Little Miss has had a great term of swimming with Junelle at Aquagym. We always make a little home-made baked gift for her swim teachers at the end of each term. In this case there wasn't much baking involved; one of my gluten free colleagues gave me this recipe a while ago. At the time our kitchen whizz had just blown up, so the recipe got filed. Time poor as usual, and scratching my head about what to make, these were the perfect, quick and tasty treat for a Saturday morning.
I have adapted the original recipe to use different fruits and seeds, and you too can substitute whatever you happen to have in the pantry. The original recipe used walnuts and coconut instead of pumpkin seeds and chia. The combination of natural fruit and energy rich seeds makes them a perfect brain food snack.
Fruity Chocolate Truffles
1 cup pitted dates
1 cup sultanas
1/4 cup dried apricots
a handful of goji berries
1/4 cup preserved ginger - choose the ones without the sugar coating, or just rinse the sugar off.
1/4 cup dried mango - chopped into smaller pieces
1 cup pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons dark cocoa
1 tablespoon sunflower or canola oil
1/4 cup chia seeds for coating the truffles
First toast the pumpkin seeds in a hot pan.
Keep them moving around the pan or they will quickly burn. tip into a bowl and set aside to cool.
Once the pumpkin seeds are cool, place all the ingredients except the chia into the food processor.
Be sure to choose fruit that is not too dried out, or the truffles wont hold together.
Process the mixture until it forms sticky chunks. Don't over process or all the texture will be lost.
Roll the truffles into even sized balls, then toss them in the chia seeds.
Leave to sit for a little while so they set. And your done! A tasty snack in no time.
Little Miss just loves Junelle, and so she was very happy to give her this little gift to show our appreciation for all her good teaching.
What a great weekend. What's not to like about an extra day at home with the family. Last week was one of my busiest of the year, with the hosting of our Faculties great Fashion Show. I actually made these last weekend while we were at Mum and Dad's, but haven't had time to blog it before now.
It's a busy time of year at the farm; lambing is drawing to a close and they are just about to start tailing. A good time to top up the cake tins. I adapted a recipe from the newspaper, taking out the eggs and nuts so it's suitable for one of Little Miss 4's swimming buddies who has food allergies.
Spicy Oatmeal & Brown Sugar Biscuits
180g butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoon ground mixed spice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup chopped dried apricots
3/4 cup chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 180 deg. C. and line a couple of baking sheets.
Melt the butter, add the brown sugar and stir.
Add the baking soda to the warmed milk, and blend it into the butter and sugar mix. Add the vanilla.
Sift the flour and spices together into a large bowl.
Place the rolled oats into a large food processor and blend until finely ground.
Add them to the flour with the chopped dried apricots and chocolate chips.
Mix well and make a well in the centre.
Add the butter mix and stir to combine.
Put tablespoon lots onto the lined tray and flatten a little.
Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. Makes about 36 large biscuits.
I think you'll like them Willow. The exact quantity of chocolate is up to you!
Hope you've all had a lovely relaxing weekend. I've had a couple of great 'crafternoon' sessions, so keep an eye out for some new and crafty posts this week.
