rhubarb & hazelnut crumble

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Update 2022: I decided the remove the original text from this post because it felt a bit too preachy (why?) which I hate. This is still a really great recipe and I didn't want to detract from that. Love you

So now as usual I'm going to awkwardly shift gears (that's one of my strengths) to talk about the merits of rhubarb. I've been looking high and low for rhubarb since the season for the early 'forced' crop started... then my sister hunted this bunch down for me, so shout out to her for that. Anyways, various family members like rhubarb for its tartness in sweet things, so I made a super simple crumble, using apples to balance out the bite from the rhubarb. It's actually pretty healthy for desert, so you could have it for breakfast if that's your thing. If you do want it to be more desert-y, you could serve it with some ice cream, or yogurt otherwise. I used hazelnuts here because I thought the colour and richness would be nice, but feel free to use another nut that you have chilling in a jar somewhere. It has been weirdly warm here for the past few days, so spring really made its mark, and the rhubarb is proof that. Hoping that it makes an appearance wherever you are - spring, and the rhubarb.
A lovely end to your week. Hugs xx

Rhubarb & hazelnut crumble

Serves 8-10 // gluten + dairy free

1 bunch of rhubarb (400-500g) (around 1 pound)
2-3 medium apples (450g-ish) (around 1 pound)
seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean
1 tablespoon natural orange juice, or fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons (45ml) pure maple syrup

// for the crumble

3/4 cup (75g) rolled oats, certfied gf if you need
3/4 cup (75g) oat flour (same)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (70g) chopped hazelnuts
1/4 cup (60ml) pure maple syrup
1/4 cup (25g) extra virgin coconut oil, melted 

Preheat the oven to 180'c / 350'f. Oil a 9inch square pan, or something with similar real estate.

Slice the rhubarb into even chunks; core the apple and chop it too, you can leave the skin. Add the fruit to the dish, scrape in the vanilla bean, drizzle over the oj & maple syrup, then toss everything gently to combine.

In a small bowl, toss the flour, oats and chopped hazelnuts together with the salt. Drizzle the coconut oil and maple syrup over, then using your fingers or a fork, crumble the liquids and flour together so that clumps start to form. Continue mixing with a fork till the mixture is crumbly, with a few chunks.

Drop the crumble into the pan, over the fruit in an even layer. Bake for around 30 minutes, till the fruits are super soft & bubbling, and the crumble layer is crisp and lightly brown.

The crumble will keep 5 days in the fridge, and I've heard they freeze and defrost well, so I'll be trying that for sure.

more fruity desserts

another bouquet | Mango + coconut ice cream

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Lots of people say that roses remind them of their mothers, and they do for me too. We used to have a few hours wait between when our flight from Heathrow arrived in Bangkok  and our connection to where we lived in Malaysia. We'd wander around the glossy airport; my mum, my sister and I, looking at all the expensive stores, trying on pointless perfumes and reading the back of books. The place we'd always visit was the natural skincare store L'Occitane for their rose hand cream. Papery skin, after a long flight, the prospect of a couple of months in dry heat, that floral scent was always like a throwback to springtime europe. We'd buy a small bottle each, and go to the foodcourt, where each stallholder was still dozy and the European backpackers slept on their gear.  Mum always ended up wearing that same black sweater to travel - our dad and us had tried dozens of times to find something similar, but always failed. Too brown, too formal, too thin, and she was happy with that same one anyway.

We had roses in our house in Belgium. That was my first time with a rosebush of my own. The garden in that house was crazy - it was divided by shrubs and hedges into small sections, each with their own character. It was sloping, everywhere, which made it hard to mow the lawn and the grass was often left long in some areas, so they looked like meadows. We all did a lot of work in that garden, my dad did the patio himself one summer, and my sister and I would rake up after he'd trimmed the hedges, and we built a little run for Prune, with chicken wire, just after we got her. My mum's place was the spot by the back door in the kitchen, on cold fall days when we'd be out tidying leaves, she'd be there, watching out of the window and waving. Too many trees, she used to say. They make the garden dark and wet, and when the leaves fall it's a mess. She joked that we should cut all the trees but leave the rosebush, where it was, frail but thorny, standing out on the patio. Standing out through summer storms, autumn winds, bitter winter frost, but unfailingly blooming bright in late spring. It reminded me of her.

