Raw Millionaire's Shortbread

Millionaire's shortbread has long been one of my favourite sweet treats. The buttery, crumbly base, the sticky caramel and the final flourish of chocolate. I've been keen to have a go at making my own healthier version for a while, so when I found myself with a pre-measured packet of raw chocolate* ingredients in my cupboard, I knew what I was going to make. Having all the ingredients for the chocolate measured out is so helpful, and coast effective if you don't use ingredients such as cacao butter often. This packet is from Indigo Herbs, but I've also jotted down a recipe for raw chocolate if required. I based the ingredients for the shortbread on my Easter orange and cashew cream biscuits, which you can find here, swapping the coconut for ground almonds. The dates really help to bind the biscuits. I used a packet of sticky dates for the base and saved the expensive medjool dates for the caramel, where their flavour really shines through.

Saturday was my friend West's birthday, and we decided to brave an extremely early morning to reach the summit of mt. Snowdon for sunrise. Leaving the house when many people were on their way back from nights out was the strangest thing, but standing 1085 meters above sea level at 6am was just incredible. We had been up for nearly 4 hours by that point, so the millionaire's shortbreads got passed around and went down a storm!

Ingredients
For the shortbread base

• 120g ground almonds
• 65g cashews
• 4 tbsp coconut oil
• 80g dates

For the caramel

• 150g medjool dates
• pinch sea or rock salt
• water

For the topping

• Use one packet of Indigo Nutrition raw chocolate pack* OR
• 100g cacao butter/coconut oil
• 80g cacao powder
• 80g sweetener such as maple syrup or honey

First up, make the shortbread base. Prepare a rectangular tin by lining with cling film. Then blend all the ingredients together in a food processor until finely ground. Check to see if the mix can be pressed together into a solid mass, and add extra ground almonds, coconut oil (or add honey) as required. Tip the mix into the tin and press into a 1-1.5cm thick base.

Next, wipe the food processor clean and tip in all the medjool dates (removing stones if required). Add a tablespoon of water and salt and blend, scraping down as required. Keep blending until you have a smooth paste, then check the consistency. You want the caramel to be thick, but just loose enough to be able to spread over the shortbread, so you may need to add extra water -I used about 4 or 5 tablespoons. Add extra salt to taste. Spread the mixture over the top of the shortbread before moving on to the chocolate.

In a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water, heat the cacao butter until it becomes liquid. Remove from the stove and whisk in the cacao power, followed by the sweetener. Keep whisking until completely smooth and glossy, then pour over the shortbread and date caramel. Use a spatula to smooth out the chocolate topping then pop in the fridge to set for an hour.

Enjoy on the top of a mountain, or in the comfort of your own home as preferred, but use a hot knife to cut through the shortbread to avoid the chocolate cracking.

*Donotes PR sample. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and I will only positively feature or recommend products that I would use myself.

Dessert Cups, Three Ways

I don't know about you, but I have a serious thing for peanut butter cups going on. However, they can be a little bit questionable in terms of health and quality... not that the odd indulgence is a bad thing at all! Still, for adding a little extra goodness to your day, these are an indulgent must. I used Pip and Nut's cashew, cinnamon and honey butter for my nut butter cups and oh my -if you have a pot, donate a little to making these and thank me later! As for the rest of these, get experimenting and testing. I've used standard sized cupcake cases, but if you have a set of mini cases then go for it and make a batch of bite-sized pieces.

For the chocolate -makes enough for approximately six cups

• 90g cacao butter (1/2 cup)
• 60g cacao powder (1/2 cup)
• 60g sweetener -I use honey

~or~

• 100g coconut oil (1/2 cup)
• 60g cacao powder (1/2 cup)
• 60g sweetener (3 tbsp)

For the fillings (choose one, or go half and half to try two different flavours!)

