Simple Coconut Biscuits

This is a delicious coconut biscuit, which pairs wonderfully with the previous two desserts, but could also be a gluten free and fancy take an on Anzac biscuit. These are perfect to serve with any tropical dessert, like my passion fruit posset and my passion fruit granita. They would also be perfect with any tropical sorbet or ice cream, in place of the the typical boring and bland wafer.

These are quite obviously no lookers, but if you like coconut then there one of the best coconut biscuits you'll have (as its basically just all coconut).They also seem really healthy as its just egg white which is high in protein, and sugar... errr......maybe not! but at least they don't have butter!!

The only downside is that you have to do the Great British Bake Off pose by constantly staring into the oven until it's baked, as they can quite easily go from a lovely golden colour, to a super dark brown colour, which makes the coconut taste bitter.

These are super fragile, so be careful when you handle them. Along with either of the passion fruit desserts from my previous posts, these can be made up to 3 days ahead just kept in a airtight container, to make dinner party hosting, that little bit easier and less stressful.

Ingredients 

1 egg white 
100g desiccated coconut
1 tsp sesame seeds 
50g caster sugar

1. preheat the oven to 180c 
2. beat the egg whites until fluffy 
3. stir in the sesame seeds, sugar and coconut 
4. lay out teaspoonfuls of mixture onto a non stick lined baking trays, lightly press the mixture in rounds
5. bake for 8 mins, or until golden brown at the edges
6. take out and leave to cool slightly and "set" before moving to a cooling rack and leaving to cool completely

Passion fruit Granita

Told you I was having a thing with passion fruit. Don't worry there's more coming too!! The simplest and one of the best ways to eat it is spooned on top of plain Greek style yogurt, but sometimes it should be a hero without anything, just a little bit of sugar and help from the freezer, and you have a super tasty, but refreshing summer dessert.

Its super simple to make along with most of my other desserts, because who has that much time these days. Especially when its summer when all you want to do is be outside and socialising, reading or sunbathing. If your like me then have always wanted to make granita, but always thought you needed some fancy ice cream/sorbet maker, but you actually don't then i hope this recipe will tempt you into how easy it really is. 

To separate the most amount of juice from the seeds, i blitzed the pulp quickly before sieving. I served this as a "pre" dessert, as a small pallet cleanser in between the main and dessert but you could easily serve this as a main dessert, just enlarge the serving dish and portions.  

To serve as a palette cleanser i just popped a few tiny mint leaves on top, as i didn't want the extra passion fruit and coconut to over complicate the refreshing flavour. These coconut biscuits, pictured below are great served with it and my other passion fruit dessert, passion fruit posset (recipe for the biscuits is on its way!!). 

Serves 10 as dessert or 20+ as a small palate cleanser
Ingredients

460g caster sugar
500ml passion fruit pulp, strain to make 250ml juice (around 18-24) 
1250ml of water
2 tbsp lime juice
coconut milk, optional
pulp from 4 passion fruit, optional

1. Put the sugar and water together in a saucepan and stir over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. set aside to cool
2. Add the strained passion fruit juice and lime, stir to combine.
4. Pop in a shallow tray and into the freezer, for 2 hrs or until setting around the edges.
5. Using a fork rough up the crystals, and return to the freezer.
6. Repeat each hour, until its all frozen around 3 hrs.
7. Once frozen pop into containers, and keep in the freezer until needed.
8. to serve as a palette cleanser, top with tiny mint leaves. To serve as a dessert, spoon over the extra passion fruit and a little coconut milk. 

Dairy Free Berry Ice Cream

It may look super healthy, topped with chia seeds and coconut, and although it is; I promise it's super tasty. It's also extremely easy to make, it's a bit like Nigella calling avocado toast a recipe, it's that easy. Plus, it's healthy food but with flavour, so your not going to give up on that "new year, new you", just yet. It's pretty easy to make ahead, just make a big batch, pop this into a container, and into the freezer, and take a scoop whenever you need it.

I like having it at breakfast, but is probably better as a dessert, in replace of ice cream. That's kind of why I have it at breakfast, because it's like ice cream, and there's no denying unconventional breakfasts are the best. If you wanted it more like a breakfast sprinkle granola on top, and add fresh fruit.

