• Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    Recipe | Hazelnut almond muffins

    I deviate from recipes a lot. But this time I went so far (not all on purpose … unforeseen turn of events demanded improvisation!) that I think it’s fair to claim I made this one up. Kind of.

    Some are meant to be scones, others are meant to be muffins. That’s just how it is, right?

    It started out with wanting to try to make scones but substitute the flour for ground almonds and hazelnuts. Then I thought: why not add some cocoa, and make them chocolate scones? Then I thought: why not use the hemp milk that Peter made instead of regular milk? The first batch sort of melted into one cake on the baking sheet (I later cut them into cookies but it got kind of messy). So for the second batch I poured the batter into muffin forms. Hence, I call them muffins. Gluten-free but not really low-carb (the sugar, I suppose you can exchange it for a low-carb sweetener), and due to the hazelnuts obviously not for those allergic to nuts. Do almond only, I guess.

    For 12 muffins you need

    • 2 3/4 cups (6,5 dl) ground almonds and hazelnuts (I went half and half)
    • 1/2 cup (ca. 1dl) sugar
    • 2 tsp baking poweder
    • 1/2 tsp salt
    • 3/4 cups (2 dl) firm butter, cut into small pieces
    • 1 cup hemp milk (just search „hemp milk recipe“ – you’ll get a variation of the same: this, this, or this, … Peter used dried dates as sweetener)
    • add raisins/fruit if desired (I didn’t, maybe next time – I imagine banana would taste great, and make the muffins even more juicy)
    • I also added some psyllium (don’t know how much, though, maybe about a tablespoon), which is used in a lot of gluten-free cake recipes to make whatever you’re baking more fluffy, and keep it from getting so dry and compact

    Mix the dry ingredients, cut butter into crumbs, add, stir in milk, knead until the texture is smooth. I let the batter stand for a couple of minutes (I think that it gets a little more „doughy“, less „liquid“ – I suck at speaking bake – my apologies!). Use spoons to fill the batter into muffin shapes, bake at 400°F/200°C for about 30 minutes.

    ***

    Oh yeah: did I mention that they tasted really great? Well, they do.

  • Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    Recipe – Scones

    When I was an exchange student in the USA, my (host) mom would make pancakes or scones on the weekends for breakfast. I loved and kept this tradition later on. Until I – like most people it seems, including my host family – kind of fell of the sugar and carb wagon. But the other day I just couldn’t resist. So if you want to celebrate this Sunday (or my American mom), make some scones!

    Here’s my mom’s recipe for 12 scones:

    2 3/4 cups (ca. 6,5 dl) flour (I used whole wheat)
    1/2 cup (ca. 1 dl)  sugar
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    3/4 cups (ca. 2 dl) firm butter, cut into small pieces
    1 cup (ca. 2,5) milk
    add fruit if desired

    • Mix dry ingredients,
    • cut in butter until crumbs,
    • stir in milk,
    • knead 25 times,
    • shape and place 2 inches apart.
    • Bake 400° F (200 ° C) for 18-22 minutes

    During the colder season, I like to add orange zest – lemon zest tastes great, too, but to me it’s more of a „cold“/fresh taste (= summer in my mind), while orange feels more „warm“. You know what I mean?

    My favorite breakfast – besides American pancakes, of course!