Salted Peanut Butter Honey Cookies (SRC)

Well, this is it. The final ever reveal for the Secret Recipe Club!

My first post for SRC was back in February 2013 when I made a delicious Chicken Tikka Masala. We love Indian food but it was the first time I'd ever made that recipe myself. And it was amazing!

I've loved getting a peek inside other people's kitchens, trying out recipes that I would otherwise have never even heard of, let alone tried.

And I think that has been the beauty of SRC. We all come from different parts of the world, have different tastes, different families and yet, we have all been brought together by our love of food.

For this final month, I was assigned Savory Moments by Amy, a stay at home mum of twins from Western NY and passionate foodie, and I knew immediately I would find some great food.

Her blog's header reads that she is 'trying to learn skills that have been lost along the way by many people of my generation: cooking, baking, growing food, preserving, and appreciating a healthy, home-cooked meal.'

Yes!

This is exactly why I cook and blog too.

I think so many of us are time-poor and have been seduced by the ease of convenience foods, which in reality are chemical-laden, nutrient-deficient filler foods, setting us up for a lifetime of ill-health.

To grow your own food, even if it's just having a few pots of herbs on your windowsill, to buy what is seasonally available and then cook it from scratch is so rewarding and the best way of setting up a culture of good food in your family.

We are a predominantly gluten, dairy and refined sugar-free household these days, and I found loads of recipes on Amy's blog that fit the bill, or that could be easily adapted.

Some of my favourites were the Turmeric and Honey Roasted Chickpeas, Avocado Chocolate Pudding, Lemony Raw Kale Salad, Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Spinach and Cranberries and Bog salad with maple vinaigrette to name just a few.

When it came down to it though, I decided to make something just for my boys.

I've been in a bit of  a baking rut recently, so wanted to try something new. So it had to be Amy's Salted Peanut Butter-Honey Cookies!

My only change to the recipe was to use buckwheat flour instead of the wholemeal, to make them gluten free.

I also made them smaller than stated, getting 20 cookies out of the batch instead of the 14-16 Amy suggested. I baked them for just 10 minutes but even that was too much, so if you make them small I would suggest just 8-9 minutes!

This is a great recipe to make with kids - just 5 ingredients, mix, roll and flatten with a fork. Mr 3 was my very willing helper with these and he was hovering close to taste the first one.

My boys absolutely loved these and the entire batch went in one afternoon tea. For the record I had just 2, and the other 18 were devoured by the 3 of them, along with a glass of cold milk each.

I think that makes them a winner!

Salted Peanut Butter-Honey Cookies
Adapted from Savoury Moments

3/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup raw honey
1/2 ts bicarb soda
1/4 ts sea salt, plus extra for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 160 degrees fan-forced.

Line a tray with baking paper and set aside.

In a small bowl whisk together the flour, bicarb and salt.

In a large bowl beat together the peanut butter and honey until smooth.

Add the dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture and stir until well combined.

Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls and place on the prepared trays. Gently press down with the tines of a fork to make a criss-cross pattern. Sprinkle with a little extra sea salt.

Bake for approximately 8-10 minutes, until they just begin to turn golden brown.

Makes 20 cookies.

Thank you Amy for a great recipe, we will definitely be making them again!

And thank you Sarah E for all your hard work in keeping SRC running for us these past few years. It's been great! :)

An InLinkz Link-up

3 top tips for going gluten free (and my favourite gluten free flour recipe)

Let me say up front that I love bread. Like really LOVE it.

To me the aroma of freshly baked bread is one of the best smells in the world, so the thought of not being able to indulge in a piece, warm from the oven and smeared with butter was ... upsetting.

But after years of ill-health and lots of niggly issues that just wouldn't go away, it was time to bite the bullet and cut out gluten.

Now if you listen to mainstream media you will probably hear that going gluten-free is a fad, that there's no benefit in doing so and that it may even be harmful. I think that's rubbish personally, and naturopath Jules Galloway sums it up perfectly here.

So while I don't have coeliac disease, since going gluten free I have noticed:

- less brain fog
- more energy
- no more constant runny nose
- fewer headaches
- less bloating

Doesn't sound like a harmful fad to me!

I made the decision to go gluten-free back in July and haven't looked back.

As I was already eating a wholefoods type of diet I was expecting it to be relatively painless but I definitely got hit with withdrawal symptoms. It was fascinating to see just how much my body craved carbs and how often I would normally reach for 'a little something', a biscuit or piece of toast, something to keep me going until the next meal.

So based on my experience with going gluten free, here are my top 3 tips:

(And I just have to preface this by saying if you suspect you have coeliac disease, please seek medical advice before cutting out gluten. You need gluten in your system for the testing to be accurate so please see your doctor! For everybody else who suspects gluten may not be the best thing for you, read on).

