Low-Carb Banana Bread

The feedback on this blog is about 50/50. Half enjoy reading the blog, the other half are left wondering why I don’t just write up the recipes and have done with it. The two in tandem works best for me. On an emotional level, I thought leaving a legacy of my memoirs for my two girls to look back on when I exit the planet, would be welcomed. Being more pragmatic, Primal Plate is a much needed platform to freely express myself and to air my gravest concerns about what the government and so-called experts tell you to eat (turns you into a carb junkie!) versus what foods can help you get and stay slim, healthy and disease-free. Without any formal qualification, it’s a hard slog convincing people to take heed of anything I tell them. But it’s okay, I carry on regardless because I personally reap the rewards of developing and growing my library of recipes so I never feel the urge or need to participate in the great poisoning going on all around me. Unfortunately, not being at one with most of society has its drawbacks.

My youngest daughter Sarah, when previously referencing my biggest ongoing challenge with relationships, often paraphrased Mohadesa Najumi’s quote:

“The woman who does not require validation from anyone is the most feared individual on the planet.” 

To translate: If I insist on going through life exercising my right to freedom of speech and expression, I can expect to be disowned, disavowed and dishonoured. It’s an unfair and lonely path to take but, on the plus side, I don’t waste too much time with infuriatingly boring people who decapitate every attempt at adult conversation. I sleep easy because …

“If the truth makes you uncomfortable, don’t blame the truth, blame the lie that makes you comfortable” 

I only have to mention “they faked a pandemic, they faked a test and they faked the cure”, or “Putin is a good guy saving the world” or “I like President Trump” and suddenly, they’re in crisis and running for the exits. Frankly, it pisses me off. Never has the fight for truth been greater than at this moment in time. My job is to speak my truth out loud - helping to raise awareness is not fearmongering - and theirs’ to own their ‘triggers’ and to do the research. Only then will they be much less likely to be scammed or coerced by dubious means into doing the wrong thing. 

Confusion and fear is how tyrants foment hatred and division amongst the plebs. The global Cabal needs chaos, casualties and financial destruction to create the desperation necessary for people to give up their freedoms and give in to tyrannical control. So they invert truth and propagandise lies… and boy, do they lie about everything! It’s how they start wars for profit, no less. To date, the Committee of 300 has been extraordinarily successful in achieving its goals because as WEF member Henry Kissinger said: 

“Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world.”

We can add to that list, ‘who controls the media controls peoples’ minds’. After years of trying to encourage people to do the ‘thinky-thing’, which I had assumed all responsible adults did naturally, I’ve had to surrender to a new reality, which is that most people just don’t want to know. Radically blind to the blatant hypocrisy and corruption all around them, they will have nothing to do with anything that goes against the narrative they’ve been programmed to believe in. Consequently, they cannot even grasp the meaning of the equation: Depopulation Through Forced Vaccination = the Zero Carbon Solution = Gates/WHO/WEF’s Dream Come True. It’s in your face people, it’s in your face! 

Don’t believe me? Here from a 1981 book by Bilderberger Jacques Attali is an example of the Elite’s mindset:

“The future will be about finding a way to reduce the population… of course we will not be able to execute people or build camps. We will get rid of them by making them believe it is for their own good. We will find or cause something, a pandemic targeting certain people, a real economic crisis or not, a virus affecting the old or the elderly, it doesn’t matter, the weak and the fearful will succumb to it. The stupid will believe in it and ask to be treated. We will have taken care of having planned the treatment, a treatment that will be the solution. The selection of idiots will therefore be done by itself: they will go to the slaughterhouse alone”.

There’s no doubt in my mind that CV-19 and its ‘cure’, calamitous weather events, world war, financial crashes, food and fuel shortages, decades of poisoning our food, water, land and air and weaponised pharmaceuticals have all been part of the plan from the start. It’s all hidden in plain sight if only you dare look. 

Despite how things currently seem to be playing out in the Cabal’s favour (much of it fake news) it is not all doom and gloom. In the corridors of conspiracy I walk down, it is understood that old control systems put in place eons ago by the elite powers-that-be, are now failing dramatically. Slowly - much too slowly, in my opinion - their shitstorm of lies, deception and murderous intent is being ‘leaked’ - even in mainstream media. More people are waking up. Those who have the eyes to see, the ears to hear, the brains to think and hearts big enough to forgive, now have a clear expectation of how this game ends and it’s all for the good for humanity. For those that are still clueless about what is happening to them, curiosity and courage is a good starting point. 

For context, read and remember this quote by Edward Mandel House, who said in a letter to President Woodrow Wilson [1913-1921]:

“[Very] soon, every American will be required to register their biological property in a National system designed to keep track of the people and that will operate under the ancient system of pledging. By such methodology, we can compel people to submit to our agenda, which will affect our security as a charge-back for our fiat paper currency.
Every American will be forced to register or suffer not being able to work and earn a living. They will be our chattel, and we will hold the security interest over them forever, by operation of the law merchant under the scheme of secured transactions. Americans, by unknowingly or unwittingly delivering the bills of lading to us will be rendered bankrupt and insolvent, forever to remain economic slaves through taxation, secured by their pledges. They will be stripped of their rights and given a commercial value designed to make us a profit and they will be none the wiser, for not one man in a million could ever figure our plans; and, if by accident one or two would figure it out, we have in our arsenal plausible deniability.

After all, this is the only logical way to fund government, by floating liens and debt to the registrants in the form of benefits and privileges. This will inevitably reap to us huge profits beyond our wildest expectations and leave every American a contributor to this fraud, which we will call ‘Social Insurance (SSI)’.

Without realising it, every American will insure us for any loss we may incur, and in this manner every American will unknowingly be our servant, however begrudgingly. The people will become helpless and without any hope for their redemption; and we will employ the high office of the President of our dummy corporation to foment this plot against America.”

The ruling elites ambitions to rob the poor and give to the rich doesn’t just apply to Americans, its reach is worldwide and, for now, they carry-on as if it’s business as usual. Meanwhile, behind scenes ‘good guys’ are quietly dismantling the three control centres that managed the Elites’ privately-owned network of dummy corporations: The Vatican (Luciferian cult), the City of London (gangster banksters) and Washington DC (warmongering military). For centuries, these soulless, dead entities - ‘corp-oration’ refers to corpse, meaning a dead body - have both figuratively and literally sucked the lifeblood out of every living, breathing man and woman from cradle to grave. 

I’ll spare you the gruesome details of their debauchery and Satanic rituals and focus on the practicalities of how it is we the people are slaves to their systems of control. It starts when we voluntarily register our privately owned property - be it our children, our home, our car, our marriage, our pets and business interests - thereby giving away our private property rights and God-given freedom to a bunch of soul-less parasites. All these resources are then registered as ‘human capital’ owned by the State. What we’re left with - but only if we behave like good little citizens - are ‘user rights’ and ‘privileges’, plus crippling interest payments and tax liabilities. 

Even fiat currency is owned by the central bank that printed it. It doesn’t belong to you. You’re the ‘depositor’ in the bank or building society where you keep what you think is your money. Wrong! The people have been given use – and only use – but never ownership.

Klaus Schwab was half right when he said:

“By 2030 you will own nothing and be happy.”

The truth is in 2022 we already own nothing but I for one am not happy about it. 

Two truths emerge when you do the research: 1)They always tell you what they plan to do, and; 2) They cannot act against you without your consent. It’s a tricky transaction because we don’t know how to read the dog-Latin sign language and deceptive, dual-meaning words used to fool us into playing their game. And the rules we inadvertently agree to play by are often too well hidden.

“Ignorance of the law is no excuse”, which is a legal principle holding that a person who is unaware of a law may not escape liability for violating that law merely by being unaware of its content. While there is nothing we can do about the legal system (N.B. legal is not the same as lawful), there is much we can do about our ignorance. All those money-grabbing corporations - the bankers, the government, NGO’s, the police force, the judiciary - that we’ve been conditioned to think have authority over us, actually don’t unless we agree to it. They are bluffing! Their only power comes from ambiguous words and incomprehensible language, which they use to entrap us. It takes a lot of work and many hours of study, but if you learn the meaning of these words - make sense of them - then you can take their words away and/or use different words to expose the fraud. Poof! The system is more fragile than you could ever imagine. 

We are at the precipice and must decide: Sovereign or slave? I do not intend to let my future turn into eating crickets and owning nothing… do you? Before it’s game over, super freedom-loving people must unite against our common enemy and stop fighting each other. We need to learn how to own our own power, stand tall and walk the earth in dignity while living in extraordinary times. 

People who don’t understand the reality of what is happening because they buy the official narrative will be unable to ignore the truth for very much longer. It will be a rude awakening. There is no recourse for those that have already poisoned themselves and their children “for the greater good”, and no white knight coming to save us from the abusive diktats and unspeakable horrors still in the pipeline if we don’t come together to create the future that we want for ourselves and our children. No matter how hard you try to avoid reality, it eventually catches up with you. We stand at a crossroads where every adult must decide in which direction to go from here. The question is not “Left or Right?”; it is “Up or Down?”. 

‘Up’ means taking responsibility for protecting your own health, wealth, rights and freedoms… to do no harm, to keep your word, to help your fellow sovereigns. 

‘Down’ means continuing to abdicate all responsibility for yourself, obeying ‘officialdom’ and trusting that if you put-up and shut-up you will be kept safe. Has it not yet sunk in that dependancy equals control? The time is coming when it will be impossible to embody the three monkey maxim “see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil” and millions of minds will be blown! Many will seek the help of a conspiracy theorist friend - you know, the person the majority of society wanted to attack and trash - just to make sense of it all. 

The war we’re fighting is a war of good versus evil; humanity against anti-humans. In the words of Jesus “With men this is impossible but with God all things are possible’. If you have it in you, now would be a good time to pray. None of us are immune to attack so if you truly want to be free, silence is no longer an option; it’s time to pick your side. Mine is resisting transhumanism and totalitarian, technocratic global governance. To strive for spiritual honesty and peace while rejecting the false gods of money, science, status, fame, and all things ‘woke’ that go against natural law. According to me, God wins. 

Whilst geo-political events are about to get even more ugly from hereon in, do not consent to fear. ‘They’, the perpetrators of our suffering, are not going to go quietly, so prepare yourself. Humanity’s come-back and peace on earth will only happen when people say “No more” and actively choose the best possible perspective and beneficial interpretation of reality. It’s vital we find joy and laughter in the life we are living today and to spread ‘good vibes’ around. Demonics hate that! Giving your attention to what you desire, the people you love and the things you love to do is the way of it. 

Health creation is a desire and I believe it’s also the first and foremost step to being sovereign. There’s a reason why governments all over the world support a diabolical system of food production that is wilfully blind to the effects of the food it produces and a system of medicine that is wilfully blind to the source of the problems it treats, but never cures. It’s all part of the published World Economic Forum’s 2030 agenda (look it up if you don’t know what I’m talking about). 

The good news is that the Georgia Guidestones - that most evil monument anonymously erected in 1980 to forewarn humanity of its impending demise - has finally (6 July 2022) been shattered into a thousand pieces. No one knows by what means - lightning strike or direct energy weapon? - but in my view, it’s a signal that good always triumphs over evil. Ergo, if it feels good I trust it as true; if it feels bad I discard it as not true. We who are living through this most remarkable time in history have the privilege and power to choose self-determination and to rid ourselves of the scourge of Neo-Marxism once and for all. It’s all about your mental attitude and changing your limiting beliefs, which for the most part are illusions passed down to you as a child by your parents, teachers or from other external sources. When you know, you know. Govern-ment is derived from the Greek word ‘mente’ which means mind. Govern-mind translates to ‘mind-control’. No thank you, I decline the offer. I am discharging government’s presumed authority over me and taking back my individual rights and freedom. Granted, my approach is somewhat radical and not for the faint-hearted. That said, it’s not that hard to change things for the better by steering clear of ultra-processed food and allopathic medicine as a priority. No ifs, buts or maybes. 

Nutritious, home-cooked food and intermittent fasting is the most effective way I know to turn what and how I eat into the most powerful medicine of all. Eating the rainbow as part of a low-carb diet helps put you back in charge of your health, which is the only safe place to be. Although sugar-free, Low Carb Banana Bread is more beige than beautiful, its visual impact is secondary to the gustatory pleasure it offers. Slightly sweet and perfectly moist, lathered in raw, grass-fed butter and warm from the oven, it reminds me of the less-than-healthy Scotch pancakes I loved when I was little. That’s why I predict this delicious bread made with eggs, ground almonds and tiger nut flour will be a hit with the whole family. Gluten-free, grain-free and only 7g net carbs per slice, it is perfect for breakfast, teatime or a healthy low-carb snack to power up your energy and mood at anytime.

Now I’ve reached the end of this blog post, I am reminded that George Orwell wrote in ‘1984’

‘It was not by making yourself heard but by staying sane that you carried on the human heritage.’ 

In retrospect, if I had to choose between writing the blog or sharing my recipes, the latter would win hands down. Cooking is an act of rebellion and eating well the means to me staying sane and carrying on the human heritage. When the dust finally settles, I intend to host a weekly cookery club. Meanwhile, this easy-to-make Low-Carb Banana Bread recipe is one of the best recipes to get you over life’s humps. Hold on, happy days are coming!

Sugar-free Low Carb Banana Bread (approx 18 slices)

Ingredients

225g very ripe organic bananas(approx 2 large, peeled weight), cut into slices. 

6 large eggs

100g organic unsalted butter, melted

2 tsp vanilla extract

200g almond flour 

100g tiger nut flour

4 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp organic stevia leaf

½ tsp Himalayan pink salt

25g organic flaked almonds

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas mark 4

Line a loaf pan 9" x 5" (23 x 13 cm) with non-stick parchment paper

In a small saucepan, gently melt the butter over low heat, then take off the heat and allow to cool slightly

Add the banana, eggs, vanilla, and melted butter to a food processor - or a medium-sized bowl if you are using an electric hand mixer - mix until smooth.

In a separate bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients together until there are no lumps, then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix again until well-combined.

Fill the line loaf tin with the batter, level the surface then sprinkle the flaked almonds evenly over the top.

Bake in the oven for 50 minutes or until you insert a knife and it comes out clean. 

Check the loaf halfway through. If the top is getting too brown, cover loosely with tin foil.

Let the cooked banana bread cool in its tin for at least 30 minutes, the turn out onto a rack to cool down completely.

Cut in slices and enjoy with butter or low-carb nut butter.

7g net carbs per slice

Notes:

Banana bread will keep for 1-2 days on the countertop, but will last for up to 1 week if it’s kept refrigerated in an airtight container. You can also slice and freeze for a month or more. Take out a slice and heat when you need it!

You can toast slices of the bread under the grill (or in a toaster) but the best way to re-heat them is in a non-stick ceramic frying pan set over a gentle to moderate heat and cook until golden. Turn the slices halfway through the cooking time and eat straightaway with lashings of butter.  

The bananas need to be ripe. The riper the banana, the sweeter it is. Think very ripe with brown spots for the best flavour. Although bananas are high in carbs, there is only a very small amount per slice, and virtually no carbs in the minute amount of stevia leaf.

I haven’t tried it myself but If you’re allergic to nuts, you could try making this recipe with 300 grams tiger nut flour

Check the bread after 40 minutes to ensure it's not getting overly brown on top. If it’s already nice and golden, lightly cover with a sheet parchment paper or non-stick foil for the last 10 minutes of cooking time.

Lemon & Cardamon Shortbread Biscuits

When I was young and naive, I was told that “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” No problem, I thought, if that’s all it takes to land myself a decent bloke I’m really up for learning how to cook! In reality, it didn’t quite turn out as I expected. I am now married to my fourth husband John, albeit that we’ve been together 24/7 for the past 29 years “an’ it don’t seem a day too much”. He is my rock.

