Cashew Chia Date Roll

My local deli has these lovely dried fruit rolls that cost a whole bunch, look lovely and don’t have a whole lots of ingredients in them. So I decided to see if I could do a version. An easy snack, or pre-dinner nibble with some cheese.

Cashew Chia Date Roll

2 tbls chia

1 tbls water

100g raw cashews

150g dried dates

Combine the chia and water together , leave for 5 minutes to soak in. Blitz all ingredients up in a small hand held blender. (This was a bit of a pain as it kept sticking, but keep at it.)

Scoop the mixture on to some cling film and then roll it into a log shape. Store in the fridge, and slice as needed.

Sourdough Oat Cakes

Are they a pancake or are they a pikelet? Or a they simply an oat cake? I started making pancakes with oats in them quite awhile ago.

1/ It was something to do with left over porridge. (as an alternative to my grandmothers staple ‘mock brains‘).

2/ I added a lower glycemic index to the old pancake.

3/ I thought it was a bit tastier and more substantial than a traditional pancake recipe.

Not that I don’t love the traditional kind, but I am always hungry not long after, and with the added oats it keeps The Monkeys going longer as well. One day while talking to a Scottish friend, these little pancakes came up. She said that she had always made them and back home she called them oat cakes. There you go… oat cakes sounds much more appealing than porridge pancakes.

Now seeing as though I was well and truly aboard the sourdough train, I thought lets see what happens if I add some starter. I had originally wanted to make sourdough crumpets, but didn’t have any rings to cook in them so this was somewhere between. I was mixing it all up and Mr Chocolate went past asking what I was making… just playing. Seeing what will happen if I add this and this and then do this…

Verdict?

Deeelicious! Well thats what Monkey Boy said anyway. I’m sure the Little Monkey meant it too with his cheeks stuffed full like a squirrel. My oat cakes will now always be sourdough oatcakes. Gobbled up with in minutes.

Sourdough oatcakes

1 cup sourdough starter

1 cup plain flour

1 cup milk

50 gms butter

2/3 cup whole oats

1/2 tps bicarb soda

Put butter and oats in microwave together, (butter on top) and heat till melted. Add starter, flour, milk, buttery oats to mixer (I used a dough hook) and mix until well combined. Fold in bicarb soda and let sit for 3 hours in warm spot. Spoon into frying pan and cook as you would pancakes.