Spiced Peanut Thumbprint Cookies

This recipe is adapted from one posted on a wonderful blog, Rawified. That blog’s author has been quiet in recent months, but I’ve learnt a lot from her blog – she has a particular knack for adapting recipes for sweet things and making healthier versions of them (she is a woman after my own heart!) She has also taught me a whole lot about food photography – for which I am super-grateful. Wherever you are Maggie, if you ever happen to stumble across this, thank you so much for the inspiration! You are a very talented woman.

Anyhow, here’s my adaptation. These are a real treat – they are pretty rich!  I don’t think it would be a great idea to eat a whole lot in one day. They are particularly loved by weary children. Or adults, for that matter. A highly scientific, randomised controlled double-blind trial undertaken at our house has indicated that everyone bounces about a metre higher on the trampoline after eating a couple of these.

Spiced Peanut Thumbprint Cookies

1/2 cup almonds (soaked 8 hours and drained well)

1/2 cup good quality peanut butter (I use Pic’s unsalted crunchy PB)

1 cup dried fruit (soaked half an hour or so and drained well – I used currants this time) OR 1 cup fresh medjool dates (see notes)

1/2 cup coconut

2 – 3 tablespoons LSC (linseed, sunflower and chia seed) OR LSA (linseed, sunflower and almond) powder OR ground flaxseed/linseed (see note)

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 teaspoon mixed spice

Place all ingredients in food processor and blitz to a cookie-dough consistency. Using damp hands, roll into balls, place on a tray lined with baking paper and make a thumbprint indentation in each one.  Place in fridge or freezer to set. Fill each indentation with a small amount of magical chocolate sauce (recipe below).

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Magical Chocolate Sauce

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons cacao powder

3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

2 – 3 tablespoons maple syrup (according to taste)

Place all ingredients in a jug and process with a stick blender, or use a regular blender, or a food processor. Actually even a spoon would do the trick.

Optional extras: dash of vanilla, splash of nut milk, a sprinkle of grated orange rind

Notes:

You can you whatever form of nut butter you like; we happen to particularly love the peanutty-chocolatey combination.

If you use fresh dates, you may not need to add the LSA/LSC/ground linseed – this serves the purpose of firming up the “dough” if it still has water in it from soaking the fruit.

These cookies are meant to be soft; it’s more like eating cookie/biscuit dough (which, in my opinion, is always the best part of baking anyway!)

We make many adaptations of these – they are a whole lot of fun for little hands to make! Just like playdough, only better as they can be eaten afterwards. Legitimately.

The in-a-jiffy icecream which saved my bacon

One day recently, I was walking home from school with two little boys (aged five and six). There was the usual wailing and gnashing of teeth (largely from my son, not the impeccably well-mannered neighbour’s child) about the prospect of walking up the two hundred and something steps to get home. Understandably.

Eventually they cheered themselves up by turning to toilet humour. My own mood started to go downhill. In an attempt to raise the tone of the conversation, I started talking about what we could make for afternoon tea.

“How about instant ice cream?” I said

“What is instant ice cream? Does it come in a pottle?” they said.

“No” I said, “we can make it, in the blender. With mango, and banana and coconut.”

“That will take too long!”

“No it won’t, it will be ready in a jiffy” I said.

So we got home, and they set about doing whatever it is that makes boys of that age giggle so much. I got the blender organised, found the frozen bananas, and immediately spotted problem #1.

There was no coconut milk, Or coconut cream. Or coconut water. Or anything vaguely in the coconut family.

That’s fine, I thought to myself; we have almond milk.

Then I found the mango. Problem # 2.

The mango was Definitely. Not. Ripe.

Just then my son called out “is the ice cream ready?”

“Not yet”, I said.

“But you said it would be ready in a jiffy”, they said. “What is a jiffy? This is taking a really long time.”

I am up a stinky creek with no discernable way of steering this vessel, I thought to myself. Not having two out of the three ingredients in a recipe is…well….less than ideal.

But no – as anyone who knows me is aware, I hardly ever follow the same recipe twice. I can Make Do. And this is what I came up with.

In-A-Jiffy Blueberry Icecream

2 large or 3 small frozen bananas (see notes)

1 cup frozen blueberries

1/2 – 1 cup milk of choice (I used almond)

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blitz. Eat immediately.

