Tag: foodporn

5-Ingredient Chewy Gluten-free Chocolate cookies

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“Life as we know it is merely an afterthought in the global scheme of the cosmos”- Avi Loeb.

It’s May and most of us are still under lockdown. It’s real easy to get caught up in the weirdness and pain of today, so estranged from the social entanglement, that milieu we are so familiar with. But as Avi reminds us soberly, we are a very small part of the universe and it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture– that is, the constant movement of the sun, of nature in general, the people who don’t have a roof over their heads (ever), the constant love we can show those closest to us, the constancy of human creativity which can be cultivated by indulging in our favourite hobbies– cooking, talking to friends, movies, knitting, whatever. This in itself is solace, to me.

Random thoughts and journal excerpts:

04/05: On a brighter note, pandemic solutions are also solutions for the environment. Prior to this current commotion, land clearing reduces biodiversity, which means that the species that survive are more likely to host illnesses transferred to humans.

24/04: Open your windows!! Virus aside, it’s very easy to have difficulty breathing because of too-high carbon dioxide levels in our own homes. Especially now of all times, when we’re all stuck at home.

03/05: There’s a new doughnut and sandwich place called Korio and they sell the fluffiest doughnuts (and cinnamon-sugar doughnut holes, the only thing I could get a hold of one sad Tuesday afternoon).

06/05: This girl’s channel is whack and I’ve started watching one of her videos after journalling almost every morning. I’ve really been savouring mornings, which are like pages of empty magic because nothing really happens yet, but I can sit and daydream and drink coffee and journal a bit before getting on with other things (exercise, work, etc). Talking about exercise, light weights can really transform a workout.

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I know a few people have requested a gluten-free recipe, and since I know a couple of gluten-intolerant people myself, why not! It’s one of the easiest recipes I’ve played with and takes just 13 minutes in the oven. Like many of my other recipes, you simply have to chuck the ingredients in one bowl, whisk them together and be done with it.

These cookies have an incredibly chewy exterior and moist, air-light interior richly studded with dark chocolate. They’re rich with gooey chocolate, yet light and melt-in-the-mouth. I originally just used the vegan egg for this, then experimented with actual egg, then just egg white which yields the chewiest texture out of all three options. It also makes the cookies shiny and glossy, while letting the chocolate stand out as the main ingredient, both in the form of the cocoa powder and chocolate chips. The chocolate added at the very end is optional (but not really).

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Chewy Gluten-free Chocolate cookies (makes 6 medium cookies)

Ingredients

150g (around 1.25 cups) icing sugar

60g (0.5 cups) cocoa powder

0.5 tsp salt

60-70g (large handful) chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips

2 egg whites (vegan sub: use 2 flax eggs instead by mixing 2 tbsp ground flaxseed with 4 tbsp water and letting that gel in a small bowl for a few minutes before using)

Directions

Preheat your oven to 177C (350C). Line 2 large baking trays with parchment paper. If using vegan eggs, make that now with the ground flaxseed and water before using later. Whisk together the icing sugar, salt and cocoa powder in a bowl. If your icing sugar and cocoa have been sitting in your pantry for a while, then you’re better off sifting them together instead of just whisking. Add the egg whites/vegan egg and whisk together until smooth and glossy. Add the chocolate chips and use a spoon to fold those in until incorporated. Put heaped tablespoonfuls of wet batter onto the baking trays, leaving 2 inches of space between them because they will spread. Bake for 12-13 minutes, or until there’s a clear hard and glossy crust on the cookies. Enjoy alone or with a nice scoop of vanilla bean ice cream/yoghurt. Can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days.

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Tahini Chocolate Cookies

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A recent getaway. Copenhagen, Denmark. Krakow, Poland. Then cookies, to seal the whole package.

The getaway was exciting and almost necessary. Been feeling a little off lately and the short jetset abound with strange and foreign sights and experiences set my world into perspective– I’m just a small human being sitting on one tiny part of this huge amazing world with bigger problems to immerse myself in.