On Mother's Day and for her birthdays we've always bought her flowers. Apparently my dad has always done it, since Layla and I were very young, and I remember he'd often arrive home, late evening from London with a bouquet of flowers. Just like that, a surprise. They'd grace our dining table in some mishappen vase or the other, whatever we could find. He started to travel more, the flowers appeared less, my sister and I would organise them when he asked.  Somehow Layla or I would scrounge a bouquet from somewhere - carrying the battered blooms back on buses, I'd take them to the last lesson of the day with me because they didn't fit in my locker. My friends would ask, why the flowers? I'd remind them it was Mother's Day on Sunday and they'd just give me funny looks, but I knew that the flowers would soon be in the skinny vase on the kitchen window sill. My mum likes them, any kind, she says they add something to the house. A little beauty every day, makes things brighter, or words to that effect. They enliven our kitchen for a few days and after they're gone, the sill suddenly seems very cold and empty.

Mothers are like that too. Like the bouquets of flowers we buy them. Quietly resilient, cheerfully defiant. Even with the best intentions, we put them through hell. She wants the best for us and we'll pick off the petals. None of us notice that they're wilting until the water in the vase is almost empty and we'll do everything we can to revive them - fresh water, a spot in the sunshine. They bring so much to the house, they are the very heart of it. We know the bouquets will never be enough. But we buy them, as we always have, to see her pretend that she had no idea it was Mother's Day and that we'd been arranging flowers, and she'll open yet another card and put it in the kitchen drawer, we just need to feel like we've tried. There's no real way to show our gratitude. But there's something nice about watching her standing by the window sill on which the vase sits, cradling her mug of coffee in her hands, looking out at the first few buds on the cherry tree. 

To you, Mum. Happy Mother's Day, from all of us xx 

So I'm back, with more frozen/creamy goodness in time for Mother's Day (Sunday in the UK). I know I made something similar recently but  you may now be aware of the fact that my mum shares my passion for coconut? Mango is her other favourite fruit... and mango and coconut are so great together, as you probably know from some tacky beach resort somewhere. Also my mum has been on this health kick thing recently (she's taken up running!!! I am quite proud) and I didn't want to sabotage that by bringing out some cake, did I? dessert ain't no fun if mum can't have none.  Anyway, for Morher's Day, I present you the easiest recipe on this site, with the smallest ingredient list,  ironic considering all I just said about mothers but hey sometimes the simplest things are best, and I'm sure they'll agree. Mine would 100% stand by that.

To all the mothers, aunts, grandmas, sisters, you're loved more than you'd ever know. And we express that through flowers and ice cream. Happy weekend to you all xx

Mango and coconut ice cream

Makes arouuund 1.25L / 5 cups-ish   // Gluten + dairy free

2 small, ripe mangoes (or one super big)

2 cans (800ml) (2 2/3 cup) full fat coconut milk
2-4 tablespoons maple syrup, depending on how ripe your mangoes are (the mangoes in Europe are never ripe enough tbh but taste as you go) 
1 vanilla bean
teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
1 beach umbrella (jk) 

Prepare your mangoes - peel the skin and remove the flesh from the stone. You probably know how to do it better than I do. Chop the flesh into chunks and set aside.

Pour the coconut milk from the can into the jug of a blender. Split and scrape in the seeds of the vanilla bean, add the ginger if you wish, and the maple syrup, then the mango chunks.

Blend on high till smooth and sunshine yellow. I have a crazy strong blender so this took all of 5 seconds, but if yours is less so, just keep blending till there are no more chunks of mango. Taste and check sweetness - it dulls once frozen, so keep it sweeter than you'd like.

Allow the whole jug to chill in the fridge for around 3 hours (thug life, chilling in the fridge)

Once totally cool (totally cool) , pour the liquid into the bowl of your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's instructions. Pour into a freezer proof container and freeze till firm if you'd like, otherwise you can serve the ice cream straight away. 

You may need to let it sit out for 10 minutes before scooping if it's been in the freezer. 