It was most probably my Dad who introduced me to this paternalistic thought form, knowing it would invoke my compulsive caregiver that first emerged in me when his wife, aka my mother, left us when I was just five years old. Ostensibly, I was told by a social worker to ‘shape-up’ because my uncontrollable crying - as in, I couldn’t stop grieving for the loss of my mother - was upsetting my father and that I needed to say I was “sorry” and gift him some chocolate to make him feel better. Since then, me caring very much and its shadow side - feeling uncared for - has significantly shaped my life. It’s been a bane and a blessing both. Only recently did the penny drop that when I care enough for my Self, I actually think I’m worth it.

In the positive, the caregiver’s nurturing behaviour compels me to cook for my family every single day and to write this blog… even though there are times when I lose my mo-jo and try to resist. Usually, without success. It’s also probably why babies, young children and animals take to me like ducks to water. Sarah used to call me “the child whisperer”, a very handy attribute to have at her disposal when doing Mirror Imaging baby shoots and family wedding line-ups. But guess what? Being habitually driven to prioritise other people’s needs before your own leads to unhealthy self-sacrifice, resentment, misunderstandings and more often than not, your help and concern being taken for granted. Or worse, after you’ve served your purpose, your best effort being unfairly labelled as ‘interference’. Oh Lord, how many times have I left myself open to being shortchanged?

In the swinging 60’s, it was easy to fathom out that if I went along with my father’s wishes and married an ex public school boy turned doctor or lawyer, I might well have been playing to my strengths as a cook-cum-hostess (I was a dab hand at cooking family meals and ironing my dad’s shirts long before I was out of schoolgirl ankle socks!) but I’d also be playing second fiddle to a man’s ambitions at the expense of my desires and personal freedoms. Naturally, I took a stand and married a second-hand car salesman who couldn’t make enough money to keep body and soul together!

I never blamed Dad for wanting me to take the quick and easy route to a secure and comfortable life. It’s a risky business turning your back on traditional tribal values and wandering off into the great unknown to explore what individual choice, freedom of expression and personal responsibility looks like. Turns out, being an adult isn’t pretty. My father gave up trying to control my unruly behaviour the day I left home. He must have resigned himself to the fact that because I’d insisted on making my own bed, I’d best lie in it. First stop for me, a cockroach-riddled, scruffily furnished flat; second stop a freezing cold council flat, which we couldn’t afford to heat if we wanted to eat. I felt impoverished, lonely and above all disconnected from my Dad, who’d lost his second wife just three weeks before he ‘gave me away’ (such weirdly old-fashioned terminology) to my first husband. It wasn’t long before I realised that not all tribal laws are entirely without merit. And, heaven never lets you forget your regrets!

Did my cooking skills at least serve me up the man of my dreams? Well yes, but no. Firstly, there’s got to be a reason that none of my ex husbands voluntarily left me. Secondly, the only men that have truly loved me are the ones that are totally ‘switched-on’ by good food. True to his word, in the beginning it was my dad that was my biggest fan. The last time I saw him face-to-face, was at my second wedding celebration for which I’d done all the catering - a variety of exquisite, just one-mouthful canapés that completely satiated the hunger of our ‘Champagned-up-to-the-gills’ guests. As Dad and I parted that day, he told me “I am so proud of you.”

These were his final words to me and in the saying of them I had a vague premonition of what was to come. As I watched him walk away, I turned to my husband to ask “Do you think I’ll ever see him again?” It was during dinner on the second night of our honeymoon that we received the news that Dad had suffered a massive stroke. For four agonising days and nights we waited by his hospital bedside as he drifted in and out of semi-consciousness. Watching someone die is never easy. The worst part was when Dad momentarily ‘came-to’ just as his priest was performing the last rites over him. His terror was palpable in the face of “the grim reaper” but still he resisted the inevitable for two more interminable days and nights. Even his nurses wept with me. My father was my first love and at the time I would’ve willingly taken his place to spare his suffering.

Thankfully, the natural laws of the universe do not change according to human sentiment and sixteen weeks later I was pregnant with my first child and the ‘cycle of life” began all over again. With the passage of time I’ve learned that unless you can handle death you can’t handle life. The abandoned child isn’t a one-off event, she’s stayed with me into my seventies reminding me that nothing is forever; I'm not entitled to anything; and even when you give someone the world it’s not certain that in return you’ll have a place in it. It has nothing to do with reward and punishment, it’s evolution when the truth you’re holding on to simply evaporates. It’s hard to 'hang out’ in gratitude when your life is crumbling but the upside is being free from the weight of deception.

My sister believes that the reason I feature sweet treats on Primal Plate’s blog is because I’m “sweet-toothed”. However, the real reasons are more weighted towards the practical than the emotional. Firstly, as Sarah is no longer assisting me with Primal Plate’s blog, stepping up to do my own food photography is far less stressful when I’m not watching hot food go cold because I’m taking too long to capture the image. Secondly, my partner John takes the majority of sweet hits for the team because any snack that sustains his energy when he’s doing physically demanding work is a basic necessity. And lastly, as someone who’s successfully transformed their own health, I feel it is my duty to reassure others that low-carbohydrate, zero hunger weight loss, health and vitality doesn’t involve depriving yourself of the food you most love. Nor come to that, killing yourself at the gym. Nutrition fixes obesity; exercise helps strength and fitness. Don’t confuse the two, because unless you’re a professional athlete, you’ll never be able to outrun your fork.

Besides, not all biscuits are created equal. There’s a world of difference between shortbread biscuits made in a factory and these homemade Lemon & Cardamon Shortbread Biscuits brought together by hand and baked within the hour. When I recently offered them to a determinedly “I never eat biscuits” person (who ended up eating three) I discovered they even held together when he ‘dunked’ one in his coffee. It’s not what I’d do, but I think just knowing ‘you can dunk ‘em if you want to’ sort of elevates them to the highest echelons of biscuit appreciation.

Okay, I’m willing to admit that I am a teeny bit addicted to these particular shortbread biscuits. Not too sweet, with the sophisticated complexity of flavours from sweet, salt and spice - the clear notes of eucalyptus and citrus undertones of lemon shine through with every bite - I think you might find them equally irresistible. Certainly when it comes to the Brits and their love of tea and biscuits, these low-carb, shortbread biscuits are in a class of their own because they give you the best of both worlds.

Delicious and nutritious, Lemon & Cardamon Shortbread Biscuits spark joy in everyone who eats one… you know, that certain je ne sais quoi, which makes life worth living? Plus, no sugar, no grains means no reason to abstain.

As much as I love to nurture others, self-care begins in the kitchen too. There’s no time like the present for me to change the habit of a lifetime.

Lemon & Cardamon Shortbread Biscuits (makes approx 16)

Ingredients

8 organic cardamon pods

50g non-GMO erythritol

100g organic unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

zest of 1 large organic lemon (or 2 medium ones), finely grated

¼ tsp fine Himalayan pink salt

100g extra-fine organic tiger nut flour

75g organic ground almonds

Instructions

Split open the cardamon pods and crush the seeds in a pestle and mortar.

Finely zest the lemon(s).

Place the cardamon seeds, tiger nut flour, ground almonds and salt in a medium bowl and whisk together to combine and break up any visible lumps. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, using an electric beater, whisk the softened butter and erythritol sweetener together until pale and fluffy (takes about 4 minutes on high speed), then add the lemon zest and briefly whisk again to combine.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and, with a wooden spoon, combine together well until a dough is formed.

Bring the dough together with your hands and mould into a rough ball. Place the ball of dough in the centre of a large sheet of baking parchment. Cover with a second sheet of parchment paper (or cling film) and flatten the dough slightly with the palm of your hand into an even round shape. Roll the dough out between the two sheets of parchment to a thickness of about 6mm.

Preheat the oven to 150℃ / 300℉ / Gas mark 2.

Line a large flat baking tray with a separate sheet of non-stick baking paper.

Remove the top layer of parchment from the rolled-out dough and stamp out biscuits using a 6cm cutter.

With the help of a long flat metal spatula, gently lever the biscuit rounds off the base layer of parchment paper and transfer to the lined baking tray.

Gather up the off-cuts and roll out again as before to make more biscuits. N.B. You may need to cook them in two batches but I can just fit mine on to one large baking tray.

Bake for 18-20 minutes until nicely golden. N.B. I turn the tray around after 10 minutes to ensure even cooking. Please also see Notes below.

When baked to perfection, remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes on the baking tray before transferring to a wire tray to cool down completely.

Notes:

I prefer these biscuits when made with N’avi Organic’s extra-fine tiger nut flour but you can also source cheaper tiger nut flour (along with the ground almond flour I used) from Real Food Source.

This shortbread is best eaten when the biscuits have been allowed to cool for at least an hour. Good luck with that! Even the smallest amount of residual heat means they remain more soft than biscuity.

The correct ‘doneness’ of your shortbread biscuits will depend on their thickness, the heat conductivity of your baking tray, oven ‘hot spots’ and variations in oven temperatures. I therefore recommend that after about 18 minutes of cooking time, you start visually checking-in on your biscuits to ensure they don’t get overly browned (it can happen in the blink of an eye!). Also, don’t undercook them or they won’t have the desirable crunchy, crumbly texture of shortbread.

The shortbread keeps well in an airtight container for three days… not that my husband ever lets them linger in the biscuit tin for that long.


Fat 9g Protein 1g Carbs 3g - per biscuit

Chocolate Cherry Celebration Cake

I’m writing this blog post on Mother’s day 2020 and for the first time in 44 years nothing special has been planned. This isn’t to do with the COVID-19 pandemic separating us from the people we love, but rather me experiencing a loss that essentially means dying to my old life and being reborn into a new one.

For a long time, I’ve jokingly complained that John and I suffer from ‘attention deficit disorder’ so for us, the government’s instruction to self-isolate is not a big deal. In fact, we feel more a sense of togetherness knowing that everyone is in the same boat as we are.

It seems as if this pandemic is divine intervention reminding humanity that all life lives and breathes as one. When it’s done with us, will we honour that truth or will we continue to grab ‘what’s mine’ and forever ask: “What can I have more of? How can I feel more safe?” Scrambling over each other for money, power, status and in the current crisis, toilet rolls, not only harms the other - including trees and all of nature - it harms us too. Like it or not, we’re a global community and we’re all in this together. The coronavirus doesn’t respect boundaries but it does provide an opportunity to reflect on the truth that like a virus, each of our thoughts, words and deeds has an energetic force that passes through the air waves into the collective consciousness. We’ve all contributed to the carnage and chaos that besets the planet, thus telling us that it’s time to raise our game. We can either marvel at and be humbled by an entire world in ‘lockdown’ and emerge from the experience with more compassionate, open-hearts or else distract ourselves with booze and entertainment until we can get back to ego-centric, self-serving normality.

My intention is to stay sober and console myself with cake! On a practical note, I’m going it alone for this blog post because Mirror Imaging isn’t available to take professional photos today. Forgive me if my images look a bit meh in comparison! And although Mother’s Day will have been and gone by the time I post up this recipe, it is less than three weeks to Easter Sunday and a rather lovely teatime treat for birthdays too.

That said, do you need an excuse? There aren’t many better things you can do than bake a cake when you’re forced to stay home. Spread the love and enjoy.

Chocolate Cherry Celebration Cake (serves 12)

Ingredients - for the cake

325g organic ground almonds

75g organic fine tiger nut flour

150g organic dark chocolate (at least 80% cocoa solids) See Notes below.

225g organic unsweetened sour dried cherries + an extra handful for decoration (I used these)

⅔ tsp Himalayan pink salt

1⅓ tsp baking powder

1 tsp organic ground cinnamon

1 tsp organic ground ginger

1 tsp organic nutmeg - freshly grated

125g organic unsalted butter + a little extra for greasing the tins - melted

3 tbsp organic brandy

6 tbsp organic maple syrup

4 large organic eggs - beaten

1½ tsp organic vanilla extract

Instructions - for the cake

Grease and line with non-stick baking parchment the base and sides of two x 15cm (6 inch) loose bottomed cake tins. Then lightly grease the lining paper.

Pre-heat the oven to 175℃ / 350℉/ Gas mark 4

In a large bowl, add the ground almonds, the tiger nut flour, cherries, chocolate, salt, baking powder and the spices and mix together well.

In a separate medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, brandy, maple syrup, beaten eggs and vanilla extract.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon until a smooth, soft cake batter forms.

Divide the mixture equally between the two cake tins, pressing the cake mix down into the tins and levelling it out with the back of a metal tablespoon.

Bake on the middle shelf of pre-heated oven for 40 mins.

Whilst the cakes are cooking, make the chocolate butter icing below.

When the cakes are cooked, remove from oven and leave for 10 minutes in their tins. Then carefully transfer to a wire cooling tray, remove the baking parchment and leave until completely cooled.

When cold, add some of the frosting to the top of one cake and put the other cake on top. Then add the rest of the icing on top of the second cake, roughly swirling it with the tines of a fork. Decorate with extra cherries, if liked.

Ingredients - for chocolate buttercream icing

60g 85% organic dark chocolate

1 tbsp organic coconut oil

115g organic unsalted butter, softened

85g organic full-fat soft cheese

60g Sukrin Icing - sifted

2 tbsp organic cacao powder - sifted

1 tsp organic vanilla extract

Instructions - for chocolate buttercream icing

In a medium heat-proof bowl, melt the chocolate and coconut oil together over a pan of gently simmering water. Once melted, remove the bowl and set aside to cool down to room temperature.

In a large bowl, preferably using a hand-held electric beater, beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth.

Gradually add the powdered sweetener and cacao powder (a couple of tablespoons at a time) to the buttercream mixture, beating together after each addition until well combined.

Pour in the melted chocolate and vanilla extract and beat until very smooth.

Notes

For the cake I used 100g of Pacari’s 85% dark chocolate & 50g of Pacari’s 70% chocolate because these dinky chocolate drops save you the hassle of chopping chocolate and messing up your kitchen worktop. Always a bonus!

Admittedly, Chocolate Cherry Celebration Cake is a bit heavy on the carbs but it’s still only the equivalent of eating a medium sized banana.

Fat 30g Protein 6g Carbohydrate 26g - per serving of cake including buttercream icing

Chocolate Mousse Cake With Raspberries & Cream

The starting point for this low-carb, densely intense, chocolatey celebration cake or, when still warm from the oven and oozing molten chocolate, the perfect after-dinner pudding cake, was a Waitrose recipe for chocolate ‘cloud’ cake that I recently espied in their free ‘Weekend’ newspaper.

Since my 26th wedding anniversary was imminent, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to show my appreciation for twenty-eight years of togetherness with my beloved John by baking him a cake. He needed cheering-up. Last bank holiday weekend, whilst washing up (dangerous man’s work!) a 10” heavy chopping knife fell off the draining board onto his bare foot and cut his big toe right down to the bone. A visit to A&E was pretty much pointless. By the time we’d got John back home he was bleeding just as profusely as when we’d first arrived at hospital. Nearly three weeks later, his toe is still giving him flak and he can’t walk far or wear shoes. At times like these, a spoonful of sugar - or at least sweet-tasting food - can help.

For the keto-adapted, it’s not so much the craving for sweetness per se that persuades us to indulge but rather that someone lovingly baking a cake in your honour can become the ultimate in spirit-lifting, comfort food. My job is to ensure that the sweet treats that we enjoy from time to time are made from ingredients that do the least harm.

Ideally on a keto diet you’d knock all sweeteners, including sugar-free, zero calorie ‘pretenders’  on the head. However, “when life gives you lemons…” or you simply want to go with the flow and celebrate life with decadent desserts and cake like ‘normal’ people do, dissing the grains and choosing a sweetener that mimics the taste of sugar - erythritol is one of the better ones - is the way to sustain you on your low-carb journey. Honestly, does Chocolate Mousse Cake look like diet food to you?

Everyone agrees, it’s depressing to go without food you love. So, without wishing to pander to an unbridled enthusiasm for cake, pastries, ice cream and biscuits, I think it’s a good idea to feed your desire as long as it doesn’t mean eating high-carb treats made with grains and sugar that make you pack on the pounds. Admittedly, it is socially inconvenient to reject the herd mentality that relies on factory-made, ultra processed junk food but in my view, cooking healthy treats for yourself is the most workable way of getting to your perfect weight and then staying there. Just imagine yourself healthy, happy and full of energy every day and steadily losing weight without having to count calories or deny yourself. Primal Plate recipes will make that possible.

