Super Natural Every Day (26 page)
Read Super Natural Every Day Online
Authors: Heidi Swanson
PEANUTS, POPCORN, CHOCOLATE CHIPS
 | A few years back, I was visiting with one of my best friends from high school, Nikki Vecchiarelli, now Nikki Graham. She’s married now with four kids, and we keep in touch mostly through swapping cooking stories, pics, and recipes over e-mail. She kept telling me about a certain cookie she made for her kids—butterless, flourless, eggless, and potentially sugarless. She swore they loved them, and one batch later I was a convert. When I eventually shared the recipe on my website, it became one of the all-time most popular. |
I’ve since developed this carnival-themed version of the original. It incorporates whole peanuts and popcorn into the dough. You can use whatever chocolate you like. Or, do what I do and chop up a bar of good-quality dark chocolate (70 per cent cocoa solids). | |
Coconut oil works beautifully here. Just be sure to warm it a bit—enough that it is no longer solid—to make it easy to incorporate into the bananas. If you have gluten allergies, seek out gluten-free oats, and you’ll be fine here. Peanut allergies? Swap them out for a different kind of nut. |
340 g well-mashed bananas (about 3 large)
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
60 g extra-virgin coconut oil, barely melted (but not solid)
120 g rolled oats
60 g almond meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
100 g peanuts
170 g dark chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate
20 g popcorn
Preheat the oven to 180°C (Gas Mark 4) with racks in the top and bottom third of the oven. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
In a large bowl, combine the bananas, vanilla, and coconut oil. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the oats, almond meal, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the chocolate, then the peanuts, and lastly the popcorn. The dough is quite a bit looser than a standard cookie dough, but don’t worry about it. Firmly shape small balls with your hands, about 1 heaped tablespoon each, and place them about 2.5 cm apart on the prepared trays.
Bake for 14–17 minutes, swapping the trays from top to bottom once along the way, until the cookie bases are deeply golden. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on a wire rack.
MAKES ABOUT 24 COOKIES
You can make your own almond meal by pulsing almonds in a food processor until they have the texture of sand. Don’t go too far or you’ll end up with almond butter.
WHITE WHOLEMEAL FLOUR, BLACKBERRIES, COCONUT, PISTACHIO NUTS
| For those who can’t be bothered with fussy tart crusts, this recipe is expressly for you. The coconut crust is pressed into the pan with your fingers and topped with juicy blackberries that bleed beautifully into neighbouring macaroon dollops. Don’t limit this tart to blackberry season—cherries, plums, and blueberries all work well as substitutes. You can also substitute spelt flour in the crust, if need be. |
170 g white wholemeal flour
60 g shredded coconut
100 g sifted natural (unrefined) cane sugar or soft brown sugar
Scant ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
140 g unsalted butter, melted
140 g shredded coconut
70 g sifted natural (unrefined) cane sugar or soft brown sugar
4 large egg whites
225 g fresh blackberries, halved
45 g pistachio nuts, crushed
Preheat the oven to 180°C (Gas Mark 4) with a rack in the middle of the oven. Butter a 20 cm x 28 cm tart tin (or equivalent) and line the base and sides with baking paper.
To make the crust, in a large bowl, combine the flour, coconut, sugar, and salt. Stir in the melted butter and mix until the dough is crumbly but no longer dusty looking. Firmly press the mixture into the base of the prepared tin (it should form a solid even layer). Bake for 15 minutes, or until barely golden. Remove and set aside to cool for a few minutes.
In the meantime, prepare the coconut macaroon filling by combining the coconut, sugar, and egg whites. Mix until well combined.
Evenly distribute the blackberries across the tart base. Now drop little dollops of the macaroon filling over the tops of them (I dirty up my hands for this part), and mush and press the coconut topping around into the spaces behind the berries. Be sure to let at least some of the colourful berries pop through for visual flair.
Bake for 20–25 minutes, until the peaks of the macaroon filling are deeply golden. Let the tart cool, then garnish with the crushed pistachio nuts before slicing into small squares.
MAKES 24 BITE-SIZED SERVINGS
WHOLEMEAL FLOUR, FRESH PLUMS, LEMON ZEST
| If you have a preference for super-sweet cakes, skip this. It’s a subtly sweet stunner that you can make with just about whatever fruit is in season. |
If you can find it, use wholemeal pastry flour, which delivers a pretty cake with a delicate crumb, and the buttermilk lends plenty of richness and flavour, allowing for a satisfying treat with a fraction of the butter and sugar you’ll find in many cakes. Remember, cakes keep baking even after they come out of the oven; you don’t want to overbake this cake in particular. It will end up on the dry side, more like a scone if you’re not careful. Serve with a floppy dollop of maple-sweetened | |
Some plums can be difficult to cut. With a sharp knife, slice off two lobes as close to the stone as you can get. Cut each lobe into four pieces, eight total. | |
Now slice off the two lobes remaining on the pit. |
310 g wholemeal flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
70 g golden caster sugar
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large eggs
355 ml buttermilk
60 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled a little
Grated zest of 3 lemons
8 to 10 plums (ripe, but not overly ripe), thinly sliced
55 g raw sugar or demerara sugar
Preheat the oven to 200°C (Gas Mark 6) with a rack in the top third of the oven. Butter and flour a 28 cm-round tart tin, or line the base of the pan with baking paper. Alternatively, you can make this cake in a 9 cm x 33 cm baking dish; just keep a close eye on it near the end of the baking time.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, caster sugar, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs and buttermilk. Whisk in the melted (but not hot) butter and the lemon zest. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and stir briefly, until just combined.
Spoon the cake mixture into the prepared pan, pushing it out toward the edges a bit. Scatter the plums across the top, then sprinkle with the raw sugar.
Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until the cake has set. A toothpick to the centre should come out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.
SERVES 10–12
DRIED APRICOTS, SHAVED CHOCOLATE
| These are the sweetest cookies I make—sweet and spicy. I use a dark chocolate (70 per cent cocoa solids) to counter the sweetness a bit, and bake them teeny-tiny. A couple of the cookies in the afternoon alongside some mint tea is all you need. |
It is important to use the right kind of molasses, preferably organic. If in doubt, taste your molasses; the flavour should be rich, densely flavoured, and most important, it should taste good, not harsh. |