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Billionaires Shortbread

Billionaire shortbread or as i like to call it: the baby has a cold and is teething so she can only sleep upright on me & I am so tired my own teeth hurt and I need something sweet to get me through the afternoon shortbread. Seriously, I know the baby has bone cutting through her gums and that up till now I have tried to protect her from pain (bare one unfortunate dropping her off the bed incident) but can I get some sympathy too? Just for a second, I just need a hug…you can find me face down in a mug of coffee. 

Honestly though, when I’m this tired, as much as I want to power eat espresso beans & cake I find that I have to take extra care. If your body isn’t getting rest, then at the very least it needs nourishing. I’m making sure to do a quick strength training session and to walk outside for a few miles each day. I’ve been running before dawn on the mornings that I have managed to extricate the baby from my bussom. 

Every morning I start the day with hot water. I started drinking hot water because my history teacher drank it in school & I had a major crush on him. I would love to tell you that I started because of the liver cleansing properties etc etc but nope, this healthy habit is the result of a teenage infatuation. Thankfully I have a great knowledge of the World Wars & I drink hot water allday everyday which must be a win win. Then comes coffee, because I’m human. Lately I switched to oat milk because the Swedish firm Oatly brought out “barista” oat milk. It’s the only non dairy milk that i like in coffee. It doesn’t separate or float or taste oily. It’s creamy & rich & you can froth it. Seriously go Sweden!

Most days are filled with food tasting & various versions of thrown together Buddha bowls. But by the afternoon I need a little something. Women more disciplined than me may have a green juice & 12 organic almonds. I on the other hand have created billionaires shortbread. This sweet treat saves me in those exhausted afternoons when all you really want to do is lie down in bed and eat cadburys mini rolls.

I figured if millionaires got a shortbread with a caramel layer, then billionaires would get a salted caramel chocolate later. It’s a modified version of a millionaires shortbread. I would call it a healthy version but what is healthy? One mans poison and all that. What it is, is that it is made with wholesome ingredients in their natural form. Foods that your body can recognise and that it knows what to do with. And in this case, sugars that occur naturally which means no sugar crash an hour later. It’s rich and decadent. It feels like it should be terrible for you but it isn’t. It’s an instant mood booster & a perfect tea time tray bake to share (if you feel like it).

Ingredients
10 tbsp oats
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 banana
20 pitted dates (medjool or other soft ones work best – if you can only get dried dates then soak them in hot water for 20mins before using)
3-4tbsp hot water
0.5tsp salt (optional)
6 tbsp oat cream (or other cream)
60g dark chocolate (70-90%)

Method
Place the oats into a food processor and process to a flour
Add in the coconut oil and the banana and processor until you have a dough
Press the dough down into a layer in a lined baking dish (should be about 3 cm thick)
Bake for 15mins and then set aside to cool
Place the dates into a food processor, whilst the dates blend slowly drizzle in the water until you have a thick paste. You don’t want it too runny
Heat the cream in a pan, remove from the heat and add the chocolate, stir until the chocolate has melted
Add the chocolate cream and the salt into the food processor with the date mixture and blend together
Leave to cool and set and then spread over the oat base
Set in the fridge or freezer for 20 mins and remove 5 minutes before eating

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Tamari roasted nuts

Oktoberfest is almost upon us and it feels like the city is in countdown mode. I am not quite there yet. Firstly, it is September, and I hate to point this out to the organizers, but it is called OCTOBER-fest. I just don’t feel ready for it, or the hordes of people about to descend on the city but a part of me is excited. I love love love the fact that everyone suddenly wears lederhosen and dirndls…to work, to school, to the office. It feels so colorful and happy somehow. I also really love that everyone is in love with the city. Its like a big gingerbread heart surrounds Munich and everyone just wants to show off all that this place has to offer. There is a buzz in the air, the streets feel busier, the beer makes people friendlier and chattier.

I also have to confess that we didn’t go last year. It was our second month living here but I was 40 weeks pregnant and we were in the midst of a heatwave. You also have to walk a pretty long way to get to the wiesn and I just couldn’t face it. Instead I lived vicariously through our friends stories. I admired their dirndls and laughed at their crazy drunken antics. We did sneak down very early one morning, way before it opened so that I could walk round and see the huge tents. Amongst all the tales, I have to admit that I was impressed by how much people consume. Personally I couldn’t drink 5litres of anything and especially not beer. I read that on average people consume 800kcal an hour at Octoberfest, which makes sense with all the beer, pretzels, and pancakes! To get me into the spirit of the upcoming festivities I thought I would make this week all about the snacks. Snacks that you can pair with beer (or not) and snacks that are slightly more nutritionally dense than what the tents have to offer

These tamari roasted nuts are seriously addictive. They are rich and earthy, salty and crunchy. They are delicious on their own or crushed on top of a buddha bowl. I used cashews but you can use any nuts you like. Let the beer fest count down begin.