Notes:

To freeflow freeze bananas, do not simply throw whole bananas in the freezer, no sirree.  Find bananas which are desperate to be frozen, the riper the better. Peel and slice. Place banana slices in a resealable bag in a single layer, close and freeze flat. Believe me, your food processor/blender will thank you for your efforts. (Mango and pineapple cubes can be frozen in the same way).

Vary the amount of milk according to whether you want firmer ice cream (less milk) or a slushy (more milk).

As an aside, when my neighbour came to pick up her son, I told her what we had eaten for a snack.

Oh that’s funny, she said. He doesn’t really eat blueberries.

Well he did that day!

Super Seed Mix

This post is going to be short and sweet, much like the recipe. We eat these all the time – they are great on salads or soup, in sandwiches, or just by the handful.  Use whatever seeds you have – pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower is a good combination. Sometimes I add flaxseed too.

Super Seed Mix

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup flaxseed (optional)

1 – 2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari, preferably low-sodium

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius (340 degrees Fahrenheit).

Mix the seeds in a bowl with the soy sauce / tamari – add just enough liquid to lightly coat the seeds.

Spread seeds on a baking tray lined with baking paper or lightly oiled to prevent sticking.

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, stirring after ten minutes.  You will know when they’re done – they will smell delicious!

Store in an airtight container.

Alternatively, they could be placed in a dehydrator at 40 degrees Celsius for about two hours. Then they will look more like the photo at the top of this post. Spot the difference? No? They look much the same but taste different. Less like the tamari/soy; more like themselves.

Sometimes I bake some of the seeds and throw in the rest raw – e.g., baked sesame and sunflower seeds, raw pumpkin and flaxseed. Sometimes I add whole flaxseed for the chewy texture; sometimes I add ground flaxseed to maximise absorption of the omega fatty acids. As I may have mentioned before, I like to shake it up a bit with my recipes. Do whatever works for you!

Rather Extrawdinary Food

I am on a bit of a buzz, having run my first public Intro to Extrawdinary Food demo last night at Taste Nature in Dunedin. This was a big deal as, while I’ve run a few of these workshops before, this was the first at this venue, and the first that was open to the public. (Also I was trialing a new format – a taste-test demo – to gauge interest. I think it works!)

I had a ball; it was such a lot of fun! So much enthusiasm, such fascinating discussion and, if I may say so myself, the food was pretty darn good too. Thanks very much  to the fabulous participants, my lovely assistant (who coped very well with a couple of unexpected developments) and to Taste Nature for being the perfect venue to host an event like this. I hope there will be many more!

A particular highlight for me was the moment when the chocolate mousse threatened to erupt out of the top of the vitamix blender, as I hadn’t fitted the lid correctly. Ah, great times. It reminded me of the advice my childhood piano teacher gave me, decades ago. She used to say, no matter what happens (in a performance or exam), just carry on as if that was exactly  what was meant to happen. So that’s my defence – it was all part of the show!

Honey Cashew Cream

“Why make cream out of cashew nuts?”, I hear you ask.

A few reasons. In no particular order:

1. Some people can’t tolerate dairy. But they should not have to miss out on all the fun.

2. Some people don’t like regular (i.e., dairy) whipped cream.

3. Because you can (who knew? I didn’t, until this time last year).

4. Because cashews have a lovely buttery texture, which means that this recipe produces cream with a very similar consistency to dairy (but with the added benefits of B vitamins, zinc, iron and magnesium).

5. Because, when you’ve gone to the trouble of making an amazing raw dessert (like chocolate-caramel-fruit tart, which I took to a pot-luck dinner this weekend), it seems just plain wrong to serve it with regular cream.

6. Because this one tastes absolutely divine.

Honey Cashew Cream

1 cup raw cashew nuts (soaked 2 – 4 hours, drained and rinsed)

2 tablespoons honey

Juice of half a lemon

Seeds from 1 vanilla pod, scraped or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup water (approximately – add more for liquid cream or less for firmer cream)

Blend all ingredients until creamy. That’s it, end of story.

