Home-made almond butter

Eating a dairy free, whole food plant based diet is becoming less labour intensive as more products become available in the shops. This is great for convenience, but does carry a pretty hefty price tag, especially if that tag is headed 'free from'! And because of the need for an extended shelf life, products may not be as whole as they should be, with added extras - sugar, salt and oil are added to not only improve flavour as the natural taste fades over time, but also to act as preservatives. There are many other natural preservatives, and colours, many of which are now grown on yeasts, so are a no no for someone with a yeast intolerance.

My daughter has recently developed a passion for almond butter. Always declaring an innate dislike of peanut butter (despite never tasting it!!), I bought a jar of almond butter one day which she tried under protest. To her surprise, she loved it and has be adding it to her food in imaginative ways ever since (baked sweet potato with almond butter topping?). The jars found at the supermarket are pretty small and don't last long. They are also not cheap. I tried to make it myself, my ever reliable food processor working hard, but just ended up with a dry powder. I could have added oil, but then it wouldn't be a whole food, so never tried again.

Until recently that is. Browsing on the internet one day, I ended up on a discussion forum about making almond butter (it continues to amaze me what you can stumble upon on the web). According to this chat, almond butter was easy to make, only requiring whole almonds but needed one vital ingredient - patience!

I realised the dry powder I had created was only the middle stage of the butter making process. If I have let my processor continue for another five minutes or so, the nuts would have broken down enough to start releasing the natural oils which change the ground nuts from a dry paste into a beautifully rich, moist spread. And not only is the flavour remarkable, you know exactly what is in your almond butter. If you roast the nuts before hand, you don't even need to store it in the fridge, although I do, although more out of habit than necessity, because to be honest, it gets eaten up pretty quickly.

Almonds are amazingly healthy. They do contain lots of fat, but it's healthy monounsaturated, the type which has been proven to help lower the 'bad' cholesterol in your body and improve heart health. They also contain fabulous amounts of vitamin E, and anti-oxidant that helps in heart health, but also in your whole health, and is great for your skin and helps slow the ageing process. Almonds also have a shed load of fibre, a good amount of magnesium, which is also essential for heart and general health, B vitamins and phytonutrients essential for overall health, so what's not to like?

And of course, this process is applicable to any nut or seed. So I've made my own tahini, which is way more tasty and powerful than anything in a jar, plus the oil doesn't separate from the solids, which always seems to happen with shop bought. I also made peanut butter, which is seriously intense! So if you have a few spare minutes and fancy experimenting, give this a go and revel in the extraordinary flavours you'll create.

Almond Butter

1 1/2 cups almonds 

a food processor

patience

a small jar, cleaned and rinsed with boiling water

Heat your oven to 180oC. Place the almonds on a baking tray and roast for 5 minutes. Take them out the oven, check they're not getting burnt and pop them back for another couple of minutes. You don't want to over roast them otherwise they become too dry and you won't get a good butter. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Once cool, pop in your food processor and blitz on a medium speed until the nuts are broken down and stuck up the side of the bowl. Stop, get a spatula and scrap down to the bottom again. Resume processing. Repeat this process until the nuts eventually start  releasing their oil and stay at the bottom of the bowl. Increase the speed slightly and leave on until a beautifully unctuous butter is created. This will take about 10 minutes in total. Stop the processor and check the texture - continue until you get a smooth texture. Then spoon out into the clean jar and enjoy!

Amazing Banoffee Pie - part 2

Slightly later than planned, here is the second half of the banoffee pie recipe - and you'll see it was worth waiting for!
This raw banoffee pie does contain a lot of dates, and a good helping of nuts. Some may put some off by this as both are renowned for being high in calories - dates with sugar and nuts with fat. Whilst this is true, not all calories are equal. A whole nut contains much more than just fat, and a whole date is more than just sugar. We are so used to having refined products in recipes, such as granulated sugar or oil that we forget about where these ingredients come from.

The great thing about eating a whole food plant based diet is that the recipes include everything you find in a fruit, vegetable, pulse or cereal. If dates are refined to produce some form of glucose or fructose syrup, that's all you will get. But a whole date is packed full of complex carbohydrates, so it takes some time for it to be broken down into fructose and glucose (which your body needs for as it's base energy source) rather than provide one immediate sugar rush. Alongside the sugars, dates are also packed full of potassium, essential for all cell processes, magnesium, vitamin A, phytonutrients and anti-oxidants and fibre. Fibre is essential in our diets to help maintain a healthy gut as well as clear out all the excess waste that builds up, including unhealthy fats and cholesterol. Dates fill you up - refined carbs and sugar don't.
The same goes with nuts. Walnuts for example are one of the few plant foods that contain omega 3 essential fatty acids which are proven to promote healthy hearts, brains and protect against certain forms of cancer. Walnuts also contain vitamin E and other antioxidants as well as minerals such as manganese and iron. And don't forget the fibre!
This is why eat foods whole - or in this case starting them off whole and chopping them up without taking anything away - promotes health and vitality.
So now I've finished my little soap-box moment, here's the rest of the recipe. First the base.
Pie Base
1 cup cashew nuts
1 cup walnuts
1 cup pitted dates (plus a few extra if needed)
pinch of salt
Place the nuts and salt in a food processor and blitz until they resemble bread crumbs. Add the dates and process until you have a sticky dough. If your dates are a bit dry, you will  need more to produce the right stick. Take a bit out of the processor and press together with your fingers - if it sticks in a lump, it's ready. Take the dough out and press firmly into a loose bottomed flan tin - 18-20 cms wide. You need to press hard and try to make it equal. Put it in the freezer for an hour or so.

