Posts

YNBO- Tigernut buttermilk pancakes with coconut butter

We just got back from the most beautiful weekend in Cambridge. We have come back reinvigorated, filled with friendship & our kitchen has a few new ingredients to boot.

We got back just in time for this weeks adventures in the tent too, and last night was all about the batter. Was it the first time ever that the ovens were only used in one out of the three challenges? And also is it a bake if it’s not in an oven? Anyway, Great British Batter Off saw the bakers (batterers sounds oh so very wrong) tackle identical Yorkshire puddings, lace pancakes and finally churros. There were some great flavor combinations but personally I have to admit that I missed the baking bit last night. Still, it was fate that pancakes were a challenge & I can home from Cambridge with a bag of unusual flour that I have been itching to use!

I decided for my YNBO batter challenge to make plant based buttermilk pancakes using an ingredient that is totally new to me: tigernuts. Tiger nuts are not actually nuts, they are in fact a tuber & they used to be sold in sweet shops in the 1940s & 50s. They are rich in iron and have a nutrient profile that mirrors…well, breast milk. They are also a pre-biotic too.

They taste creamy, rich & slightly nutty, similar to a cashew. Thanks to a wonderful friend, I am the proud owner of 2kg of tigernut flour & with batter week upon us it seemed like the perfect time to test it out. Tiger nut flour looks not dissimilar to spelt flour. It is nut brown and very finely milled. These pancakes are somehow fluffy & thick and yet dense at the same time. They remind me of buckwheat pancakes. The tiger nuts provide a rich taste and the baking powder gives them lift. The homemade buttermilk helps keep them light & moist (sorry there is no other word!). I added lemon zest to the mix but you don’t have to and these could easily be a savoury base, topped with pesto & roasted vegetables or even made into single bite canapes hosting any toppings you fancy.

The coconut maple butter is inspired by LA and a delicious breakfast at The Butchers Daughter. With the baby asleep in the ergo, I perched on a stool & devoured buckwheat pancakes with berries & melting coconut butter. I practically inhaled them, pausing only to lick stray crumbs off the little ones head. I’ve never had such great pancakes since but these tigernut ones have arrived and are bringing a little bite of Abbot Kinney into our kitchen.Inspired by LA, created in Munich, prompted by Welford Park and facilitated by Cambridge. These are seriously international pancakes.

Ingredients (makes 8 pancakes)
1 cup (250g) tigernut flour

1 cup (250g) spelt flour (or gf flour)

Juice 1 lemon

1 tsp baking powder

1.5 cup (180ml) oat or other milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Method
Place the lemon juice into the milk & set aside for 10 mins

Place the flour & baking powder into a large dish

Add the lemony milk & apple cider vinegar and stir well

Leave to sit for 10mins

Ladle the mixture into a hot greased pan letting the pancakes bubble on the upside before flipping over

Ingredients (Coconut maple butter)
8 tbsp desiccated coconut

1 tsp maple syrup

Method
Place the coconut into a food processor or spice grinder

On a medium setting allow to process

Scrape down the sides every minute to keep incorporating

Keep processing till you have a creamy butter

Stir in the maple syrup & serve

/0 Comments/by

Matcha marzipan chocolate cups

It is my 32nd birthday today and I hate to quote my parents, but seriously where have the years gone? What’s funny is that I can’t remember all my birthdays, can you? I remember turning 6 as it was our first year in Norway, I got a kidney infection the day before and I also got a Polly Pocket, which was top of the secret wish list. I also remember 17 as it was the first time we were allowed to have a house party at a friends. I got so ‘merry’ that I was home and in bed by 9pm. 21 was fun and my first grown up birthday, spent in Troy bar in Shoreditch. 30 we spent paddle boarding in LA. 31 was the last one just the two (plus nanuk) of us, we were impatiently waiting the arrival of the little one, and I ordered very spicy thai green curry for lunch in a bid to try and get her to hurry up.

This year is my first birthday as a mama. There were no lie ins or long runs. There was a 5am start and a lot of snuggles. Somehow today doesn’t feel as important, it has somewhat paled, especially as all I can think about it the upcoming first birthday of the kid. Still, its nice to have a few treats. I have been showered in gifts, had beautiful walks in the sun, have a bottle of something bubbly in the fridge for later and I made these little chocolate cups. Alex loves marzipan and I love making it. It is so easy, just ground almonds, a splash of rose water and a drizzle of maple syrup.

I use maple syrup as it has the lightest taste and allows the almonds to shine. This time I added in matcha, for its colour, for its caffeine and for its beautiful earthy flavor. You could mix these up and make some filled with almond butter, sunflower butter, chia jam or anything else that takes your fancy. Mini muffin tins (the silicon ones) make a perfect ‘two bite size’ for a sweet moment on a sweet day.

