Wednesday 18 November 2015

Homemade Mayo!

As I try to eat healthier, I am looking for ways to do this tasty.

Mayonnaise is a condiment I love, but I cannot find a store-bought that is made with pure olive oil. The ones available list refined vegetable oils as their main ingredient, so I stay away from them...

I was always intimidated by the idea of making my own. Maybe I thought it was difficult or the raw egg in it, well, I try to avoid that...

One day I decided that it was high time I tried to make my own. See how that goes! If it fails, it fails..

Homemade Mayonnaise - basic

1 egg (the freshest you can get)
1 cup olive oil
salt
lemon
1 tsp mustard

You need an immersion blender for this. Sorry, I do not know any other way...


In a glass jar (that has a lid to close it), that fits the blender, crack the egg , add the olive oil, the mustard, lemon, salt and blend away!
In a few moments it will come together and look like mayo. Taste for the saltiness and "lemonness" and adjust. Once you see that the texture is like the store bought one's, that we are all used to, stop.
Put the lid on and place in the fridge.
It keeps for as long as the egg keeps. Check the date on the egg carton. However I only keep it for 5-6 days.

*Please note that it is raw egg. If you can't tolerate it for any reason, just don't make it.




I have made it plenty of times. Always using the egg cold, right out of the fridge and I never had any problems. So, no need to plan ahead. Just take an egg and try it!

It is easy. It is healthy. No strange additives...

Also the variations are so many! You can omit the mustard or you can add your favourite herbs. You can make it spicier or add more mustard. You can add lime or both lemon and lime...


I know you will enjoy it!

Louise!

Monday 9 November 2015

Honey cookies - gluten free!

Continuing my journey through gluten free land, I was thinking about cookies. I needed cookies!

So I baked soft honey cookies!

Honey cookies, gluten free
recipe adapted from here

240gr rice flour
28gr corn starch
60gr brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
60gr butter
6 tbsp milk
5 tbsp honey
1 tbsp vanilla


* Preheat the oven to 180o C.
* Mix flour, starch, sugar, baking powder and salt.
* Add butter and mix.
* Add milk, honey and vanilla.
* Mix until smooth.
* Roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper about 1/2 cm thick and put it in the fridge for 30 min.
* Using a pizza cutter, cut rectangles, without removing the pieces from the bottom parchment paper.
* Place the parchment paper with the cookies on a baking pan, as is.
* Bake for 15 min.
* Cook on the pan for a few minutes, pass the pizza cutter once again along the precut lines and then slide the parchment paper on a wire rack.
* Let the cookies cool completely.
* Break them apart and eat them!





I expected them to be hard, like cookies are, but mine were soft, crumbly and sticky. I think the honey makes them this soft.
Not very easy to eat, but oh, so tasty!

Louise!