Notes

If you don't have an ice cream maker, feel free to make popsicles. Or a slushie-shake type thing. 

more frozen 

spelt chocolate chip cookies

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Update 2022: There used to be text with this post, but I decided to remove it because I just hated how officious I sounded when I was 19, all the events of the past few years considered. The goodness of the cookies still stands though… love you

This is the first recipe I'm posting that isn't one of my obscure creations :) these cookies have sort of a cult following since they're originally made with 100% whole wheat flour - they're Kim Boyce's famous chocolate chip cookies. Chances are you have a copy of the brilliant Good to the Grain  but if not, it's the book that put whole grain flours in the more mainstream baking route. The author is actually a trained pastry chef (Spago and all) (that's like having played for Barcelona on a winning streak, or something, for your reference. Hi dad!!) so you know this isn't just 'eat your whole grains and be healthy', it's more the delicate balancing act of adding whole grains for flavor and texture, which takes actual skill. If you've never tried one of the recipes on this site, try this one, because she's a professional! You can trust a James Beard winner.  This book is one of my favourites, if you're into whole grain, seasonal recipes or if it's something you're curious about, you'll be inspired by this book for sure. Anyway, I did make a few adaptations which are reflected in the recipe below (the original recipe is everywhere online including Food 52). To start with I halved the recipe. Because it's me, I used spelt flour rather than whole wheat, coconut oil instead of butter and used two unrefined sugars + cut the sugar... feel free to use either recipe if dairy isn't an issue for you, or mix and match.

These cookies are big, they're soft and pillowy, they're so good. It's suggested you use a chopped bar of fancy chocolate rather than chips which is what I always do, and also they're left super chunky -  I highly reccomend you take that route. Big melty pools of chocolate are kind of fun. Ask someone else to do the chopping, just show them the photo, and they'll also do the dishes for you :) If you try these or the originals, I would love to know your thoughts. Chocolate chip cookies are very subjective so it's totally a taste thing. 

The brightest end to your week + cookies xx

spelt chocolate chip cookies

adapted from Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce
dairy free   // makes around 10 laaarge cookies

1 1/2 cups (165g) spelt flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup (50g) coconut sugar / dark muscavado sugar
1/3 (67g) cup turbinado sugar
1/2 cup (110g) extra virgin coconut oil, soft room temperature*
1 free range egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
110g/4 ounces bittersweet/dark chocolate, chopped into large chunks

Preheat the oven to 180'c, 350'F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder & soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl (or the bowl of a standing mixer. I don't have one, so I'll give hand held mixer instructions, feel free to do it all in a stand mixer if you have one though) use a fork to cut the coconut oil into smaller chunks. Add the two sugars and with a hand held electric mixer on low speed, beat together. Turn the speed up to high and continue beat until the two sugars are combined with the oil and it's fluffier. Stop the beater and scrape the bowl with a flexible spatula whenever you need to.

Once the sugars are combined, add the egg and beat again on high speed until it's mixed evenly through the dough. Then add the vanilla and mix briefly once more.

Tip the flour mix into the same bowl as the oil and again using the beater, whisk till just combined and slightly clumpy. Add the chocolate pieces all at once to the dough and beat once more. The dough will be thick by this point and will come together into a ball easily. Use your hands to make sure all the chocolate pieces are evenly incorporated into the dough.

Portion out the dough into rounds on the cookie sheets - you want about 3 tablespoons a cookie (I used my 1.5T cookie scoop, 2 scoops per cookie, then rolled them into mounds). They do spread quite a bit, so leave around 7cm/ 3in between each one.

Bake the cookies for 16-18 minutes, rotating each sheet halfway through. They should be lightly browned all over and will still be very soft when you take them out, but they'll firm up as they cool. Slide the parchment, with the cookies, onto cooling racks and allow them a little time to cool. If you can, have one out of the oven. The rest will keep for 3 days in an airtight container. I will try freezing some too and let you know what happens.

notes

The recipe calls for cold butter but I've found that coconut oil, when cold, is cumbersome to work with and the mixer just makes a mess of it. I used room temperature oil - the key is that it's solid and not melting all over the place. The batter will look oily, but they turn out 100% ok.  No taste of coconut either. 

My cookies spread slightly less than the ones in the book's photos. That may be to do with the oil (it has higher fat content than butter which is part water) (just fyi) or with the fact that I cut back the sugar by 1/3. They're still very flat and even but have a liiiitle lump in the middle. I've been doing a lot of cookie science research but I'm not sure why this is... I'll let you know if I find out. If you try these and have any ideas, I'd love to hear them :)

cookies & snacks