Now is the time to make your caramel if you haven't already. Recipes for the raw caramel and whipped coconut cream are here http://foodiesensitive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/amazing-banoffee-pie-raw-and-dairy-free.html

Putting it all together

1 pie base
1 portion of raw caramel
1 portion of whipped coconut cream
3-4 bananas
lemon juice
cocoa powder
Take your pie base out of the freezer and spoon on the caramel layer. Put back in the fridge for a while whilst you whip up your coconut cream. Slice the bananas. Put half of the bananas into the cream and cover the rest with a little lemon juice to prevent discolouration. Take the base out of the fridge, spoon on the banana cream, scatter the remaining banana on top and sprinkle lightly with cocoa powder. Eat immediately, or pop back in the fridge until you're ready (otherwise your cream will lose it's structure). And there you have it. Be amazed by the flavours and enjoy - remember it's good for you too!!!

Amazing Banoffee Pie - raw and dairy free! Part one.

I love pudding. It's no secret. I have a sweet tooth that loves to be satisfied. Unfortunately, most traditional puddings and desserts are packed full of dairy - dollops of butter, lashings of cream and of course bundles of fat and calories to go with it!! It's not a wonder that when I finally banished dairy from my diet, I lost weight without trying!
So  now I am on a continual quest to find puddings that I can eat - dairy free and delicious of course - without falling back onto too many fake alternatives which are often packed full of chemicals and nasties that I really don't want to consume. I want real food in my pudding. I do want to have my cake and to eat it!
One of my favourite puddings of all time is Banoffee Pie. I'm not sure if it's the deep rich caramel flavour or the sumptuous cream and banana mix which makes it so tantalising on the tongue - or maybe all the flavours together is the key. Banoffee Pie is a Sussex creation, first found on the menu of the Hungry Monk back in the 1970s, and being a Sussex girl, it's only right that I should indulge and support our local cuisine. But that combination of caramel made from condensed milk and the thick creamy topping means that, sadly, my banoffee pie days are over.
Or so I thought until my lovely husband, knowing how much I miss my scrumptious puds, found a recipe for, and made me, Raw Banoffee Pie. What a man!! Made from whole foods, no added sugars at all - and it tastes absolutely wonderful.
As a dish, it's not too complicated to make, but has a few component parts, so this recipe is being split into two posts (what a tease!!) but if you can't wait, then check out the whole thing on this wonderful site http://www.gluten-free-vegan-girl.com/2013/04/no-bake-vegan-banoffe-pie.html
So this dish has three component parts - the crust, the caramel and the cream. Each one can be used to  make other yummy dishes, hence why I want to break them down for ease of reference. Today, I'm focusing on the caramel and the cream. Next time the base and bringing the whole recipe together. It doesn't take up loads of time, just needs a little planning ahead.
The raw caramel is amazing, and is one of the things I demonstrated at my first Sensitive Foodie cooking demo the other week. It went down really well, and we have all be devising other uses for it ever since!! The coconut cream is so easy and absolutely gorgeous and can definitely be used as whipped cream for other puddings. It tastes gorgeous and it's hard not to eat it all straight from the bowl.

First, the caramel. Made from whole dates and vanilla, the flavour is influenced by two things - the type of dates used and time. Richer dates, like medjool, produce a deeper caramel flavour. I've used these and Halawi dates and the flavour is lighter with the Halawi. Still gorgeous though! The texture is also slightly smoother with the medjool dates. As for time, the flavours mature over a few days, so if you can, make this caramel and keep it in a pot at the back of the fridge where no-one will find it (otherwise they will eat it!!) for a few days before you want to use it. If you can't, don't worry, your caramel will still be good, just not quite as deep as it might be. Finally, I use vanilla paste rather than vanilla essence, just because I found it produces a better flavour. If you only have essence, then use it, but check your flavour as you may need to add a bit more.
Raw caramel
3 cups pitted dates
1 cup of almond milk (or other non-dairy milk - not soya milk)
1 tsp vanilla paste
a pinch of salt (be careful!)
Place your dates into a food processor and blend until all mushed up. Add 3/4 of the milk, vanilla and a tiny pinch of salt and blend until smooth. Add more milk to get a thick, creamy texture, as needed. It will take about 5 minutes on a medium speed. Taste and add more vanilla or salt to balance the flavour (the salt counterbalances the sweetness. It's needed but its easy to add too much!). Once you're happy with the flavour, stop eating it or you'll have to make more, put in a pot and hide!
Whipped coconut cream

1 tin of full fat coconut cream
vanilla essence
pinch of salt (optional)
This is where you have to plan ahead for sure. To be able to whip your cream, you need cold coconut milk, so pop it in the fridge to chill over night. When you open the tin, most of it will be of a creamy, thick consistency. Carefully scrap out all the thick stuff and put in a bowl. There may be a little thin coconut water left at the bottom - keep separate and use for another recipe. I'd actually had my tin in the fridge for a week (never got around to using it when I'd planned to) and the whole tin was solid. Perfect for whipping. Then all you need to do is add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence to the coconut and whisk until you have a smooth cream. It takes about one minute with an electric hand whisk. Taste and add more vanilla essence if you need to and a tiny pinch of salt if you feel it's required. It really does taste like whipped cream!! The cream needs using pretty quickly, so if you're not ready to use it there and then, pop the bowl in the fridge so it keeps it shape (the fat in coconut changes consistency with temperature).
So there you have it - two components of the pie that can be used elsewhere. Earlier I started discussing banana splits and chocolate sundaes with my daughter…….watch this space! And the rest of the banoffee pie recipe will come next time!