Cinnamon-Vanilla Roasted Nuts

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Vanilla Cinnamon Nut

1.Why soaking nuts before roasting?

  • Remove phytic acid, toxins and tannins
  • neutralise the enzyme inhibitors and encourage the production of beneficial enzymes
  • increase the amounts of vitamins, especially vitamin B
  • break down gluten and make digestion easier
  • make the proteins more readily available for absorption

2. Soaking time is different depending on what nuts you use.

  • Almonds 8-12 hours
  • Cashews 2-3 hours
  • Flax seeds 6 hours
  • Hazelnuts 7 hours
  • Macadamia 7 hours
  • Peanuts 7 hours
  • Pecans 4 hours
  • Pepitas 2-4 hours
  • Pine nuts 7 hours
  • Walnuts 4 hours

3. How to soak your nuts?

Soak the nuts in a filtered water with a pinch of sea salt in a bowl. After the specified period of time, drain them in a sieve and wash in a cold running water. Spread them out in a single layer on a baking sheet. You can add seasoning and flavours here. Roast in the preheated oven until they are crunchy. Keep stirring occasionally making sure they don’t get burned. Cool down and keep in an air-tight glass container.

Some people use egg whites before spices so that they stick to the nuts. I use coconut oil instead which works fine for me. Have fun roasting! 🙂

4. Examples of flavour combination

  • Savoury: Tamari, Sea Salt
  • Sweet: Cinnamon, Vanilla and Maple syrup
  • Salt and Vinegar: Apple Cider Vinegar and Sea Salt
  • Indian: Curry Powder, Cayenne Pepper, Garlic
  • Italian: Basil Rosemary, Thyme and Oregano
  • Cajun: Paprika, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Black Pepper, Cayenne Pepper, Oregano and Thyme

 

Posted in: Baking, Gluten Free, My recipes, Snack, Vegetarian

Oven Baked Zucchini Fries

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Have you heard of nutritional yeast before? Don’t get confused with brewer’s yeast for beer or dry yeast for bread. They are not the same! I didn’t know how to use these yellow flakes until now.

It’s used by vegans and vegetarians since it has a good source of vitamin B12 that is lacking in a vegetarian diet. Not only is it delicious but it is a fantastic alternative to cheese. It contains low sodium, low fat, no sugar, 18 amino acids, and vitamin B. Its yellow colour comes from Riboflavin (vitamin B2), important for proper use of oxygen and metabolism of fatty acids, carbs and fatty acids. Nutritional Yeast also contains Niacin, Thiamin, Biotin, and Folic Acid as well as minerals, Selenium, Chromium, Zinc, Phosphorous, Magnesium, and Potassium, plus beta-1, 3 glucan, a type of fiber that may aid the immune system and help to lower cholesterol. It is the perfect supplement for any vegan or vegetarian lifestyle. A common use is to sprinkle some of the flakes on popcorn, soups, salads, pastas or baked potatoes much like you might add salt or pepper.

I tried a half teaspoon by itself and surprised how much it tastes just like Parmesan cheese. Then I nod. I wish I knew about these magical flakes a lot earlier. It’s creamy, cheesy and yummy! I couldn’t wait to use this on chips. Ah, sorry not talking about those deep fried potato chips. I meant baked zucchini fries! I am so obsessed with zucchinis. Grill them and mix with beans and salads, stir-fry, stuff them and bake in the oven, make raw noodles, grate and put them in cakes and muffins, dip raw sticks in hummus for snack, WOW what else? 🙂
Zucchini ChipsIngredients

Zucchini cut into fries
1 teaspoon of coconut oil
2 teaspoons of nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of Himalayan salt

Other recipes say adding breadcrumbs to cover the zucchini sticks completely. I didn’t have any gluten-free breadcrumbs at home and left it out, but feel free to add some. I’m going to try sweet potato next time, but maybe cut into thinner sticks to get more crispy chips. It was delicious! Try this tonight x

