Primal – sounds fairly basic and maybe a little bit cool huh? It’s
apparently a diet. Not a ‘less not eat anything until we need to pass out and
then have a small piece of cheese’ diet but one that looks at what we evolved
to eat. Or something like that. It’s probably like the Paleo diet and the
Caveman diet and anything else that basically doesn’t let you eat anything fun
or anything that was invented in France – French bread, pastries, macaroons, croissants
(some of these things may not have been invented in France but I can’t be
bothered to research in this for the sake of this).
I’m slightly suspicious of these kinds of restrictions on what you eat,
mainly because it stops me eating chocolate and bread. The Thew follows a
Paleo-esque diet. He eats an incredibly healthy diet so he can drink lots of alcohol
and maintain fitness. Currently he is spending most evenings upside down in a
handstand position against one of our walls. Hey – whatever works for you!
My good friend Claire shared this recipe with me and, while I’m not
sure about trying to recreate recipes using paleo/primal ingredients in place
of good old butter and sugar, it was intriguing enough for me to give them a
try. The original method I read is a bit lacking on details and the one thing you
need to do with these kind of recipes is a good methodology if you have any
hope in hell of making something that looks like the ‘real’ thing. Many people
at work liked these, and they are ok, but I’d just rather eat a chocolate chip
cookie made with brown sugar and wheat flour. I’m not sure what the bacon adds,
other than a bit of salty taste, but I guess it’s to add protein. Anyway, if
this is your thing, go knock yourself out!
Ingredients
5 rashers of streaky bacon (I used M&S)
60ml of maple syrup (plus 125ml – see below)
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
125ml coconut oil (make sure it’s fairly well melted so room temp or
melt it first)
125ml maple syrup
1 tsp bicarb of soda
1 tsp salt
300g ground almonds
200g dark chocolate chips
1. Preheat the oven the 190°C/GM 5.
2. Dip
the bacon in the maple syrup and bake for about 25 minutes. It may need longer. Put them on foil to
save mess. Turn half way through and ignore how burnt the foil gets from the
run off maple syrup. Cool, ideally on fresh foil or greaseproof paper. They are
very sticky! Chop into bits.
3. Whisk
the eggs, vanilla, coconut oil and 125ml maple syrup together in a bowl. You
want to goof frothy mixture as the eggs will add air to the mixture and help
keep them light.
4. In
a large bowl mix the bicarb, salt and almonds. Add the egg mixture and whisk
together.
5. Add
the chocolate chips and bacon bits stirring to incorporate.
6. The
put heaped teaspoons of mixture on a baking tray, leaving space between them.
Flatten them out with the back of a spoon or spatula so they resemble a cookie
shape.
7. Bake for 11-12 minutes – you want them turning
golden brown. Cool completely before serving.
Makes about 30.
N.B. I made these afterwards without the bacon and they worked well. The bacon definitely gives a good savoury/salty edge but it's not necessary.