Right on cue for Father’s Day, Chocolate Mousse Cake With Raspberries & Cream is a special treat that will remind Dad just how much you appreciate all that he does. There’s no better way to show you care for yourself and others than to take the time to cook and bake edible gifts. Besides, Dad has too many ties already!

Chocolate Mousse Cake With Raspberries & Cream (serves 10)

Ingredients

200g very dark organic chocolate, broken into small pieces (I combined 75 grams of Pacari’s 70% chocolate drops with 125 grams of their 85% chocolate drops for an average of 80% cocoa solids)

125g organic unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

25ml organic, freshly brewed ‘espresso’ coffee or alternatively, 1 tbsp organic, instant coffee

1 tsp organic coffee extract 

1 tsp organic vanilla extract 

3 tbsp organic raw cacao powder, sifted 

6 organic medium eggs

200g non-GMO erythritol, powdered

For the cake topping

170ml organic double cream 

1tsp organic vanilla extract

1 tbsp non-GMO erythritol, powdered and sifted

175g organic fresh raspberries  (if you can get them, organic raspberries are less expensive from Tesco or Sainsburys)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan oven) / 350℉ / Gas mark 4

Lightly grease then line the base and sides of a 25cm (8 inch) round cake tin - preferably springform or loose bottomed - with non-stick baking parchment.

Make a ‘shot’ of strong espresso coffee - N.B. ignore this step if you’re using instant coffee.

Place the chocolate, butter, espresso coffee (or 1 tbsp instant coffee granules) vanilla and coffee extracts into a glass heatproof bowl and set it over a pan of gently steaming water. Keep the heat under the pan low and do not let the base of the bowl come into contact with the water. Stir the mixture from time to time until melted then take off the heat and set aside.

Meanwhile, separate the eggs into two large mixing bowls. Whisk the whites into soft peaks.

Leave the whisked whites on one side whilst you whisk together the yolks and erythritol until thick, pale and fluffy - you don’t need to wash the whisk in-between.

Using a metal spoon, stir the melted chocolate in with the egg yolks until evenly combined. Now stir in the cacao powder.

Using a flat-edged spatula or large metal spoon, gently fold half the egg whites into the chocolate mix to loosen, then carefully fold in the other half making sure they’re fully incorporated without knocking the air out of them.

Tip the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes until set but still wobbly in the centre. If you want it firmer in the centre, cook for another 5 minutes.

Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then remove the sides of the tin and leave to cool completely to room temperature.

When ready to serve, carefully remove the paper and base of the tin and set the cake on a serving plate. Whisk the cream, powdered erythritol and vanilla extract together into soft peaks. Pile into the middle of the cake and top with the raspberries. 

Notes

To make the cake easier to slice, it is best made a day in advance and then left overnight to firm-up and set in the centre.

If you’re not going to eat all of the cake straightaway, it will keep better if you don’t top the whole cake with raspberries and cream. Just cut it into as many portions as you need before attractively arranging a generous spoonful of cream and small pile of raspberries on top of each individual slice of cake. Alternatively, this wonderful, rich cake still makes the grade when served simply with a dusting of powdered erythritol and a dollop of lightly whipped cream still cold from the fridge.

Erythritol doesn’t impact blood sugar or insulin, as our bodies actually cannot digest it. It’s about 70% as sweet as table sugar. I buy it in granulated form online and turn it into icing sugar using my Vitamix or a hand-held stick blender. You can also buy it as ready-made icing sugar.

In powdered form, it easily blends into the flourless cake mixture and whipped cream topping to ensure that there’s no grittiness from un-dissolved crystals in the finished cake.

Fat 33g Protein 6g Carbohydrate 9g - per serving with raspberries & cream

Fat 33g Protein 5g Carbohydrate 7g - per serving with cream but no raspberries

Fat 23g Protein 5g Carbohydrate 7g - per serving of cake (without topping)

Ultimate Keto Bread Rolls

What’s more wonderful than lovingly home-baked bread made from the best organic ingredients? I’ll tell you what. It’s these golden-crusted, soft-crumbed, whole-mealy, Ultimate Keto Bread Rolls that are impossible to distinguish from traditional bread rolls made from wheat flour.

I don’t wish to brag, but out of the many recipes for low-carb breads that I’ve trialled and/or ‘errored' courtesy of other food bloggers online, this brilliant Primal Plate recipe is the definitive guide for making the best Ultimate Keto Bread Rolls in the world! Actually, amend that to simply “the best bread rolls in the world” - whether they’re made with digestively challenging high-carb grain flour or not!

Seriously, I’m not kidding. No one, and I mean no one, could tell the difference between these bread rolls and the ones “Chef baked fresh today” oft served up in fine dining restaurants. When you tear open and eat one of these quickly-made delicious bread rolls you won’t believe they’re low-carb, gluten and grain free. Furthermore, they don’t rely on yeast to make them rise, which means they don’t require kneading or waiting around for them to ‘prove’.

This simple, batter bread recipe calls for organic, whole, golden flaxseeds and psyllium husks that you grind yourself into the consistency of flour in a small coffee grinder, just before use. Sorry about that, but it’s vitally important that flaxseeds are freshly ground because, if you buy them ready-ground, they quickly turn rancid.

Fresh flaxseed flour is a nutritional powerhouse packed with fibre, omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins, antioxidants, and cancer-fighting lignans. According to Dr Mercola, animal research shows people who eat a high-fat diet with flaxseed have more beneficial bacteria in their gut and better glucose control than those eating just high fat (without flaxseed) or a standard diet. The health of your gut is key to attaining optimal health. If you've been trying to lose weight but have seen little progress, the challenge may be helped by feeding your beneficial bacteria.

With such remarkably healthy and obesity fighting credentials and just 4 grams of carbohydrate per bread roll, you’re all good to go low-carb and eat what you love and what loves you.

Ultimate Keto Bread Rolls (makes 6)

Ingredients

150g organic golden flaxseed, freshly ground

20g organic whole psyllium husk, freshly ground

60g organic ground almonds

¼ tsp Himalayan pink salt 

½ tsp aluminium-free baking soda 

2 large organic egg whites (approx. 85g)

1 tsp cream of tartar 

2 tbsp organic olive oil

200ml freshly filtered cold water

25g organic shelled hemp seeds - to finish tops of rolls

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 180℃ / 350℉ / Gas mark 4

Line a large flat baking tray with non-stick paper.

Tip the hemp seeds onto a small plate, set aside.

In a coffee mill, grind the flaxseed and psyllium husk in to a flour-like consistency.

Place the ground flaxseed and psyllium into a large bowl with the ground almonds, baking soda and salt. Whisk the dry ingredients together until well mixed.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until foamy then add the cream of tartar and continue to whisk until they form soft peaks (best done with an electric beater)

In another bowl, briefly beat the olive oil and water together.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, pour in the olive oil and water and whisk with an electric beater until it just forms in to a batter, then quickly whisk-in the egg whites - only briefly - just enough to incorporate them without knocking all the air out!

Wait a couple of minutes for the batter to thicken into a soft, pliable dough, then tip the whole batch of mixture out on to weighing scales (I lay a piece of cling-film on the surface of the scales first).

Once you know the total weight of your dough, divide it into six even pieces (approx 90 grams per roll but use your weigh scales!) and form each piece in to a ball in the palms of your hands - I wear food-grade disposable gloves to save my hands getting messy.

Dunk the top surface of each ball of dough into the hemp seeds before placing it down on to the baking sheet.

Make the rest of the dough balls in the same way, allowing enough space between the bread rolls on the baking tray for them to rise during cooking.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Transfer the rolls from the baking tray on to a wire rack to cool down.

Serve warm or at room temperature with lashings of organic, grass-fed butter. 

Alternatively cut into halves and toast.

Notes

Beaten egg whites contain many air bubbles which expand in the oven’s heat to help leaven and lighten the loaves.

Fat 18g Protein 9g Carbohydrate 4g - per roll

Apple Pie Muffins

We have two very old Bramley apple trees in our garden, which every autumn produce a mass of fruits that inevitably fall from the tree faster than we can harvest them. Clearing them up is a messy business but I console myself that whilst ever they lie rotting on the ground our resident squirrels, hedgehogs, birds, bugs and other critters in nature make good use of them, and when completely decomposed, they act as an organic fertiliser for the soil and plants close by.

This year I was determined to pick some of the most perfect specimens straight off the tree ready for us to eat. A good idea, except for the fact It’s taken me a month to decide what to do with them, let alone find the time for baking. In the interim, they stored well in the dark of our cellar, just waiting for my ‘eureka' moment and their transformation into delicious Apple Pie Muffins.

Aside from the fact that apple pie is an iconic English dessert and the Bramley's Seedling tree grew from pips planted in 1809 by Mary Ann Brailsford in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, which is just 4 miles up the road from where I live, the idea to create a quick, simple-to-bake muffin that tastes just like regular apple pie was prompted by Steenbergs, who sell an organic ‘apple pie’ spice mix, which I recently purchased from them along with some other Christmassy-inspired goodies.

I think it’s safe to say that all human beings are hard-wired to love the taste of sweetness and psychologically one of the hardest things to do when trying to lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle is to try and resist sweet treats and delicious desserts. As Adam and Eve discovered to their cost, the more a ‘fruit is forbidden’, the greater compulsion humans have to eat it, which is why most diets fail long-term. But what if you can satisfy your sweet tooth without ever jeopardising your health and weight loss goals? The longer I practice the art of food alchemy, converting little known ingredients into luscious, low-carb, sweet treats that you can’t differentiate from the traditional sugar and grain offerings that are making so many of us fat and sick, the more it seems my life’s purpose is to deliver the message: ‘You can!’

The trick is to combine minimal amounts of natural sweeteners like monk fruit powder (otherwise known as Lo Han Guo) and good-for-your-gut yacon syrup with naturally sweet, prebiotic tiger nut flour and ground almonds and…Bob’s your uncle. These healthy, nutrient-dense, Apple Pie Muffins hit the sweet spot between a whole food that’s as unprocessed and close to the earth as possible and the unadulterated pleasure of sugar and spice and all things nice that feels like a big hug. Never mind “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”, two Apple Pie Muffins taken by mouth daily as needed, have about a third of the carbs you’d get from eating a medium apple!

Apple Pie Muffins taste so good and monk fruit powder allows us to enjoy this delicious taste whilst keeping us safe from sugar’s harm. Totally compatible with a keto-lifestyle, these appley muffins incentivised us for the first time in 27 years to rush out and collect the rest of our precious Bramleys before the slugs got to them. With a big box full of usable fruits ostensibly stashed away for the winter months, I doubt that they’ll see December out. 

Apple Pie Muffins (makes 12)

Ingredients

100g extra fine organic tiger nut flour (see Note below)

150g organic ground almonds 

1½ tsp gluten free baking powder

2 tsp organic apple pie spice

½ heaped teaspoon pure monk fruit powder (see Note below)

2 large organic free-range eggs

125 ml organic whole milk

75g organic unsalted butter

1 tbsp organic yacon syrup

2 large organic Bramley apples, peeled, cored & cut into very small pieces (you should end up with about 325g of chopped apple)

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4 and line a 12 x hole muffin tin with paper cases.

Mix the tiger nut flour, ground almonds, apple pie spice and monk fruit powder together in a large mixing bowl.

Melt the butter over a gentle heat together with the yacon syrup. Set aside to cool a little.

In a separate beat the eggs and milk, then add the melted butter and yacon syrup and mix together well.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just enough to combine, do not over mix.

Add the apple pieces, and gently mix them through.

Divide the mixture between the 12 muffin cases (see Notes below).

Place the tray in the pre-heated oven and bake for 25 minutes until well risen and golden (they smell divine!).

Cool on a wire rack and then store in an airtight tin.

Notes

Although considerably more expensive, Navi Organics extra fine (premium grade) tiger nut flour is the very best for baking superb cakes and muffins etc. You can buy regular ground organic tiger nut flour for a lot less money and then grind it down yourself to a finer consistency in a coffee-nut grinder. However, the finished muffins, whilst unarguably delicious, may for foodie purists like me, still have a slightly annoying crunch to them!

Whenever I bake muffins, bread rolls, biscuits etc., I find it helpful to weigh the uncooked mixture prior to dividing it between the number of portions I wish to make. For example, the amount of raw batter I had to make 12 muffins weighed a total of 925 grams, i.e. 77 grams per muffin. Measuring equal amounts of mixture into the muffin cases ensures they all rise evenly and no one gets short-changed!

These muffins freeze well.

Fat 8g  Protein 6g Carbohydrate 4g - per muffin

Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Crumbles

And so it begins…the start of a new wedding season combined with a desire to qualify as a primal health coach whilst managing a small portfolio of rental properties, does not lend itself particularly well to new recipe development for Primal Plate’s blog. Please do not judge if over the next few months my postings get even fewer and farther between. Whilst I haven’t forgotten that my priority is what I can accomplish in the kitchen, these things take a hefty time commitment and it’s not easy keeping all my balls in the air at once.

In fact it took three attempts to perfect these Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Crumbles. The clue is in their name. Even though they no longer disintegrate before you can get them into your mouth, they definitely won’t stand being dipped in your tea! More the texture of a digestive than a rich tea biscuit, John and Sarah think they’re fabulous and would have been happy for me to keep going…until I finally produced these biscuity bites of loveliness and they both declared it was ‘game over’.

What does guilt taste like? Chocolate and roasted almonds successfully bound together in a delicate, comforting cookie; that’s what! Just crispy and firm enough to snap neatly in two, these Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Crumbles are soft and crumbly on the inside with bursts of chocolatey goodness that explode inside your mouth. Indulgent they are; unhealthy they’re not. 

Amazingly, these keto friendly, healthy, cookie crumbles can be enjoyed guilt free. Without grains, sugar or dairy - the roasted almond butter does the job of regular butter - you can even ‘veganise' the recipe by substituting a chia or flaxseed ‘egg’ for the real egg that I used (see Notes below).  

For a heady hit of chocolate (the darker the better), these Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Crumbles are the thing. Ridiculously quick and easy to make, they don’t need rolling or cutting out. 

Another good reason to spoil yourself. 

Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Crumbles (makes 15)

Ingredients

1 large organic egg

250g organic roasted almond butter

40g organic ground almonds

20g organic extra fine tiger nut flour

½ tsp organic whole psyllium husk powder, freshly ground by you in a coffee grinder, if you have one

¼-½ tsp pure monk fruit powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp organic vanilla extract

100g dark chocolate chips (at least 70% cocoa solids)

Instructions 

Preheat your oven to 180C / 350F / Gas mark 4 and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Add to a food processor bowl the almond butter, ground almonds, tiger nut flour, monk fruit powder, egg, vanilla extract and baking powder. Blitz together until smooth.

Add in the dark chocolate chips and briefly blitz again until evenly combined.

Roll the mixture into 15 small balls (approx. 31g each), spacing them out evenly on the baking sheet.

Gently flatten out each ball with the palm of your hand into rounds approximately 6-8mm thick. 

When they’re ready to bake, press a couple more chocolate chips into the surface of any cookies that look like they’ve been shortchanged!

Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden.

Let the cookies rest on the baking tray for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool down completely.

Wait for at least 30 minutes before tucking in.  

Notes

To prepare a flax or chia ‘egg’ for vegan baking: Grind whole, organic seeds in a coffee grinder just before using as follows: Stir 1 tablespoon of ground seeds (measured after grinding) and 3 tablespoons of warm, freshly filtered water together until well combined. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes until if forms a gelatinous ‘goo’. Use to replace eggs in any recipe that doesn’t list more than 2 eggs in the ingredients. N.B. If making Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Crumbles with a chia or flax seed ‘egg’, leave out the psyllium husk powder.

If you don’t have chocolate baking chips to hand, chop 100g of an organic dark chocolate bar into small pieces with a sharp knife. A bit messy, but needs must! Given the wider choice of chocolate bars available, I’d be tempted to go for the highest percentage of cocoa solids (up to 100%) if your tastebuds will allow!