Ingredients
300g cashews

3 tbsp tamari

0.5tsp chilli oil

Method
Place the cashews into a jar with the tamari and oil, cover and leave overnight to soak

The next day, preheat the over to 180C

Spread the cashews out on a lined baking tray and roast in the oven for 20mins

Leave to cool before enjoying

Will keep in a jar for up to 10days

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Three ingredient chocolate truffles

Sometimes the sweetest things are the simplest things. These chocolate date truffles only need three ingredients. I make these all the time. I think most of my friends have tried them, my clients all make them now with ease and there is always a stash of them in our fridge. They taste amazing, they are ready in 5 minutes and you can customize them in so many ways. The basic recipe needs only dates, raw cocoa and walnuts. By grinding down the walnuts and cocoa into a powder you can use the dates to bind them together. You are making the easiest energy ball in the world. It is packed with iron and healthy Omegas. Dates give you long lasting energy rather than a sugar spike making these a perfect pre training snack.

I like to add in fresh ginger to the walnuts and cocoa and simply blend it down with them. You could add in supplements that work for you such as spirulina, maca or lucuma. A tiny splash of espresso, orange zest or a pinch of cinnamon taste great too.

Day to day we eat them like this. Just the simple combination of three ingredients, but if I am making them as a gift or as a after dinner treat I dip them in melted raw chocolate and then roll them in flaked almonds, cocoa or cocoa nibs. They make a really lovely gift, piled into a jar and sealed with a ribbon.

Ingredients
12 walnut halves
4 medjool dates
2 tsp raw cocoa

Method
Pulse the walnuts & the cocoa in a food processor until you have a fine crumb
Add in the dates & pulse until a sticky dough forms
Roll the dough into balls & either place in the fridge or dip in melted raw chocolate first and roll in toppings of your choice

To make the raw chocolate all you need to do is melt 50g cocoa butter with 3tbsp raw cocoa

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YNBO – Fig and cardamon braided vegan loaf

Last nights Great British Bake Off saw the bakers tackle bread. They started with chocolate studded loaves, battled with ‘Dampf knodel’ (steamed dumplings), before finally tackling braided breads. I considered making dampf knodel as they are pretty popular in this household. Alex normally gets them whenever we head to the Stadtfest in Oldenburg or the Christmas markets. They are a total meal as you get a huge dumpling which is filled with hot cherries and then bathed in custard. Totally delicious.

The thing is though, that I felt that I had to tackle the plaited or braided loaf. I am not a very technical baker or cook. I rarely attempt anything that requires exact measurements or that needs you to follow specific guidelines. The only bread I tend to make is soda bread and honestly yeast scares me a little. So, in true bake off spirit I decided to do an 8 strand plaited loaf which would be studded with figs and spiced with cardamon. You could use this recipe as the base for so many breads. You could do cinnamon and raisins buns, muesli studded plaited wreath or a kale pesto braided tear and share.

It is actually really easy to do, and whilst I held my breath every time I checked to see if it had risen, it seems to be a failsafe. I made the dough when the little one got up as she played with wooden spoons, left it in the spare bathroom with the towel rail on a low heat, and came back to it two hours later. I replaced the egg wash with a blend of maple syrup and almond milk but if you are making a savory loaf then I’m sure just the milk would work too.

The house smells amazing still, and half the loaf is already gone as Alex is home an has been sitting chomping away, slathering it in local honey. There is officially nothing greater than home baked bread and now I know how to do it, there may be no stopping me…

Ingredients
600g strong bread flour (I used a mix of white and spelt)

12g salt

12g instant yeast

35g softened coconut butter (or normal butter)

400ml warmish water

1 tsp almond milk

1 tsp maple syrup

Optional – 3 finely chopped figs, 1 tbsp cardamon

Method
Place the flour into a large bowl, add the butter in chunks

Place the salt on one side of the flour and the yeast on the other (you don’t want them to touch)

Add 300ml of the water and stir with a clawed hand to combine

Bring all the ingredients together well adding more water slowly if you need it

Tip onto a very lightly floured surface and knead well for 10 mins

Place into a large oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and place in a warm spot for up to 2 hours or until it has doubled in size

Remove and knock down, then split it into 8 even portions. If you are adding in items now is the time to do it. Simply add in fruit/chocolate/nuts into each portion

Roll each portion into a long sausage

Place all the sausages in a row and then join the top ones together (so it looks like an octopus with a top and 8 spread out legs)

Plait the loaf – if you are unsure of how to do it then it is best to google it and follow a video but basically

You take leg 8 over leg 5

2 under 3 and over 8

1 over 4

7 under 6 and over 1 and then repeat till you reach the bottom

Place the dough onto a lined tray and cover loosely and place back into a warm spot for 30mins

Preheat your oven to 210C (fan oven)

Wash the bread with the maple syrup and milk wash

Bake for 30mins or until it sounds hollow when the bottom is tapped

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