Scottish Hazelnut Shortbread

Today I made some truly Scottish Hazelnut Shortbread, with Hazelnuts I foraged in Fife last week.

This recipe makes about 40 small shortbread bites - enough to feed my colleagues and give me the option to snack on dairy-free treats at work.

Ingredients:

100g Hazelnuts (out of their shells)
100g sugar
225g plain flour
200g dairy-free spread (or butter)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Toast Hazelnuts for 10 minutes.

Rub hazelnuts in a clean tea towel/muslin/between your fingers to rub off their skins (the hazelnuts, not your fingers).

Leave to cool.

Grind hazelnuts to a powder.

Mix together hazelnuts, flour and sugar.

Mix in dairy-free spread until it makes a soft dough.

Dust work surface with a mixture of flour and sugar.

Roll/flatten dough to 1cm thickness.

Cut out shapes.

Dip in sugar (optional).

Bake, one tray at a time, for 10 minutes.

Allow to cool.

Eat.

Until next time... Good Foraging! :)

Cherry No-Bakewells

Last week I wrote that I might make a Blaeberry recipe this week, but something else appeared which grabbed my attention.

I took my car into the local garage in Kirkcaldy and on the walk back to pick it up, I found a Cherry tree with beautiful ripe cherries hanging from it. How could I pass that opportunity by!

I have previously made Bakewell Tarts with Wild Strawberries, but I wanted to try something new. Facebook helped me to make my decision: several people have been raving about the new Nakd Bakewell bars, so I decided to make my own.

The recipe is from The Kitchen Shed and I haven't changed it.

I picked 750g of cherries (weighed with stones) and they dehydrated to 120g, although I over-dried them by mistake.

I don't have a food processor (it's on my wishlist for payday), so I used my coffee grinder to chop the nuts and cherries. I chopped the dates with a knife.

Cherry No-Bakewells

Ingredients:

90g dried cherries
150g cashews
6 Medjool dates

Method:

• Chop all ingredients finely and mix together thoroughly
• Press mixture firmly into a container
• Refridgerate for 2 hours+ (I left them overnight)
• Tip out the hardened mixture and cut into 8 sections
• Eat

These tasted delicious! However, I didn't think they tasted like Bakewell Tarts. If I were to make the recipe again, I would substitute ground almonds for some (if not all) of the cashews.

While I was making this recipe, I realised that I could have made a Black Forest Gateau. Never fear, I shall revisit the tree and aim to make a gateau next week. Until we meet again, Good Foraging!