Date Caramel Cashew Thumbprint Cookies with Cacao Nibs

 Hello world, so I have finally taken the jump and told the parents I've gone VEGAN so I am now officially vegan, I guess. I know it's not much but it's a start! So to celebrate I wanted to make something I have wanted to make for a while.. Date caramel. I have never been a chocolate fanatic, I mean it's nice but I can live with out it. No, what I adore it caramel and fudgey things, so to hear you could have a healthy caramel was mind blowing. I have been afraid to make it cause my blender is awful and extremely noise but it succeeded so it i can make it with 90's blender so can you! These are full of protein so get em' down your gullet and get some guns to rival Popeye's! Or just for good skin and hair, what ever, big cartoon muscle arms are cool but ya know, your life. Anyway here are my...

Date Caramel Cashew Thumbprint Cookies

I am genuinely so so so so so proud of these.. like so proud.

Date Caramel 

Ingredients 

7 dates

3 prunes

1 tbsp of raisins

1 tsp vanilla bean seeds / 2 tsp vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

-Soak you dates, prunes and raisin in 5 tbsp of water for about half an hour

- Reserve a tbsp of the soaking liquor (for the cookies) then add the rest to the blender along with the salt and vanilla and blitz till smooth

Cashew Cookie

Ingredients 

1/2 cup of raw cashews

1/4 cup oats

tbsp of plain (or vanilla) protein powder (mine's vegan but its not certificated raw, you can however get raw certificated protein powder online to make this 'fully raw')

1 tsp vanilla bean seeds / 2 tsp vanilla extract

4 dates

2 tsp of granulated sweetener of choice (stevia, coconut palm sugar etc)

1 tbsp of agave

1 tbsp of date caramel soaking liquid

 Pinch of salt

1 tbsp of cacao nibs (optional)

- If you have a stubborn blender, like mine, roughly chop up your dates and nuts. Then throw into your blender with the rest of your ingredients (apart from your agave and soaking liquid).

Ingredients going into the noisiest blender ever

- Blitz in till the nuts and oats have been fully ground down and are starting to clump together into a dough, then add your agave and soaking liquid to help it along and blitz till a dough does form.

- Remove from blender and stir in your cacao nibs (you could use vegan chocolate chips also which would be sweeter but not as healthy and full of antioxidants as cacao nibs, plus I like the crunch you get from the nibs)

- Roll in to balls the size of a large marble the flatten and make a dimple in the center of the cookie (for the caramel)

Ready for the caramel!

- Fill the dimple with the caramel and serve!

KEEP CALM AND MAKE THESE

Low GI Muffin Time

Ok, so my mum asked me to bake some low GI muffins from a recipe that she liked the look of. GI stand for the Glycemic Index, an index that rates different carbohydrate containing foods on how quickly the body digests the glucose in these foods. The lower the GI the slower the digestion and release of the glucose. By eating low GI foods your blood sugar levels remain more constant meaning you have less sugar peaks and and dips which can lead to cravings, binges and diabetes. Having Low GI food in the house is especially important for my family as my Dad's diabetic (type 2) and needs to try to maintain a constant blood sugar level.

Here was the recipe..

Of course I changed it. Well, we didnt have butter milk! And I thought there was WAY too much sugar (even if it was natural raw brown sugar) for a low GI recipe. So I omitted the fat, added banana, used low fat yogurt and added other tasty things.

The mess I create when baking.

So here is my version, lets bake.

Wholemeal, Chocolate Chip, Walnut, Cacao Nib and Banana Muffins

Ingrediants
175g wholemeal self raising flour
125g plain self raising flour
125g chocolate chips
1/4 cup walnuts (crushed)
2 tbsp Cacao nibs
1tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of ground ginger
1/3 tsp of  ground cloves
Pinch of salt
150ml of Low fat vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup of almond milk (unsweetened)
1 1/2 bananas
75g of soft raw brown sugar
1 tbsp of lemon juice
1 tsp of apple cider vinegar
2 eggs

- Mix together flours, chocolate chips, walnuts, Cacoa nibs, spices and salt in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
- Blitz together yogurt, almond milk and banana until smooth. Then stir in sugar, lemon juice and vinegar (this replaces the acidity in the buttermilk).
-Add the wet yogurt mixture to the dry ingredients in 3 stages alternating with the two eggs gently folding to incorporate all the flour. Do not over mix.
- Spoon into cup cake cakes and bake for 15-20 minuets at 180 Degrees Celsius. Voila!

I made little heart muffins as well cause I'm a nerd.