Fat 13g Protein 5g Carbohydrate 4g - per cookie crumble.

Zero Sugar Meringues

In a society that tends to eat a lot of excess sugar and overeat in general, it seems that for the most part I stand alone when it comes to refusing to eat or drink anything with refined sugar added. It’s not easy. Not because I crave sugar - physically and psychologically I have come to loathe the stuff - but because relatively healthy sugar substitutes are not readily available and when I can get hold of them, they’re expensive. Whilst buying low-carb sugar replacements to bake with is nothing like the financial liability of regularly eating out - which I seldom do because the majority of restaurant food centres around refined, non-organic vegetable/seed oils, sugar and grains - they come at a price that make your eyes water! 

Furthermore, most alternative sweeteners either don’t taste quite right or don’t behave like ordinary sugar when you cook with them. Amazingly, I recently found one that’s a notable exception: NuNaturels Tagatose is a prebiotic sweetener produced from lactose that is virtually indistinguishable from table sugar in every respect. Tagatose is costly and even more annoyingly, only currently available to purchase from the US. But with half the calories of sugar and a low glycemic index (GI) of just 3 (sucrose has a GI of 65), it doesn’t raise blood glucose and insulin levels in healthy individuals and those with diabetes type-2. It is also believed to stimulate the growth of beneficial intestinal bacteria. All of this seems to make it a ‘goer’ as a low-carb, Primal sweetener. It was my discovery of tagatose that first enabled me to successfully make low-carb meringues that looked and tasted like the real deal. To the best of my knowledge, they were a culinary ‘first’ and, if you’re willing to believe what the producers of tagatose tell you, they smash conventional meringues made with sucrose into the ground. That said, tagatose became irrelevant for the purpose of this blog post because the next time I tried to order some, there was none left in stock.

Disappointed but not dissuaded, I decided the way forward was to purchase NKD Living’s Non-GMO Erythritol sugar replacement sweetener instead. I’d previously seen other peoples’ erythritol meringue recipes posted online but to be honest, it was the pictures of these that originally put me off using erythritol myself. However, beggars can’t be choosers and as I had already challenged myself to feature Zero Sugar Meringues on Primal Plate’s blog, last week I put erythritol to the test. As you can see, the revised version of Zero Sugar Meringues also turned out spectacularly well. Sweet, light and ‘sugary’, erythritol has no aftertaste but does have a slight cooling effect in the mouth. I thought this rather enhanced the eating sensation, which was a bit like biting into an exploding snowball!

Crispy on the outside and meltingly soft in the middle, these crunchy, cloud-like patisseries are a luxurious, hedonistic affair when sandwiched together with lashings of whipped cream and accompanied by fresh, organic raspberries to cut through their sweetness. Never mind the price of tagatose, I’m now on a roll with erythritol. Next up, pavlova! 

Because it takes at least 10 minutes of non-stop beating of the egg whites, meringue is best made in a food mixer with whisk attachment. I’ve included the speeds I set my Kenwood Chef at. Otherwise, use a hand-held electric whisk, or if you’re feeling really energetic, a balloon whisk.

Zero Sugar Meringues (makes 8 meringues; serves 4)

Ingredients

2 organic egg whites, at room temperature

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

100g non GMO erythritol, preferably whizzed in a coffee/nut mill to make it extra fine (like icing sugar)

½ tsp organic vanilla extract, optional

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 130℃ / 250°F / Gas mark ½

Cut a piece of non-stick baking parchment to fit a large baking sheet.

Using a scrupulously clean glass or stainless steel bowl and whisk, beat the egg whites on medium speed (Kenwood Chef number 4) until foamy - takes about 2 minutes.

Add the cream of tartar and continue beating at the same speed for another 3 minutes.

With the beater still running, slowly add the erythritol/tagatose, 1 dessertspoon at a time. When all the sweetener has been incoporated, turn the beaters up a notch (Kenwood Chef number 5) and beat for a further 5 minutes until very stiff and glossy.    

Add the vanilla extract, if using and beat 1 minute more.

Remove the bowl and whisk from the mixer stand. Using the meringue left on the whisk attachment, place 4 blobs of meringue at each corner of the baking sheet so that the paper will stay put whilst you’re spooning the meringue on to it.

Bang the whisk attachment sharply against the side of the bowl to remove the rest of the meringue then using 2 metal tablespoons shape the meringue into 8 ovals or mounds on the parchment paper.

Bake in the centre of the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes.

After the first 10 minutes, lower the temperature of the oven to 110℃ and continue baking for a further 20 minutes.

After baking for 30 minutes, lower the temperature again to 100℃ and continue baking for another 30 minutes.

Check their progress after 1 hour. Take the baking tray out of the oven and with a flat palette knife attempt to gently lever the meringues off the parchment paper.

The meringues are ready when they are dry and crisp on the outside, are a pale coffee colour and will peel off the parchment paper easily.

If the meringues are still a little sticky, turn them upside down so that the sticky underside is exposed and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until completely dried out.

Now, leaving the meringues in the oven, turn the oven off and allow them to dry out and cool down completely as the oven cools. N.B. This can take a couple of hours or more with the oven door closed, so make sure you don’t need to use the oven for anything else.

When the meringues are cooled, they will have a crispy shell and they should sound hollow when you tap the bottom.

Store in an airtight container. They will keep for 5 days at room temperature. Do not refrigerate.

When you’re ready to assemble the meringues, generously sandwich two of them together with lightly whipped cream and serve with fresh, organic raspberries.

Notes

The bigger the meringues, the longer they will take to bake. Reduce the cooking time if you’re making mini meringue ‘kisses’.

Tagatose is not suitable for vegans because it’s made from whey, which is a milk by-product. However, since tagatose does not contain lactose, it's okay for the lactose intolerant

A word of caution: Primal Plate does not advise eating any sweetener in high amounts and cannot wholeheartedly recommend any non-nutritive sugar replacements. Whilst non-GMO erythritol and tagatose are thought to pass through the body untouched with virtually zero effect on metabolism/blood glucose levels that doesn’t mean, as is touted by their manufacturers, that they’re natural or healthy.

Nevertheless, I do believe that sweet tasting foods are for most people a highly desirable part of their diet, which is why I cautiously promote non GMO erythritol and stevia as possibly the best “naturally occurring” sugar alternatives for low-carb baking. Pure monk fruit powder is probably better if the recipe allows. Unfortunately, monk fruit powder is a 300x sweeter-than-sugar, mustard coloured powder that cannot easily be incorporated into many desserts. If you’re not doing keto and can take the carb ‘hit’, modest amounts of raw organic honey, maple syrup, ripe bananas, homemade apple sauce or medjool dates are also healthier alternatives to table sugar. Whatever sweetener you choose, learn to cut down on the level of sweetness needed. I strongly advise you to try and dampen down your sweet-tooth by saving Zero Sugar Meringues and other Primal Plate sweet tasting treats for special occasions only.

Lemon ‘Sugar’ Keto Pancakes

It’s pancake day today, but because it’s taken five attempts to make this recipe foolproof, I’m afraid only we will be able to indulge ourselves with these Lemon ‘Sugar’ Keto Pancakes. Never mind that I missed the deadline this Shrove Tuesday. In one form or another, we’ve eaten these pancakes on six successive days during the past week and we’re not bored of them yet! They’re delicious! 

Two years ago I posted a recipe for Primal Pancakes but my understanding of eating low-carb has moved on significantly since then and, in retrospect, 10 grams of carbohydrate per pancake is quite possibly 9 grams too many, especially when you’re trying to lose weight. Personally, we’re no longer in that boat but a low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet still holds good for us because we want to stay at our fighting weight and keep ourselves as healthy as possible. 

Talking of boats, did you hear about the four British amateur oarsmen who recently smashed the transatlantic rowing race world record by a full 5 days? Get this, they did it by rowing for just under 30 days on fat. That is to say, eating a LCHF aka ketogenic diet. Furthermore, their boat was a sugar-free zone! Admittedly, after 30 days of extreme exertion they binged-out on carbohydrates, but this can hardly apply to Joe Public, who generally don’t stop eating from the minute they get up in the morning to the minute they go to bed at night, and who do little in the way of exercise in between. In my view, the only excuse for not adopting a LCHF diet is that life loses its sparkle if you’re deprived of bread, cake, ice cream, crisps and pancakes. Enter, Primal Plate food blog. It’s my job to fool you into believing you’re not eating low-carb.

These delicious pancakes are the perfect example. Neither an American pancake nor a French crêpe, they sit somewhere between the two. We had a couple of hilarious days whilst I fathomed out how to create a pancake batter that would ‘flip’ without drama. Apart from sheer tenacity and persistence, I don’t quite know how I finally achieved such a well-behaved batter that is neither too ‘eggy’, too thick or ‘blubbery’ and is a breeze to turn. It’s a mystery to me what alchemy occurs with even the slightest adjustment to a recipe’s ingredients, but here I give to you - drum roll please - my recipe for flourless, sugarless, Lemon ‘Sugar’ keto Pancakes.

It’s now your turn to indulge yourself. I think you’ll find these pancakes are everything you dream of when you think of classic, hot, golden pancakes with the crunch of sugar and the sweet tart lift of lemon juice. When Sarah was a baby, she used to entertain herself by sucking on lemon wedges and chuckling uncontrollably at my screwed up face as I imagined their sour taste assaulting her senses. Your little ones may appreciate freshly juiced blood oranges in place of lemon juice and organic maple syrup or raw honey instead of erythritol. These pancakes are equally yummy served with fresh organic blueberries and lightly whipped cream. 

An easy to follow recipe that should have you enjoying pancakes all year round.

Lemon ‘Sugar’ Keto Pancakes (makes 8, serves 4)

Ingredients

4 large organic eggs 

2 organic egg whites

150g organic full-fat soft cheese

50g organic full-fat crème fraîche

8g organic whole psyllium husks, ground into a fine powder                

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp monk fruit powder

Unsalted butter, coconut or macadamia nut oil, for frying

To serve:

Freshly squeezed organic lemon juice and a sprinkling of zero calorie Erythritol (See Notes below)

Instructions

In a bowl, mix the cream cheese and crème fraîche together with a fork until soft and smooth.

Beat the eggs and egg whites with electric mixer or hand held blender on high for 1 minute to make them light and fluffy. 

Add the softened cheese mixture to the eggs and blend for 20 seconds more before adding the rest of the ingredients and blending again until well combined.  

Let the batter stand for 3-4 minutes.

While the batter is standing, heat a small (20 cm) non-stick frying pan - I use this one - over a medium heat.

When hot, add a little butter or oil to the pan - wiping away any excess with paper kitchen roll. 

Add 2-3 heaped tablespoons of the batter and swirl the pan so it covers the base evenly. Cook for 4-5 minutes until the underside of the pancake is golden and lots of small bubbles appear on the surface.

Turn the pancake over with the aid of a flexible, wide slotted turning spatula.

Fry on the second side of the pancake for a further 2-3 minutes until golden and set.  

Slide the cooked pancake onto a warm plate, sprinkle over the erythritol sweetener and agree to eat in relays. 

Alternatively, roll each ‘sugared’ pancake tightly into a cigar shaped cylinder then cover and keep warm in a low oven whilst you cook the rest.

Notes

Delicious, organic Citron Beldi lemons available from Abel & Cole are sweet, floral citrus fruits that look like squashed lemons and come all the way from Marrakech. They are only around in winter, so make the most of them while you can. They make a delicious juice to serve with these pancakes.

NuNaturels tagatose was going to be my closest-to-sugar alternative for sprinkling over these pancakes but it’s a nightmare to get hold of and ridiculously expensive to boot, especially when you add on custom charges. I’ve just had to pay an additional £17 to get three 250g bags of tagatose into the U.K. So until someone somewhere pulls their finger out and starts to produce pure tagatose for sale in the U.K., I have decided to abandon the idea of promoting Primal Plate recipes that rely on tagatose as a primary ingredient. Very disappointing, since before last Christmas I’d perfected a brilliant sugar-free meringue recipe that I never had chance to post. Identical to normal, crispy on the outside and slight chewy on the inside meringues, I thought they would be a lovely recipe to feature for Valentines Day. Unfortunately, without it, I’m going to have to start over. For now, that just leaves me with non-GMO erythritol to play with. 

Erythritol is naturally found in fruits, vegetables and fermented foods. It has a GI of 0 and 0.2 calories per gram. It does not affect blood sugar and is suitable for a low-carb diet. Its sweetness is about 70% of table sugar, so you may need to use a bit more than sugar. Don’t worry, erythritol counts as a zero carb sweetener because your body can’t digest it. 

Fat 33g Protein 6g Carbohydrate 1g - per pancake (N.B. Don’t forget to add extra carbs for toppings and accompaniments)

Keto Bread Rolls

These Keto Bread Rolls are so clever but they’re not my invention. It doesn’t matter that I came late to the party, our low-carb diet is now officially one step closer to eating what most people think of as a “normal diet” because we have buns with our burgers! With just 3 grams of carbs each, these are the perfect no-grain burger buns, dinner rolls or picnic fare. Credit goes to the Diet Doctor who adapted their keto bread recipe from an earlier bread recipe by Maria Emmerich. My contribution to keeping the keto dietary wheels turning was to test both recipes and then make this totally reliable final version - accurate weights and measurements provided in millilitres and grams - and more relevant to the U.K. 

A common problem with this bread is that the dough appears to randomly change colour during baking; its mauvish hue thought to be caused by using “some brands of psyllium husks”. An unhelpful generalisation, particularly when the specific ‘Now’ brand of organic psyllium husk powder recommended by the Diet Doctor and many others, did the very thing it wasn’t supposed to. It doesn’t work…at least it didn’t for me. Consequently, my first batch of Keto Bread Rolls toned perfectly with the purple beetroot and feta burgers I’d made in readiness to fill them! Joking apart, mauve may be an okay colour for Halloween or a kiddies party cupcake but it’s quite disturbing in a bread roll, even if the taste and texture remain unchanged. You eat with your eyes first!

I came to the conclusion that the reason for purple-tinted dough may be less to do with the brand of psyllium husks and more to do with buying them in powder form. My feeling is that whole psyllium husks, like flaxseeds, quickly deteriorate (oxidise) when they’re ground down into powder because they’re more readily exposed to the air. Thus, the trick to making Keto Bread Rolls look like bread rolls is to track down a supplier of organic whole psyllium husks and then grind these down yourself just prior to baking. N.B. Only buy 100 percent pure organic psyllium husk, since most psyllium crops have been treated with chemicals like pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertiliser.

The first attempt! The lilac-mauve hue was resolved by grinding my own whole psyllium husks.

Finding a U.K. supplier of reliably fresh, organic whole psyllium husks is no mean feat but my search finally brought me to the website of Stay Fresh Organics and voilà, I’d smashed it. To successfully make these Keto Bread Rolls, you will need a coffee/nut grinder. The one I use is an inexpensive Andrew James Coffee Grinder and it does the job admirably. 

You’ll be glad I went to the trouble. Once you’ve assembled your ingredients, the rest of the weighing and the mixing is done in about 5 minutes flat and fresh-from the-oven bread rolls, indistinguishable from the real thing, are ready within the hour. 

If you like the soft, light texture of commercial bread, you’ll love these Keto Bread Rolls, which are a sort of cross between Italian ciabatta and the cute, mini Hovis loaves that I used to pack in my daughters’ school lunch boxes back in the 1980’s. We had a nostalgic moment when Sarah reminded me that when she was very small, I’d often scold her for creating Play-Doh out of Hovis mini-loaves instead of eating them! In their raw state, these Keto Bread Rolls could also be mistaken for Play-Doh. All lumpy, bumpy, beige and bouncy before baking, the dough is transformed in the oven into the most perfectly risen, golden-brown, delicious, crusty bread rolls. Simply amazing to look at and even more amazing to cut, butter, fill and bite into, you’ll be flabbergasted that they’re not made from wheat flour! 

