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There are many reasons to love shortbread, both the making and eating:
Shortbread is generally made with regular flour. Today, we're using kamut. The result is a rich, deep flavour that I think you'll love as much as we do. You'll notice I include a bit of rice flour in the recipe. This helps give the shortbread light texture and perfect crumb. If you don't have rice flour on hand, just add an extra 50g kamut.  Ingredients:
200g kamut flour 50g white rice flour 125g butter (or Nutalex) 70g caster sugar 1 tbsp lavender flowers 1 tbsp lemon juice Method: Cream butter and sugar until light and airy, add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Don't go too crazy or it'll be a tough shortbread. Press into the bottom of tart or cake tin - one with a removable base!. Cut into slices with a knife then prick all over with a fork. Pop in the fridge for 15 mins. Then turn your oven on to 170C (150C fan forced). Bake on the centre rack of the oven for 20 mins. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 mins before carefully removing from the tin and sliding onto a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container in the fridge; it'll keep for up to a week. Freezes really well for up to 3 months.
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This anytime recipe is a great one to have in your arsenal, as most of the ingredients can be found in the pantry. Whether it's served as a quick midweek dinner or as an accompaniment to a fancier feast, I think you'll find that it's a handy dish to keep up your sleeve. Winner winner, midweek dinner!  Serves 3-4 as a main and up to 6 as a side.
Ingredients: 1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp butter 1 onion, finely diced 2 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp ground coriander 1/2 tsp ground turmeric Pinch ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp salt 1 2/3 cups water 1 tsp veg stock powder 2 tsp dried currants 1 cup wholemeal couscous Handful chopped fresh mint or coriander 3-4 medjool dates, pitted and chopped 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice Method: In a medium saucepan, dry-fry the almonds for 1 min over a medium heat until they just start to turn golden. Tip the almonds immediately into a bowl and set aside. Put the saucepan back on the stove. Heat the oil and butter* in the saucepan over medium-low heat until the butter melts. Add the onion and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is very soft, about 5-8 minutes. Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric, and cinnamon, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add couscous and stir for 1 minute. Add the water and stock powder, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Add the currants, cover pan with a lid, remove the pan from the heat, and let sit for 5 minutes with lid on so the currants can plump and the couscous can absorb all the stock. Remove the lid. Fluff the couscous with a fork. Add the fresh herbs, dates, lemon juice and almonds and fold them into the couscous. Serve immediately or pop in the fridge to enjoy as a salad the next day. *Why use a combination of butter and oil? When you want that unbeatable, fried buttery taste but want to cook at higher temps, adding a glug of oil will help prevent burning, as oil has a higher smoke point! Pimp My Recipe *Add some cooked chickpeas or lentils at the end of cooking time * Try adding a tsp or 2 of our Falafel Mix to rev up the flavour * Toppings - sprinkle on some Dukkah just before serving. Or, for a truly top-shelf finish, crumble some of our Rose, Pistachio and Orange Buckinis over the top - so good! This week we serve up 2 savoury Adzuki ideas for you to try out at home: Zingy Adzuki salad to celebrate the end of summer, and Adzuki Stuffed Roast Pumpkin to usher in those autumnal vibes. The delicate, nutty flavour of adzuki lends itself well to savoury dishes too.  Ingredients: 1 cup dried adzuki beans ¼ tsp toasted sesame oil 3 tbsp sunflower oil 1 tbsp finely chopped ginger ½ tsp finely chopped garlic 1/2 bunch coriander or parsley coarsely chopped 2 tbsp white wine vinegar pinch chilli flakes 1 tbsp tamari ¼ cup lime juice 1 cup shallots thinly sliced 1 cup grated carrots 1/4 cup sesame seeds 1 tbsp sunflower seeds Method: The night before you plan to eat: Put beans in a large bowl, cover with water and let soak for 8 hours or overnight. Drain beans and put in a large pot with 8 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until tender, approx 50 minutes. Drain and rinse gently under cold water. Set aside to let cool completely. Dressing: Put oils, ginger, garlic, coriander or parsley, vinegar, chilli flakes, tamari and lime juice into a jar and shake well. Pour dressing over cooked and cooled beans. Add shallots and carrots and toss gently to combine. Top with sesame and sunflower seeds.  Ingredients:
