a quick lemony snack…

17May09

My family went for a short trip over the labour day weekend. Our usual regime before a getaway is to go to the supermarket, or the petrol station if we’re short for time, to pick up some junk food to snack on on the way.

A few bags of crisps, some roasted (salted) nuts for my dad, a pack or two of some sort of drink (soya bean, green tea, fruit drinks, etc… not as healthy as it sounds because they’re PRE-packed and filled with sugar!) will be tucked neatly into a basket or our blue recycle friendly bag, waiting for the first person (usually my sister or me) to go, “Mum… can you pass me some of that _____?”. Bag of crisps or pack of munchies open, and we’re happily chomping away. Happy times.

Things were a little different this trip. Since I (and my family to a certain extent) started my “try-to-eliminate-sugar, grains and flour-as-much-as-possible” diet, we were obviously not going to do the supermart/petrol station snack run. But I was determined not to be deprived of snacks. (Yes, I do so love munching and snacking…!) So I baked four snacks the day before we left. Yep, four

Needless to say, the kitchen added to the already terribly humid weather, but all of us enjoyed our trip without feeling deprived of goodies! AND I had lots of fun learning and experimenting with all the various recipes that I found online. Two of the snacks I baked were mentioned in two previous posts- I didn’t have the time to blog about the “story” behind the baking, but well, now you have it!

So… what else did I bake? Well, I didn’t actually bake this one, because it didn’t require any use of the oven.I tried out another recipe from Naomi from Straight Into Bed Cakefree & Dried (I really love her blog, btw. You need to check it out. She’s so creative with her use of nut meals, fruits, etc. Great site to learn from).

Naomi’s Magic Lemon Bars

2 oz each of brazil nuts and blanched hazels (I didn’t have brazils so I used 3 oz hazelnut meal)
2 oz ground almonds (I increased this to 3 oz)
2 heaped tsp honey
finely grated zest 2 lemons
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 oz cocoa butter (I substituted regular butter since I didn’t have cocoa butter – take it out of the fridge to soften it first)

Instructions:

1. Chop the nuts and grind them up into a fine consistency (be careful not to grind too much or they can turn into nut butter)
2. Put the almond and other nut meals into a food processor along with the other ingredients and pulse till combined. Don’t worry if it doesn’t resemble a dough.
3. Dump the mixture on a baking pan lined with greaseproof paper and use a large knife (the kind you use to chop chicken… ) to push the whole mixture together till it’s a compact rectangular block.
4. Your block should be about 3/4 of an inch thick, and approximately 6 inches long. The width, according to Naomi’s recipe, should be 3 1/2 inches, but mine wasn’t.
5. Use the knife (or something less heavy) to make indents where you will cut the bars.
6. Place in the fridge to set, about 1/2 an hour or more if necessary
7. Remove from the fridge, cut into bars.
8. Wrap each bar in greaseproof paper with the ends twisted.
9. If you live in Malaysia, or anywhere warm, you will need to keep these bars in a fridge, or a cool place to retain their firmness.

The bars were really quick and easy to make, and they turned out great!

Angelyn said they reminded her of sherbet

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