• 6 tbsp nut butter, sea salt
• 50g goji berries, sweetener, sea salt
• 2 tbsp cacao butter/coconut oil; 4 tbsp tahini; 2 tbsp sweetener; sea salt

First up, make the raw chocolate. Line a cupcake tin cake cases. Pop the cacao butter or coconut oil in a bowl over a saucepan of simmer water until melted. Whisk in the cacao and sweetener until smooth and glossy, and pour two tablespoons of the melted chocolate into each cake case. This should leave half the mixture left for the topping. If you're making the tahini cups you should be able to make at least 9 cups as there is no top chocolate layer. Pop into the freezer to set for 40 minutes to an hour.

Meanwhile, make your fillings. There's no prep required for the nut butters, so just do your best not to demolish the jar whilst you're waiting. For the goji berries, tip into a bowl with a tablespoon of sweetener and pour over enough hot water to cover the berries and allow to rehydrate. Add a squeeze of lemon for an extra bit of tanginess. Just before you take the chocolate out of the freezer, drain and blend up the goji berries.

For the tahini, make in the same way you did the chocolate by melting the cacao butter or coconut oil and stirring in the tahini and sweetener. 

Remove the chocolate from the freezer. For the nut butter and goji berries, add a tablespoon of the filling to the chocolate, trying to stay a couple of mm away from the edge. Pour over the remaining chocolate -again, about two tablespoons per cup. For the tahini, simply add on top of the chocolate without adding another chocolate layer. If you do have leftover chocolate, swirl it through the tahini. Then, pop all the chocolates back into the freezer for an hour to set, removing after 20 minutes to add a pinch of sea salt on to each. When set, keep the dessert cups in the fridge. Please note, the tahini cups made with coconut oil will come out softer than when made with cacao, but I personally really like this.

Liked these recipes? You can now also get my recipe for lime matcha butter cups as shown in the photo above, by heading to the Filmore and Union blog!

Immunity-Boosting Ginger Shots

Ginger is one of the most popular health foods out there at the moment and it isn't hard to see why. A famous anti-inflammatory ingredient, ginger is a great digestive aid, and can settle nausea. My usual routine is to chop up a few slices of ginger to add to my hot lemon water in a morning. However, when I'm getting my juicer out or fancy something a little more potent I will make myself a shot of ginger juice.

To make, simply peel an 5 cm chunk of ginger and feed it into your juice. You may find it helpful to use a small amount of cucumber or similar to flush the ginger out if you don't seem to be getting much juice out.

But how to drink this powerful tonic? You can drink it neat, or with the juice of half a lemon. These two options are very concentrated but also quite strong on the palate. As an alternative, make like some of the juice cleanses out there and create a spicy lemonade. Mix the juice of half a lemon with the ginger juice and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Top this up with water of coconut water and maple syrup to taste.

Adding ginger to your diet is so good for you at this time of year when the wet and windy weather keeps us inside, increasing the risk of catching bugs. Plus, the spicy flavour, especially when paired with citrus is energising, alkalising and fresh, perfect for if you're feeling sluggish.

Budget Tip: No juicer? No problem! As I mentioned earlier, an infusion of ginger and lemon still is my go-to. It's warming and you still get all the lovely benefits. You can also stir dried ginger into the juice of half a lemon. Ginger in itself is pretty inexpensive and you can also add chopped or grated ginger to a variety of sweet and savoury meals.

Post-Workout Green Smoothie

Over the last few years, it has been hard to ignore the increasing prevalence and popularity of green foods, particularly juices and smoothies. I have never been one to say no to a good smoothie, and so like many of you out there I was more than happy to get experimenting in my kitchen, or opening up my purse at health cafes.

One thing I haven't associated green smoothies with, however, is protein. Post workout shakes are usually chocolate or fruit flavoured. This is fine, and probably ideal if you are a serious gym-goer or athlete, but for myself, needing only a small hit of extra protein and trying to get more nutrient variety, I wanted to try something else. Being keen to try out my new hand blender (the closest thing I have to a food processor or blender now sadly!) I decided to see what I could come up with.