This recipe is super adaptable, swap the berries with whatever fruit you like (mango is another of my favourites). If your not that into fruit add a couple teaspoons of cocoa powder, would make a lovely chocolate "ice cream". If your latest internet craze, a smoothie bowl recipe; then just add more coconut milk to reach the desired consistency.

Ingredients 

1 banana, frozen 

1/4 - 1/3 cup frozen berries 

Coconut milk

Toppings, e.g.chia seeds, coconut flakes, granola, pomegranate seeds

1. Pop the frozen banana and berries into a blender 

2. Pour over a good glug of the coconut milk, leave to warm up slightly for a few minutes 

3. Blend until smooth, add more coconut milk if needed 

4. Top with chosen toppings, serve immediately 

Coconut and Chocolate Balls

Continuing with the recent coconut obsession; Which is healthy right? Perfect, accompanied by (several) an episode of Orphan Black, (the rediscovered unhealthy obsession!); or TV episode of your choice. The dark chocolate, makes them seem extremely healthy, even though they're not really, which may have resulted, in them being eaten extraordinarily quickly; which may, or may not have been consumed at breakfast.

To make them healthier they are coated in dark chocolate, but milk would also work well, especially you prefer things sweeter, as the coconut isn't that sweet. Or if you really want to push the boat out, dipping it half and half, would look pretty. Or if your giving these away as a gift, drizzling them with white chocolate would look great too. 

I kept the dessicated coconut the same size, but feel free to blend it up finer,to make it more like a bounty bar. If you want something a bit different try adding zest of one lime, its really good trust me. Or if you love chocolate, adding cocoa powder would make a healthier version of chocolate rough, add more coconut oil, as it will make the mixture drier. 

Ingredients

1 cup desiccated coconut
2 tbsp honey/maple syrup or similar
2 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
100g dark chocolate, melted

1. melt the coconut oil, and mix in the honey or syrup
2. stir in the coconut, and press into balls( i let the mixture firm up a little, in the fridge before rolling)
3. once the balls are made, place in the fridge to firm up completely, about 30mins
4. once set, dip in the melted chocolate, coating the surface
5. chill until set

Mango and Coconut Cream with Pistachio Brittle

If you wanted the quickest (homemade) dessert in the whole entire universe then look no further, because trust me this is quicker than walking to your local supermarket, and buying something, unless you live right outside a supermarket, and can run around it like Usain bolt.

I thought i might mention that it utterly delicious, but then for someone who could eat about 10 mangoes per day, and never get bored then i suppose i might be a bit biased. Whatever you do though, use alphonso mangoes! Oh, and once you've made the brittle, I would hide it away until you need it, because unless you have super strong will power, then you might find it magically disappears! 

In this version photographed I used coconut cream (hence it's very white), instead of cream, which is a great option if your lactose intolerant, or if you prefer not to eat dairy/animal products. Instead of using a small expensive tins of coconut cream, I used a tin of coconut milk, and the solid part which had naturally separated (sainsburys own is the best to use), then just whipped it, with the same amount of cardamon. If you don't like cardamon, or want to freshen up the dessert, grated lime zest would also work well.

Serves 4

Ingredients

5 tbsp caster sugar
50g shelled pistachios

300ml double cream, or coconut cream
2 tbsp caster sugar
10 cardamon seeds, shelled, crushed into a powder
400g alphonso mango puree, or flesh of a fresh mango blended
fresh mint to garnish, optional

1. Toast the pistachios until fragrant, roughly chop 
2. In a pan, heat the sugar with 1 tbsp water until it dissolves and cooks to a golden brown caramel
3. Mix the pistachios into the sugar, and spread on baking paper and leave to cool
4. whip the cream with the sugar and cardamon, until it forms soft peaks 
5. divide the mango between 4 glasses, spoon over the cream
6. roughly break up the brittle, sprinkle over. top with a spring of mint.

Warm Coconut and Spinach Dhal

As my family and anyone that knows me well, will tell you, I love lentils. The green puy lentils are my favourite, but the red lentils in a curry, are good too! Hence this curry. Not to mention, how good they are for you; which is partly why I started eating them (not mentioning how tasty they were when I first tried them, the green lentils was served with confit duck; So of course it was delicious).