Whole, organic psyllium husk powder is a miracle ingredient for low-carb baking because it does the work of glueing and binding together breads, cakes, pancakes in the same way that the gluten in wheat flour does - without the digestive issues or weight-gain that many people suffer from when they eat gluten and grains. In fact psyllium husk, taken from the seeds of the Plantago plant, has numerous health benefits. It is a godsend for people who don’t get enough fibre in their diet - step-up low-carbers who don’t eat whole-grains and, if you’re like me, not a lot of fruit either - because psyllium contains both soluble and insoluble fibre to help facilitate weight loss, improve digestion, lower blood sugar, lower cholesterol, nourish gut-friendly bacteria and cleanse the system. 

In the world of grain-free baking, these easy-to-make Keto Bread Rolls are a revelation. They miraculously achieve the same light, bready texture of regular bread without yeast or gluten, which means no kneading or rising times are required. The finished rolls are not only wonderful to behold they’re more tasty than any commercial bread you can buy. Sarah was so taken with their taste and texture, she thought them worth making even when they were purple! 

I can see why she would think so. Keto Bread Rolls remind you of how life used to be before ditching the grains and eating low-carb. Paradoxically, they appear to be the antithesis of wholefoody. A welcome change from the delicious but dense nut and seed based breads featured elsewhere on this blog, they make you believe you’re eating normal ‘white’ bread. Psychologically, this is good. If there’s one thing that people use as an excuse for not giving up the grains, it’s their reliance on bread. No more. Useful for breakfast, lunch, supper or snacking at any time, you can fill, spread and dip these Keto Bread Rolls at your pleasure and they won’t make you fat…just rather full and satisfyingly smug.  

Keto Bread Rolls (makes 4 large picnic or burger-sized buns or 6 dinner rolls)

Ingredients

150g organic ground almonds

45g organic whole psyllium husks, freshly ground into fine powder

1½ tsp gluten-free baking powder                 

½ tsp Himalayan pink salt

1 tbsp organic cider vinegar

177ml filtered water, freshly boiled

3 large organic egg whites (about 120g total weight)                    

Sesame seeds for sprinkling - optional

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 175°C / 350°F / Gas mark 4. Boil the water.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, psyllium powder (no substitutes: flaxseed meal won’t work), baking powder and salt.

Beat the egg whites and vinegar together with a fork until foamy, then add to the dry ingredients. 

Using an hand-held electric blender, mix for about 15 seconds until starting to come together into a thick dough.

Bring the water back to the boil before adding it to the bowl, while beating with an electric hand mixer for about 30 seconds. Don’t over mix the dough at this stage, the consistency should resemble Play-Doh.

Moisten hands and form the dough into 4 rolls (about 125g each) Note: they’ll double in size when cooked.

Place on a baking sheet lined with non-stick baking parchment or a silicone baking mat and sprinkle over sesame seeds, if liked. 

Bake on middle rack in oven for 55 minutes. The bread rolls are done when they’re golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Allow to cool on a wire cooling rack. 

Notes

I used organic black sesame seeds for visual effect but organic natural sesame seeds seem to be more widely available.

To make 6 to 8 dinner rolls, use about 70-75g of raw dough per roll and reduce the baking time to 40-45 minutes.

Store the bread rolls in the fridge or freezer.

I haven’t tried it yet, but I imagine the above quantity of dough is enough to make a 1lb loaf of bread. Grease the tin well and roughly shape the loaf to fit, then bake for at least 1 hour, maybe longer. Test ‘doneness’ by tapping the bottom of the loaf to see if it sounds hollow. 

Fat 21g Protein 13g Carbohydrate 3g - per large bread roll

Flaxseed, Sesame & Rosemary Crispy Thins

It’s now three years since I first started writing the Primal Plate food blog with the intention of sharing recipes that would fill in the perceived food ‘gaps’ when you eat low-carb. I also wanted to help steer the Primal community and others away from the insane demand for more meat, which causes unbearable suffering to millions of farm animals, and towards a more compassionate, vegetarian lifestyle.

I’ve created numerous grain and sugar-free alternatives to conventional recipes for bread, biscuits, cake, pizza, pasta, ice cream and one of my latest triumphs…sugar-free meringues for goodness sake! But I’m not done yet. Whilst low-carb, like-for-like potato chips and pizza still elude me, today’s recipe for Flaxseed, Sesame & Rosemary Crispy Thins does add another surprisingly good string to Primal Plate’s bow. Finally, here is an irresistible substitute for savoury crispbread, crackers, crisps or tortilla chips to serve with cheese, dips or simply to snack on them plain for pre-dinner nibbles. With the crispy, salt-seasoned delicacy of a potato crisp and the nuttiness of wafer-thin artisan crisp bread, these ‘all-rounders’ are what we’ve been missing in our lives since going low-carb and Primal. As Sarah exclaimed when she first tried them: “Well, that’s all our parties now sorted!”.

I originally baked these Flaxseed, Sesame & Rosemary Crispy Thins in a fit of pique because we’d been forced to eat a plate of cheese without any accompaniments at an expensive, highfalutin, Nottingham restaurant that couldn’t - or wouldn’t - volunteer a low-carb alternative to bread or crackers. What is it with restauranteurs and chefs that send out cheese with no biscuits whilst charging a hefty subsidy because you didn’t choose dessert? A plate of good cheese without ‘extras’ is a sorrowful affair. This, after forewarning the chef in writing of our specific dietary requirements, weeks in advance of our booking. And since we were approaching the end of our meal, there was no wine left in our glasses either! Wading through a plate of cheese without biscuits and/or wine is enough to drive you crackers. Hence these Flaxseed Sesame & Rosemary Crispy Thins are my way of making good the “Cheese please” ordering anomaly that seems to exist in the catering industry when you don’t eat grains or sugar. Head chefs take note: You could easily have your commis chef knock these up in no time at all. 

Inspired by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s recipe for Linseed & Rosemary Crackers, it has to be said, I think my Flaxseed, Sesame & Rosemary Crispy Thins are better than Hugh’s! I’ve omitted the grains, added sesame flour, extra herbs and seasoning for more flavour and used cold-pressed macadamia nut oil instead of water to bind the mixture together. You could use olive or coconut oil instead. Anyway, the addition of oil means the cooked crackers won’t stick to the baking parchment, which Hugh’s tend to do. And, you get more nutritional bang for your bucks. Flaxseeds are high in fibre, low in carbs and a primary source of omega-3 essential fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids help decrease inflammation, which is a trigger for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and arthritis. Macadamia nut oil is a great addition not just for its buttery flavour but because it’s high in monounsaturated oil (boasts 10 times more MUFA’s than olive oil), it’s low in inflammatory omega-6 fats and it’s packed with nutrients like potassium, magnesium, calcium, selenium, vitamin E, niacin, and folic acid.

Crackers and cheese is my new favourite thing because I do not subscribe to even a sniff of low-carb deprivation! Totally delicious, Flaxseed, Sesame & Rosemary Crispy Thins are quick and easy to make. Just throw everything together in a bowl, divide the dough into two and roll out each half very thinly into a single large cracker - no faff or cutting-out required - then bake. When cooked and cooled, break into attractive looking shards of healthy goodness that you can munch your way through with cheese to your absolute heart’s content…quite literally!

If you’re convinced full-fat dairy is an enemy to your heart, you are not well informed. Far from being injurious to health, latest studies show that consuming whole dairy products is inversely associated with diabetes and heart disease, has no association with chronic disease or mortality and is most possibly health-protective. For vegetarians wishing to follow a low-carb or keto diet, my advice would be “Knock yourself out!”

You just need to make sure that wherever possible it’s raw, organic and grass-fed. Aged, cheese (6 months or more), such as Cheddar and Parmesan-style, is a particularly healthful addition to a keto, vegetarian diet. The higher the fat content of cheese, the better. This is because lactose is mainly drained away in the cheese making process. Ditto whole-milk that’s fermented for at least 24 hours to make lactose-free yogurt and kefir.

Low-fat, reduced fat, skimmed or heat-treated milk i.e. pasteurised and UHT (Ultra High Temperature) is not the same thing. When milk is heat treated, it destroys many of the nutrients such as vitamins and enzymes (essential for nutrient absorption) that make raw milk beneficial. Allergies and lactose intolerance is higher with pasteurised milk as well. For a supply of safe-to-drink, fresh, raw milk, I recommend you find an organic dairy that prides itself on being meticulously clean. I buy mine from Emma’s Dairy at Gazegill Organics.

Remember, your body prefers fat to glucose as its energy source because fats burn much ‘cleaner’ - the oxidation of fats takes longer and at the same time gives off more energy. Sadly, people have been brainwashed into thinking that full-fat dairy is unhealthy because of its saturated fat content (64% in butter). Saturated fat, according to public health advisers still relying on pseudo science, raises blood cholesterol levels, particularly LDL cholesterol (otherwise known as “bad cholesterol”), which puts you at higher risk for heart disease. It’s not that simple, as an episode of BBC2’s programme ‘Trust Me, I’m A Doctor’ recently found out. Researchers at Cambridge University discovered that eating 50 grams of coconut oil (90% saturated fat) every day for 4 weeks did not raise LDL cholesterol levels (the “bad cholesterol” associated with heart disease) at all. It did raise HDL cholesterol levels by an impressive 14% and HDL is the good cholesterol that helps remove the bad cholesterol. Boom! After decades of medical hullabaloo surrounding saturated fat, it turns out that high-in-saturated fat coconut oil is more heart-protective than olive oil!

What then to make of a new science advisory from the American Heart Association that recently recommended not ingesting coconut oil because it’s high in saturated fat? I say, ignore it! Perpetuating heart disease is in the AHA’s best interest because if heart disease ceased to exist they’d be out of a job. Meanwhile, real science is doing ground-breaking research that is finally forcing the medical establishment to accept that the key to reversing disease, such as type-2 diabetes, is simply an effective weight management programme. That’s bad news for the pharmaceutical and junk food industries but good news for the NHS and you - if you’ll take personal responsibility.

It’s astonishing to me that as we witness the NHS collapsing under a burgeoning demand for healthcare by an ageing, chronically diseased society, the government opts to continue to subsidise the cost of ill-health rather than promote wellness through good nutrition. They could save millions! True, it would take the political will to oppose modern farming methods with its obsession for GMO’s and toxic agro-chemicals; help restore healthy soils, insects and wildlife by subsidising sustainable farming practices and completely overhaul UK’s dietary guidelines. For that reason, I don’t imagine food utopia happening any time soon. 

Dr Aseem Malhotra, fast becoming known as one of the most influential cardiologists in Britain and a world leading expert in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease and a senior adviser to the National Obesity Forum said:

"The change in dietary advice to promote low fat foods is perhaps the biggest mistake in modern medical history. We must urgently change the message to the public to reverse obesity and type 2 diabetes. Eat fat to get slim, don't fear fat, fat is your friend."

How much longer will you wait? Hopefully not until you inevitably find yourself one of the unfortunates being sent home by an overstretched NHS to sort out your own health issues.

I heard that “It’s easier to change a man’s religion than his diet” but here I go again…to spare yourself the indignity and suffering of disease, start cutting the carbs now, eliminate sugar and when you’ve accomplished this, begin eating more healthy fat…much more. 

To that end, Flaxseed, Sesame & Rosemary Crispy Thins topped with lots of butter and cheese will play a most enjoyable part. 

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2018.

Flaxseed, Sesame & Rosemary Crispy Thins (serves 4)

Ingredients

50g organic brown flaxseeds 

100 ml freshly filtered boiled water

25g organic ground flaxseed (see Notes below)

25g Sukrin organic sesame flour 

15g organic green banana flour - only non-organic is readily available in the UK

50g organic ground almonds

½ tsp Himalayan pink salt

a good grinding of organic black pepper 

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp fresh organic rosemary, finely chopped

1 tbsp cold-pressed macadamia nut oil, + extra for oiling

Sea salt flakes

Instructions

Place the flaxseeds in a heatproof bowl and pour over the boiling water. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 160°C / 300°F / Gas mark 3

Place the dry ingredients into a medium sized bowl. 

Take 2 sheets of baking parchment and generously brush one side of each with oil. Set aside - oiled side uppermost.

Add the flaxseeds with their soaking water, the chopped rosemary and 1 tbsp of macadamia nut oil to the dry ingredients. Use a fork to mix everything together really well, then squash the mixture together with your hands into a ball of dough.

Place half the cracker dough (about 130g) on top of the oiled side of one of the sheets of baking parchment - slap bang in the centre - then lay the other sheet of parchment paper, oiled side facing downwards, on top. 

Roll the dough out very thinly between the 2 sheets of oiled baking parchment to make one large, thin, ragged-edged cracker that’s no more than 2-3mm thick. Lift off the top piece of parchment paper and transfer the bottom parchment paper with the dough still on it onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle with half the salt flakes. 

Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, checking occasionally, until completely dry and the outer edges are starting to curl up.

Take out of the oven and leave to cool before removing the parchment paper.

Repeat the rolling out process with the second piece of dough and bake as before. 

When the crackers are cool and crispy, carefully break them into largish pieces. 

Spread with a generous amount of butter and eat with cheese for the ultimate low-carb cheese and biscuit experience.  

Notes

Because ready-ground flaxseed (also known as linseed) does not have a long shelf life it’s best to grind your own whole flaxseeds in a coffee grinder immediately before use. If you don’t have a coffee mill, buy ready-ground flaxseed in small quantities and use within the best before date. 

Raw, organic macadamia nuts and macadamia nut oil are very expensive and not easy to source. Luckily, macadamias are low in pesticides even if conventionally grown. They’re hands-down my favourite nuts both for snacking and cooking. I love them most for their light, buttery taste, which makes cold-pressed macadamia oil perfect for drizzling and homemade mayonnaise because unlike olive and avocado oil, it doesn’t overpower. Macadamia nut oil is also highly shelf-stable and resistant to heat induced oxidation. This makes it safe for sautéing, frying and baking at higher temperatures because there’s no danger of free radicals and deadly trans fatty acids forming as they do with other cooking oils at high temperatures. High-fat, macadamia nuts have more omega-3 and less omega-6 fat than any other nuts, they lower LDL blood cholesterol and being exceptionally high in fat can help to make you thinner! I think they’re worth the expense but it you prefer, use organic olive oil or coconut oil for this recipe instead. 

A non-stick silicone sheet placed under the dough before rolling out is even better than oiled baking parchment because it stays perfectly flat during baking. 

Fat 20g Protein 9g Carbs 8g - based on 4 generous servings (surprisingly satisfying!)

Ginger Whisky Cake

It is always my joy to bake something wonderful for a family member’s birthday cake and every year, exactly one week before Christmas Eve, it’s my husband’s turn. He’ll say in the midst of my pre-Christmas frenzy “Please don’t put yourself under any more pressure”. But the truth is that without a special cake to stop and celebrate his existence at this time of year, the days would just merge into a blur of jingly-jangly Xmas activity.

However, the creation of this truly delicious Ginger Whisky Cake, baked in honour of John’s birthday, rather fortuitously morphed into more than just a one day wonder. If it had been my intention to create a healthy, gluten-free cake that tastes like a proper, matured Christmas cake without dried fruits, added sugar or grains, this is the one. It’s so good that the cake I’m making in the photos is the third one we and our visitors have enjoyed over the festive season, which has taken us all the way through to Twelfth Night!

Although this cake was inspired by an Abel & Cole recipe, I’ve removed the copious quantities of “damaging to your metabolism” refined sugar, sugar-substitutes (agave syrup is 90% fructose) and grains and replaced them with less than half the amount of sugar in the original recipe with low-carb sweeteners in the form of high-fibre tiger nut flour, Sukrin’s virtually 0% calorie erythritol-based Sukrin Gold and Sukrin Icing and their natural prebiotic plant sweetener, Fiber Sirup Gold. Getting my priorities straight, I’ve also added a significant amount of single malt whisky to the cake mix!

The result is a warming, spicy, celebration cake that Sarah declared would be her choice of wedding cake if she ever gets married! It keeps beautifully moist for a week or more in a cake tin if you let it, although I guarantee that neither you nor your family and friends will.

