Walnut Apple Muffins - Lovely Autumn Treat!

Today has been a busy one for me - I did manage to get in some cooking though - this is my one favourite activity that I find so relaxing, or perhaps fulfilling is the best word to use here. On the days I don't cook I feel as if something is missing.

And no, it doesn't seem to matter that right now I am fasting and not eating solid foods - I still love to create these dishes in the kitchen and see how they turn out. I always thought it would bother me, but I am must be made of stronger stuff! Once my mind is made up, that is it, I see something through to the end.

Well, today I made some hazelnut butter which always turns out lovely - this is such an easy nut butter to make. I mean you hardly have to do anything - lightly roast the hazelnuts in the oven for 9 minutes, rub the skins off and then buzz them in the blender for a few minutes.

Voila! There is the most wonderful nut butter you can ever imagine - I have enough for the next couple of  weeks on hand right now and hope to make some nut butter cookies with it next week. Or maybe some other new recipe?

Then later today I decided to use up some goat's milk in the fridge and make muffins (I had already made bread in the morning). I wanted a nice rich taste for this time of year and settled on walnut and apple with lots of spices thrown in for good measure.

At this point I am so used to baking I just start throwing ingredients in and get going with the recipes! For these muffins I used white and whole grain spelt flour, 1 cup of ground linseeds, the usual baking soda, salt, cinnamon, apple sauce, milk and maple syrup.

This was such a simple little recipe and whipped up in minutes - they were done in 18 minutes and of course smelled great!. Got a thumbs up from my little girl and the dog who got the one that hit the floor!

April

Walnut apple muffins

Into the thick of things - Hazelnut Butter

I wanted to keep up with making my own nut butters, mainly to keep the jars full, but also to try other nuts to see how they turn out. Probably my absolute favourite nut butter has always been hazelnut, I love the taste of them and use these nuts anytime I can.

To make any of these nut butters is fairly straight forward and hazelnut butter is even easier than the others it turns out! This nut butter is so easy everyone should be making it - it is also nearly the most expensive in the health food shops, so there is another good reason to try making this at home.

The hazelnuts must first be roasted to remove the skins - to do this put them in the oven at 180 degrees for about 10 minutes or so. Then once out, transfer the hot hazelnuts to a rough tea towel (we did this before for making halva) using the tea towel rub them between your hands to get the skins to loosen off.

This method will remove most of the skins. The rest can be pulled off with your fingers if you are very picky about having some skins on. 

Hazel nuts in blender 

Then pour 1 cup of the roasted nuts into a glass blender ( I don't use plastic around food). Have a wooden spoon or scraper handy and turn on the machine, this only takes a couple of minutes and you will have nut butter very quickly.

Hazelnuts just before they turn to butter

These nuts are soft, very oily, then turn to dusty mush and then butter in about 2 or 3 minutes. Any other blending is just to make sure you have all the nut dust mixed in as well. 

Hazelnut butter in blender 

The hardest part was getting all the butter out of the bottom of the blender! Luckily it was runny enough to mostly pour out into the jars. I made two batches of nut butter, but could easily have made it with one.

This nut butter smells delicious and I can't wait to try it, after my cleanse. 

Have a healthy day,

April

Hazelnut butter in jar - Looks and smells great!