Except to say that if I’m making it for us at home, I use vanilla extract. But I use seeds from a vanilla pod if it’s a special occasion (like a dinner party or I’m taking a plant-based food demo or workshop). There is something about those tiny little black vanilla seed specks that screams “PARTY!” to me.

And sometimes I add orange juice instead of lemon. I’m crazy like that; I live on the edge.

And in summer, I sometimes leave out the honey, and use fresh fruit instead. Throw in a perfectly-ripe white-fleshed peach or two and you’ve got something pretty spectacular. Believe me.

It’s great having this in the fridge. If there’s cashew cream in the house, then dessert is no more than five minutes away. This is quite a comforting thought.

Sliced banana + some kind of sauce + chopped nuts + cashew cream = banana split.

Chopped apple + raw crumble topping + cashew cream = apple crumble.

My sister even has it on her breakfast cereal. Enjoy!

Chocolate Berry Super-Fudge

So, if you’ve read the About section , you will see that I have a sweet tooth. I just like a little something delicious to nibble on when I’m having a cuppa. How to have something that fits the bill (i.e., tasty but not loaded with processed sugar) was a mystery to me until last year.

Just over a year ago, I went to a raw food workshop run by the wonderful Renee from Ki Flow Healing. In a strange and random turn of events I stumbled upon her website (well not entirely random I suppose – we did go to school together many years ago!  But we hadn’t been in contact for a long time, so it was random that I found her website). Jumping out at me was a notice about the workshop, just before it was about to take place. Renee and I don’t live in the same city, or even the same country, but it happened that she was going to be in my neck of the woods! So I signed up, went along and – boom! – the food she made blew my mind. I bought her ebook and, despite the fact that I have become somewhat obsessed with books about raw and plant-based food in the last year, it is still my favourite! In it she makes a raw chocolate brownie based on dates, nuts and cacao powder – I had never thought about making anything like this before. That chocolate brownie became a staple in our household but, like all recipes, it has morphed many times. This is my favourite variation. Thanks so much for the inspiration Renee!

Chocolate Berry Super Fudge

1 cup mixed almonds and hazelnuts, soaked in water overnight, drained and rinsed (discard soaking water)

1 cup dates, soaked and drained – fresh medjool dates are best but dried dates work fine once they’ve been soaked

1/2 cup cocoa or cacao powder

1 tablespoon maca powder

1 tablespoon acai powder or freeze-dried raspberry powder

1 tablespoon LSA (linseed, sunflower and almond) powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 tablespoons melted coconut oil

Real maple syrup to taste (the amount needed depends on the sweetness of the dates)

Place first eight ingredients in a food processor and blitz until they resemble biscuit crumbs.

Gradually add the coconut oil until it binds together.

Taste – try not to eat it all! – and adjust sweetness with maple syrup.

Line a slice tray with greaseproof paper and press the mixture in firmly with a spoon – this will fill about half the tray.

Place in fridge to set.

Make double the mixture if you want to make a full tray. It’s pretty intense , so I cut it into small pieces (about 16 serves).

Can be frozen. Keeps in the fridge 4-5 days.

Notes:

You can make it without the LSA, maca powder and the acai powder and it’s still delicious, but just not so “super”!

Don’t be put off by the superfoods – which are pricey – it’s still fabulous without them. But if you want to investigate them, LSA is available in large supermarkets and cacao, acai and maca can be sourced online or at specialty health food or whole food stores (I buy most of my products from Taste Nature).

When I first started this plant-based food adventure, I thought to myself  “I’ll eat more fruit and veg but I won’t be buying any of those new-fangled superfood powders”. Well now I do buy certain ones – they add intense flavours that are quite unique, and they all reputedly have numerous health benefits (e.g., cacao is unrefined cocoa and is highly-concentrated in antioxidants; maca provides energy and fights fatigue without being too stimulating). They are so concentrated that you only use tiny amounts in most recipes. I bought a bag of maca powder a year ago and I’m still using it – even though I seem to include it in recipes all the time. Maybe it regenerates overnight in the container – which really would be a super-power!

The first time I made this, and gave my six-year-old son a piece to try, he said “This is the BEST THING I have ever eaten! You need to make this all time. You need to make a whole lot of this and send it all around the world!” So now I can tell him I have. You’re going to have to make it yourself, but at least you have the recipe!