Ginger Whisky Cake (serves 14)

Ingredients - for the cake

100g organic unsalted butter, softened
100g Sukrin Gold
250g organic tiger nut flour
2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
4 tsp organic ground ginger
2 tsp organic ground cinnamon
50ml Sukrin FiberSirup Gold
60g organic unsulphured molasses
3 large organic eggs
A chunk (about 25g) of fresh organic ginger root, peeled and finely grated
200g organic crystallised ginger, ‘uncrystallised’ (see Notes below) and finely chopped
Finely grated zest of 1 organic lemon
60ml single malt whisky, preferably organic

Ingredients - for the lemon drizzle

Juice of 1 organic lemon
3 tbsp Sukrin FiberSirup Gold (or Yakon Syrup - see Notes below)

Ingredients - for the icing

150g organic unsalted butter, softened
60g Sukrin Icing
1 tbsp organic ‘runny’ honey
1-2 tbsp single malt whisky, preferably organic

Instructions

Heat your oven to 160°C/Fan 140°C/Gas 3. Grease and line the bottom and short sides of a 900g / 2lb loaf tin with a long strip of non-stick parchment paper.

In a medium sized bowl, sift the tiger nut flour, ground ginger, ground cinnamon and baking powder together. Set aside.

Put the Sukrin Gold into a separate large bowl and add 100g softened butter. Beat well (using electric beaters if you have them) till light and fluffy.

Beat the Fiber Sirup Gold and molasses into the Sukrin Gold and butter until well incorporated, then beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour and spices through the sweetened butter mix until just combined.

Stir in the fresh ginger, ’uncrystallised’ ginger, lemon zest and whisky.

Spoon the batter into the loaf tin, levelling out the top.

Place into the oven and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes or until a metal skewer inserted through the middle of the cake comes out clean. If the cake mix is still clinging to the skewer, return for a further 5 minutes before checking again.

To make the lemon syrup

When the cake is nearly ready, pour the lemon juice into a small pan and stir in the Fiber Sirup Gold (or Yakon Syrup - see Notes below).

Warm through over a medium heat, until it just begins to come to a simmer.

When the cake is cooked, poke deep holes all over the sponge with a skewer and drizzle the lemon syrup evenly all over. Allow the cake to cool in its tin before turning out.

To make the whisky icing

When the cake is cool, sift the Sukrin Icing sugar into a large bowl and using a hand-held electric whisk, beat in the butter until pale, smooth and light in texture. Add the whisky and continue to beat until fully combined.

Spread the icing over the top of the cake.

Serve with a cup of hot tea or freshly brewed coffee.

Notes:

To ‘uncrystallise’ ginger:

1. Place the crystallised ginger in a heatproof bowl. Cover with boiling water to a depth of 2 inches.
2. Soak the ginger until the water cools, stirring occasionally. Drain through a fine-mesh strainer.
3. Repeat the soaking process once more.
4. Rinse the drained ginger well in cold, freshly filtered water and spread out on a paper towel to dry.

N.B. I am not a food scientist and as far as I am concerned the jury is still out on most of the low-carb sweeteners touted as being "healthy". I believe organic stevia and monk fruit powder are possibly the best alternative sweeteners to replace table sugar and fructose. However, when it comes to baking it is ‘horses for courses’ because other sugar substitutes can often produce better results. Truly, the best strategy is to try and dampen down your sweet tooth by only eating sweet treats very occasionally.

When I first made this cake, yakon syrup was my first choice of sweetener to replace the agave syrup in Abel & Coles recipe. Yakon syrup is high in antioxidants and potassium and has been used for nutritional and medicinal purposes for hundreds of years. It has a slight caramel taste (similar to blackstrap molasses), which complements the warming flavours of ginger and whisky. However, I subsequently discovered you should not use yacon syrup for baking, as its structure breaks down at high temperatures (over 120 C / 248 F).

You may use yakon syrup instead of Sukrin's Fiber Sirup for the lemon drizzle, if preferred. If you then find the lemon syrup too tart, add 3-4 drops of organic liquid stevia before pouring over the cake.  

Sukrin Fiber Sirup is a natural, prebiotic plant fibre that the human body cannot easily digest. It ferments in the large intestine feeding the good bacteria in your gut, which contributes to our health and well-being by helping to stimulate immune function. Click here for more information.

The small amount of raw honey in the whisky icing balances out the cooling effect of erythritol. Organic blackstrap molasses serves as a nutritious alternative to refined sugar and adds a wonderful depth of flavour to the cake. Click here to read about the health benefits of molasses.

Fat 23g Protein 4g Carbohydrate 18g

Primal Gingerbread Cookies

Ginger and cinnamon are the heart and soul of the gingerbread man and whichever way you cut them, these totally irresistible Primal Gingerbread Cookies are a sure-fire way to excite the senses with all the flavours of Christmas - sugar, spice and all things nice - without actually eating grains or sugar.

Sticking with tradition, I’ve used unsulphured blackstrap molasses to add a sweet, sticky, depth of flavour and colour to these classically spiced, biscuity gems of nutritional goodness. Just a tablespoon mind, which barely registers as grams of carbs when it’s divided between 20 cookies - even if you do succumb to eating three at a time. Trust me, one is never enough! Besides, organic blackstrap molasses is a healthy sweetener that’s relatively low in sugar, which I encourage you to use judiciously as part of a Primal/Paleo diet because it’s rich in nutrients such as potassium, copper, iron, calcium, and B vitamins. 

The other guilt-free sweetener I’ve used to make these cookies “keto” is…wait for it…pure monk fruit powder. Monk fruit, also known as luo han guo or longevity fruit, is 300 times sweeter than sugar and is used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat obesity and diabetes. Bring it on! Monk fruit powder may seem expensive but a little goes a very long way. One teaspoon is all it takes to replicate the nostalgic, full-on sweetness and spiciness of traditional gingerbread as you know it.   

Whilst ginger is a popular, warming spice with powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, what really takes these Primal Gingerbread Cookies to a whole new level is recently harvested, freshly grated cinnamon. Nothing like ready-ground cinnamon powder purchased from a shop, the sweet taste and heady fragrance of Cinnamon Hill’s cinnamon sticks will amaze you. The fact is, I’m addicted. Which is no bad thing since fresh cinnamon is also one of healthiest spices on the planet. With incredible anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting effects, this delicious spice is proven to help lower blood sugar levels, fight infection, protect against allergies, improve digestion and reduce risk factors for heart disease, cancer, diabetes and neuro-degenerative diseases.

These delicious, crunchy on the outside, slightly chewy on the inside, easy-to-bake Primal Gingerbread Cookies taste just like Christmas but with such impressive health credentials, they’re bigger and better than that. More for your eating enjoyment than for seasonal decorations to hang on a tree, these cheery biccies are such a treat I have no doubt that my family will try and persuade me to carry on baking them all year round.   

Primal Gingerbread Cookies (makes 18)

Ingredients

60g organic unsalted butter/cold pressed coconut oil

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tbsp organic blackstrap molasses

150g organic ground almonds

50g organic tiger nut flour

1 tsp pure monk fruit powder (N.B. 300x sweeter than sugar!)

1 tsp gluten free baking powder

1 tbsp organic ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon (I use freshly grated Ceylon cinnamon but you can buy organic ground cinnamon here)            

1 tsp organic mixed spice             

pinch of Himalayan pink salt       

a generous grinding of organic black pepper

1 organic lemon, finely grated zest only 

Sukrin icing, melted chocolate, chocolate chips etc. to decorate, if liked

Instructions

Gently warm the butter/coconut oil with the vanilla extract and molasses until the oil is just  melted.

Place all dry ingredients into a food processor bowl, pour over the wet ingredients and whizz together until the mixture starts to clump together. Tip out on to a large sheet of parchment paper and with your hands gently bring the mixture together into a ball of dough. Don’t overwork, as this will make  the mixture release too much oil.

Wrap the dough ball up in the parchment paper and put in the refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180℃ /  350℉ / Gas mark 4.

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out between two sheets of non-stick baking parchment until it is about 6-8mm thick. Use a 1½ - 2 inch cookie cutter or fancy-shaped cutter to form the cookies and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

If you don't intend to decorate your gingerbread cookies, grate more fresh cinnamon over the top of your cookies prior to baking.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies have risen slightly and are lightly browned. Turn the tray around halfway through the cooking time and keep an eye on them for the last couple of minutes to prevent burning.

Remove and let sit on a cooling rack before decorating or eating them plain.

Fat 7g Protein 2g Carbohydrate 3g

Primal Choca Mocha Brownies

I recently signed a birthday card I’d bought for an old friend several weeks earlier, which read “…let’s celebrate with cake”, when I suddenly realised that unless I actually made a cake, there wouldn’t be one to celebrate with. It was all a bit 'lastminute.com', but not wanting my birthday message to seem disingenuous, I had no choice but to set to with the task I’d unwittingly assigned myself.

I didn’t have enough time to bake, fill and decorate a proper birthday cake. However, my predilection for strong coffee and a small chunk or two of very dark chocolate every morning was the inspiration for these quickly made Primal Choca Mocha Brownies. When I first conceive a recipe idea I don’t have a clue how it will turn out - and clearly someone’s birthday isn’t the best time to experiment - but I figured that whatever the outcome at least he’d know I cared.

Oh boy, it seems I did care and then some! My friend’s birthday surprise cake was an even bigger surprise for me! As brownies go, these gorgeous, fudgy, bittersweet, chocolatey pieces of heaven simply knock the socks off the rest. And without added sugar or grains, they’re healthy to boot.

Whilst my blogging has suffered a lot of downtime lately because of other more pressing commitments, behind scenes the research and cooking continues. I’ve avidly been testing out various low-carb sweeteners and I think I’ve found a new best friend: Tagatose - is a natural sugar substitute derived from dairy products, fruits and cacao. It only has 38% of the calories of sugar, a very low glycemic index of 3 and no nasty aftertaste. Straight out of the packet, it looks like sugar, tastes like sugar and most importantly, it seems to behave like sugar, which I think will open up many more exciting recipe opportunities for me to share. For now, it’s made its debut appearance in this brownie recipe and in my view, they taste all the better for it.

Sarah on her 1st birthday, fully immersed in her first chocolate cake experience. 

My youngest daughter Sarah was born a chocolate ‘fiend' and she simply can’t get enough of Primal Choca Mocha Brownies. True, her preference for sickly-sweet 20% Cadbury’s Dairy Milk when she was one year old has evolved into desire for the militantly healthy, mellow bitterness of 85% dark chocolate that she enjoys today - its deep chocolatey flavour further enhanced in this recipe by the addition of coffee. But it’s not just Sarah. When our decorator was offered a square of this rich chocolate cake he thought it was so good I should be making my brownies to sell to M&S!

No doubt Sarah will protest when the last crumbs from the last batch of brownies are eaten but with Christmas just around the corner and a bag of tagatose beckoning, the food blogger in me is excited to try and create a previously impossible-to-make keto version of an impressive looking dessert that just happens to be my eldest daughter Elizabeth's favourite. Fair’s fair - so girls, let there be no sibling rivalry! The rule is if it works, I’ll share…hopefully, with enough time to spare so it can grace every Christmas dessert table. Primal, Paleo, keto, low-carb or simply health conscious, if I can pull this one off, you’re going to love it. Watch this space!

Meanwhile, I invite you to try your hand with these bad boys. Note to Sarah: I’m brownied-out for now, so this means you too! As my foray into baking ‘instant’ b’day cake shows, they can be made, baked, cooled and eaten within 2 hours. I think you’ll agree it’s time well spent for making something so amazing. 

Primal Choca Mocha Brownies (makes 12)

Ingredients - for the brownies

180g organic unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
215g organic dark chocolate couverture chips
65g 100% organic dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
3 large organic eggs
100g Sweet Health Tagatose
2 tsp pure vanilla essence
110g organic tiger nut flour
70g organic ground almonds
110g organic pecan nuts, roughly chopped
40ml freshly-made strong espresso
1 tsp pure coffee extract

Ingredients - for the ganache

70g organic dark chocolate couverture chips
60ml full-fat organic coconut milk

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 180℃ / 350℉ / Gas mark 4.

Grease a deep sided, square brownie baking tray (mine measured 19½ cm x 19½ cm) and line the bottom and sides with non-stick (parchment) paper. A single piece of paper cut an inch or so bigger than the dimensions of your baking tray and then cut down into each corner (with a pair of scissors) so the paper sits flat in the tin is the easiest way to do this.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over a very low heat. When it is melted take it off the heat and stir in the chocolate, which will melt down in the warm butter without spoiling. Allow to cool slightly.

Put the eggs, tagatose and vanilla essence into a large bowl and whisk together until you get a pale, thick, fluffy foam. I used an electric whisk, which took about 5 minutes.

Stir in the melted chocolate and butter mixture, then fold in the tiger nut flour, ground almonds and chopped pecans.

Finally, stir in the espresso and coffee essence to loosen the mixture a little, then pour into the prepared tin. The mixture should be just soft enough (though not runny) to find its own level in the tin but you may need to spread it out evenly with a flat spatula.

Bake for 25 minutes - test with a cocktail stick, it should seem ever so slightly undercooked i.e. a few moist crumbs should stick to the cocktail stick when you withdraw it.

Cool in the tray, then remove from the tin with its lining paper. Lay the paper with the cake still on top onto a work surface and, with a sharp serrated knife, cut into 12 even squares.

Next, make the chocolate ganache: Gently warm the chocolate and coconut milk together in a small saucepan, stirring all the while until the chocolate melts into a smooth, pourable sauce. N.B. Don’t overheat as this will cause the mixture to split.

Using a metal tablespoon, drizzle the ganache randomly but generously over the brownies. Leave the ganache to set before fully separating into squares ready for serving.

Notes

These brownies will keep well, stored in an airtight container, for up to 3 days.

Fat 36g Protein 6g Carbohydrate 15g

Almond Coconut & Blueberry Cake

It’s my birthday this weekend and to celebrate I’m eating cake…a lot of it since there are only three of us sharing! Of course, my b’day cake is not cake as most people know it. Far from being ‘naughty but nice’, this Almond Coconut & Blueberry Cake is a superfood extravaganza that looks like cake, tastes like cake, emotionally satisfies like cake yet does no harm. Seriously, what sort of a celebration is it if you know you’re going to suffer afterwards? On the other hand, do puritans ever have fun?

Sweet-toothed, cake scoffers and fans of ‘The Great British Bake Off’ take note: high carbohydrate intake (sugar and grains) makes you fat, diseased and sends you to an early grave. Unfortunately, it appears there’s a growing army of people disassociated from cooking healthy dinners but magnetised towards the kitchen when it involves baking cake. 

Today’s recipe for Almond Coconut & Blueberry Cake goes with the flow. Yummy, sweet-tasting, light and moist, this lovely cake is something for sugar addicts to drool over. It’s also perfect for the likes of me, who wants nourishment not punishment from life’s celebrations!

The final word goes to a recent scientific study published in The Lancet (29 August 2017) 

"High carbohydrate intake was associated with higher risk of total mortality, whereas total fat and individual types of fat were related to lower total mortality. Total fat and types of fat were not associated with cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction, or cardiovascular disease mortality, whereas saturated fat had an inverse association with stroke. Global dietary guidelines should be reconsidered in light of these findings."

To translate, high fat and low carb is the future of cake and, birthday or not, this simple to make Almond Coconut & Blueberry Cake is way to go to bake yourself happy! 

Almond Coconut & Blueberry Cake (serves 12) 

Ingredients

180g organic ground almonds

100g organic coconut butter (not all coconut butters are created equal, I recommend Biona’s Coconut Bliss)

150g organic virgin coconut oil (or use organic grass-fed unsalted butter, if you prefer)

100g organic tiger nut flour

1½ tsp gluten free baking powder

60g Sukrin:1

4 large organic eggs

1½ tsp pure vanilla extract

60ml organic maple syrup

200g organic fresh blueberries

60g organic flaked almonds

Instructions

Line the base and sides of a 21cm springform baking tin with non-stick parchment paper and preheat the oven to 180℃ /  350℉ / Gas mark 4

Gently melt the Coconut Bliss and coconut oil (or unsalted butter) together in a saucepan set over a very low heat. Do not let it get too hot, it needs to be no warmer than blood heat to melt the two ingredients together. 

