oliveoilandlemon

recipes for healthy living

Tag: almond

September 7, 2012

Almond Cake with Blueberry Compote

This is a real winner, easy to make, gluten free but doesn’t taste like cardboard (bakers experimenting with gluten free will know what i mean) and even better with a fruit compote. As cake goes its a pretty good option, low sugar, nuts and eggs and no wheat intolerance issues!

9 oz ricotta
4 eggs separated
9 oz almond flour
4 oz coconut palm sugar
Zest of a lime
1/2 tsp almond essence
3oz toasted almonds

Oven at 150
Grease and line a 9″ spring form.
Beat the ricotta, egg yolks, essence, sugar and lime zest together.
Stir in the almond flour until incorporated
Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks
Fold into the mixture gently
Tip into your tin and sprinkle over the almonds
Bake for about 50 minutes until centre is firm and skewer comes out clean
Leave in the tin until cool
Serve with the blueberry compote below.

Blueberry Compote
4 oz washed blueberries
4 tbsp water
tip blueberries into a pot and add the water
turn the heat to medium and stir from time to time until the berries have softened and the water has been absorbed

7 Comments
July 3, 2012

Mini almond tartlets with Cream and Fruit

These almond tartlets just sing summer with the beautiful seasonal fruit on top. I even had some strawberries from the garden to put on them but they got nabbed before I had a chance to use them to fill the tarts. They are a cinch to make, the oven does all the work and they look so very lovely that anyone would think they require loads of effort. Not so, a little bit of mixing and they are ready to cook. When they come out of the oven they need to sit for about 2 minutes to firm up enough to get out of the tin. after that you can fill with cream and fruit, fruit only if you are not a cream fan and they are ready to eat. The crunchy base is the perfect contrast to delicious ripe fruit and they look so pretty whether for afternoon tea (does anyone ‘do’ afternoon tea anymore?) or for dessert on a special occasion.

Oven at 180C
Makes 24
4 oz each of unsalted soft butter, coconut palm sugar and almond flour.
Beat the butter and sugar until just mixed
Stir in the almond flour, don’t overwork, just until incorporated.
Place spoonfuls of the mixture into patty tins and bake until golden brown about 12 minutes. Don’t worry about spreading the mix out, the oven does all the work… amazing!
Leave to sit about 2 mins and pop out onto wire tray. If they go too crunch and you cant get them out, pop them back in the oven for about 30 seconds and they will soften up.

Fill them with cream and fruit just before serving as they won’t sit for any longer than about 45 minutes… They won’t last that long either i would say. Enjoy!…

4 Comments
June 17, 2012

Almond and coconut butter balls

It’s Father’s and I had help this morning to make a special breakfast… Scrambled eggs and asparagus, delicious, easy to make the the perfect start to the day. This was accompanied by special sweets for Dad, made especially for the occasion. Anyone who knows ‘Dad’ will know that sweets wouldn’t be a normal part of his diet so I did some experimenting to come up with something that would deliver on the taste test but also be full of healthy ingredients….. Almond Macaroon Bites were the result, little truffly like balls made with almond butter, melted chocolate, some chia seeds, coconut….. Oh, and avocados!Yep you read it right, I’v been experimenting again with the avocados and it works. This makes about 24, keep them in the fridge, bring them to the gym for a great post workout snack.

Almond and coconut balls
2 Avocados – peeled and stoned
100gr good quality chocolate melted and cooled (I used 70% chocolate drops)
5 tbsp Almond butter – I used one from iherb called earth balance with linseeds, but use any good quality one.
4 tsp of coconut palm sugar
2 tsp Chia seeds
2 tbsp dessicated grated coconut and a few tbsp more for rolling the balls in

Tip avocados and almond butter into the blender and blend until smooth
Tip into a bowl and mix in the rest of the ingredients until fully incorporated
The mix will be quite sticky but still ok to work with so don’t worry!
Scoop a teaspoon of the mix at a time out, roll into a ball and gently roll desiccated coconut and place into little bun or truffle cases
Continue until you have used all the mixture.
Place them in the fridge for a while to set slightly.

Enjoy the taste and all the healthy goodness !

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