you like, but it may change the texture.)

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F). Place in your Thermomix bowl (or in a regular mixing bowl) and mix on speed 6 for 10 seconds (or by hand):
- 400g (2 1/4 cups) unbleached plain spelt flour (or mixture of plain and wholemeal)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp ground ginger (more if you like)
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 140g (1 cup) Rapadura

2. Add, and mix for 30 seconds, speed 6 (or until well mixed), using spatula to help mix:
- 100g lard (or butter or coconut oil)
- 80g olive oil
- 90g blackstrap molasses
- 1 egg
Mixture may be slightly crumbly - check if it can be pressed together and rolled into balls - if it falls apart, add a little more oil.

3. Roll dough into walnut sized balls and place on greased or lined baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Take a flat-bottomed glass, and dip the glass in a saucer of Rapadura, then press a cookie flat. Repeat with the rest of the cookies. (See picture below.)
- extra Rapadura for top of cookies

4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until slightly browned and darker on edges - some ovens take longer than others, so check! (Swap trays around halfway through cooking so they brown evenly.)

Leave to cool on trays so they get nice and crisp. Store in airtight container in the freezer if not using straight away.

But I don't think they'll last long once the kids smell them... and someone else at our place was pretty keen to get a taste... ! (Must be all that molasses in them!)

Hot Cross Buns

I could eat hot cross buns all year round - I love them hot out of the oven... They never last long at our house! I make spelt hot cross buns, and use rice-almond milk and Rapadura, and they turn out just as good if not better than the usual version. This recipe is also delicious as fruit bread - just cook the dough in a loaf tin instead of making rolls. (Good for when you're in a hurry!) Sometimes we make chocolate chip hot cross buns instead of the usual ones - see variation below. Enjoy, and Happy Easter! :)


[Note: Grind up your grain first if you want to use some wholemeal flour in your buns.]

1. Whizz on speed 9 in Thermomix until finely ground:
- zest of 1 orange, no white bits (or you can use glazed peel)
- 60g Rapadura


2. Add remaining ingredients and mix on speed 6 for 6 seconds:
- 250ml warm rice/almond milk
- 70g soft butter or ghee or oil (grapeseed, light olive, macadamia)
- 550g spelt flour (I use 100g w/meal, 450g white)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 heaped tsp instant yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp each ground cinnamon & nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves

3. Knead on interval speed for 2 mins, adding dried fruit towards the end:
- 100g sultanas
- 70g currants or dried cranberries
(mix a little longer if needed to mix in fruit)

4. Wrap dough in silicon bread mat and place in cold oven with a tray of boiling water underneath. Leave to rise for 20 minutes.

5. Punch down and shape into small rolls. Place close together on lined baking tray, cover, and leave to rise for 10-15 mins.

6. Pipe with crosses made from:
- 80g white spelt flour
- 1 tsp light olive oil
- pinch salt
- 100g water

7. Place rolls in cold oven, again with a pan of boiling water underneath. Turn oven on to 220 degrees (C) and bake for 15-20 mins or until golden. Brush with hot syrup while still warm.

8. Syrup: heat in Thermomix on 100 degrees for 2 minutes, speed 2:
- 2 Tbspns Rapadura
- 2 Tbspns water

Variation: Instead of dried fruit, add dark chocolate chips - or a mixture of choc chips and sultanas - yum!

Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns! mmmmmm...