Posted in: Baking, Dinner, Gluten Free, Lunch, My recipes, Snack, Vegetarian

World of Scones

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SconesI wasn’t familiar with scones until I came to Australia. I remember I tried them at my Pilates teacher’s house a few years back. It was a weekend private course at her house to become a Pilates instructor. She had a beautiful townhouse in Fremantle overlooking the ocean. Her husband was babysitting their grand-daughter during the day. She was so shy saying hi behind her grandpa’s legs and ran away from us. Then about 4pm-ish, we were a bit sluggish after hours of learning and overwhelmed by so much information in so little time. Wanting to have some sugar-kick! This little girl came into the room with a little basket of scones and, of course, jam and cream on the side. She told us she made them for us with a shy smile. How cute! We all sat around the fireplace (it was winter time!) and shared a little scone with her. It kind of looked and tasted like KFC biscuits when I tried it for the first time. Rich buttery taste and soft fluffy inside. It reminded me of the cornmeal bread I used to like when I was little. I’ve tried to bake scones at home several times since then. Sometimes it turns out to be okay, but other times it doesn’t rise, fail! I didn’t realise how hard making scones is. It definitely got harder since I need to make a gluten-free version now, too. My tips for making good scones are…

  • Firstly, use cold butter. Yes, butter. It is better to use butter in scones than coconut oil. As it melts into the dough in the oven, it creates beautiful layers.
  • Add a knob of cold butter into dry ingredients and cut into little pieces with your knife or fork. Then start massaging with your fingers until the dough comes together.
  • Don’t work your dough too much. Otherwise scones will not rise because kneading converts the protein in flour to gluten.
  • Gently fold the dough in half and in half again, a few times to get flaky and layered scones.
  • Don’t pat the edges of the scones after cutting them.
  • Bake them for a short time in high heat. I bake for 15-20 minutes in the 200 preheated oven and take them out to cool.
  • If you have any other tips, please share with me 🙂

Ingredients (make 8 little scones)

2 cups of gluten free flour blend
1 teaspoon of baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 teaspoons of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of cold butter
1 egg
1/4 cup of milk*
1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips for chocolate chip scones
1/2 cup of cooked pumpkin for pumpkin scones

*You might need more or less milk depending on what flour you use and how moist your pumpkin mixture is.

Posted in: Baking, Breakfast, My recipes, Snack

Happy Valentine’s Day – Flourless Chocolate Cake

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Flourless chocolate

Today is just like any other Friday to me since I’m not a fan of Valentine’s day. I probably sound very unromantic here but I don’t understand people spend fortune to book in the restaurant or send expensive flowers on Valentine’s day. To me, it should be a relaxing time to spend with people you love – lovers, family and friends. I think making dinner at home is so much better than wrangling into a busy restaurant today. Have a cooking date and enjoy a delicious meal together! Since it is a day of love and romance, I made mini heart shaped flourless chocolate cakes. It is gluten-free yay 🙂 I used a Swiss dark chocolate and no extra sugar or butter, so it might taste quite bitter and plain. Adjust the recipe according to your taste.

Ingredients
100g dark chocolate
6 eggs
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of orange peel finely chopped

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir until it completely melts. Lightly beat 6 eggs in a separate bowl. Add chocolate mixture and other ingredients into egg mixture. Pour into the baking tin (I used 6-heart shaped muffin tin) and bake in the preheated oven (180) for 40-50 minutes until cooked. Cool it down completely and serve.

 

Posted in: Baking, Dessert, Gluten Free, My recipes, Snack

GF Plum Tea Cake

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Plum cake2I went down to the shops to prepare for Valentine’s dinner tomorrow and a dinner party on Saturday night. Menu and shopping list just kept on changing all this week since I am very indecisive >.< I got all ingredients now so no more changes! It’s plum season now. I just couldn’t walk pass these little juicy purplish plums at the market today although they were not on my shopping list. It was quite sour and tart to eat by itself so I decided to bake some plum cakes this morning. This gluten-free and sugar-free tea cake is a little dense and not sweet at all. So change the recipe for your taste, but I quite liked a chocolatey chewy bottom and soft and juicy plums on top. Morning snack sorted 🙂

Ingredients
buckwheat flour 75g
coconut flour 25g
cacao powder 25g
1 teaspoon of baking powder
2 heap table spoon of pomegranate molasses
3 eggs
2 plums

Lightly beat 3 eggs and add pomegranate molasses in a bowl. Add all dry ingredients and mix all up. Spread in the loaf tin and arrange slices of plums on top. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes until cooked.
Plum cake

 

Posted in: Baking, Dessert, Gluten Free, My recipes, Snack