1/2 cup dried adzuki beans 1/2 cup walnut pieces 1/2 of a butternut pumpkin 1 tbsp miso paste 2 tbsp mirin or apple cider vinegar Dressing: 2 tsp apple cider vinegar 1 tbsp lime juice 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil 1 tsp minced ginger pinch of chili flakes remaining miso–mirin mixture from above Garnish: 1/4 cup shallots, finely sliced 1/4 cup walnuts pieces Method: The night before you plan to eat: Put beans in a large bowl, cover with water and let soak for 8 hours or overnight. Drain beans and put in a large pot with 8 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until tender, approx 40 minutes. Drain and set aside. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan forced). Put walnut pieces on a baking sheet and toast them for 5 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 200°C (180°C fan forced). Scoop the seeds out of your pumpkin half and lightly drizzle or brush the cut side with sunflower oil. Place pumpkin cut side down on a lined baking sheet. Roast for 20 minutes. Mix miso and mirin (or apple cider vinegar) together. Take the pumpkin out of the oven and carefully flip it. Score the pumpkin: cut crisscross pattern onto the surface of the softened pumpkin flesh. Spread 2/3 of the miso mixture over the scored surface of the pumpkin. Return the pumpkin to the oven for 20 minutes. Make the dressing by mixing vinegar, lime juice, sesame oil, minced ginger and chili flakes. Add rest of the miso & mirin mixture to the dressing. Add the dressing to beans while they are still hot. Add shallots and walnuts to the bean mixture (save some shallots and walnut pieces for garnishing). Stuff roasted pumpkin with bean mixture and garnish with shallot slices and walnuts. Serve with remaining dressing. PIMP MY RECIPE If you have any leftover cooked rice, couscous or pasta, add it to the bean mixture. I used some cooked brown rice the last time I made this dish and it made the meal go further as well as adding a new flavour and texture dimension. We have another no-bake goody for you; this one to add a bit of fanfare to lunchboxes and comfort to afternoon tea. The humble chocolate crackle can be traced back to an advertisement in the Australian Women's Weekly, in 1937. The ad and accompanying recipe were created by the company behind COPHA, which is a solidified, hydrogenated coconut oil. That's right - COPHA is coconut oil! All these years I thought it was some kind of chemical margarine-type creation. But before you go running to the supermarket to stock up on COPHA, pay heed to an important word in its description: hydrogenated. Hydrogenated coconut oil helps keep the oil solid in warm temperatures but also increases the amount of trans fats, which is not good for us. Our recipe uses untreated extra virgin coconut oil instead. The crackles still set and are transportable and don't have to be eaten with a spoon.  Makes 24 small or 12 regular
Ingredients: 2 cups Crispy Rice Puffs 1/4 cup Rapadura Sugar (or sweetener of choice) 1/2 cup Desiccated Coconut 1/4 cup Alkalised Cocoa Powder* 1/2 cup melted Coconut Oil Method: Combine first 4 ingredients in a mixing bowl, then pour in the coconut oil. Stir gently to combine. Place spoonfuls of mixture into mini baking cups and pop in the fridge. They'll take about 30 mins to set. Chocolate crackles will keep in the fridge, in a sealed container, for 3 days, or for up to 6 weeks in the freezer. *alkalised cocoa powder and raw cacao powder are interchangeable in this recipe. When the weather heats up and I fancy making a sweet treat, I inevitably turn to raw desserts. The benefits: no oven needed, and the recipes are quick and simple. These are my family favourites: Peanut Butter Cups. Half an hour and a bit of stirring is all it takes to make these delicious morsels.  Makes 12-16 small cups
EQUIPMENT YOU'LL NEED I use a silicone ice cube tray to set my peanut butter cups, any shape or size will do. If you use a tray meant for standard sized ice cubes you'll get 12-16 peanut butter cups from this recipe. If you have chocolate molds feel free to use them. I have also successfully used a small square container lined with baking paper; doing it this way means you'll have 1 large peanut butter cup slab, which you can then cut into squares when frozen. Ingredients: For Chocolate layer: 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted 3 tbsp raw cacao or alkalised cocoa powder (or more depending how rich you fancy it) 2 tbsp rice malt syrup, honey or maple syrup For Peanut Butter layer: 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted 2 tbsp peanut butter 1 tbsp rice malt syrup, honey or maple syrup Pinch of salt Method: Step 1. CHOCOLATE LAYER: Combine chocolate layer ingredients in a small saucepan and melt over low heat for a minute, just to enable the blending of ingredients smoothly together. Using a teaspoon, spoon chocolate mixture into your silicone tray/container of choice. You'll use about 2 tsp of mixture per peanut butter cup. Place the silicon tray in the freezer so it can freeze while you make the peanut butter layer Step 2. PEANUT BUTTER LAYER: Combine peanut butter layer ingredients in a small saucepan and melt over low heat for a minute, just to enable the blending of ingredients smoothly together. Retrieve your silicone tray from the freezer. Use a teaspoon to spoon peanut butter mixture on top of the now set chocolate layer. Return tray to freezer. In 15 mins your peanut butter cups are ready to devour! Remember to keep uneaten ones in the freezer - any desserts made with coconut oil rely on being frozen to keep their form. Tip: spray measuring cups, measuring spoons and silicon mould with oil. It makes the syrup and nut butter behave much better, and you leave no residue behind. PIMP MY RECIPE *Use almond butter instead of peanut *add a few drops of vanilla to the chocolate mixture *instead of cocoa powder, use 2-3 tbl chocolate drops. They will take a bit more melting but the result is deliciously decadent. |
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