*PALEO* Lamingtons!

So you know that craze that's going around? The "Paleo" craze? No?

Basically it's a new-fangled diet (or rather...an old diet), which is based upon the supposed foods which palaeolithic humans ate thousands of years ago. It's a diet free of grains (i.e. wheat, rice, oats...etc.), sugar, foods high in starches (like potatoes or corn), dairy products, and other processed foods.

The concept is to eat a diet which is high in protein and healthy fats, and low in sugars and carbohydrates.

At first, it sounds daunting. I mean, I instantly began to think about all the foods I couldn't eat; pizza...cake...pizza...

However, I was actually so surprised about the amount of recipes I found which were deemed "paleo". True, I'm not following the diet super strictly - I have been living off of mango smoothies a little - but I've been doing just as much baking as before, with excellent results :)

Take, for instance, these lamingtons I made for Australia Day. I will admit, they're not at all like the fluffy, sweet, chocolatey creations you can buy for a few dollars at Coles; but they come pretty damn close, especially if you're not used to eating a lot of sugar.

And, if you feel slightly alarmed by the whole "paleo" idea, just think of these as being grain free, gluten free, sugar free and dairy free lamingtons. Actually, on second thoughts, that doesn't really sound too appetising. You get my gist, though...?

(Recipe adapted from Eat Drink Paleo because I'm not smart enough to make it up myself)

Paleo Lamingtons:

Sponge:
3 eggs
1/2 cup of tapioca or arrowroot starch
3/4 cup of almond meal
1 teaspoon of baking powder
A generous 1/2 cup of coconut oil
1/4 cup of honey
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Icing:
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
2/3 cup of coconut oil
2 tablespoons of honey
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
3 tablespoons of coconut milk (I'm lazy, so I just used regular milk)

1 1/2 cups of dessicated coconut

1. For the sponge: Beat together the coconut oil, honey and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs for a good five minutes until thick and foamy, then add the coconut oil/honey/vanilla in a thin stream.
2. Using a whisk, fold in the baking powder, tapioca and almond meal until just combined.
3. Pour the mixture into a lined lamington tin (approximately 20cm by 30cm) at 165C for 20 minutes.
4. For the icing: Combine the cocoa, coconut oil, honey, vanilla and milk and whisk until smooth. It is quite a runny mixture.
5. To assemble: Cut the sponge in half lengthways. Spread chocolate icing on one half and top with the other half of the sponge, so you have one giant lamington-sandwich sort of thing going on.
6. Cut your giant sandwich into whatever size lamingtons you like. I cut it into 2cm-wide fingers, then cut each of those fingers in half again. Set up the icing in a bowl, and the dessicated coconut in another bowl or spread on a plate. 
7. Dip each lamington first into the chocolate, then cover it completely with coconut. They taste best if they've been left for a couple of hours for the chocolate to soak in a little, and will become quite firm if they're stored in the fridge.

So there you go. Lamingtons probably aren't the best introductory recipe to paleo-ism, but that's what I felt like and this is my blog. Deal with it! Hahaha, I kid :) Thanks for reading, and make sure you tell me what you think if you get a chance to make these beauties!

Muffins

Yo.



So are you ever baking, and have the sudden realisation of how much butter you just put into that bowl of icing? Or pour a couple of cups of sugar into the fudge and wonder, "Is this stuff seriously all that great for me?"

I'll admit it, those thoughts don't come around very often. Generally, I'm more that happy to use a couple of blocks of butter for croissants, or pour a container of cream into the caramel sauce. However, I stumbled across this recipe a while ago and I was intrigued by the ingredients...or lack thereof. Since then, I've been refining and perfecting the recipe to my taste and am super excited to present it to you :D

Let's get cracking!



Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of rolled oats
1 cup of plain Greek yoghurt
2 eggs
1/2 cup of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of bicarb soda
Flavourings: this time, I did raspberry and white chocolate  in one batch, and apple and cinnamon in another. However, you could very easily change the recipe to add blueberries, mashed bananas, chocolate chips, macadamias...whatever your little heart desires! ;)

1. Line your muffin tins with foil or silicone liners - paper just doesn't seem to work very well with this recipe. If you don't have foil or silicone, then just grease the baking tins well with butter or oil.
2. Put all of the ingredients excluding your flavourings (eg, raspberries and white chocolate chunks) into a blender or food processor and and process until the oats are smooth. The mixture will be quite runny, but if you let it sit for ten or so minutes, the oats soak up the moisture to make a thicker batter.
3. Stir in the flavourings. I had about 1/2 cup each of raspberries and chopped chocolate for one half of the batter, and then finely chopped up a green apple and added a teaspoon of cinnamon for the other half. They were both delicious!
4. Spoon the mixture into the muffin tins and bake at about 175C for 25-30 minutes.