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Thin, crisp, and chewy like no other. An entire sweet day compressed into a disc, strewn with melted chocolate chunks big and small, aching in the wake of a heady river of tahini. And how easy!

I believe in the almighty simple chocolate chip cookie. But the twist of tahini offers something enigmatic and alluring. This alone will do you such good.

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Tahini Chocolate Cookies (makes 10-12 medium cookies)

Ingredients

120ml (0.5 cup) light tahini

1 egg (vegan sub: 2 flax eggs, make by mixing 2 tbsp ground flaxseed with 4 tbsp water and let set aside at the beginning)

115g salted butter, at room temperature (vegan sub: vegan butter). If your butter is really hard, microwave it for half a minute

180g sugar (I used a mix of light brown and white, you can do the same or stick to either or)

1 tsp vanilla extract

150g plain flour

0.5 tsp baking powder

0.5 tsp baking soda

150g dark chocolate, chopped into chunks

 

Directions

Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 180C (350F). In a medium bowl, using a whisk or electrical whisk, beat together the room temperature butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. This will take less than a minute if your butter is relatively soft. Then add the egg, vanilla and tahini, and beat well until you get a smooth, creamy batter that drops off your whisk easily.

In a separate bowl, briefly mix together the flour, chopped chocolate, baking powder and baking soda. If you didn’t use salted butter, add a teaspoon of fine salt to this dry mix, at this point.

Add this flour mix to the wet tahini-egg mix and mix until well combined. Scoop heaped tablespoonfuls of batter onto your lined tins, leaving at least 2 inches of space between each spoonful of batter to let the cookies spread and look less ugly (but ugly ones are still okay).

Bake the cookies, one tin at a time or both at the same time, for 15 minutes. They will look light-golden on top but still wet in the middle. This will continue to set after you take the cookies out. Take them out and, with both hands holding each end of the pan, lightly drop them on the counter-top to let gravity drop the bellies of the cookies. This technique will create crazy-chewy cookies with crisp, browned edges.

These are best enjoyed warm, and can be kept at room temperature for up to a week.

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Raspberry Peanut Butter Pancakes

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There’s nothing like the cross-section of a fluffy pillow-like pancake, reeking of some overly airy ethereal quality before you soak it in maple syrup and drench it in other whatnots (Nutella people, where are you). Back to the pillow pancake days. Dreamy, fluffy, soft pancakes are the only sort of pancakes that should exist. Though I’m partial to the odd, flat, crepe-like English pancake, I can only bring myself to have those with lemon juice and sugar when Pancake Tuesday actually comes round, although the tradition itself still lies outside my own realm of habit, let alone desire. After a long week polka-dotted with bouts of stress and self-doubt, a cool and fresh Saturday morning and some yoga was all that was needed to set the mind straight again. These pancakes just so happened to be the icing on top of all of that.

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For the sake of simplicity and ease, unlike my previous pillow pancake recipes, this one doesn’t have the buttermilk component, although I’m sure that will also work supremely well here anyway. If you do wish, simply add a tablespoon of vinegar to a cup measurement, then fill the rest of the cup with milk, and wait for a couple of minutes to let the milk curdle a little, infusing it with a mild tanginess that complements the raspberries that are added in a little later. Yet, even without this vegan buttermilk mix, the frozen raspberries which melt a little as you cook the batter offers the same effect. Just as how an individual’s nature is a unique variation on the original theme (DNA!), these raspberry peanut butter pancakes are a unique twist on your classic Pancake Sunday (or Pancake Tuesday in the UK if you’re feeling that rebellious).

These go too well with thick plant yoghurt like coconut or soy, maple syrup, and just a touch more peanut butter on the side. More berries too if you wish. If making for a large group of people, after cooking, place the pancakes next to each other on a baking pan and keep them warm in an oven turned on at low heat, before plating and serving.

