It’s actually ridiculous how many things I’ve made out of oranges and walnuts over the past few weeks. If you’ve been following, you’ll know that I’m house-sitting on a farmlet on the Fleurieu Peninsula, and attempting to eat only homegrown, local, seasonal produce. So, being winter, there is a lot of citrus gracing the fruit bowl, and having a home-grown supply of walnuts is keeping us happy in the nut department.
Luckily, this month’s Sweet Adventures Blog Hop is themed “Nuts about sweets”. Winning. I have nuts. I would have been in trouble if it was apples or something. I mean, I’m resorting to mandarines in my porridge…
Due to my current restrictions on processed and packaged food, anything resembling butter or margarine was out, and sugar is kept to a minimum. This poses a small challenge when making desserts, but as a result, these vegan tasties have an almost cake-like texture, which is wonderfully offset by the crunchiness of the walnuts.
These are good have-with-coffee-or-tea biscuits, which is exactly what I’ve been doing all week. And because they’re actually pretty healthy (or not too unhealthy), you don’t have to feel bad if you have several tea breaks each day!
Spiced orange and walnut biscuits
3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup wholemeal flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup raw sugar (add a tad more if you want them sweeter)
applesauce (1/2 apple + 1 tablespoon water, whizzed together in food processor)
1/4 cup non-dairy milk
1/4 fresh orange juice
zest of one orange
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon cardamon seeds, ground
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon olive oil
Preheat oven to 200C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Whisk together flours, baking powder, salt, cardamon and cinnamon in a large bowl to combine. Add oil and applesauce and rub together with fingertips to achieve a breadcrumb consistency. Stir through walnuts.
In a smaller bowl, whisk sugar, milk, orange juice and zest until well combined, then add to dry ingredients. Stir until well combined, then place dessert-spoon sized portions on prepared baking tray and flatten slightly into biscuit-shaped discs. Bake for around 15 minutes or until golden.
This post is part of the July Sweet Adventures Blog Hop, hosted by Nic from Dining with a Stud. To check out what other sweet treats are being created with nuts, click the icon below and scroll down.
harvest and yarn 