1. Approach this as an experiment.

Going gluten free is entirely your choice, and for now, you are choosing not to eat gluten. Take each day as it comes and really listen to your body.

Keeping a journal is a great idea. Keep track of what you are eating and how you feel afterwards. For me, eating traditional wheat-based pancakes for breakfast practically sends me into a coma and makes me feel bloated and lethargic for the rest of the day. But I can eat gluten free pancakes and feel great. Seems obvious when you think about it!

2. Focus on foods that are naturally gluten-free.

We are really lucky these days to have access to gluten free products in the supermarket. You can buy gluten-free bread, pasta, crackers, cakes ... you name it. But gluten free bread is definitely not the same as wheat bread. It won't taste the same, look the same and may not work in the same way. I am yet to find a gluten-free bread that is good for sandwiches although most make great toast.  Most brands are also full of additives and preservatives which is not what I want.

So instead of focusing on all the foods you can't eat (because let's face it, gluten is hiding almost everywhere), think about everything you CAN eat. Meat, fish, poultry, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, dairy products ... all of these are naturally gluten free, nourishing and delicious.

3. Plan an alternative so you don't feel deprived

If the rest of your family is having pizza, one of 2 things will happen. You will either feel angry and deprived, or you'll give in and have some. So plan ahead. Make sure you have a gluten free base on hand ready to go, or a recipe to make your own. Make a batch of muffins or bliss balls and stash them in the freezer so you have a sweet treat to have while your coworkers are gobbling down birthday cake. Feeling deprived will make you miserable, even if you're feeling better in other ways.

Now I love baking and am pretty experienced, but even I have had some gluten-free disasters. I'm talking muffins like bricks, and pizza base so tough we couldn't even break it!

The Orgran brand plain and self-raising flours at the supermarket are great, but I've also come up with my own recipe that I keep on hand. And if that's too much, a simple 50:50 blend of buckwheat and rice flours also works well for most recipes like biscuits and muffins.

My favourite gluten-free flour mix

200g sorghum flour
200g buckwheat flour
200g white rice flour
100g brown rice flour
300g potato starch
1 tbs psyllium powder

Place all ingredients into a very large bowl and use a whisk to mix well together.

Store in an airtight container.

If I was to add a top tip #4 it would be to choose your start date carefully - don't make things harder on yourself by quitting gluten a week before your birthday or Christmas or some other normally gluten-free celebration.

To help you on your gluten-free journey I've done up a handy printable showing 10 of my favourite gluten-free grains, their health benefits and how to use them. Just click on the image below to grab your copy now!

Have you gone gluten free? Did you notice any great improvements? How has it changed the way you cook and eat?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Susan

Little Charley Bear Cake

'Mummy, can I have a bear cake this year? Pleeeeeeese?'

It's s not just my kids who start planning their birthday cake months ahead of time, is it?

While the whining can be annoying, the benefit is I have months of time to think about how to make a bear cake!

Mr 5 received a Little Charley Bear for his first birthday and it has been his constant companion ever since. He's only spent one night apart from him, and that was when he accidentally left him at daycare and I didn't even know he'd taken him there. We survived the night. Just. But it's not an experience I would care to repeat.

So when he asked for a bear cake for his 6th birthday, I knew I would have to make it a Little Charley Bear cake. How could I not?

I always make my kids birthday cakes even though cake decorating is not my strength, and of course these days we avoid artificial colours and flavours like the plague which makes the more brightly coloured cakes a bit of a challenge.

Good thing bears are brown!

How to make a Little Charley Bear cake

First thing was to find an image I could use as a template. There are surprisingly few Little Charley Bear colouring pages online, which is basically what you are after. What I found was a still from a You Tube video called 'How to draw Little Charley Bear.' Perfect.

I saved the image, cropped off the bears on the sides and pasted it into PowerPoint.

My cake tin measured 33cm long so that was the maximum size for the image.

Enlarge the image to 33cm, then copy it onto 2 slides - one with the top half and one with the bottom half. Then print out both slides and tape them together to form one 33cm high image.

Lay a sheet of baking paper over the top and trace the outline and details with a sharpie.

Cut out the image.

Lay the template over your cake and using a sharp knife at 90 degrees, carefully cut around the edge, holding it with one hand to prevent it slipping.

Carefully slide your cake onto a prepared cake board and you are ready to decorate!

Wholefood Chocolate Sheet Cake

400g white spelt flour
100g raw cacao powder
2 tbs baking powder
250g unsalted butter, softened
1/4 ts fine sea salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
500g rice malt syrup
250ml water
1 ts vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius / 150 degrees fan-forced.

