A few months back I connected with Lee Holmes who told me she was writing a cookbook. She asked if I’d “endorse it”. For some niggly, gut-based reason I had a very sound feeling about what she was doing…Lee has an autoimmune disease and has healed herself through diet. She sent me some recipes from her book…and I thought, This Is The Book We All Need.
Cut to today. Supercharged Food – 90 recipes that don’t contain gluten, wheat, sugar, yeast or dairy – is out now. It’s rare that I’d want to cook every recipe in a book (I’ve already played with several, including lavender tea with almond milk!!), so choosing a few to share with you here was an indecisive’s conundrum. But I thought it might be nice to share two that are perfectly geared for toting on the annual schlepp to the stodge-fest that is family Christmas…so you don’t have to be tempted by bloody mince pies.
butternut cookies
- 150g coconut flour
- 1/4 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons stevia powder, plus extra to dust
- a pinch of sea salt
- 200g cashew butter
- 4 organic eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 1/2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons coconut milk (try Lee’s homemade version, recipe in her book)
Preheat the oven to 175 C and grease a baking tray.
In a bowl, mix together the coconut flour, baking powder, stevia and salt.
Warm the cashew butter slightly, then mix with the eggs, vanilla, coconut oil and coconut milk until smooth. Add to the dry ingredients and mix well to form a dough.
Roll the dough out between two sheets of baking paper to a thickness of 6 -8 mm. Cut out shapes using your favourite cookie cutter, and place on the greased baking tray. These cookies won’t spread during baking.
Bake for 20 – 25 mins, or until cookies are crisp and golden. Leave them to cool on the tray a little before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with extra stevia if required. Cookies will keep in an airtight container for several days.
Makes 24.
gluten-free nut loaf
- 150g almond meal
- 30g walnuts, coarsely chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 95g arrowroot (tapioca) flour
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 organic eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon stevia powder
- 3 tablespoons grape seed oil
- 2 tablespoons coconut milk (try Lee’s homemade recipe, in her book)
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Preheat the oven to 180 C and grease a 20 x 9 cm loaf tin.
Put the almond meal, walnuts, baking powder, cinnamon, arrowroot flour and salt in a large bowl and mix well with a wooden spoon.
Crack the eggs into a separate bowl and whisk using an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 1 1/2 mins. Add the stevia, grape seed oil, coconut milk and vinegar and mix gently. Pour the mixture into the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Spoon the mixture into the greased tin and bake for about 40 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove the bread from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack and cooling completely.
Enjoy the bread melt-in-the-mouth warm, or at room temperature with your favourite topping.
Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to six days, or wrap tightly and freeze for up to six weeks.
Makes one loaf.
Recipes and images from Supercharged Food by Lee Holmes, published by Murdoch Books. You can get your copy here.
Lee is a regular columnist for Wellbeing magazine, and a writer for Miranda Kerr’s Kora Organics blog. Check out her website and blog.
Anyone else want to share some treat ideas from their blog? I’ll be doing some reader recipes in the coming weeks! Shoot through your work below.