   This curry is very creamy, so if you prefer a lighter curry, then swap half of the coconut milk with vegetable or chicken stock. If you want it a bit spicier, feel free to add finely diced fresh red or green chili, which I would do if my youngest sister wasn't eating it(shes doesn't like extremely spicy foods, and knowing me i would make it too spicy for her!).

  

Serve with rice or naan bread if you like them. I served it with paratha bread, which my mum buys from a specialist Indian food shop, but feel free to make your own. They are incredibly buttery and moreish , and sorry but that after naan bread will never be quite as good unless is homemade(but then all bread is great homemade).

Ingredients

250g red lentils 

1 onion

1 garlic clove

20g fresh ginger

4 tbsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp turmeric

500g fresh spinach

400 ml coconut milk

200 ml water

1/2 lemon, juice

1. Cook the lentils for about 8 mins, drain

2. Meanwhile finely chop the onion and garlic. Peel and grate the ginger.

3. Sweat the onion until soft and add in the garlic, ginger and spices.cook for 1 min

4. Add the spinach, and cook for 2-3 mins

5. Add the coconut milk and water

6. Pop in the lentils, mix in and cook for 5 mins or until hot

7. Season and mix in lemon juice to taste.

8. Serve 

Dairy-free Coconut Spelt Pancakes

 The Sunday Post- 

Hmmm pancakes....Who doesn't love pancakes on Sunday? But guess what...? Pancake day is this week! and that means pancakes on a Tuesday( *does an exiceted little dance*), whats not to love? On a Sunday we normally have crepes, as thats what my sister likes to make, but since it's Pancake day soon, i thought i would try something different. 

These are made of spelt flour, which is higher in protein and lower in gluten than regular flour, which leaves you less bloated.The spelt flour also has a lovely nutty taste. These are also dairy free. Personally, these are healthy enough for me, without straying to far away from the normal pancake; I'm not convinced by the egg and banana malarkey.

I served them with berries and Greek style yogurt, but i think coconut yogurt or soya yogurt would also work well, if you wanted it entirely dairy free. Since they are lighter style, i think any fresh fruit would work well with these.

serves 4

Ingredients

100g spelt flour
150ml coconut milk
2 eggs
berries and yogurt to serve

1. mix together the flour, milk and egg yolks.
2. in a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks.
3. gently fold in egg whites
4. heat pan up with coconut oil or any flavourless oil
5. when hot enough spoon mixture in, 2 tbsp
6. cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown on both sides
7. serve with berries and coconut yogurt 
8. enjoy

Chickpea and Carrot Spiced Warm Salad

With the new year in full swing. * looks at calender* its February! Wait. what? When did that happen? It feels like 2015 is flying by. Into February, means I'm almost settled into a healthy-ish routine, just trying to get rid of the last dregs of the Christmas chocolate(I'm a saver if you couldn't guess, not a eat all at once kinda gal). One thing, which i have been particularly enjoying is making salads for lunch, but not your usual lettuce, cucumber and tomato ones.

Its probably fair to say that carrots are my favourite vegetable. I'm like a rabbit sometimes, with a pot of hummus, its just so hard to stop(please tell me I'm not the only one). They're fast becoming a staple in my salads, this recipe here ; is another favourite. I love them roasted, as it brings out their sweetness, and coated in cumin, there just incredible. Luckily, sometimes i can tear myself away, so they can last at least few lunches. 

This recipe is easily adaptable, add feta for a tang and creaminess. I like to add quinoa to it, with a little vinaigrette mixed in to add bulk to it; so it's more filling for lunch, if I have a long day, or want the carrot and chickpea salad to last longer.Serve warm or cold.

Ingredients

5 large carrots

1 tin chickpeas

Small handful coriander 

Cumin powder

1 1/2 harissa paste

Small handful almonds

1. Preheat oven to 180.

2. Chop up carrot into even sized pieces, toss in olive oil and cumin powder,

3. Roast until soft and starting to caramelise.

4. When the carrots are done, add the rinsed chickpeas and harissa paste.Mix.     Roast until warmed through. 

5. Add chopped almonds and coriander( add cooked quinoa if using)

6 . Serve or take to work/school.