Chocolate and Pistachio Biscuits

I absolutely love biscuits and these are particularly moreish and buttery! The pistachios add a fantastic crunch in such a crumbly, short biscuit. These are very easy to make, you can also freeze some of the dough and just cut rounds off when you have someone coming over! The chocolate and pistachio works really well together- you must give them a go!

Recipe: (makes about 35-40)

- 220g unsalted butter (very soft)

- 80g Icing sugar

- 280g Plain flour

- 30g Cocoa powder (I use Green & Blacks)

- Pinch of Salt

- 70g chopped blanched pistachios 

How to make:

- Cream the butter, salt and icing sugar together in a large bowl until creamy and combined. Then add the flour, cocoa powder and pistachios and mix until fully combined. 

- Try and mould the dough in to the shape of a long roll and wrap in cling film. Pop it in to the fridge or freezer for an hour (I put it in the freezer as it goes harder and is easier to cut).

- Heat the oven to 190c and grease 2 baking sheets. Take the dough out of the freezer and unwrap. Then cut the dough in to rounds of about 5mm and put on to the baking sheets.

- Bake for about 12 minutes, but keep an eye on them so the edges don't burn. Allow to cool a little on the baking sheets first before moving to a cooling wire. 

- Enjoy with coffee! 

Photo how to:

The dough

The biscuits ready to go in to the oven

Fresh out of the oven, cooling on the wire rack

xXx

Crumbly Date Squares

As much as I love to try baking healthy things, sometimes you just have to bake something really naughty and buttery, and these crumbly date squares are just that! I found the recipe in a baking cookbook and decided that it would be just the thing to bake for afternoon tea with my family. 

They are really easy to make and taste delicious! They have a lovely crumbly texture on the top and bottom with sticky, gooey date inside them. They are terribly moreish! Give them a go, its hard not to devour them all at once.

Recipe: (makes about 20 squares)

- 300g chopped Dates 

- 250ml water

- 200g soft butter

- 200g light brown sugar 

- 260g plain Flour

- 150g rolled oats

- 1/2 tsp baking powder

To make: 

- Preheat the oven to 180c and grease and line the bottom and sides of a baking tin.

- Put the chopped dates and the water in a small saucepan, and on a medium-low heat, cook until all of the water has been absorbed. This should take about 10 minutes, then leave to cool.

- Meanwhile start making the crumble. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Combine the Oats, flour and baking powder together and then add to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix until fully combined- the mixture will be quite crumbly and short. 

- Put half of the crumble mixture in to the bottom of the baking tin and squash down with your hand or the back of a spoon. Then spoon on the date mixture on top and smooth out to the edges. Lightly top with the remaining crumble mixture. 

- Bake in the oven for about 30-35 minutes until golden brown on top. Keep an eye out for it browning too quickly!

- Allow to cool fully in the tin and then lift out and cut in to squares or fingers- whichever you prefer!

Photo how to:

The dates and water mixture ready for heating

The finished date 'jam'

The crumbly mixture

The crumble mixture squashed in to the tin

The date mixture on top of the crumble

The finished crumbly date squares

Enjoy!

xXx

Creamy Cashew Nut Butter!

Whilst browsing various healthy living recipes I have found that a lot of them call for use of 'nut butters', and homemade ones. So I decided that I would give it a go, and make some Cashew butter. 

Cashews have one of the lowest fat contents of all nuts, and they are rich in Iron, Selenium, Magnesium and Zinc. They are also a great source of antioxidants and protein... So what is not to love about them! This nut butter couldnt have been easier to make either- all you need is a food processor and some Cashews!

Heres the recipe: (makes one medium-large sized jar)

-175g raw Cashew nuts

-1 tbsp Groundnut oil 

-Large pinch of Salt

-1 tbsp Agarve Nectar/ Honey

-Unswetened Cocoa powder (optional for Chocolate version)

How to make:

-First of all roast the Cashews in the oven on a baking tray until they are all slightly browned, and leave to cool.

-Then put them in the food processor and whizz up for about 2 minutes. They will start to look like fine crumbs, but keep going! Whizz for another 3-6 minutes and add the Groundnut oil to losen the mixture as it will start to form a big clump.

-Then add the salt and Agarve Nectar and keep whizzing until the mixture looks smooth and creamy. Make sure to keep tasting to see if it needs more salt/nectar (but that is down to your own preferences!)

-Then put it in to a sterilised jar and enjoy!

-For the Chocolate version, just add a tablespoon or so of the unsweetened Cocoa powder and whizz until combined!

Stage 1 - Roasting the raw Cashews until browned all over

Stage 2 - Put the roasted Cashews in to the food processor

Stage 3 - The Cashews will start to look like crumbs after a minute or so

Stage 4 - The natural oils will start to come out after a couple of minutes of whizzing and it will start to clump together

Stage 5 - Add the oil, Agarve nectar and salt

Stage 6 - The finished butter should look smooth and creamy

Stage 7 - Put the Cashew butter in to a suitable jar and enjoy!

This was a chocolate version that I made with some remaining Cashew butter that wouldn't fit in the jar! It wasn't particularly chocolatey, so perhaps adding more cocoa powder would have worked better. But still yummy!