treat Archives - The Paleo Network

Recipe: Maple and Cayenne Roasted Almonds

November 30, 2013/1 Comment/in Cooking, Desserts, Food, Paleo, Recipe, Snacks /by Suz

A recipe I came up with when I had more almonds than I knew what to do with; a little bit of maple syrup goes a long way to making these roasted almonds taste like a real treat. To adjust sweetness for your own palette, simply alter the ratio of maple syrup to olive oil. If you want more spice, don’t be afraid to go for it with the cayenne!

Roasted Almonds Ingredients:

250grams raw almonds
3 tbsp high grade maple syrup
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp sea salt

Roasted Almonds How To:

Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas mark 4. Line a large baking tray with some parchment paper.

In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the coating. Add the almonds, and coat evenly in the mixture. Lay them out on the baking tray, making sure they are evenly spread out. You may need to cook in two separate batches.

Roast in the oven for 5 – 6 minutes, give them a shake, then return to the oven for a further 5 – 6 minutes. Remove when golden brown.

So tell me, what are your favourite nuts to roast?

Recipe: Double Almond and Black Cherry Slices

June 14, 2013/2 Comments/in Baking, Cooking, Desserts, Food, Recipe /by Suz

This recipe really is one of those ‘I can’t believe its Paleo’ moments. Perfect for a special occasion, or occasional treat! The abundance of almonds creates a delightfully buttery flavour, and is just heavenly when combined with the black cherry. Go on, see how many of your non-paleo friends you can convert with these slices!

Double Almond and Black Cherry Slices Ingredients:

1 ½ cups ground almonds
1 tbsp coconut flour
½ cup flaxseed
½ cup almond butter
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp raw honey
2 tbsp high grade maple syrup
1 tbsp coconut oil
200g sugar free black cherry jam (I like the St Dalfour brand, but if you can’t find any it’s easy to make your own!)
Coconut flour to dust with (optional)

Double Almond and Black Cherry Slices How To:

Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C / Gas Mark 5. Line an 8 inch square pan with some baking parchment.

In a large bowl, combine the ground almonds, coconut flour, flaxseed and baking soda. In a separate bowl, whisk together the honey, maple syrup and coconut oil. Blend in the almond butter a little at a time to make a thick, buttery paste.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and rub together with your hands to form a dough. Set aside around a ¼ of the mixture.

Press the remaining dough into the baking tin. Smooth it out with a spatula, then poke a few times with a fork all over. Bake in the preheated oven for 8 minutes.

Remove the tin from the oven. Spread the jam over the base, smooth out, then crumble the remaining dough all over the top. Finish with a few flaked almonds if you wish.

Return to oven and bake for another 10 – 12 minutes. When the top is lovely and golden, the slices will be ready.

Set aside to cool for around half an hour before you cut into squares! You can dust with coconut flour to serve.

Recipe: Paleo Lemon Cookie Cupcakes

May 25, 2013/9 Comments/in Baking, Cooking, Desserts, Food, Recipe /by Suz

As the name implies, these Lemon Cookie Cupcakes are somewhere in the Venn diagram of a Cookie and a Cupcake. Not that that makes them any less delicious! These guilt free treats (well, provided they are occasional treat, that is!) are delightfully light and lemony, and the coconut ‘icing’ makes them feel just a little indulgent. Enjoy!

Serves 12

Lemon Cookie Cupcake Ingredients:

1 ½ cups ground almonds
2 tbsps coconut flour
Zest of 2 large lemons
¼ tsp baking soda
2 tbsps coconut oil
3 tbsps maple syrup
½ vanilla pod

For the icing:

1 can of chilled coconut milk
Zest of 1 large lemon
½ vanilla pod

Lemon Cookie Cupcake How To:

For the Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 180C / 350 F / Gas Mark 4

To make the cupcakes, combine the ground almonds, coconut flour, lemon zest and baking soda in a large bowl. Whisk together the coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla to form a thick oil, and then gradually stir in to the dry ingredients.

Tightly press the cookie dough into 12 muffin cups, about an inch and a half high as the mixture will rise.

Bake in the oven for 10 – 12 minutes until golden brown.

For the cream icing:

Remove the can of coconut milk from the fridge. Drain off any excess liquid by pressing the lid firmly down into the can and tipping upside down (over the sink that is!)

Pour the remaining ‘more solid’ coconut cream into a large bowl, and add the lemon zest and vanilla. Whisk for 3 – 4 minutes, until soft and fluffy.

When the cupcakes are fully cooled, spoon 1 tbsp of the icing on to each cupcake. Leave in the fridge to set for about an hour. Sprinkle with toasted coconut, or grated lemon rind if you like, before serving.

The hardest part of this recipe for me was waiting for the cupcakes to cool! They just smelt so good, I may have eaten one straight from the oven. And yes, I did burn my mouth. Good things come to those who wait, don’t forget that folks!

Paleo Cherry Ripes

November 6, 2011/9 Comments/in Australian, Cooking, Desserts, Recipe /by Suz

Cherry Ripes are the oldest chocolate bar in Australia – and hugely popular.

My problem with Cherry Ripes is the ingredients: –

Sugar, Coconut, Glace cherries (cherries, sugar, flavour, colour (129)), Wheat Glucose syrup, Cocoa mass, Sweetened condensed milk (milk concentrate, sugar, lactose), Vegetable fat, Milk solids, Cocoa butter, Cocoa powder, Invert sugar, Gelatine, Emulsifiers (soy lecithin, 476), Flavours, Colours (102, 123), Mineral salt (500). May contain traces of Nuts. Dark Chocolate contains Cocoa Solids 43%.

So whilst they do contain cherries, they aren't fresh cherries, and they come along with sugar, artificial flavours and colours, wheat, “vegetable” fat and soy lecithin; no thanks!

I saw cherries for the first time in the supermarket this morning (summer is well and truly on it's way!), so thought it was about time I made a paleo approved version of Cherry Ripes.

Paleo Cherry Ripes

Recipe type: Desserts

Cuisine: Australian

Prep time: 45 mins

Total time: 45 mins

Print

Why buy Cherry Ripes when you can make your own, healthy, paleo version?!

Ingredients

150g raw almonds
70g raw pecans
12 medjool dates
175g fresh cherries (weighed with stones)
2 tablespoons of coconut oil
a pinch of salt
30g shredded coconut

Instructions

I put the nuts in my blender with the salt and blended until most of the big pieces had ground down.
I set the nuts aside and then removed the stones from the cherries and dates.
I then blended the cherries, dates and oil before adding this paste to the ground nuts, along with the shredded coconut.
I then mixed everything together thoroughly into a ball and rolled it out between two pieces of grease proof paper.
I put the rolled out mixture in the fridge for half an hour, before cutting it into cherry ripe length strips.

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Whilst dates are natural “sugar bombs”, my paleo cherry ripes have no added sweeteners. As an occasional treat these are a much better alternative – and I happen to think far tastier!

I'd love to hear what you think!