Place the ground almonds, tiger nut flour, baking powder and Sukrin:1 into a separate bowl and aerate with a whisk until there are no lumps and all the ingredients are evenly incorporated into the mix.

In another bowl, lightly whisk the eggs together with the vanilla extract and maple syrup.

Make a well in the dry ingredients, then pour the wet ingredients (egg mix and melted butter/oil) into the dry mix and whisk thoroughly. 

Add 150g blueberries to the batter, folding them in with a spoon.

Pour the cake batter into the tin and sprinkle the rest of the blueberries on top together with the flaked almonds (in that order)

Bake for about an hour, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted into the centre of the cake. comes out clean. Cook longer, if needed (mine took 1 hour 5 minutes!)

Cool the cake in its tin, then turn out carefully and remove the paper before placing the cake the right way up on to a cake stand or serving plate. For a simple but charming birthday cake, place a single lighted candle in the centre of the cake.  

Serve at room temperature with a cup of tea. Alternatively, serve warm for dessert with a dollop of organic créme fraîche. 

Fat 32.5g Protein 8g Carbohydrate 13g - per slice

Vegan Victoria Sandwich Cake

Lurking in the pages of Rose Elliot’s book Fast, Fresh and Fabulous (on page 186 to be precise) is a recipe for a vegan Victoria sandwich cake. No pictures or anything, just a list of ingredients that specifically excludes eggs and butter. I’ve passed over this recipe many times in favour of more enticing cake recipes because any sense of deprivation never sits well in this foodie’s heart. Besides which, surely you need eggs to make cake mix rise up properly into a light and moist cake? Erm, turns out the answer is, “No”! 

This Vegan Victoria Sandwich Cake is beautiful in its simplicity and it looks and tastes - to my utmost surprise - exactly like a well-made Victoria sandwich cake should look and taste. Booom! 

Furthermore, there’s no beating, no whisking, no sifting and no holding your breath whilst trying to extract hot cake from its tin onto a cooling rack. It’s so easy to make, I reckon I could teach a 7-year old!  

Of course, I’ve got rid of the sugar, self-raising flour and rapeseed oil in the original recipe to make this Primal/Paleo/Vegan cake a more desirable and healthier cake to eat. Oh, and I’ve even included a 5-minute recipe for a fresh-tasting, sugar-free alternative to raspberry jam. On second thoughts, I’ve made so many changes to this Vegan Victoria Sandwich Cake, it’s not Rose’s, it’s most definitely mine!

Vegan Victoria Sandwich Cake (serves 10 )

Ingredients - for the cake

175g extra fine organic tiger nut flour

125g organic ground almonds

25g Sukrin:1

3 tsp gluten-free baking powder

Grated zest from 1 organic orange

100ml fresh organic orange juice (i.e. 1-2 organic oranges, freshly squeezed)

30ml organic maple syrup

170ml freshly filtered water

90g organic coconut oil, melted & cooled for 5 minutes, plus a little extra for greasing the sandwich tins

Ingredients - for the filling and to serve

 3-4 tbsp sugar-free raspberry jam - or better still, make your own in 5 minutes with my Raw Sugar-Free Raspberry Jam recipe

Sukrin Icing sugar - for dusting the finished cake

Instructions - to make the cake

Pre-heat the oven to 180℃ / 350℉ / Gas mark 4

Melt the coconut oil over a low heat and set aside to cool

Grease and line the base of 2 x 18cm / 7 inch sandwich tins with non-stick baking parchment http://www.lakeland.co.uk/5521/100-Baking-Parchment-Liner-Paper-Circles-18cm 

Put the tiger nut flour, ground almonds, Sukrin:1, baking powder and grated orange zest into a large bowl and mix together well.

Mix the orange juice, maple syrup and water together in a separate glass bowl or jug and add to the dry ingredients. Mix well with a large rubber spatula until all the ingredients are evenly incorporated into a cake batter.

Divide the mixture evenly between the 2 tins, stand these side-by-side on a large baking tray and bake in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes, or until the top of the cake springs back when lightly pressed.

Leave to cool in the tins before turning out onto a wire rack and stripping off the paper. 

Sandwich the cakes together with the jam. 

Sift the Sukrin icing on top of the cake just before serving.

Notes

Tiger nuts are high in MUFAs (pronounced moo-fahs) namely, monounsaturated fatty acids in plant-based fats, which are found in some of the world's most delicious foods such as avocado, nuts and seeds, olives, and dark chocolate! These good-for-you fats enhance heart health and protect against chronic disease. Tiger nuts are also extremely high in fibre and contain good levels of vitamin E, iron, magnesium, zinc and potassium. They are full of oleic acid - the healthy fat found in olive oil and most important of all, resistant starch (RS). Eating like a carbohydrate but behaving like fibre, RS is a prebiotic starch that passes through the body undigested. i.e. it passes through the stomach and small intestine without being digested. When it finally reaches the colon it feeds the friendly bacteria in your gut. Anything that enhances the health of your gut has a direct impact on maintaining good health per se. To up your intake of resistant starch, try adding plain tiger nut flour to smoothies or stir through Greek yogurt for a subtle nutty sweetness. Alternatively, Primal Pronto Energy Bars are an enjoyable way to feed your face and your gut!

Although bright yellow rapeseed oil (aka canola oil) is an ingredient in Rose Elliot’s recipe that would visually enhance this orange-scented cake, I chose to use coconut oil instead. Recently, many health pundits, top chefs and recipe writers have been touting rapeseed oil as a healthier alternative to olive oil (omega 3 levels of rapeseed oil is 10 times that of olive oil and its high smoke point makes it better for cooking) but what they don’t tell you is that most rapeseed oil is heavily processed, and almost all of it comes from plants that have been genetically engineered. So far as I am aware, there is currently only one supplier of organic, cold-pressed rapeseed oil in Britain. My concern is that unmodified (non GMO), natural rapeseed is loaded with erucic acid. Erucic acid is a fatty acid that’s associated with heart damage, specifically fibrotic lesions of the heart. Not exactly a welcome side effect! Until tests have been done to show rapeseed oil is safe for human consumption (and unfortunately extensive animal testing would suggest otherwise), I prefer not to take the risk. For now, I’m sticking with healthy, organic, virgin, cold-pressed coconut oil for baking.

To be clear, there has never been a single shred of scientific evidence to support the demonisation of saturated fat or for it being declared public health enemy number one by successive governments and health advisers over the past sixty years. The low-fat, high-carbohydrate hypothesis was fundamentally flawed at the outset and the subsequent recommendations to replace natural fats with highly processed vegetable and seed oils, has decimated people’s health. Thankfully, the tide is turning. Saturated fats such as coconut oil and butter are not dangerous, nor for that matter is the healthy type of trans-fat known as vaccenic acid, which is found naturally in some foods like grass-fed meats and dairy fats.

Carbohydrate 18g Protein 4g - per slice of cake (filled with Primal Plate’s Raw Sugar-Free Raspberry Jam)

Carbohydrate 21g (approx) Protein 4g - per slice of cake (filled with The Fruit Tree’s Raspberry Fruit Crush)

Vegan Paleo Nut & Seed Bread

After suffering the financial loss of a ‘rental void’ for the past six months, we’ve finally found new tenants for Sarah’s much beloved old home. Whilst landlords shouldn’t let their heart strings rule their heads when choosing prospective tenants, on this occasion they seemed to be so much ‘on our page’ it was almost love at first sight! Nature lovers, vegan and spiritually inclined, we can at least be rest assured that they won’t be poisoning our lawns and garden with Glyphosate, which is what our last tenants did because they were too idle to pull up the weeds! 

A vegan at heart but not in practice, I frequently find myself drawn to the possibility of being vegan à la Paleo - that is, without eating grains, pulses and white potatoes. It goes without saying that processed soybeans used in tofu, soy milk and various revolting dairy and meat substitutes would be off limits too. I suppose I’m just a deluded vegan food fantasist, because in reality I don’t even qualify as a fully-fledged vegetarian. The reason being, I find it virtually impossible to go to a restaurant or socialise without eating meat or fish and I can’t envisage a diet that’s not high in healthy fats such as organic egg yolks, cheese, butter, milk and cream, being anything but bland and boring. Nevertheless, our new tenants have piqued my interest in vegan recipes, so I can but try harder. 

Today’s Vegan Paleo Nut & Seed Bread, is precisely everything it says it is. A loaf of bread full of healthy protein and fibre made without eggs, grains, dairy, yeast or added sweetener. If ever the day comes when I’m ready to make the transition, I’ll rename this recipe Susan’s Vegan Survival Bread because it’s probably one of the easiest and most useful recipes I’ve ever come up with. It really works. As well as being Primal, Paleo and vegan friendly, it’s tastes absolutely wonderful and slices brilliantly - even when still warm from the oven. As with all grain-free bread, there’s no kneading or proving required. Just whack it all together for not much more than a minute in a food processor and you’re almost done. Plus, you can make the loaf well in advance of when you want to bake it (it can be left out at room temperature for several hours or as long as overnight), it will keep well in the fridge in a sealed container for up to five days and it makes really good, hot toast. 

The ace up your sleeve for making this loaf of bread successfully, is fabulously nutritious, naturally sweet, organic tiger nut flour. Tiger nuts are an antioxidant-rich, antibacterial, high-in-fibre, pre-biotic ‘superfood’ that not only makes this bread super tasty without adding sweetener, it’s also thought to benefit male sexual performance. Surely a ‘Bread For Life’ that you shouldn’t have any problem getting the man in your life to make for you!

All in all, an amazing Paleo-inspired loaf of bread for vegans and the gluten sensitive, which looks, tastes and behaves like real bread - crusty on the outside and nicely dense and chewy in the middle. A must-bake recipe for anyone who wants an easy-to-make, healthy, omega-3 packed, sustaining, gluten-free bread to add to their low-carb repertoire. 

Vegan Paleo Nut & Seed Bread (makes a 900g/2lb loaf - approximately 24 slices)

Ingredients

45g cold pressed organic coconut oil (or grass-fed, organic unsalted butter or ghee)

120g raw, organic seeds (I used 40g each of pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds) plus…

2 tbsp chia seeds

80g organic whole flaxseeds

250g raw, organic nuts (I used 100g unblanched almonds and 150g roasted blanched hazelnuts)  

125g organic tiger nut flour

50g organic ground almonds

4 tbsp organic psyllium husks

1½ tsp fine grain sea salt

350ml filtered water

Clockwise, from top right: psyllium husk; sesame seeds, chia seeds, sea salt, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, ground almonds, whole almonds, tiger nuts, whole hazelnuts

Instructions

In a small saucepan over a low heat, heat the coconut oil (butter/ghee) until it’s just melted. Use a little of the melted oil to grease the inside of a 2lb / 900g non-stick or silicone loaf pan (I used this one), then set the rest of the oil aside to cool slightly.

Place all the dry ingredients - all the seeds, nuts, tiger nut flour, ground almonds, psyillium husks, and salt - into the bowl of a food processor and whizz for about 30 seconds, or until it’s ground into a flour-like consistency.

Add the melted coconut oil (butter or ghee) to the dry ingredients and whizz for about 10-15 seconds to incorporate. With the machine still running, add the filtered water and process for another 20 to 30 seconds or until the mixture comes together into a very thick, almost paste-like dough. 

Immediately tip the dough into the greased loaf pan, press it down very firmly then smooth out the top with a flat spatula or the back of a spoon. Cover loosely with cling film and set aside for 2 hours or longer to rest. 

When you’re ready to bake the loaf, pre-heat the oven to 180℃ / 350℉ / Gas mark 4

Place the loaf in the centre of the oven and bake for 25 minutes. 

After 25 minutes, take the loaf out of the loaf pan and place it upside down directly onto the oven rack (see note below) - then continue to bake for another 40-45 minutes.

To check if the bread is done, take it out of the oven and give it a firm tap with your knuckles. It’s cooked when it sounds hollow. 

Leave the loaf to cool on a wire rack before slicing. 

Notes

If you have one, I recommend you use the oven’s grill pan and rack for the second baking so that you can calmly re-position the hot, part-baked, upturned loaf onto the grill rack before placing the whole grill tray back into the oven. This is far less risky than reaching into the oven and burning yourself on an already dangerously hot oven rack!

You can use any mixture of seeds and nuts, just make sure that they’re all raw, organic and within their use-by date. Any hint of rancid nuts, seeds - and indeed pysillium husk - will totally wreck the taste of the finished bread. As a food blogger and recipe developer, I always buy my nuts and seeds in bulk from Healthy Supplies but for most people it’s better to buy in smaller quantities and use them whilst they’re still really fresh.

Grinding all the seeds and nuts down into a coarse textured flour enhances the nutrient availability of Vegan Paleo Nut & Seed Bread and allowing the raw dough to rest for several hours, or even overnight, helps ease digestion. 

I consider good health to be the first form of wealth, so I always invest in the best ingredients - pure, unadulterated and organic - when cooking for my family and developing Primal Plate recipes. I don’t flinch at the price of good food, so I used finely ground Pu‘uwai Deep Ocean Hawaiian Sea Salt in this Vegan Paleo Nut & Seed Bread because it’s the finest, purest sea salt in the world. This delicious, mineral-rich sea salt provides 2% daily value of calcium and magnesium per serving and also contains potassium and selenium, plus many trace elements such as copper, iron, zinc, manganese and chromium, which are missing from common surface sea water. Worlds away from cheap table salt, you can learn the truth about table salt and the chemical industry here. If the price makes your eyes water, fine ground Celtic sea salt or fine Himalayan Rose Pink Salt, are good alternatives that can be purchased for about half the cost. 

This bread freezes well and can be made into croutons or breadcrumbs for coating.

Carbohydrate 8g Protein 5g - per slice

Almond Apricot & Lemon Cake

Whilst fresh, ripe apricots are a metaphor for summer, I couldn’t wait to bring the clocks forward by making this very useful, springtime Almond Apricot & Lemon Cake. All light and lovely - almonds and apricots are a fabulous pairing - I decorated my cake with a top layer of no-sugar almond paste and fresh wild violets from the garden in readiness for an Easter Sunday teatime treat.

The fact is, I’m not brilliant at cake decorating, so homemade almond paste, edible flowers, which smell divine by the way, and a pretty ribbon does the job. The result is a really moist, light, golden cake studded with small pieces of fruit, which isn’t a million miles away from traditional Simnel cake, but looks prettier. 

Gorgeous as this cake is, if you want something less fussy, simply top with a sifting of icing sugar and serve with coffee or, better still, mint tea. You can also try your own homemade Lavender Mint Tea.

The cake is then easily transformed into an ‘after dinner’ dessert by serving with poached apricots, rhubarb, plums or pears. Or you can substitute an orange for the lemon in the recipe and serve with a fresh orange salad and whipped cream. In my imagination, the cake eating possibilities for this simple, delicious cake are endless.

Easy to make, it keeps like a dream.  

Almond Apricot & Lemon Cake (Serves 12)

Ingredients - for the cake

1 organic lemon

100g organic sun dried apricots

6 organic eggs - preferably at room temperature

100g raw organic runny honey (raw acacia honey resists crystallization so retains its runny consistency without heating)

50g Sukrin:1

250g organic ground almonds

Sukrin Icing - for sifting over

Ingredients - for the almond paste, optional

125g organic ground almonds

25g Sukrin Gold

25g Sukrin icing sugar

1 tsp fresh organic lemon juice

1-2 tsp organic maple syrup

1 organic egg yolk

Ingredients - to assemble, optional

3 tbsp organic no sugar apricot jam

Edible flowers

Organic flaked almonds, lightly toasted

Ribbon

Instructions - to make the cake

Wash the lemon, then put it in a small saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer gently until soft (about 45 minutes). Take off the heat, add the dried apricots to the pan. Leave to cool.

Grease a loose-based 8” cake tin (preferably springform) and line the sides and base with non-stick baking parchment.

Pre-heat the oven to 150℃ / 300℉ / Gas mark 2.

