Toasted Cinnamon Almonds

This is incredibly easy to do and DELICIOUS. A jar of these wrapped in a gorgeous bow would make a perfect Christmas gift... if they last that long without being eaten!

You'll need ABOUT...

4 cups of unblanched, raw almonds
2 egg whites
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 level teaspoon salt
1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat fanforced oven to 150C

1. In a large bowl, whisk egg whites with a whisk until frothy.

2. Whisk in vanilla extract

3. Add almonds and mix through mixture until all are coated.

4. In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients

5. Pour dry ingredients over almonds and stir gently to coat.

6. Grease flat biscuit or oven trays and spread almonds evenly in a single layer. [TIP: I lined mine with baking paper which made it a bit hard to stir the almonds once they got sticky]

7. Bake for approximately 1 hour, stirring at least once with a flat spatula at about 30 minutes.

8. Allow them to cool on the trays and store in airtight container.

9. Try not to eat them all at once.

Gluten and Lactose Free Donuts

My gorgeous cousin Mandy has four kids and 50% of them have allergies and food intolerances including lactose intolerance, sensitivity to wheat gluten and an allergy to milk protein. This DOES NOT make meal planning easy but somehow she manages to make sure no-one misses out. Today, on Facebook, she posted up the yummiest photos of some donuts she made and I asked her to share her recipe with my Seventies Baby readers.

So she did :)

Mandy’s Donuts

1.5 cups gluten free self raising flour

½ cup caster sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

125g Nuttelex [dairy free spread] softened

1 egg

¾ cup lactose free milk of choice [ie rice, almond or oak milk]

Step 1. In a bowl stir flour, sugar and salt to combine. Add butter, egg and milk, beat with electric mixer until thick, creamy and smooth

Step 2. Spoon into doughnut pan and cook at 200 degrees for 9 mins or until golden depending on size of doughnut moulds. These can also be dropped into hot oil and cooked until golden.

Chocolate Icing: Copha, pure icing sugar & cocoa powder. Check ingredients to make sure they're gluten free. Melt 2 tablespoons of Copha then add 3/4 cup sifted icing sugar & 1 tablespoon cocoa then add hot water out of the kettle until it's at the desired consistency. If it’s too runny, just add more icing sugar [very technical instructions there!]

Cinnamon sugar: Combine caster sugar and cinnamon to taste in a bowl. Brush donuts with melted dairy free butter and dip in sugar mixture, making sure all sides are coated.

Eat responsibly.

Classic Choc-Chip Cookies

I've got a vintage copy of The Australian Women's Weekly Beautiful Biscuits cook book which I 'borrowed' from my first boyfriend's mum to learn how to bake for the love of my short life. Y'know, the one I was going to marry and have children with. I was 16 and have loved a couple of others since then and he's now a reverend or a pastor or something like that. When we broke up, I kept the cook book. It was part of my settlement package. Together with a white fluffy teddy bear holding a red satin love heart with "I love you beary much" on it, half a dozen mix-tapes and an id bracelet...

I first made these biscuits when I was 16 years old. 25 years later and not much has changed. I have removed the walnuts because you can't send kids to school with nuts anymore and have reduced the sugar amounts. I still make them to please boys that I love though. 

125g butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 3/4 cups self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
125g choc chips [I use half white and half dark chocolate]

Preheat oven to 180c

Cream together butter, sugars and vanilla. [When I was 16 I used to do this with a hand-held mixer which took aaaaaaaages. Now I'm a grown up and I have one of those stand alone kitchen mixers that does it for me] Add lightly beaten egg gradually, beating well after each addition. Mix in sifted flour and salt. Add chocolate chips and mix well. Shape teaspoonfuls of mixture into small balls, place on lightly greased oven trays, allow room for spreading. [I got fancy and pressed the ones in the picture down slightly with a fork for a bit of detail. Made no difference to the taste.] Bake for 10-12 minutes.

They are a perfect lunch box size and the boys get one each every day. I have already reduced the amount of sugar from the original recipe but there may be room to reduce it more if you like.

What do you think?

Crunchy Nut Cornflake Cookies

Every now and then I get in the baking mood. It's not a regular thing so when it happens, I bake a lot. I'd like do it more often because wherever I can I try to reduce the amount of preservatives in the family's diet. So I do things like use organic flours and free-range eggs and real butter and raw, organic sugar. It balances the guilt I feel for then coating them in sugary cereal. Anyway, I was in the mood on the weekend and tweaked an old biscuit recipe to come up with this one. It was a DEADSET winner with the family. 

I present you with....

You will need:

125g butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup self-raising flour
1-2 cups lightly crushed crunchy nut cornflakes

Preheat oven to 180c

Cream butter and sugar and light fluffy. [I never used to do this properly but now I have a mixer and my life has changed I tell you!]. Add egg, beat well. Fold in sifted flour, mix well. Shape teaspoonfuls of the mixture into small balls and roll them in the cornflakes. Flatten slightly on lightly greased oven trays. Allow room for spreading. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes.

It should make between 20 and 30 biscuits, depending on how big you make them.

These are seriously delicious and perfect for an after school snack with some milk for the kids. If there are nut allergies to consider, just use normal cornflakes or even Special K would work too I reckon. 

How simple is that??