Simple Biscuits

These biscuits really are simple to make. I can give you rough guidelines as to quantities...as usual I just estimate the amounts, hoping it turns out.

Ingredients:

- 100 g of jaggery gour (this is the unrefined sugar that you will find in Indian shops or International Supermarkets). If you can't find it you could try replacing it with dark sugar or maybe Maple Syrup (remember that honey goes toxic when heated, and I've also heard some controversial stories about Agave....)

- 50 g of small oat flakes

- spelt flour: I didn't use much at all, and I guess it can pretty much be replaced with plain flour as well.

- olive oil

- a handful of raisins

- a teaspoon of ginger powder

- a teaspoon of cinnamon powder

- some tepid water

Preheat oven to 180 degress Celsius.

In a pot, place some olive oil and then add the oat flakes and jaggery gour. Keep stirring to get the gour to melt (it usually comes in hard balls). Add some water if necessary, and keep mixing so that it doesn't burn. Once it has all melted and mixed with the oats, place in a bowl and start adding a bit of flour.....sorry! I really don't know how much I used, but not much at all! Probably half a cup. Add some more olive oil and a little bit of water. Mix it all with a wooden spoon until it's a nice ball. You should be able to pick the "dough" up in your hand without it sticking to your fingers.

Make little balls and flatten them between your hands to get biscuit shaped shapes....and then place in the oven. They take roughtly half an hour to cook, just keep an eye on them, and when they look golden brown pull them out of the oven to cool.

I just tasted one and they're lovely because they're not too sweet at all.

Nutty-Choco "Ice-Cream"

I'll blame the summer mood for this excessive production of cold desserts - I don't know if anyone's been experimenting with the frozen banana-base, but I certainly have! And here's today's result. Scrumcious! Quite moossey as well.

Ingredients:

- 2 frozen bananas

- handful of almonds

- handful of walnuts

- handful of hazelnuts

- 3 pitted dates

- Agave syrup

- bitter cocoa powder

- for extra naughtiness: dark chocolate (without milk powder to maintain the dessert vegan)

- a liquid base: can be grape juice if you want to keep it gluten-free, or rice/almond/soya milk.

The procedure is always the same: peel the bananas and place them in plastic wrap in the freezer for about three hours or until frozen. In the mean time, soak the nuts in the juice or milk for the same amount of time.

Once the bananas are frozen, cut them up and place them in a food processor with the rest of the ingredients. I didn't really measure: I guess a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder, plus a little more for good luck. Agave syrup....mmm....I just put it in. You don't need much: the bananas and dates are already sweet, but a little syrup is good to contrast the bitter cocoa powder. Add the rest of the ingredients and start woozzing...oh! Also MUST add (before woozzing) about half a cup of juice/"milk" - this is always to save your blender, and to give the ice-cream a smooth consistency.

Don't forget the extra touch! Dark chocolate: cut it up a bit before hand and then give it a last woozz once the whole thing has already reached a smooth consistency.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the result! Might be nice to sprinkle some coconut flakes on top at the end...or not. May as well be 100% decadent while you're at it!

Strawberry Sorbet!

You must all prepare this, you will be shocked by the smooth consistency of this sorbet! And all without an ice-cream machine!

(Sorry about the photo...I was blinded by the sun - and yes, I take all my photos on the same table..haha!)


Ingredients:

- 2 ripe bananas
- a punnet of strawberries
- Agave: about half a small cup?
- either juice (apple or grape), or rice milk

Peel the bananas, wrap them up in glad wrap and place in the freezer. Wash the strawberries, take the green part off and freeze them as well (place them in a plastic tupplewear container).

After about 3 hours, the fruits will be frozen: cup up the banana into chunks and place in a food processor. Start off with a just a bit of banana and a bit of strawberries....they're frozen so you don't want to destroy your food processor or its blade. Add the juice/rice milk straight away, and start blending. As you see that it gains a smooth cremy consistency, slowly add the fruit that was left out, as well as the Agave.

Isn't it amazing? Mine has quite a fizzy flavor...I think it's the strawberries that did it. You can add or diminish Agave quantities depending on how sweet you like it....but don't ruin it with sugar!


Serving Suggestions: if you're preparing it for friends, try and prepare it almost on the spot - I've placed mine in the freezer, but I'm pretty sure it will turn into a frozen block of sorbet. So better to prepare and consume immediately! (or place it in the fridge if it's going to be consumed within a short time after preparation).

Frozen Avocado Cake

What a find! I was browsing through the net for some raw recipes, and this is what I tumbled on. It's really easy to make, and the taste is not bad either!

Ingredients:

- 1 ripe avocado
- 1/4 cup of coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon of lime juice
- 1 tablespoon of Agave

Crust: 1 part nuts, 1 part dates.

Firstly place the pitted dates and whatever nuts you like into the food-processor, to get them nicely chopped. Then place the lot into a plastic container (you're going to have to put it in the freezer, so avoid glass). Press it down evenly with a spoon.

Process the avocado with the rest of the ingredients until all the avocado has "creamyfied", and then put it on top of the "crust" part. Place a lid on the plastic tin (I used a plastic lunch-box, or tupplewear, as snobby people like to call it), and place in the freezer.

It will take a few hours to freeze: when it's ready you can pull it out and tip it over (like I've done in the photo above)....looks prettier with the crust on top - the eye plays it's part!

Banana and Coconut "Ice-cream"

Wonderful results in the lab today! I bet this "ice-cream" would taste great with a nice slice of vegan chocolate cake!

I got the idea for this creation from another recipe that uses frozen bananas as a base - and you can pretty much add anything you like to that!

Ingredients:

- two bananas

- a small cup of coconut flakes or powder

- 10 almonds

- 1/2 cup of rice milk (soya or almond milk would be fine too - make the recipe gluten-free)

Peel the two bananas and wrap them in plastic wrap, and place in the freezer for about 3 hours. Place the coconut directly into the small food processor, with the almonds and the rice milk - the rice milk should just cover the almonds, if not add a little more. You will notice that after about 10 minutes, the coconut will have absorbed all of the milk, so you can add a little more just to keep the almonds soaking. Woozz it all up after about 3 hours (leave it in the fridge).

Once the bananas have frozen, cut them up and place them in a normal food processor, together with the rest of the ingredients....and wooooozzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Ready! I had a taste of mine just a few minutes ago, and was very impressed. I've placed it in a plastic box back in the freezer to see what sort of consistency it will gain. And now I can't wait to try it with a whole load of other fruits and nuts! I'm sure a cashew version (without the coconut) would taste great, as well a chocolate one, strawberry....it reminds me of these super-drinks they make in South America, especially Brasil. It could also work with avocado, as well as quinoa, which would make it a really nutritious cold dessert -- particularly good for fussy children and conservative men.

Sesame and Gour Balls

Ingredients:

- sesame seeds (toast them a little)
- gour (Jaggery gour: unrefined cane sugar)

Mix the two together into balls...could I be any more concise?

No, I couldn't: an extra note: Jaggery gour can be found in Indian shops.