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Raspberry Peanut Butter Pillow Pancakes (makes around 6 medium pancakes)

Ingredients

190g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

3 tbsp sugar (white/coconut)

½ tsp fine salt

1 banana, mashed

30g melted unsalted butter

2 heaped tbsp peanut butter (smooth or chunky, that’s up to you)

2 handfuls of frozen raspberries

240ml (1 cup) milk of choice (I used unsweetened soy) 

Directions

First, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a medium bowl. Microwave the peanut butter until it becomes soft and drippy. Add the warm peanut butter, mashed banana, milk and melted butter to the bowl, then use a spoon to mix everything until just about evenly incorporated. Finally, add the frozen raspberries and briefly whisk them in until they are evenly dispersed throughout the batter. Heat a pan on medium-high heat and add a pat of butter. Once the butter has melted and is slightly sizzling, turn the heat to medium, then ladle in the pancake batter– half a ladle or 2 heaped tbsp would make for one pancake. Wait a minute or until you can see the edges going a little dry, then flip to cook the other side. Continue ladling and flipping until you have finished up all the batter. Enjoy with yoghurt, more peanut butter and berries, and a drizzle of maple syrup. YUM. Just yum.

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Matcha Scones

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First, yet late, post of the new year. Ready to make some changes and start anew despite a slightly rough start, such as being more regular on this platform…! I realised that, despite how much I love Instagram and how such a platform exposed me to like-minded, passionate individuals, it’s this more personal, open space that, on occasion, does feel more like a space that induces more openness and lengthy talks about nothing and everything. How a simple matcha scone can offer so much pleasure, how a bleak future and more job losses thanks to AI actually may create more jobs, how my screen now has a small but rather obvious crack, how Thursdays may be better for starting new habits than Mondays… you know, that sort of thing. Everything and nothing. Instagram isn’t made for excessively long captions, and the algorithm has blinded me to some of my own dear friends’ posts. That’s annoying. So here’s to not panicking over these silly minutiae of daily life, and start embracing what truly makes us happy, even if it seems as if no one is looking or listening. I don’t know where I’m going with this, but isn’t that the point? Here, I don’t have to care.

 

Matcha scone, oh matcha scone. I haven’t made something so simple and delicious in a while. These quite literally are effortless, so if you do have an oven, there is no excuse not to at least try. Yes, I know matcha powder can be quite unnecessarily pricey, especially here in London, so experiment with whatever other bold flavour you may have hanging around in the house. An element of bitterness or tanginess will add a unique aftertaste, hence I used matcha powder, but mix in a cluster of frozen berries, or cocoa powder, and you will still end up with a similar effect, embodied in something especially flavourful and special.

 

The beautiful thing about this batter is that the vegan butter, which is naturally soft on its own, doesn’t have to be left out for a while to get to room temperature. Simply scoop however much you need right from the tub, and dump it straight into the dry mixture. Of course, use normal butter if you already have that on hand. You will first be enraptured by the smell of these baking, and there’s no going back once you sink your teeth into the soft flakiness of the scones. You can go the extra mile and up the flake level by cubing your butter first and putting it in the freezer for at least 10 minutes before mixing it into the dry mix, but I was, well, lazy, and still had incredibly flaky yummy scones. These are too perfect right out of the oven with a cup of tea or coffee. If storing them in the freezer, leave to thaw before consuming. I recently discovered that cutting one scone along its length and toasting each half made it feel and look as if the scone was fresh out of the oven.

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Ingredients

For the scones:

245g plain flour (alternatively, use half whole-wheat and half white)

115g sugar (white or coconut)

1 tbsp baking powder

½ baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 tbsp ground flaxseed

2 tbsp water

2 tbsp matcha powder (I used the one by Matcha Reserve, which is my favourite brand so far)

120ml (half a cup) plant milk of choice– I used almond

90g (6 tbsp) vegan butter (alternatively, use normal butter)

 

For the icing:

60g (a half cup) of icing sugar

1 tbsp plant milk of choice (I used almond again, you can use whichever you prefer– coconut/oat etc)

 

 

Directions

In a little saucer, mix together the ground flaxseed and 2 tbsp of water and set this aside to form your flax egg.