Grease a 23 x 33cm tin and line the base and sides with baking paper.

Place all ingredients into a large bowl and using electric beaters, beat together at low speed until combined, then on high speed for 2 minutes until smooth and glossy.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for approx 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean and the top springs back when lightly pressed.

Cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Cover with a tea towel to stop it drying out.

Cream Cheese Icing
500g cream cheese (in blocks)
250g butter
150g coconut sugar
2 ts vanilla extract
30g raw cacao
2 charcoal capsules

Beat together the cream cheese, butter, coconut sugar and vanilla together until smooth.

Remove about 1/4 of the icing and set aside in a small bowl. This is for all the light coloured parts on the tummy and eyebrow.

Remove 1 tablespoon of this icing and place into another small bowl, this will be for the brown inside the ears.

Add the cacao to the rest of the mixture and mix until smooth and completely combined.

Place 2 tablespoons of this mixture into a small bowl and add the contents of the charcoal capsules - mix until well combined. You should have a strong black icing.

Take a small amount of the black icing and add it to the tablespoon of light icing set aside - add little by little until you get a darkish grey-brown. This is for inside the ears.

To decorate

Prepare your template and cut out the cake as per instructions above.

Place the cake onto your prepared board. I use a large cake board covered with wrapping paper.

Cut strips of baking paper and slip them under the edges of the cake. This keeps the board clean while you ice the cake. Just pull them away when you are finished for nice crisp edges and a clean board!

Cover the whole cake, top and sides, with a thin coat of the chocolate icing. This is the crumb coat and it seals in all the crumbs and gives a better finish. Place the cake in the fridge for 20 minutes for the icing to firm up before moving on to the next step.

Now you need to cut out each element from the template.

Starting by cutting out the light colour tummy. Lay it on the iced cake and using a skewer trace around the edge. Fill in with light coloured icing. Repeat with the smaller pawprints on the tummy and fill in with chocolate icing.

Repeat for paw and ears, and use black icing for the nose and eyes.

Serve immediately or if you need to put the cake in the fridge, bring it out an hour beforehand to warm up.

Use a skewer to draw the outlines of his arms (don't be like me and forget to outline the outstretched arm!)

So there you go.

If I can make a Little Charley Bear cake, anyone can!

And free from refined sugar and artificial colours.

Happy Birthday Mr 6!

Sage and Apple Fritters (SRC)

There are some food combinations that just work - think peanut butter and chocolate, tomato and basil, lemon and blueberries to name just a few.

Well, you can now officially add sage, apple and maple syrup to that list.

Because WOW. So yummy!

This isn't my invention, though. Credit must go to Helen from Casa Costello, whose blog I was assigned for this month's Secret Recipe Club.

Helen had my blog back in May and made my Thumbprint cookies, and I remember then flicking through her recipes and looking forward to getting her blog sometime.

Helen is from the UK and mum to 3 girls. She is a self-described 'massive foodie' and has been working with food and cakes since she was since 16.

Speaking of cakes, Helen is also a fantastic cake decorator and shares lots of her creations on her #BakeoftheWeek challenge. My boys particularly liked this Police Car Cake. Gorgeous isn't it?

When it came to choosing a recipe I took ages to decide, but I knew I wanted something pretty simple and of course, it had to be gluten and dairy free (or easy to convert). I loved the sound of Helen's Walnut and honey granola and Scrambled eggs with style. And this Lemon Frangipane Pie looks fabulous.

In the end though these Apple fritters with sage were calling my name. I've never used sage in this way before. Typically I only use it in stuffing at Christmas time. Which probably explains why it was so hard to find at the shops right now, no one else uses it much either!

My husband eventually found a little pot of sage that Mr 7 immediately took outside and replanted into a bigger pot. It's still very young but we got enough off it for this recipe and 2 perfect little leaves for garnish.

I've always loved fritters, especially tuna and corn fritters, but the rest of family doesn't share my same level of enthusiasm.

That may have changed with this recipe!

Apple, sage and maple syrup are a match made in heaven.

I made only a few changes to the recipe to suit our way of eating - using gluten free flour, non-dairy milk and frying in coconut oil. I also reduced the sugar and am glad I did because between the apples and maple syrup I found them very sweet!

All 3 of my boys loved these and were literally licking their plates clean. Mr fussy-5 even ate an extra sage leaf (covered with maple syrup) and declared it 'really yummy.' So huge for him to eat something green voluntarily even if he did have to smother it in syrup!

These would be perfect for a weekend brunch and will definitely be on the menu at our place again.

