When I was asked to supply a regular recipe, I wondered how this fits in with our PureWorx profile? Then I thought that what we sell is fresh and earth friendly, so maybe a recipe Blog may be the way to go and not the normal recipes, but those that offer alternatives to the normal ones and are good for our bodies.
I am a Chef by career, working a lot in pastry and breads. Recently I was diagnosed with an illness that necessitates me changing a lifelong pursuit of good and rich foods. I started with the Monash diet to eliminate problems and after some time I found myself with an intolerance to Dairy of all sorts and some Fructose (sugars). Luckily Gluten was ok, but only just.
This led me to rethink how I approach food, not just to survive, but to enjoy as much as I did. I am always surprised that there is not a new wave of recipes that exclude some ingredients, offered in restaurants and cafés. I have to be the leper in the bunch of normal eaters. There are so many of us that have eating issues and not enough businesses offering us better choices. I am sick of eating bird seed slices etc. So, I will offer some alternatives here in this section and call it cleaner eating. I use my 40 years of cooking experience and source new ways of offering the same or close recipe.
Robert Erskine – retired Chef / Principal.
CLEANER EATING
dairy free sweet short crust pastry
Having a sweet tooth, I needed to have the one recipe for pastry that made me happy eating it. I had to play around with things, but have in the end found a simple way to bake a wonderful base for many things.
What you will need
Recipe for one household pastry tin, oblong, 300mm x 200mm,
A spiral mixer, either handheld, or benchtop,
A Rubber spatula,
2 sheets of greaseproof paper cut the same size as pan.
Preparation time
I like to work slowly but it can take 20 minutes or longer.
Ingredients
130grams Nuttelex buttery, or Naturli organic spreadable,
(these have proved the better ones for this recipe)
½ Cup of caster sugar, or to taste,
You can use soft brown instead if you wish but it will colour the pastry
1 tsp. vanilla essence,
Tip: Use true vanilla essence (not artificial) to change the flavour of the fat used to one similar to butter.
3 egg yolks,
(reserve the egg whites if creating a Louise Slice later)
250 grams of all-purpose flour,
(here you can change the flour for Gluten free, but I will give another recipe for gluten free at another time).
Method
Preheat oven to 170° Celsius. In a clean mixing bowl, place the fat chosen and the sugar, beat together on a medium speed. You will need to whip the mixture to white peaks, ensuring you scrape down the mixture constantly to ensure all the mix is bound together.
Now add one egg yolk and beat until combined. Do not add all three as the mix will curdle. Add the other two at one-minute intervals. Add the vanilla essence, mix well. Now you should have a white butter mix with volume.
Time to add the flour (better sifted). On a slow speed, add ½ cup at a time. Do not over mix, but quickly add the flour but not too quick, as this will cause an uneven mix and flour everywhere. The final product should be smooth.
Grease the pan and place one sheet of paper on the bottom. Place the mix in three separate equal parts down the middle of the pan. Place the other paper on top of the pastry and press down with the palm of your hand. You will find the pastry is sticky, so you need to manage the pastry over the whole pan by using your fingers pressing into the paper. Once smooth and fully spread in the pan remove the top paper (tip – it can be left if you do not want a brown finish.)
Place the pan in the middle of the preheated oven. Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until the pastry has risen slightly and browned a little. Remove and cool in tin.
Now you can use it in any way you wish. It makes a great tea snack as is, or place a topping on it, or fill with desired ingredients. I will provide some choices for you on another day, today I suggest making..
lOuise slice
To accompany the short crust pastry we created above:
METHOD
Beat the three egg whites left over from above and beat in a clean bowl with a pinch of salt until smooth and ‘peaky’ slowly add 1 cup of caster sugar a spoon at a time.
When shiny and firm, it is ready to add ½ cup of desiccated coconut and ½ cup of shredded coconut (brown both in the oven slightly).
When cold add these by folding them in with a spoon, not the whisk. Using a good raspberry jam (low sugar variety) and fresh berries, spread on the cooled pastry, then place berries on top.
Cover with meringue and bake in the same heated oven until brown on top.
Cool and serve in small squares, as this is a very sweet topping, but so satisfying! Keep in a closed container in the fridge, or cool space. I find it is eaten so quickly so the bench is ok to store it.
A great recipe for your local café to offer!
If you are as messy as we are in the kitchen, why not take advantage of our special discount FOODY10 for 10% off the Pureworx range.
Enjoy!