Preheat your oven to 220C (425F) and line a baking tray with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, matcha powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Then add the butter and milk, and mix with your fingertips until the dough comes together. Don’t overmix this scone batter otherwise you will get rubbery dough once it’s baked. The batter should not be too dry– the butter should make it slightly moist to the touch but not slippery or wet. Once everything has roughly come together, place the mass of dough onto the parchment paper and slightly flatten it into a rectangle mimicking the shape of the baking tray, about 2 inches thick. Use a knife to cut the dough into 6 triangles. They may or may not be equal in size. Keep it rustic, right? Place the tray into the preheated oven and bake it for 25 minutes, or until you see the tops go slightly golden-brown. While the scones are baking, make the icing by whisking the icing sugar and milk with a fork in a bowl.

 

Once the scones have fully baked, leave them to cool for 10 minutes before drizzling on the glaze. These are best eaten once straight out of the oven, but they can be stored for up to 3 days in an airtight container.

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Classic Crepes (gluten-free option)

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Fall, friends! It’s here, and I don’t know about you but I’m ready. Hello, excessive amounts of anything with pumpkin and apple pies. Hello, my favourite season.

The term has once again started, and with it comes a sense of both excitement and dread. To be intellectually stimulated is one thing, but it’s important to not let the intimidation of new, bright faces obfuscate any goal, be it professional or personal.

Enough with my obsession with pancakes. I let crepes take over this time. Sometimes a change of breakfast routine is all you need to feel excited about a new season, a new beginning, a new.. anything. These crepes can be made with any flour you wish, however buckwheat or spelt does result in a fluffier crepe with a more interesting flavour dimension. I never was a buckwheat gal, but decided to experiment with the rather wholesome-looking grain after a friend of mine whipped up a delicious buckwheat veggie dish for me last year, and since it’s free of gluten, it’s worth a try for my increasing number of gluten-free peeps. What’s more, more buckwheat, barley, brown rice and basically anything not scarily white is a good way of reducing intake of refined sugar and carbohydrate, for as much as I (and most of us) love the stuff, it does nothing for the brain or body, and can possibly trigger terrible eating habits.  Furthermore, it’s exciting just knowing that buckwheat:

  • is full of the bioflavonoid rutin, which contains quercetin (also abundant in apples), and is thus of higher nutritional value than many other grains. Rutin helps with blood circulation and lowers cholesterol, to name just a few things.
  • is full of magnesium (supports respiratory health and helps restore normal sleep patterns), copper (helps the body absorb iron), and manganese (can improve bone health and reduce inflammation)

Makes it all a bit more exciting to put together. So you just whisk a few ingredients together, smack a quarter-cup of batter each time onto a hot pan, spread it out a little, flip to cook the other side for a short while, and there you have it– incredibly soft, tender crepes. The uniqueness of this dangerously delicious breakfast lies in its versatility– there’s a lightly toasted nutty flavour that can be combined with almost any flavour topping, although my personal favourite is coconut yoghurt and plenty of frozen but thawing summer berries on top.

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Crepes (makes 4-6, enough for one hungry person, scale up as necessary)

Ingredients

65g buckwheat flour (sub: plain or spelt flour)

pinch of salt

200ml plant milk of choice (I used oat)

1/2 tbsp ground flaxseed

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp vegetable oil/melted vegan butter (sub: normal butter)

Directions

In a medium mixing bowl, mix together all the ingredients well. The batter should be pourable but not too wet, so if it seems too thick, add a tablespoon of milk, and if it seems too thin, add a little more flour. Heat your pan (add a little oil if it’s not a nonstick pan) on medium heat. Flick a splash of water on it to see if it sizzles, to check if the pan is hot enough to use. Once it is hot enough, add a quarter-cup of batter to the pan and use the back of the cup measurement to spread the batter out into a thin circle. Be careful here– you don’t want the batter to be too thin, as this will lead to easy breakage afterwards when you try and flip the crepe.  Cook the first side until you see the edges of the crepe firm up, then slide your spatula carefully underneath and flip the crepe. Cook the second side for a little shorter, about a minute or so. Place the cooked crepe on a paper towel and roll it up before placing on a serving plate. Continue to do this for the remaining amount of batter. Serve with thick coconut yoghurt, tahini, berries and maple syrup!

 

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