I have been finalising my dishes for my brunch demonstration at the Savour Kilkenny Food Festival which is on this October Bank Holiday Weekend (full details here). For my brunch demo, I wanted to come up with quick to make, tasty and healthy brunch dishes that are a little different to the usual brunch dishes. As usual, I wanted them to be made from scratch, using whole foods and centred around seeds, nuts and vegetables. Importantly, I wanted them to be free from refined sugars and refined carbs. A brunch to set you up for the day and leave you feeling energised rather than leave you feeling like you need to go back to bed.
For me, brunch is about lazing and grazing away a couple of hours with friends and family. Therefore, I like to serve a selection of dishes with people helping themselves. At a more traditional brunch, pastries are usually served for having with coffee once people are finished their cereal or cooked breakfast. These are usually full of refined sugars and so are out for me. These little granola balls are a great alternative. I don't bake these (although you can), instead putting them in the fridge to set. This way they almost taste like cookie dough biscuits. The good news is I will be demonstrating a version of these at my brunch demo at Savour Kilkenny on Sunday, 25th October. It's on at 11am in the School of Food Pop-up on the Parade, Kilkenny. Hoping to see lots of you there x
Ingredients:
1 cup of oats
1/4 cup of sunflower seeds
1/4 cup of ground flaxseeds
1 cup of raisings
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Pinch of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 tablespoon of honey
1/2 cup of cashew butter or almond butter
2 tablespoons of coconut oil
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
Method:
1. Add all of the dry ingredients to a bowl and mix well.
2. Add the honey, cashew or almond butter and the coconut oil to a saucepan and heat gently for about 3 minutes until the ingredients combine and become runny.
3. Add the honey, nut butter and coconut oil mixture to the dry ingredients along with the vanilla extract and mix until a dough forms.
4. Form into little balls in the palm of your hand and put in the fridge for about 30 minutes to set.
Store in the fridge for up to five days.