Ingredients

• 70ml milk or dairy free milk, plus extra
• 1/2 an avocado
• 1 banana
• 1 tbsp almond butter
• 100g (two large handfuls) chopped kale
• 1 tsp wheatgrass powder
• Optional: vanilla essence, honey, agave or other sweetener, to taste

Simply blend everything up and serve immediately. If the smoothie is too thick, add extra milk

This smoothie has roughly 315 calories, 11.3g protein, 18g sugar (without sweetener, and 12g of this sugar comes from the banana) and 10g of omega three rich fats. To increase the protein content, use soy milk, or add supplement. 

Homemade Almond Butter

I have a confession to make... I really, really, hate peanut butter. Just eurg. The thought of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups makes me feel quite ill. It is quite annoying, since it is used as a binding agent for lots of delicious sounding raw bars and snacks. I have always been curious to try alternative nut butters, but have never got around to it. So the other morning, since I am on study leave now, I decided to make my own. And it is so simple!

Ingredients
As much almonds/nuts as you want (140g will fill an average jar)
That's it! But you could also add honey, cinnamon, salt, coconut oil... whatever takes your fancy! I left mine plain so that I could have a bit more flexibility with flavours depending on my mood as I snacked.

Method
Optional: roast the nuts for 12-15 minutes under a grill at 180 degrees/ Gas Mark 4
Simply blizt up the nuts in a food processor. If yours is a bit old, loud or weak, I'd suggest pre-chopping.
Leave the nuts blending, occasionally using a spatula to scrape the sides down.This may take in excess of ten to fifteen minutes, but eventually the dusty, lumpy mess will turn into a thick, creamy paste.

When you've reached the desired consistency, stop and scoop it all out into a jar. Make sure that it is well sealed and kept in the fridge.

Snacks and revision with a view!

 

This is definitely my new favourite study snack -either plain on some homemade sourdough from the market, or with a little honey on wholemeal toast. Add it to to your smoothies, bars or any other snack calling for peanut butter.

Have you ever tried nut butters before?

Nākd Celebration Box Review

Another review today! A couple of months ago, Natural Balance Wholefoods celebrated it's 10th birthday with a flash sale, and I used the opportunity to treat myself to the Nākd Celebration Box, which normally retails at £13.99. Some two or three weeks later, my goodies arrived. Because of the huge demand, they were a little slow in arriving, so Natural Balance kindly threw in an extra bar of Caffe Mocha and a £5 off voucher.

Inside were 18 snacks from the Nākd bar, Nākd Oatie bar, Nākd Crunch bar and flavoured raisins ranges. There were a few flavours that were included twice, which I believe to be amongst the most popular that the brand sell. I love all the bars that I've tried so far, except for Cashew Cookie (easily passed on to my visiting cousin along with a packet of cola raisins) so it was nice to try a few more flavours. The one bar that I'd really like to try -Pecan Pie -wasn't included, but I'll definitely be snapping that up if I see it. 

I think that the Banana Bread may just be my new favourite, and the Cherry Raisins kept me going through a shift at work -I couldn't believe how good the flavours were for the raisins, which isn't something that I'd ever normally eat on it's own. Cherry gummy sweets, eat your heart out.

All the bars are raw and vegan and unrefined, so make the perfect guilt-free snack. I'm trying to really cut down on eating animal products, and treats like this make it much easier. Almost all count for one of your five (or seven!) a day, so I usually pop one in my bag if I haven't already eaten lots of fruit with breakfast. Most of the bars are made up with a high percentage of cashews, so if you have a nut allergy you'll need to stick to the raisins.

Passing on some comments from my wonderful fellow reviewer -aka, my little cousin, the texture of the Cashew Cookie bar was surprising, but tasty, although for die-hard (milk) chocolate fans, the taste of the Cocoa Orange bar isn't especially strong.

Overall, I think this box is really good value at about 77p per bar at full price, plus FREE DELIVERY(!!) if you want to have a try of a few more flavours than you might normally be able to try. I love, love, love Nākd bars so I'd definitely buy again from Natural Balance's website, although I'd probably try a different box next time for variety.