Ingredients (makes 12 mini cups)
130g 90% chocolate

0.5 tsp matcha powder

1 tbsp maple syrup

6 tbsp ground almonds

0.5tsp rose water

Method
Place half the chocolate into a bowl over a bain marie and melt

Pour into mini muffin molds up to 1/3 of the way up

Place into the fridge until set

Whilst the chocolate hardens, mix the almonds, syrup, rose water and matcha together

Place small spoonfuls of the marzipan into the centre of the chocolate bases and then flatten to almost the edge

Melt the remaining chocolate and pour over the marzipan

Place back into the fridge and allow to harden

Enjoy

/0 Comments/by

Roasted strawberry and vodka sorbet

When your friend drops off a bottle of ‘Mama vodka’ (seriously that is its name) you are duty bound to make something delicious with it. We are still in the middle of a mini Munich heat wave and so whilst it was tempting to simply grab some ice and a slice, I wanted to make something worthy of the weekend.

Alcohol works wonders in a sorbet as its higher freezing temperature stops the fruit mixture from freezing rock solid. This means it is always at the perfect scooping consistency. I love vodka. Maybe its growing up in Norway. Maybe because it was my drink of choice during the party years on Lower Marsh in London (cranberry and vodka felt so grown up back then!). Maybe its because it works so well in recipes with fruit. It somehow manages to pack a serious punch without overpowering other flavors.

Strawberries were the obvious choice for me, mainly because I had a few punnets languishing in the fridge. Strawberry season is over now and these summer fruits have past their prime. The ones I had were seedier than normal and didn’t have that super sweet juiciness of their July counterparts. By roasting them I was able to draw out their hidden sweetness and caramelize their natural sugars. There are other options though: lychee and ginger is going to be my next experiment and I bet peach and pistachio would be delicious too.

This is a really simply sorbet. It is three ingredients and is ready to eat after two hours in the freezer. It is refreshing, sweet and packs that secret kick. Make it tonight and enjoy all weekend.

…..and just as a little side note. If you want instant vodka sorbet then all you need to do is combine vodka, maple syrup and frozen fruit…happy friday!

Ingredients
400g strawberries

6 tbsp maple syrup

4 tbsp vodka

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C

Place the strawberry into an dish and roast for 25mins

Once cooled place into a blender with the maple syrup and the vodka

Pour into a shallow dish and allow to freeze for 2 hours or more

Enjoy

/0 Comments/by

YNBO rosewater and pistachio vegan iced biscuits

Thank goodness I keep a stash of chickpeas in the cupboard because once again GBBO and the show stopper has me reaching for aqua faba. This week saw the contestants making standing constructions, viennese biscuits and practicing their icing skills. To be honest, I am not much of a biscuit girl but I loved last nights show and it makes me want to up my gingerbread house game this winter! I thought I would combine two challenges and give you a vegan cinnamon biscuit with a beautiful plant based icing. You could easily use this biscuit to make a house or other construction as it is a hard biscuit that holds icing well.

Normal royal icing needs egg whites to help it to set and whilst I am sure that you could try and use a combination of arrow root and corn starch, I figured that chick pea water would do the trick again. I decided to make my own icing sugar using unrefined sugar. Unrefined sugar is still sugar but it retains its naturally present minerals and nutrients such as calcium, phosphorus and iron. It is sold as raw unrefined sugar. Brown sugar is not unrefined unless stated, it is simply refined sugar that has had molasses added to it to give it colour.

For colors you could make a paste (1tsp hot water, 2 tsp ingredient) of: bee pollen (yellow), Acai (Purple), Beetroot powder (red/pink), matcha (green). To colour my icing i used 1 tbsp of acai powder to get a speckled purple. In order to get icing thick enough to pipe the easiest test is to run a knife through the icing in the bowl. It should take 15 seconds for the line to cover up again. For thinner icing (to flood/colour in an area) the same test can be done but it should take around 10 seconds for the line to close.

These cinnamon biscuits are crunchy and light. They hold the icing without getting soggy and they have a warming aftertaste to them. I topped the icing with ground pistachios but you could decorate with icing, chopped nuts or edible flowers.

Ingredients-Icing (for approx 40 biscuits)
60ml aqua faba

240g icing sugar

1 tsp rose water (or vanilla)

(1 tsp juice or 1 tbsp powder to dye)

Method
Place the aqua faba into a bowl and whisk until it becomes frothy

Add in the rose water and the sugar and whisk carefully until fully combined

Place into the fridge to set for 1.5 hours

Stir in colorings as desired

 

Ingredients – Cinnamon biscuits (approx 40)
150g self raising flour

150g plain flour

2 tsp cinnamon

100g coconut oil or 125g butter

1 flax egg or 1 egg

100g unrefined sugar

Method
Preheat your oven to 160C

Combine all the ingredients & mix into a firm dough

Roll the dough out between two sheets of baking paper to a 1cm thickness

Cut out and place onto a baking sheet

Bake for 10-12 minutes

Cool on a baking rack before icing

/0 Comments/by