Sage and Apple Fritters
Adapted from Apple fritters with and without sage

2 large red apples
125g gluten free plain flour
1 ts baking powder
1/2 ts salt
1/2 ts cinnamon
2 ts rapadura sugar (or sweetener of choice)
150ml rice milk
1 large egg
6 sage leaves
coconut oil for frying

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and sugar.

Peel the apples and chop into very small pieces. Add them to the dry ingredients and toss to combine.

In a small jug beat together the milk and egg together then pour into the flour and apples and mix well. Finely chop the sage leaves and stir through.

Melt 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a large heavy-based frypan over medium heat.

Dollop in spoonfuls of mixture and flatten out into pancake shapes.

Cook until gold brown then flip and cook on the other side until cooked through.

Remove and place on a rack while you cook the remaining fritters.

Serve with a drizzle of maple syrup.

Makes 10 fritters.

Thanks for a great recipe Helen! I will definitely be making these again.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce (Gluten and Dairy Free)

I definitely have a tendency to procrastinate.

If it seems too hard or it will take too long, it slips right to the bottom of my to-do list (possibly never to be seen again!)

Anything I've read about procrastination says that you need to do the hard stuff first.

Basically, if there is anything you're avoiding, just get up and do it first thing - it will be over and done with and set you up to have a really productive day.

Take this post for example.

I made this Sticky Date Pudding for our Christmas in July party. Yep July. And it's now the middle of October.

I'm not sure why it's been so hard to post lately but today I am taking my own advice and I'm just gonna do it!

So, sticky date pudding. A bit of a classic and a little retro. But things are a classic for a reason and a dessert that tastes this good never really goes out of style.

Sweet, sticky, decadent, and packed with warming spices and a good splash of brandy. Perfect for cold weather (it was just a pity the cold snap had ended and it was 28 degrees that day in July!).

Often when you go gluten and dairy free you can feel like you're missing out. Ingredients can't always be substituted one-for-one and I can tell you, I've had some spectacular failures. Think pizza bases as hard as cement or muffins that taste like cardboard. It's so frustrating! Not to mention a big waste of ingredients and money.

This sticky date pudding is definitely special occasion fare - and for a special occasion you want something that works.

I actually made 2 different versions of sticky date pudding, baking one in the oven (this one pictured) and steaming one in a pudding bowl in the slow cooker. I wasn't sure which technique would work the best, but in the end, they both did!

So I will be keeping that in mind and I have a feeling the steamed version will make an appearance at our Christmas Eve dinner along with some cinnamon coconut ice cream. My mouth is watering already!

Ok yes, there is a LOT of sugar here, but for Christmas (or Christmas in July) I have no problem with it. In saying that though, I am planning on experimenting a bit more and seeing how it goes with most or even all of the sugar taken out and with just the dates for sweetness.

Gluten and Dairy Free Sticky Date Pudding

200g pitted dried dates
1/4 cup brandy
1 cup very hot water
2 ts bicarb soda
2/3 cup coconut sugar
60g coconut oil, melted
3 eggs
1 ts vanilla extract
170g gluten free flour
2 1/2 ts baking powder
1/4 ts salt
1 ts cinnamon
1/2 ts ground ginger

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 160 degrees fan-forced.

Grease and line a loaf pan with baking paper and set aside (I used a pyrex loaf pan).

Roughly chop the dates and place in a heatproof bowl. Add the brandy and the hot water and leave to stand for 10 minutes or until the dates have softened. Once soft, mash the dates and water together and stir in the bicarb soda.

To this mixture, add the coconut oil, eggs and vanilla and mix together until very well combined.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ginger with a whisk.

Pour the date and egg mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until smooth.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes or until the top springs back and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Suitable for freezing.

Serve with butterscotch sauce for an indulgent dessert.

This sauce was truly a revelation. I admit it's been many years since I had a real butterscotch sauce but this dairy free version was amazing. So rich and creamy. It would be perfect over coconut ice cream with a sprinkle of crushed nuts. Yum!

Dairy-free Butterscotch Sauce

1/2 cup coconut cream
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup rice malt syrup
2 ts vanilla extract
1/4 ts sea salt
1/2 ts cream of tartar

Place all ingredients except cream of tartar into a medium pot and bring to the boil. Add the cream of tartar and stir until completely dissolved. Increase the heat to medium-high and boil for 5 minutes or until it reaches 110 degrees Celsius / 230 degrees F on a candy thermometer.

Pour immediately into a clear glass jar. Allow to cool to luke warm before serving (it is like molten lava once it is cooked so don't lick the spoon or stick your finger in for a taste - it will burn you!!!)

Pour over warm pudding just before serving.

Are you a procrastinator like me?