Drain the lemon and apricots. Cut the lemon into quarters and remove any pips. Dry the apricots on kitchen paper then cut each one into several pieces. Put the lemon quarters and apricots into a food processor or blender and whizz together until very finely chopped into almost - but not quite - a smooth puree i.e. it needs to retain some texture.

Using an electric whisk, whisk the eggs, honey and Sukrin:1 together for about 6 to 8 minutes until they are pale and thick and until the mixture holds its shape for a few seconds when it’s flicked across the surface of the rest of the mix.

Whisk in the lemon and apricot puree. Then, using a large metal spoon or rubber spatula, gently fold in the ground almonds.

Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 1¼ hours, or until a cocktail stick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. N.B. To prevent the cake from getting too brown, cover the top of the cake lightly with a circle of non-stick baking parchment after the first 45 minutes baking time. 

After you take the cake from the oven, leave it to cool completely in the tin, then turn out carefully and remove the paper. 

Dust the cake with Sukrin Icing just prior to serving.

Instructions - to make the almond paste, optional

Put the ground almonds, Sukrin Gold and Sukrin Icing into a food processor and pulse to combine.

Add the egg yolk, lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of maple syrup and process until a soft, dry paste forms (takes about 1 minute). If it doesn’t come together into a malleable paste (test by squeezing a little of the mixture between two fingers to see if it holds together), add another teaspoon of maple syrup and whizz again. It’s a fine balance. The longer you process the almonds the more oil is released, which helps bind the mixture together. However, it you over-process it, the paste becomes too oily and sticky to handle.  

Form the almond paste into a ball then place between two sheets of cling film or baking parchment. Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand, then roll out evenly into an 8 inch (20 cm) circle. N.B. You can either draw a circle on the back of the bottom sheet of baking parchment to guide you or use a cake tin liner placed under the bottom sheet of cling film.

Instructions - to assemble the cake

Invert the cake onto a serving plate so that the bottom side of the cake becomes the top i.e. you have a completely flat surface to work on. 

Heat the jam slightly in a small saucepan and brush it over the top of the cake.

Remove the top sheet of parchment or cling film from the rolled out circle of almond paste, then with the help of the paper or cling film still underneath, lift the almond paste onto the top of the cake. Press down lightly with your hands, then peel away the remaining paper/cling film.

Crimp the edge of the almond paste with your fingers or alternatively create a pattern around the top edge of the cake by light indenting with the prongs of a fork or wooden skewer. Decorate with organic edible flowers, toasted flaked almonds and a matching ribbon (see photo).

Just prior to serving, sift a little Sukrin Icing over the top of the cake.  

Carbohydrate 13g Protein 9g - per serving of plain cake

Carbohydrate 16g Protein 11g - per serving of cake with almond paste

Sarah’s Taleggio, Broccoli & Leek Tart

I am never one to say “No” to an invitation to dinner and last week Sarah surprised me by inviting us over to her’s…twice! It just so happens that’s she’s become a dab hand at making today’s recipe for Taleggio, Broccoli and Leek Tart - although after years of perfecting the art, neither of us can remember where her original inspiration came from. As with all things Primal, there have been enough modifications to allow me to confidently call this deeply delicious, satisfying tart “Sarah’s Taleggio, Broccoli & Leek Tart.” 

Firstly, being Primal, there are no grains allowed and secondly, she’s confidently upped the ante on the eggs and cheese to make this a really luxurious and filling family dinner - albeit it’s not unknown for us to eat the whole of this tart, which is supposed to feed six, between the three of us. 

As it turns out, it was much trickier to get the recipe out of Sarah’s head and into written form than it is for her to bake it! It took her a couple of hours to write the recipe down and me twice as long as that to decipher what she’d written before it could make an appearance on Primal Plate’s blog! Nevertheless, as you can see from the picture of my serving of tart, it is very worthy of its honorary place.

Taking on the ‘huff and puff’ of food blogging is very much akin to photographing the finished food on the plate. From time to time, this strong mother-daughter team, of which I am so proud, will attempt to walk a mile in each other’s shoes. Sometimes Sarah passes me her camera, but on this occasion she volunteered for a day in the life of a food blogger. This is what workplace equality is all about and as I write, epitomises the spirit of today’s ‘International Women’s Day’ (8 March 2017) but more than this, it is always a privilege to have Mirror Imaging Photography create such beautiful images to bring to life all of Primal Plate's recipes. 

This one is an absolute winner. It’s also much easier to make than a conventional tart because the nut-based pastry behaves itself so much better than a normal wheat flour pastry does. Sarah learned this lesson very early on in life from Mrs Bainbridge, her home economics teacher at secondary school, who thought that the way to get a crumbling flour pastry mix under control was to bash it around on the worktop until it surrendered itself up as a pliable piece of dough, which then cooked out to something resembling a brick. Did I miss my vocation? Is this why so many of Sarah’s generation have given up on cooking their own food? Over-handling or adding too much water to normal flour is the sure-fire way to achieve pastry disaster. This can’t happen with nut-based pastry. Provided that you add the diluted milk judiciously - just enough to bring the mixture together (see instructions below) - you cannot help but achieve a crispy, golden, melt-in-the-mouth almond pastry because, without gluten, it’s impossible to overwork. Perfect for the novice cook and, without any grains or gluten, it's much healthier for you too.

Sarah’s Taleggio, Broccoli & Leek Tart (serves 6)

Ingredients - for almond pastry

400g organic ground almonds

2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder 

50g organic butter, melted + a little extra for greasing

4-6 tbsp diluted whole organic milk (to dilute the milk, mix 3 tbsp milk & 3 tbsp fresh filtered water together)

Instructions - to make the pastry case

Preheat oven to 190℃ / 375℉ / Gas mark 5 

Grease a 25cm / 10inch round, fluted, non-stick, loose-bottomed pastry case with a little melted butter, then line the base with a round piece of non-stick baking parchment for good measure.

To make the almond pastry - sieve the baking powder into the ground almonds and mix together well. 

Stir the melted butter into the almond mixture, then add the diluted milk - one tablespoon at a time - and stir everything together with a fork. N.B. We’ve found that 4 tablespoons of diluted milk is usually enough to bind the mixture without the pastry becoming too wet.

When it starts to clump together, abandon the fork and use your hand to bring the mixture together into a firm but moist dough (the warmth of your hand will help to do this by releasing the oil in the nuts). Shape into a ball.

Lay out a large sheet of clingfilm onto a work surface (you may need two sheets overlapped), then place your smooth ball of pastry in the middle and flatten it out slightly.

Lay a second sheet of clingfilm over the top of the pastry (this will stop it from sticking to your rolling pin) and roll out evenly to about 3mm-5mm thickness. As you roll, turn regularly to achieve an even round shape that is approximately 2½cm/1” larger than the circumference of your tart tin (this allows for the sides of the tart). 

Carefully peel off the top layer of clingfilm, then loosely wrap the pastry around your rolling pin removing the bottom layer of clingfilm as you do. Then using the rolling pin to support the pastry, lift it in one piece directly into the tart tin. If it splits or breaks in transition (as it often does!), don’t worry, just patch it back together by pressing it firmly and evenly into the base and up the sides of the tin with your hands. You can add smaller pieces of pastry to fill any gaps and particularly to reinforce the top edge - just press any seams together with your fingers so there are no gaps and it’s as even as you can make it. N.B. Since almond nut flour is gluten-free it’s easier to handle than normal shortcrust pastry, because it doesn't get harder and tougher when you re-work it.

Once it’s settled in the tart tin in an even thickness, prick the base with the prongs of a fork, then lift the pastry tin into the air and, rotating the tin with one hand, use a sharp knife to trim any raggedy bits of pastry off the top edge to create a neat finish. Form any leftover pastry into a ball, cover in clingwrap and store in the fridge for up to a week. You can then re-roll and make into almond biscuits, which are perfect served with cheese after dinner, or as a base for pre-dinner smoked salmon canapés.

Bake the pastry case blind i.e. place a large piece of baking parchment on top of the pastry - it needs to be big enough to cover the entire pastry case - and weight down with ceramic baking beans (rice grains, dried peas or dried beans will do just as well) then bake in the pre-heated oven for about 8-10 mins. 

After this first baking, remove the baking beans and parchment and cook for a further 5-6 minutes - you’re looking for an evenly baked, pale golden case without any wet pastry showing in the middle. N.B. Keep a careful eye on it to ensure that the top edge doesn’t get too brown - nut-based pastry can scorch easily and if it’s over-browned at this stage it will be too dark after it’s filled and re-baked. 

When cooked, remove from the oven and set aside. 

Ingredients - for filling

Head of organic broccoli (about 350g)

200g taleggio cheese

6 tbsp organic whole-fat milk

2 tsp English mustard powder

6 organic eggs

120ml organic double cream

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp organic butter, melted (or organic olive oil)

2 organic medium-sized leeks

1 tbsp organic fresh thyme leaves, chopped 

Instructions - to make filling

Reduce the oven temperature to 170℃ / 325℉ / Gas mark 3

Cut the broccoli into small florets. Steam for about 4-5 minutes or until just tender. Drain and put straight into ice cold water (or run under the cold tap) to stop the cooking process and to keep their colour.

Trim off the roots and coarse dark green tops of the leeks, then with a sharp knife slice them lengthways halfway through i.e. from top to root without actually cutting them in half. Wash under a running tap, fanning the layers out with your fingers to rinse away any grit or soil trapped between them. Drain thoroughly and then slice across into 1cm thick rings. 

Place the leeks and the olive oil into a large saucepan, give the leeks a quick stir to make sure that they’re evenly coated in the oil, then cover with a circle of greaseproof paper cut to fit the pan and the pan lid. Cook over a gentle heat for about 8-10 minutes until the leeks are soft and tender but not coloured. 

Remove the paper lid and stir in the broccoli and thyme then, whilst continually stirring, turn up the heat to cook off any excess liquid. You need to make sure the mixture is as dry as possible without browning the vegetables. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Prepare the taleggio cheese by removing its wrapping and cutting off any of the rind as thinly as you can (it will have a mould-like bloom, which you don’t want in the tart). Slice into thin pieces, and set aside.

In a Pyrex jug or bowl, first whisk the mustard powder into a little of the milk until smooth, then add the rest of the milk, cream, eggs and season to taste with salt and pepper. Whisk the mixture until the eggs are broken up and all the ingredients are well combined. Set aside.

Instructions - to assemble the tart

Lay a sheet of tin foil on a flat baking sheet, then place your pastry case, still in its tin, on the sheet. Scrunch the tinfoil up a little around the base of the tin because if your pastry has any gaps at all, this will prevent the filling running out all over your oven!

Evenly distribute the vegetables in the base of the pastry case. 

Give the egg custard mixture a quick stir (sometimes the mustard settles at the bottom) and carefully pour into the pastry case over the vegetables. Lay the slices of taleggio cheese evenly over the top. 

Bake immediately in the pre-heated oven for about 25 minutes, or until the custard is lightly set and the surface of the tart is nicely golden.

Remove from the oven and let the tart cool for 5-10 minutes. Then, using a small sharp knife, loosen around the top edge of the tart before releasing from its tin.

Slice and serve warm or cold. 

Notes

Sarah doubles up on the quantity of Primal Plate’s original almond pastry recipe to make sure there is plenty to roll out without scrimping; this means that there will be about a third left over for almond biscuits etc. The remaining raw dough can be stored in a refrigerator for up to a week. 

Taleggio cheese is made from non-vegetarian rennet, strict lacto-vegetarians could substitute a soft-melting cheese such as Duchy’s organic brie.

Carbohydrate 12g Protein 33g - per serving

Red Velvet Cupcakes

All you need is love, but these little cupcakes ain’t half bad at making the point! Primal Plate’s Red Velvet Cupcakes are the sweetest-tasting, sexiest-looking, Valentine’s day indulgence to share with your sweetheart. For all the world you might think that one bite into one of these aggressively pink, attitudinal cupcakes would be enough to send Primal sugar phobes into a state of apoplexy… but their good looks deceive. 

These light-as-a-feather cupcakes are in fact a nutritious health food made from organic grass-fed butter, organic tiger nut flour, raw cacao and fresh beetroot. No added sugar, no grains, no artificial food colour. Talk about share the love!

Over the past few weeks Sarah seems to have been really cake-hungry because she’s frequently been asking “When are you going to make more cake?” As it turns out Valentine’s day is just the right time because, after waiting for so long, she was only too happy to help me by patiently making little ‘love notes’ out of greaseproof paper and ribbon hearts to decorate these bad boys! Gloriously chocolatey and dressed to kill for the occasion, they taste every bit as good as they look. 

As for the not so sweet-toothed or love-struck, they’re just yummy little everyday cakes to eat plain with a really good cup of tea or coffee. 

Red Velvet Cupcakes (makes 18)

Ingredients - for the cupcakes

250g organic premium tiger nut flour

3 tbsp organic raw cacao powder

1 tsp organic ground cinnamon

2 tsp gluten-free baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

200g organic unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

150g Sukrin Gold

3 organic eggs, at room temperature

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

120 ml organic milk or other milk of choice - e.g. almond, cashew or coconut milk 

2 medium-sized organic beetroots, finely grated

Ingredients - for the buttercream (enough to decadently decorate 8 cupcakes)

200g Sukrin Icing

100g organic unsalted, preferably raw, grass-fed butter

2 tbsp fresh organic beetroot juice (or use milk if you don’t have a juicer)

½ tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions - for the cupcakes

Pre-heat the oven to 180℃ / 350℉ / Gas mark 4

Place 18 paper cupcake cases into two 12 hole muffin trays

Combine the tiger nut flour, cacao powder, cinnamon, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a medium size mixing bowl. Fork through to get rid of any lumps.

Fix the double-bladed ’S’ shaped knife into a food processor and place the softened butter, Sukrin Gold, the bowl of dry ingredients, vanilla extract and eggs into the processor bowl. 

Process for about 30 seconds until well mixed. You may need to scrape down the sides of the of the bowl once or twice to make sure everything is incorporated. Add 100 ml of the milk and process again for another 10 seconds. You’re aiming for a creamy (not too runny) consistency. Add the remaining 20ml of milk and process for a few more seconds if the mixture still seems a little too thick.  

Scrape the mixture out of the processor bowl into a clean mixing bowl and stir in the grated beetroot until evenly incorporated.

Using a small ice cream scoop fill each paper case with approximately 50g-55g of the cake mixture.  

Bake in the middle of the oven for 18 - 20 minutes.

Allow the cupcakes to cool briefly in the baking tins before removing them and cooling completely on wire racks.

Instructions - for the buttercream icing

Place all the ingredients in a medium sized bowl and whisk together with an electric beater until light and fluffy. 

Place a large star shaped nozzle into a disposable piping bag. Cut the end of the bag off so that the end of the nozzle is not covered. Twist the bag immediately behind the back of the nozzle to prevent the icing coming out until you’re ready. 

Place the bag into a large tall glass and fold the top of the bag over the edge of the glass. Alternatively, get someone else to hold the bag open whilst you fill it.

Carefully fill the bag with the prepared buttercream. Close the top of the bag by twisting it tightly - you can secure it with a rubber band to make sure the buttercream can’t ooze back out of the top - then push the buttercream down inside the bag to remove any air-locks. 

Starting at the outer edge of the cupcake, slowly squeeze the piping bag to allow the buttercream to gently fall onto the cupcake. Keep going around the cupcake in increasingly smaller circles until you reach the middle. N.B. the nozzle needs to stay slightly raised above the surface of the cake so you don’t drag the icing as you go. 

Decorate with fresh berries or edible flowers - organic rose petals would be nice - if you don’t want the fiddle and faff of making Sarah’s fabulously conceived love notes!

Notes

If your oven shelves are not large enough for both baking trays to fit side by side on the middle shelf, then swap them over after about 12 minutes cooking time - no earlier because the mixture needs time to set. If you have a double oven, you can use them both to ensure these cupcakes bake evenly to perfection - much easier than swapping the trays over during baking.

 Carbohydrates 7g Protein 3g - per cupcake

Carbohydrate 1g Protein 0g - per serving of buttercream